Dr Filthbag or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Clean

[drfilthbag]

About

I'm an anxious neurodivergent with chronic fatigue who spent years labeling myself as 'lazy' and 'a slob'. I grew up in the kind of house where there's a mysterious smell or beep that takes weeks (stagnant water) or months (a hidden fire alarm, running out of batteries) to find the source of.

I've lived with dust and grime all my life. A friend once told me that she really like visiting my house, because it made her feel better about her house. (She didn't mean it badly, and I didn't take offense). I thought this was just my lot in life.

Turns out cleaning is a set of skills you need to learn. And if you didn't learn it at home you can learn it from the internet. I'm living proof that it's possible to go from hating cleaning to genuinely enjoying it. These days I look forward to having enough energy and time to clean, and I shop for cleaning products like I used to shop for origami paper.

I hope some of these tips are useful to you, but do remember that I'm a noob and your mileage may vary.

[drfilthbag]

"Only Better" times

It is a truth universally acknowledged that sometimes things must get worse before they get better. This is as true for cleaning as for anything else. You have to open the box and go through its contents to get rid of any of it. You have to pull the couch out sometimes, to get behind it.

But when you're dealing with executive dysfunction and/or fatigue, that can sometimes result in the feeling that every time you try to clean, you only make things worse.

I have gotten great mileage from setting periods (10 minutes, an hour, a day, ...) where I focus only on tasks that will make things better.

Empty/fill the dishwasher; clear the table; wipe the sink; pick one item out of the pile that can go in the bin, or to the charity shop. No opening new boxes, clearing any shelves for sorting, Nothing that has to go through a "worse before it's better" stage.

Once I restrict myself to that type of task I realise that there's a lot of that type of work there. And it tends to be high-impact on my sense of achievement.

[rogue-ai-cat]

The thing is, even if you were lucky and your parents taught you how to clean, they probably didn't teach you how to clean the stuff you clean stuff with, like brushes, mops, sponges, rags, and so on. Or how to clean your cleaning appliances, like a dish washer, clothes washing machine, and clothes dryer and its ducts (if you have a ducted dryer), or a carpet cleaner, vacuum, Or how to clean up clean messes, like spilled bleach or detergent.

My parents threw away all of these things (even the vacuum cleaners and the dryer) when they got too dirty to function, because no one even told them THAT they could be cleaned. Cost them thousands of dollars over the years.

All I'm saying is that cleaning is not intuitive, and not knowing how to clean is not a moral failing, but it is something you can learn.

I'm going to reblog this post with resources for learning how to clean things and how to clean cleaning things (I'm not at my desk at the moment). If you have any favorites, please feel free to add them in too!

[rogue-ai-cat]

I like this video because it does a great job of introducing the basic foundations of house cleaning (and because he doesn't use bleach, which is a common allergy in addition to being awful to inhale). He also talks a little about how to clean a vacuum. And why you shouldn't put grease from your pots and pans down the sink drain. I also love that he mentions that different houses and different people have different needs and different versions of what clean and cleaning looks like.

He doesn't mention though that the toilet seat comes off. I take my toilet seat off to clean under the hinges and clean the seat more thoroughly once a quarter.

[rogue-ai-cat]

This is another video from the same guy about cleaning and depression. This advice, especially at the beginning, can feel really really difficult and oppressive to hear. However, I find that it's generally pretty solid. But I'm autistic and so is he, so that gets a massive Your Mileage May Vary stamp on it.

I have a favorite part of this video. It's from 10:52 to 12:36. I think we could all use to hear that. There's a HEFTY pause after that one. I promise the narration does come back.

I'm also going to recommend KC Davis' book "How To Keep House While Drowning"

[rogue-ai-cat]

This is a pair of videos about how to correctly load and use a dish washer.

The first one is a quick 1 minute 30 second overview on loading. I can't find the exact video I'm looking for, so consider this a substitute for that. If I can find the one I'm looking for, I'll swap it in.

The second is a half hour deep dive on dishwashers and detergents. The short form of that is you shouldn't need to pre-rinse anything, detergent pods are overpriced and can cause problems, some dishwashers have a filter in the bottom that needs to be cleaned (but most don't), run your sink until the water is HOT before starting your dish washer, and put a little detergent in the pre-rinse dispenser when you're washing extra dirty dishes (or on the inside of the door if your dishwasher doesn't have a pre-rinse dispenser).

[rogue-ai-cat]

Favorite Scrub Brushes + How to Clean Them - Clean Mama

Favorite Scrub Brushes + How to Clean Them. The right tools for cleaning tasks make all the difference! Scrub brushes are great tools and it

Here's a blog post about scrubbing brushes and how to clean them.

And a video for all cleaning tools, including scrub brushes. This video does use bleach. I'll try to find some alternatives to that.

[rogue-ai-cat]

How to clean a front load washer (with bleach). This should be done monthly or every time you wash really soiled clothes.

The Dirty Truth About How Often You Should Clean Your Washing Machine

With expert tips and tricks for all types of washers.

How to clean a top loader (without the removable agitator thing). This should be done every 1-3 months depending on you unit, or every time you wash really soiled clothes.

Clean Your Washer and You'll Have Cleaner Laundry

Regular cleaning of a top-load washing machine will prolong the life of the appliance and leave your laundry cleaner and brighter.

How to clean a top loader (with the removable agitator thing). This should be done every month, or every time you wash really soiled clothes.

[rogue-ai-cat]

This video is for pet owners.

These carpet brushes are a LIFE SAVER if you have dogs. This thing allows me to go from vacuuming about 4 square feet before my vacuum is full to vacuuming half the living room (I don't vacuum often enough. You should vacuum weekly, and I just can't.). I have to unclog the vacuum less often. It fluffs up some of the flat spots in the carpet. And I also use the brush to shampoo my rugs in the spring.

A spot cleaner (or a carpet cleaner with a spot cleaner attachment) is another life saver, ESPECIALLY if you can afford to splurge on a heated one. I see them at Goodwill or at yard sales occasionally, and they're worth picking up. The shark one in the video is great too.

This channel is gold. There's tutorials for cleaning EVERYTHING on there. Just go subscribe!

[fivekoboldsinacoat]

Gonna throw another potential resource at the end of this very long list, which may be potentially helpful for others like me who loathe videos. It's... the weirdest thing that has genuinely been helpful to me in housekeeping. Absolutely full of useful advice, and bizarrely still relevant in large part. (Though, caveat, research ANYTHING to do with chemicals or cleaning products more complicated than vinegar + lemon + water for modern information.)

It's America's Housekeeping Book (1941). Available for free download on the Internet Archive. (Large PDF file at the link here).

The LISTS y'all. The step by step lists. The emphasis on efficiency and arranging spaces for the least resistance possible. The basic concept of "take a tray or basket into a room when you are tidying up so you can put things that belong elsewhere on it and take them out LATER in ONE GO".

My ADHD-having ass could cry.

[zeldaspeaks]

cleaning with ADHD is a nightmare. it’s an endless cycle of finding a half-finished chore and stopping the one you were already working on, then remembering that something else needs to be done and getting started on that, then finding half-finished chore and

[jumpingjacktrash]

i have the solution! i call it ‘junebugging’.

have you ever seen a junebug get to grips with a window screen? it’s remarkably persistent, but not very focused. all that matters is location.

how to junebug: choose the location you feel you can probably get some shit done on today. be specific. not ‘the bathroom’ but ‘the bathroom sink’. you are not choosing a range, you are choosing a center; you will move around, but your location is where you’ll keep coming back to. mentally stick a pin in it. consider yourself tethered to that spot by a long mental bungee cord.

go to your location. look at stuff. move stuff around. do a thing. get distracted. remember you’re junebugging the bathroom sink and go back there. look at it some more. do a different thing. get distracted. get a sandwich. remember you’re junebugging and go back to the bathroom sink.

nt’s will go crazy watching you, and if they demand to know When You Will Be Done you will probably have to roll them in a carpet and stuff them up the chimney. you’re done when you feel done, or you’re too bored to live, or it’s bedtime, or any number of other markers, you get to pick. but the thing is, by returning repeatedly to that one spot, you harness the ‘hyperactivity’ part instead of wasting all that energy battling with the ‘attention deficit’ part.

not only will the bathroom sink almost certainly be clean, and probably the mirror and soap dish too, you might’ve swapped in a fresh toothbrush, a new soap, you might’ve unclogged the drain – you will probably also have cleaned or fixed up several things in the near vicinity, or in the path between the sink and where you get the fresh toothbrush, or maybe you did your grocery shopping cuz you were out of soap, or maybe you couldn’t find a clean hand towel and ended up doing laundry.

this is good. you got shit done! it wasn’t necessarily Cleaned The Bathroom in the way nt’s think of it, but screw ‘em. things are better than they were.

plus you worked off enough energy to be able to sleep. which is not small potatoes when living the ADHD life. :D

[spoonie-living]

Don’t let the adorable name fool you—this is some Seriously Good Advice. May be useful for brain fog and depression, too!

[flavoracle]

Reblogging to save my fellow ADHD peeps from the Sisyphusian curse of cleaning with no focus.

[drfilthbag]

You're Not Going to Dig That Mine

Decluttering is really hard, physically and emotionally; sometimes in subtle ways.

It's obvious why it's hard to get rid of a book your favourite aunty gave you (even if it's a bit water damaged), or the first thing you made in pottery class (even if it's not very good). But there's another kind of emotional barrier to getting rid of things.

Sometimes we see potential value in a thing, and it feels bad to throw that away.

But if you are not going to do the work to make it good, and you can't ask someone else to do the work, you need to give yourself permission to dump it.

This post is brought to you by me throwing away perfectly good lego. No one I know wants a box of random lego enough to take the time and effort to wash it of construction dust. I've washed lego in the past, and it was a *lot* of work.

I still feel bad about it, but I was never going to dig that mine, or do the work of finding someone who would (also real work!), so now it's in landfill. And I no long feel bad about it sitting around here, so you win some you lose some.

[drfilthbag]

Make Your Bed

You make the bed for near-future you. Not for the you who gets into it at night, but the you who walks past it during the day. Going to your room to get/do something feels just a shade easier when the bed is a smooth flat surface.

[coochiekrab]

The Sisyphean task of getting hairs off a wet bathroom counter

[drfilthbag]

Find The Discount Version of The Job

I wanted to make space for a new appliance by moving and rotating a piece of furniture. I knew the whole thing was going to involve multiple side quests, and I didn't have it in me to do all of them.

I almost gave up on the job, but then I realised there was a discount version that would do in the short term. I could move the furniture over, but not rotate it. I created enough space, and left all the side quests for another time.

[drfilthbag]

Make a Clean Spot

I have a small, self-contained area that's easy to clean that I use every day. Making sure to clean it regularly is great for forming habits. On a bad day I can clean just that area. But on a better day it inspires me to do a little more.

[yesornopolls]

is it pointless to make your bed?

Is it pointless to make your bed?

Yes

No

Voting ended onFeb 4, 2025

[drfilthbag]

this is another of my favourite youtube channels. Carla has a series called Declutter With Friends where she goes to a friend's house and helps them get rid of things. She often has great advice. In this one, talking about getting rid of things associated with treasured memories, she says:

It's really important to not make decisions from your past self but to make decisions from your future self.

[filthyprotozoan]

astonishing how good it can feel to get some chores done sometimes. you’ll be sitting there like damn i am some type of horrid little smeagol like creature who should be crushed to death. but then you do some laundry and you’re like wrow. im actually gods most fuckable soldier.

[drfilthbag]

[drfilthbag]

Learn to recognise the "clean up" feeling

I've often said that I don't notice mess, and it doesn't really bother me. But that's not exactly true. I often don't consciously notice, and I rarely think "this mess is irritating", but it does get under my skin. I am happier in a clean place.

This morning I got up and my table was a mess. Dishes and hobbies and rubbish, everywhere. For whatever reason I noticed myself getting irritated and frustrated by it, and I channeled that into making *some kind* of difference.

The table isn't clear, but those dishes are in the dishwasher and the rubbish is in the bin. And the effort I was able to put in (because I noticed) did make a difference.

[drfilthbag]

Insufficiently careful with Barkeeper's Friend (oxalic acid cleaner).

My lungs: why do I have chemical burns? You should cough about it.

[drfilthbag]

Clean the sink first

Did you ever watch a kid do a task and think "gah, you're being so inefficient!" They hold something in one hand, while they traipse back and forth lifting things with the other.

I've been trying to see the wisdom in those things kids do. To refuse the pressure to be more productive and maximise something or other. As a result I've noticed a category of tasks where I put off doing it now, because I'll need to do it again soon.

This morning I was about to do some washing up, and the sink was dirty with spilled soup and whatnot. Nothing rotten, but not clean. Normally I'd think "well there's no point cleaning it first, I'm about to make it dirty, I'll clean it after" (and then not clean it after). But this time I cleared everything back and washed the sink first.

Doing the dishes was so much more pleasant in a gleaming sink.

Do recommend!

[drfilthbag]

Coming at things from a slight angle

I like hoovering (vacuuming), because it's a great way to make a noticeable difference quickly. Well it is when you have pets, anyway.

I've recently discovered that a great way to hoover rugs is to take off all the attachments so you just have the bare end, then hold it at about 30 degrees to the floor. If anything is resisting getting sucked up you can kind of scratch at it. I find this sucks up more dirt, *and* it doesn't pull up the rug.

This discovery brought to you by hoovering on my hands and knees because doing it standing up was too hard.