Unf*ck Your Habitat Quotes

“And never underestimate the importance of even just a little bit of progress. One of the worst things, among an almost infinite number of shitty things, about depression is that it makes you feel hopeless and worthless and like you can’t do anything at all, let alone anything right. Setting yourself up for even the smallest positive accomplishment is so huge.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Don’t assume sabotage when obliviousness is the more likely answer. Human beings are inclined to attribute things to malice that are best explained by apathy, and when we falsely identify other people’s motivations, we create a situation in our minds that not only doesn’t exist but colors all of our future interactions.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Compulsive decluttering and compulsive hoarding are opposite sides of the same coin; they both result in extreme behavior that dictates how you interact with the stuff around you.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“One problem is that we tend to let our mess define us. When our home is messy, we see it as a reflection on our worth as a person. It’s a really common way of thinking, but it’s entirely bullshit.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Try to get into the habit of dealing with your dishes immediately after using them. If doing the dishes is just as much a part of mealtime as food preparation and eating, you’ll soon find that the dish problem isn’t that much of a problem after all. WASH,”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Cleanliness is next to godliness”? That seems a little extreme, doesn’t it? Cleanliness, not kindness or compassion?”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Gender roles as they relate to cleaning are bullshit,* and just offer a handy excuse for half the population to be lazy and the other half to feel guilty.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“When you’re in the midst of a depressive episode, cleaning your house comes in on the List of Things You Want to Do somewhere after taunting a hive of bees and tap-dancing on live television. Everything is just awful. It’s a struggle to walk to the bathroom. Making dinner seems more impossible than advanced calculus. Getting out of bed is a vague, distant dream that seems like it may never come true. Meanwhile, the mess gets worse and worse. It seems impossible that you’re contributing to this, since that would require some sort of energy on your part. But the mess is getting worse, and not only can you not figure out how that’s happening, you sure as hell can’t figure out how to try to make it better, because of that whole “no energy to spare to even think about it” problem. If you do feel like expending any energy toward doing anything at all, you’re more likely to try to feed yourself or, by some miracle, take a shower rather than doing the dishes.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Remind yourself that your home can be nice and clean, and that you have the ability to make it that way. Use your “after” pictures as a guide to help you remember what any particular area looks like when it’s actually clean and to serve as a rough template for how to get that space back to neat and organized. So”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Invisible corners are those areas that have become dumping grounds for random crap for so long that you fail to really register them when you look around.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“We need to learn to separate the state of our homes from our feelings of worth.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Make it a habit to get clean clothes to where they belong immediately after everything is dry, rather than leaving things neglected in the dryer,”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Drunk cleaning is like an advanced class, and you’re not at that stage yet.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“But part of living and interacting with other people is taking responsibility for your own priorities by making your needs clear.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Human beings are inclined to attribute things to malice that are best explained by apathy, and when we falsely identify other people’s motivations, we create a situation in our minds that not only doesn’t exist but colors all of our future interactions.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“And when it comes to laundry, don’t forget about the floordrobe. Oh, God, the floordrobe. This is absolutely one of the biggest ways that small spaces go to shit very quickly.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“As far as habits go, there’s nothing more important than “don’t put it down, put it away.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Closets are great because you can fit so much shit in them, and then you can just close the door and hide everything.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Keep in mind that laundry and dishes have three steps: wash, dry, and put it away, goddammit!”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Infrequently used items can be stored in more inconvenient places, but your everyday items should live someplace where it’s just as easy to put them away as it is to leave them out.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Remind yourself that your home can be nice and clean, and that you have the ability to make it that way.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Clearing off your nightstand is a pretty big deal when you’re depressed.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Messiness is not a moral failing.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Because our goal is to not have a terrible house for the majority of the time.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“You can always improve your living situation, but you need to do some work to get there.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“You feel trapped by the state of your home, and powerless to do anything about it.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“where you can live your everyday life without being disgusted or depressed by your surroundings.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“You’re not a slob. You just don’t have the time, the money, the energy, or even the inclination to achieve what those pictures are showing you.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“Why do we accept the idea that it’s noteworthy when someone cleans up a mess they helped make? Silly, right?”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess

“every time we repeat these stereotypes or accept them as fact, we not only help advance these outdated gender norms and place an unearned burden on women, but we also demean and infantilize men by tacitly accepting that they just don’t or can’t do housework.”
― Rachel Hoffman, Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess