Less Mess, Less Stress: The No-Shame Guide to a Cleaner Home

Marie Kondo meets Thug Kitchen in this practical, no-holds-barred approach to decluttering that'll motivate you to get off your butt and tidy up.

Finally, here's a housekeeping and organizational system developed for those of us who'd describe our current living situation as a "f*cking mess" that we "really need to get around to fixing one day."

What started out as a Tumblr blog to reach a younger demographic, using daily, weekly, and mini challenges to motivate the lazy to get up and start cleaning, Unf*ck Your Habitat is for anyone who has been left behind by traditional aspirational systems. The ones that so often ignore single people; people without kids; students; people with pets or roommates; those with full-time jobs; and people with mental illnesses, chronic illnesses, and physical limitations. Most organizational books are aimed at stay-at-home moms, do-it-yourselfers, and people who seem to have unimaginable amounts of free time. They assume we all iron our sheets, have linen napkins that match our table runners, and can keep plants alive for longer than a week.

Basically, they ignore most of us living here in the real world.

Interspersed with lists, challenges, and other how-tos, this practical, no-nonsense advice relies on UfYH's 20/10 system (20 minutes of cleaning followed by a 10-minute break; no marathon cleaning allowed) in order to help you develop lifelong habits. It's designed to encourage the reader to embrace a new lifestyle in manageable sections, so they can actually start applying the tactics as they progress. For everyone stuck between The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Adulting, this philosophy is decidedly more realistic than aspirational, but the goal is the same: not everyone will have a showcase of a home, but whatever your habitat, you deserve for it to bring you happiness, not stress.