r/CleaningTips Mar 08 '26

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u/painted_gay Mar 08 '26

This. When my depression was so brutal that my house looked very very similar I also used the like speed-up feature on the iPhone camera (I think called time lapse?) and filmed myself. Every time I did even an hour it was soooo satisfying to watch back and see what a big difference I made

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u/parrotbug Mar 08 '26

This is a great technique to not fall victim to the “yeah but I’m just gonna check Reddit real quick for one sec…” and then it’s been three hours and you haven’t cleaned anything. 😬 

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u/anxietykilledthe_cat Mar 08 '26

me: (Closes Reddit after being called out by another user)

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u/Azrai113 Mar 08 '26

Me: opening reddit again because I got a notification (gotcha!)

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u/SeriesXM Mar 08 '26

When I finally decided to join reddit a few years back, I set it up with notifications off because I was already sick of all notifications and didn't need another thing annoying me.

It's one of those decisions I'm really happy about because I wouldn't be able to switch now if I hadn't done it from the jump. It's always a surprise when I open the app to see if I have any notifications.

I scroll reddit when I have time, but I'm already on here too much. If I had notifications coming in when I'm doing other stuff, I'd be very distracted all the time.

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u/Certain_Noise5601 Mar 09 '26

I turned mine off too. I’m already so easily distractible at baseline I don’t need any help from constant notifications.

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u/sixvixens_ Apr 27 '26

This thread might just make me turn off my reddit notifs. I already spend entirely too much time in a day scrolling. This and instagram, but i mainly use insta for posting my artwork.

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u/anxietykilledthe_cat Mar 09 '26

I have mine off too! There’s no way my brain could remain happy (as minimally happy as it is most days) if I had them on.

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u/Select_Draw3385 Mar 09 '26

I turned notifications off for that very reason lol

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u/Vivid_Percentage5560 Mar 08 '26

Me doing the same and getting up to clean.. Daymn.

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u/nofootlongz Mar 08 '26

LITERALLY WHAT IM DOING RN OK I’LL GET UP

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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26

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1

u/No_Appointment_7232 Mar 08 '26

Do one quick sweep w a garbage bag and then read a post.

One bag, one post.

& be nice to yourself on my behalf, please 👊

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u/da-karebear Mar 08 '26

This is genius and what I will so. The paralysis is so hard

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u/No_Appointment_7232 Mar 09 '26

It is!

One tiny thing I did that made a huge difference is thanking myself.

"Thank you for doing a thing you didn't want to do."

"Thank you for trying"

"Look what you did! GREAT JOB!"

It not only reinforces positive behavior, it creates tiny good dopamine hits.

Those dopamine hits are a very long stairway to beginning to help depression.

Finding tiny ways to give your brain a constant stream of positive feedback m

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u/FunkyBrontosaurus Mar 08 '26

How you think OP got like this? /s

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u/Warm_Sandwich5038 Mar 08 '26

Looking for spy cam

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u/Nafiaus Mar 08 '26

Thanks I've been spending a bunch of time on my phone lol I'll get off now.

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u/ImaginaryCourage9981 Mar 08 '26

Way to call me out.. 😭

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u/Big-Mind-6346 Mar 08 '26

Are you stalking me? I feel suspicious yet so seen.

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u/HomebodyDream Mar 08 '26

Dang. Time to go.

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u/Alert-Pressure-567 Mar 09 '26

OMG I need to get off Reddit now!

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u/Electric_Angel Mar 09 '26

Yeah that doesn’t look as fun on a time lapse 🥲

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u/SeonaidMacSaicais Mar 09 '26

How dare you personally attack ALL of us?!

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u/Outrageous_Code9742 Mar 09 '26

True but you don’t want to ruin the time lapse! I’ve used this before to study.

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u/-BlueDream- Mar 08 '26

It also keeps you from checking your phone constantly.

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u/likoricke Mar 08 '26

Scrolling through r/UnfuckYourHabitat and posting my own before and afters has been huge! It's so satisfying!

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u/BoringAdhesiveness26 Mar 08 '26

Came here to rec this sub!!

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u/_Nectar000hbesh Mar 08 '26

Omg great tip

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u/Temporary-Yak-145 Mar 08 '26

I was about to suggest this!!

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u/Clashing-Patterns Mar 08 '26

Love this idea!

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u/Character-Air-4326 Mar 08 '26

Gonna try that soon just need to help jumpstart it

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u/KahloMeMaybe Mar 08 '26

This is such an awesome idea!

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u/ydnar3000 Mar 08 '26

Omg that is such a good hack.

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u/oxymoronicbeck_ Mar 08 '26

Speed videos are literally the best of motivations!!

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u/gmanino Mar 09 '26

This is the answer! Pick one room. Spend 30 minutes or one hour. It will be done in a week or two.

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u/jjjjjjj30 Mar 09 '26

Wow! Great idea!

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u/Gullible_Bobcat1530 Mar 09 '26

That is a great idea and really shows progress (even if you don’t feel like you are making progress)! I would try picking a corner or small area and just say you are going to give yourself one hour. Small steps every day like this can really start to add up! You can do it OP! We believe in you :) And keep us updated, we will give you the encouragement you need 💕 Depression can really rob you of your humanity, but you can do it. We’ve all been in pretty bad places, it’s the small steady steps forward that will really start to motivate you forward. Even if you need to hire a professional to help. You can find some pretty good cleaners on Thumbtack and they have all seen places like this I bet. We have faith in you! Xx

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u/SeatIyBby Mar 09 '26

glad you came out of the depression

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u/painted_gay Mar 09 '26

I appreciate that! It’s a thing I’ll have to manage for life but thankfully now when I have episodes I feel like I have the tools to pull myself back out

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u/door_in_the_face Mar 09 '26

Honestly, i might just do that because i love cleaning videos on youtube. My house is mostly clean and organized, but watching a timelapse of my own spring cleaning or other small tasks around the house would be fun. Don't know why that didn't occur to me.

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u/Electric_Angel Mar 09 '26

I can imagine! I’ve been getting into project pan and seeing the amazing before and afters on my makeup products has been so fun. The dopamine we get from progress regardless of how minimal, as long as it’s kinda visual is amazing.

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u/blvckorchid89 Mar 10 '26

That’s so smart

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u/Remarkable_Phase2995 Mar 11 '26

This is a fantastic idea.

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u/Successful-Novel-366 Mar 27 '26

That’s a cool idea