Ok. So. 

I've gushed about this blog on Twitter. And Pinterest. And now I'm going to share it with Tumblr. If you've been around the tumblrverse long enough you probably already know about it, but if you don't, GO CHECK IT OUT NOW. The blog is called 

UNFUCK YOUR HABITAT

and it's the best cleaning/housekeeping blog I've come across yet. The blogger is great about kick-in-the-ass style motivation, but zhe (not sure if a man or woman runs it, this makes pronoun choice awkward; I'm going with the only gender-neutral ones I know) is also deeply practical and compassionate. What this means is that, yes, zhe will tell you to make your bed EVERY DAY because EXCUSES ARE BORING. But at the same time, if making the bed isn't a thing that works for you, UfUH will be the first to say, "Whatever, who cares, MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU. No excuses, no shame, no stress, just do what you need to do in a way that works for you. Here are some tools to help you." Zhe has published asks from people with chronic pain, chronic illness, and/or mental health issues that make ANY sort of housekeeping a near insurmountable challenge, and every time zhe has responded with support and suggestions for how to adapt the UfUH Fundamentals to the situation at hand.

My take on it (and the reason I've been able to make it work for me) is as follows: the fundamentals are written in a way that sort of sounds like they're SET IN STONE, but they're really, really not. They're the platonic ideal of the UfUH method, but there's an implicit understanding that not every person is going to meet that ideal all the time, or maybe even any of the time. The Fundamentals are tools you can use to help build the skills and motivation to keep house effectively, to an extent and in a way that works for you. 

I've begun using these techniques, and the condition of my habitat has greatly improved. It's not perfect; I'm nowhere near done with the unfucking, and I don't know that I ever will be. BUT. This month it's better than it was last month, and next month will be better than this one... and I don't feel ashamed, stressed, or overwhelmed by keeping house (at least, not as much as I did before finding this blog, heh).