Decluttering + fantasy = more successful decluttering?
June 30, 2023 1:59 AM Subscribe
I am decluttering and working with a life coach on this. I am a reader of fantasy and I am wondering whether there is a way to gamify decluttering and home organisation through tropes from fantasy. I'm thinking on the lines of clearing a room being like exploring a dragon's hoard, taking stuff to a charity shop being a side quest, something about maps, rescue ...
Have you tried this, have any ideas or know of any resources? I have seen the RPG-based tool called Declutter Go, but don't really want to bring more objects into the space. I have seen Chore Wars, but I'm not competing against anyone so don't think it would work.
I realise of course that this has the potential to be a distraction from decluttering rather than an actual help.
Have you tried this, have any ideas or know of any resources? I have seen the RPG-based tool called Declutter Go, but don't really want to bring more objects into the space. I have seen Chore Wars, but I'm not competing against anyone so don't think it would work.
I realise of course that this has the potential to be a distraction from decluttering rather than an actual help.
There's a bunch of apps to gamify your life. I tried LifeRPG for a bit where you can set your own quests+rewards etc.
It didn't really work for me. Turns out I need more immutable goals/rewards otherwise I either just don't care enough or I turn down the difficulty. Same problem with fitness apps really. Even the daily step goal thing meh.
posted by gible at 2:57 AM on June 30, 2023
It didn't really work for me. Turns out I need more immutable goals/rewards otherwise I either just don't care enough or I turn down the difficulty. Same problem with fitness apps really. Even the daily step goal thing meh.
posted by gible at 2:57 AM on June 30, 2023
If a friend told me they were doing this, I'd happily get on Facetime and send them on a quest to take "mystical items" to the charity store while I lurked in a corner, ominously biting into an apple and talking in riddles. I'd think it was completely hilarious.
In other words, if you have similarly-minded friends, feel free to throw this at them. They might get into the spirit of things, plus they'll hold you accountable.
posted by champers at 3:43 AM on June 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
In other words, if you have similarly-minded friends, feel free to throw this at them. They might get into the spirit of things, plus they'll hold you accountable.
posted by champers at 3:43 AM on June 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
I've seen a few people online lately saying that they use music playlists intended for D&D games for this reason. E.g. cleaning the kitchen gets a tavern playlist and they pretend to be a barkeeper or tavern wench closing up shop for the night. Music by itself might not be enough to help you, but I bet it adds the right atmosphere to whatever else you try.
posted by harriet vane at 3:49 AM on June 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by harriet vane at 3:49 AM on June 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
This exact product was advertised to me for several months straight on Instagram. It was a deck of cards that had daily quests, and the quests were creatively worded things that ultimately encouraged you to clean your house in a fantasy RPG way. I'll see if I can find it again.
posted by phunniemee at 4:27 AM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by phunniemee at 4:27 AM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Found it.
It's called Side Quest and it's not exclusively cleaning.
Instagram example.
posted by phunniemee at 4:31 AM on June 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
It's called Side Quest and it's not exclusively cleaning.
Instagram example.
posted by phunniemee at 4:31 AM on June 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
Habitica is close to what you’re describing.
https://habitica.com/
(Linking isn’t working. Sorry.)
posted by Comet Bug at 4:54 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
https://habitica.com/
(Linking isn’t working. Sorry.)
posted by Comet Bug at 4:54 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also came to recommend Habitica as a tool to check out. I have gotten plenty of satisfaction from it just as a character builder through leveling up and collecting items, but if quests would add extra motivation, you can join a party. And if you want to quest solo, I've found a mage with a bunch of daily tasks can get through quests quickly enough for me.
Writing your tasks as story beats would work in Habitica, so you could stay in character in your explorations.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:32 AM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Writing your tasks as story beats would work in Habitica, so you could stay in character in your explorations.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:32 AM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I tried this via Habitica, above, and it didn’t really work for me. The problem is that RPGs scale; as you level up you get greater challenges, which in turn level you up for even greater challenges. Whereas cleaning never changes. So why fight to get to level 14 when the exact same pile of dishes await you?
I would imagine someone would have solved this, but Habitica didn’t.
posted by argybarg at 8:20 AM on June 30, 2023
I would imagine someone would have solved this, but Habitica didn’t.
posted by argybarg at 8:20 AM on June 30, 2023
Response by poster: Thanks for answers. Not really looking for an app (tried Habitica years ago) or a way of monitoring numbers. More about telling oneself stories, reframing. Sorry, I'm putting it badly.
posted by paduasoy at 9:38 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by paduasoy at 9:38 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
I get through a lot of stuff by telling myself embarrassingly self-aggrandizing stories!
For repetitive cleaning and tidying, a magical trope might be aligning oneself with the powers of growth, doing rituals to maintain magical rectitude and strength? Like Galadriel’s mother in the Scholomance books?
Personally, very slight costuming often helps. A chore coat, apron with putting-away pockets, hair pinned up and under a kerchief. I know someone with a Cleaning Fairy tiara.
posted by clew at 10:04 AM on June 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
For repetitive cleaning and tidying, a magical trope might be aligning oneself with the powers of growth, doing rituals to maintain magical rectitude and strength? Like Galadriel’s mother in the Scholomance books?
Personally, very slight costuming often helps. A chore coat, apron with putting-away pockets, hair pinned up and under a kerchief. I know someone with a Cleaning Fairy tiara.
posted by clew at 10:04 AM on June 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Solo role play? For example, I hate doing the dishes, so I'll put on a cafe ambience track with people talking and jazz playing over the sound of coffee machines, and I put on my apron, and voila - I'm now in a French cafe somewhere on the south bank. I still have to do the dishes, but I'm not in my house - at least mentally.
On preview: what clew just said.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:57 PM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
On preview: what clew just said.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:57 PM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I have been thinking about the exact same thing lately! I am currently focusing on "basic self care" stuff and not decluttering, but I like to imagine myself a waifish Victorian gentleman working to gain his strength back after a long battle with a demonic entity that has been draining his magical energy for years.
...ahem.
Anyway, some stories you could tell yourself around decluttering:
- You have inherited an alchemy shop/wizard tower/witch's cottage long left to ruin and are restoring it to its former glory
- You are apprenticed to a great alchemist/wizard/witch and each day tasked with sneaking into the dragon's hoard and bringing out three items of magical power, some of which are disguised as ordinary junk
- You have been hired to clean an old mansion in the woods, and you suspect that its owner is hiding some sort of magical secret
- The charity shop is run by a magical being who desires a variety of common human objects which have unexpected power in their plane of reality, and will pay you handsomely for bringing these treasures to them
- Some of the items in your home are cursed and you need to go through them and get rid of anything with dark energy
- You have a faerie friend who is absolutely delighted by the most mundane objects and desperately wishes to obtain one of these mysterious "hairbrushes" or "staplers" for themself--you keep a box where you can set aside any spares to bring to them next time you visit
- You are a retired adventurer; there are many objects in your home that have sentimental value because it was your first sword/bow/hunting horn/etc., but you are gathering them to gift to a new generation of fresh-faced adventurers
- Your house is inhabited by a friendly spirit who has a lot of opinions about your decor and it would probably be better to get rid of that ugly planter your aunt gifted you that you don't ever use than listen to your spirit friend complain about it for the twenty-seventh time
- You are an immortal with centuries worth of objects in your home; you are collecting objects to donate to the local museum--mundane as they are, you know some historian is going to be absolutely delighted by them
Tbh I just started going through my recently read list and using that as a story prompt for my brain to jump off of. You could come up with more doing the same, I bet! While I think it can be a distraction, if fantasy is something that is positive and motivating and makes you feel good, doing things through that lens can absolutely help. It can also be good for a transition activity--starting immediately on cleaning might be overwhelming, but maybe you could doodle or write or look up images related to this little story in your head. Expand on it, flesh out the details, give background. Then, once you're excited about it, you can channel that energy into actual activity.
There's also always Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones for magical cleaning inspiration. If you haven't read it, absolutely do so! Perhaps as an audiobook while you clean?
posted by brook horse at 5:57 PM on June 30, 2023 [11 favorites]
...ahem.
Anyway, some stories you could tell yourself around decluttering:
- You have inherited an alchemy shop/wizard tower/witch's cottage long left to ruin and are restoring it to its former glory
- You are apprenticed to a great alchemist/wizard/witch and each day tasked with sneaking into the dragon's hoard and bringing out three items of magical power, some of which are disguised as ordinary junk
- You have been hired to clean an old mansion in the woods, and you suspect that its owner is hiding some sort of magical secret
- The charity shop is run by a magical being who desires a variety of common human objects which have unexpected power in their plane of reality, and will pay you handsomely for bringing these treasures to them
- Some of the items in your home are cursed and you need to go through them and get rid of anything with dark energy
- You have a faerie friend who is absolutely delighted by the most mundane objects and desperately wishes to obtain one of these mysterious "hairbrushes" or "staplers" for themself--you keep a box where you can set aside any spares to bring to them next time you visit
- You are a retired adventurer; there are many objects in your home that have sentimental value because it was your first sword/bow/hunting horn/etc., but you are gathering them to gift to a new generation of fresh-faced adventurers
- Your house is inhabited by a friendly spirit who has a lot of opinions about your decor and it would probably be better to get rid of that ugly planter your aunt gifted you that you don't ever use than listen to your spirit friend complain about it for the twenty-seventh time
- You are an immortal with centuries worth of objects in your home; you are collecting objects to donate to the local museum--mundane as they are, you know some historian is going to be absolutely delighted by them
Tbh I just started going through my recently read list and using that as a story prompt for my brain to jump off of. You could come up with more doing the same, I bet! While I think it can be a distraction, if fantasy is something that is positive and motivating and makes you feel good, doing things through that lens can absolutely help. It can also be good for a transition activity--starting immediately on cleaning might be overwhelming, but maybe you could doodle or write or look up images related to this little story in your head. Expand on it, flesh out the details, give background. Then, once you're excited about it, you can channel that energy into actual activity.
There's also always Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones for magical cleaning inspiration. If you haven't read it, absolutely do so! Perhaps as an audiobook while you clean?
posted by brook horse at 5:57 PM on June 30, 2023 [11 favorites]
I dressed up in an outfit inspired by Vasilisa from Russian folklore (a little peasant-ish but also pretty fabulous and red) and pretended that I was cleaning the cottage of Baba Yaga the witch (actually my house).
Whenever I was thinking that's good enough and was going to stop and have a break, I kept thinking, Vasilisa would keep going - and also made decorative arrangement on a desk of things that Vasilisa would think were cool, as I went.
Ended up just... Tidying everything??
So yeah. Which of your favourite characters would deal best with the challenge of decluttering a witches cottage if faced with that in a story? Then cos-play as them.
If you can think of music that would suit, that would help, but don't get too distracted with that.
posted by Elysum at 10:53 PM on June 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Whenever I was thinking that's good enough and was going to stop and have a break, I kept thinking, Vasilisa would keep going - and also made decorative arrangement on a desk of things that Vasilisa would think were cool, as I went.
Ended up just... Tidying everything??
So yeah. Which of your favourite characters would deal best with the challenge of decluttering a witches cottage if faced with that in a story? Then cos-play as them.
If you can think of music that would suit, that would help, but don't get too distracted with that.
posted by Elysum at 10:53 PM on June 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
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posted by Crystalinne at 2:04 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]