By Kelsey Clark
Domaine
Like clockwork, the turn of the season always has us thinking about our homes and how we can best refresh our spaces for the coming months. While the Chinese practice of feng shui or the Marie Kondo method are great tools, basic cleaning and organization obviously take precedence.
But for those of us who balk at the idea of taking on a six-hour cleaning project on a Saturday, there’s Rachel Hoffman’s book, “Unf(*)ck Your Habitat: You’re Better Than Your Mess,” which Business Insider says is “just as much about self-empowerment as it is about taking care of your home.”
Below, read up on Hoffman’s realistic cleaning tips that will leave your home sparkling in just 20 to 30 minutes.
The 20/10 rule. This simply means cleaning for 20 minutes and resting for 10 minutes. This is Hoffman’s go-to strategy for avoiding what she calls “marathon cleaning,” or when a deep-cleaning binge makes your apartment messier (and more overwhelming) than when you started. It helps when you break cleaning up into “a series of smaller chunks of time” so that each task has a “definite beginning and a definite end.”
Gamify cleaning. “Look around. Find 10 things that aren’t where they belong. Put them away,” Hoffman suggests. Or, “take 10 minutes and reset as much as you can back to clean. Put items away, throw trash out, and hang up or put away your clothes until the timer goes off.”
Embrace your own version of minimalism. Remember that those glossy home shots on Pinterest or Instagram aren’t always realistic; you don’t need to get rid of all your stuff to have a stylish space. She suggests thinking about “what a realistic and attainable amount of stuff to have is,” and remember, “if something’s very presence in your home stresses you out, why are you keeping it?”
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