r/UnfuckYourHabitat

I’m working towards decluttering and I’ve found that no matter how much I try eventually a clean space gets fucked up by paper. Like I get something in the mail I have to deal with and put it in the pile. I have things like mortgage statements and a bunch of other statements I don’t think I need. I’m thinking of just throwing a majority of it away. But I want to ask… how do “normal” people organize all this paper we end up taking home for various reasons? I plan to use my filing cabinet for obvious things to keep and two storage bins for kids artwork / random kid stuff but what is a normal amount of paper to have?

When I go to peoples houses I see they don’t have any paper laying around like not even on their desks and they usually don’t have a filing cabinet. so is it normal to throw everything away except what can fit in a desk?

Just trying to envision what it is supposed to look like so I don’t do too much or too little

Hopefully this makes sense

I used to have a respectably clean house for the majority of the time I've owned it. I've hosted many game nights and BBQs with my friends. That all changed after I suddenly and unexpectedly lost my Dad in 2022. I've battled depression for over 20 years, but after that day, it flipped the script. I can't seem to break the cycle that would only last maybe a couple of weeks, tops, before. Now I'm years in, and it's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

As far as my situation goes. I have a 3-bedroom house that I am absolutely ashamed of the condition I have let it become. I have been able to do a room at a time, make it immaculate, then fall back into the darkness, and it just goes back to the norm. The embarrassing state of my living situation just feels impossible to escape. It's mainly empty recyclables, dirty dishes, clothes I can't seem to ever put away, etc. I just feel so overwhelmed at this point and don't know where to start.

People who have gone through similar situations, what would you recommend? Renting a dumpster? I feel like that is one of my weaknesses is that when my garbage/recycling cans are full from an afternoon of trying to take care of this, I lose all motivation. Would it help to have a larger container to get rid of this clutter? If so, what have you guys found would be needed for moderate clutter around a 3-bedroom house? I feel like just throwing everything away at once might be the only way I can get out of this vicious cycle. I don't know.

Im not much of a reddit poster so it was so nice to see such a positive response to my pledge of cleaning for 15min a day till the end of the month. i hope i motivated you enough to do 15 min of unfuckery as well.

Your comments really made me feel even more motivated and i feel accountable to you. i actually havent been feeling very hopefull about my adhd shortcomings in the last like 10 months. ive always battled to improve my habits and to be organised and consistent but it always eventually fades away.

So i end up always thinking: if it will fades away so why try?

But something, i dont know what, brought back my motivation on monday. I am capable of things i never even thought i could do! and i can only find if i try. Yesterday i cleared and wiped kitchen counters and did my dishes. I played some music by The Juju Orchestra, did my 15 and then some.

I gave myself a window of time so i dont push it for later and then later till its to late for me. My window is from 5pm to 9pm, my 15 gotta fit in there somwhere.

Tomorrow i wanna work on clearing my kitchen table so i can sit down and have a meal there.

To my 15min baddies: How did you do yesterday and what are you hoping to do today? Do you listen to something when you clean?

i invite you to comment or post about your 15min if you feel inspired. Ive read all your comments and i hope other readers felt motivated whith each message as much as i did!

Hey folks currently deep cleaning my room and I realized that from my mess, beside obvious garbage, just stuff, both on the surface and in the drawers there’s around 90% of things I would like to/should throw away, even if the item is okay condition or fully functional. I’m curious if this is the case for everyone? Do you tend to throw out like 90% of real stuff while you’re cleaning?

Edit: thanks for the replies! Pardon my wording. Should’ve clarified that throw away also includes recycling and a donation pile.

Ive done a flash cleaning before someone comes home, ive done marathon cleaning once in a blue moon but it doesnt last more than a week. The house is in constant chaos to the point if a friend is dropping me off or picking me up and says they need to go to the bathroom i say sorry the house is a mess and i cant let you in.

The thought of takling the whole kitchen can be overlwheming to the point i wont do it for weeks, months.

Yesterday i started 15min a day, thats something i can do, i wont finish and i wont see results in the first few days but im gonna check a little box on a piece of paper when im done. its short enough time i can always find 15min in my day.

This is my invitation for you to do 15min today, maybe do 15min tomorrow too. Comment if you end up doing it!

And I'm scared, I'm not scared to have someone help me I'm scared to let someone in my apartment. They're coming next week and I'm not really sure what to do. Do I help them or do I point out what needs to be done do I put on music, how much do I tip them. Hopefully my therapist can give me some advice on what to do because I have no idea what to do.