Welcome to
The Manifesto
Our motto: “If you can’t do a great thing, do a something.”
Sam created National Clean Your Home Month in 2019 because he didn't feel the need to do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) but wanted to join in the madness that it usually induces on social media. Also his home needed cleaning*.
But before you start feeling stressed about cleaning, let's be clear: the goal of NaClYoHo is not actually to end up with a clean home.
The goal of NaClYoHo is to spend time each day addressing something you’d like to change about your living space.
* Also he had undiagnosed ADHD and poor executive function! He's medicated now but this is all still very useful. If you're interested in reading his adult ADHD diagnosis journey, it's under the "Sam Has ADHD" tag here.
For the month of November, you put on some kind of media each day -- a podcast, a playlist, a movie -- and clean, organize, sort, or work on your to-do list until the media is over or you run out of steam.
That's it. Phew, that was a short manifesto!
Just kidding, there's more below. But that is the essence of NaClYoHo: it's meant to take stress out of something that is stressful for a lot of people. The basic premise is this: put on a podcast and do a thing. If you don't manage it today, try again tomorrow.
As of September 2024, the official NaNoWriMo organization, already embattled by accusations of abuse, child endangerment, and financial misconduct, partnered financially with AI orgs and began heavily pushing AI writing aids, to the outcry of many, Sam included.
This is simply to state that NaClYoHo has never had a formalized relationship to NaNoWriMo and given its increasingly unreliable reputation, Sam has removed links to the site from this document. There are plans in place for several new community-based programs like NaNo, so it's likely that eventually this document will be able to update with links to those.
Writers should still feel encouraged to participate in NaNoWriMo, but to do so independent of the organization, which is how Sam did NaNo for several years.
Well, NaCl is the chemical formula for salt, and pirates say Yo Ho. (Also, if you read down to the To Viking section, a "To Pirate" list is not a bad idea.)
As long as you like. Sam uses podcasts as timers, because it's easy to find podcasts between 20 and 40 minutes and they come out in series, meaning they're familiar and comforting. But you can work for a five-minute song, a twenty minute podcast, a two hour movie. You can base it on how long you can handle it, and you can vary it by day.
And once that media finishes, you can keep going or you can consider yourself done. Even if you only did a few things, you’ve now done those things!
That's a goal for many participants, but it's up to you. The idea is to set a goal, so if you know you can't do it every day you can say "Okay, three days a week" or similar. The entire point is to remove stress. So if you can't do it every day, and if you don't know if you can even set a goal, that's okay too.
You can clean out a storage box, organize your desk, sort a closet, weed your garden, upcycle old clothes, assemble furniture, finish crafts, sort and scan documents, or anything else -- even if it's a bigger project than you think you can tackle in the time you've got, you can still make a start.
Other things that you can count as NaClYoHo: Job networking. Self-care. Making a doctor's appointment. Holiday shopping or list-making. Cooking that chicken before it goes bad. Really it should be called National Do Shit You Don't Really Want To Do Month, but NaDoShYoDoReWaToDoMo is hard to say. If you want some inspiration, you can check out the naclyoho tag on Tumblr.
And even still there's other things you can do! Vacuum, empty the litterbox, do laundry, take out the trash, do the dishes, pick up the bedroom floor, or clean out your email.
You may be thinking, "Fine, but I have to do those things anyway, Sam" but remember: they are still Things, and they still count. There are two types of cleaning: "long term" which is about organizing, throwing things out, hanging posters, that sort of thing. But there's also "maintenance" cleaning: stuff you have to do regularly and know, in your heart, you might not be doing as often as you should. It's still important and it's still hard sometimes.
NaClYoHo is a good way to experiment with trying to habitualize maintenance cleaning, so that even after November is over maybe you'll think to yourself, "I could put my headphones on, queue up a podcast, and do the dishes." And if you find that too difficult, then you now know what's possible, which is good information to have.
If you want to post about what you're doing you can, but you don't have to. The naclyoho tag is open to all. Before and after photos can be super satisfying! But this is for you, not anyone else. And if you're shy or not sure of yourself, you can enjoy other peoples' posts about what they're up to before trying it yourself.
A huge part of NaNoWriMo, at its best, is the sentiment of “it’s not failure if you’re trying.” Some people have shame over their housekeeping abilities or the cleanliness of their home, which is hard. But if you’re committed to working on it, in a supportive environment, you’re more likely to follow through regardless of whether you're talking about it to others.
So uh. Also don't be a dick about other peoples' efforts, and try not to negatively downtalk your own work. But that's just a good rule generally.
This section is under construction, but was inspired by Kedreeva on Tumblr, who gave Sam permission to steal it. In 2022, Kedreeva offered to write 100 words on their NaNo for every task their readers completed. You can read their original post here.
Sam is currently working on a way to partner up NaNo writers and NaCl cleaners who can "mirror" each other in the work, but doing such a thing safely is proving difficult. For now, Sam merely suggests that if you want to mirror with an author, find someone doing NaNoWriMo and buddy up.
In 2023, Hlahlahlahlahly on Tumblr created a random task generator to make each day a little spin of the roulette wheel. You can read the original post here, but essentially they created a spreadsheet with a list of all the tasks they wanted to accomplish; spreadsheets automatically number rows on the side, so all you have to do from there is go to the random number generator of your choice and roll the dice to find out what task you'll be doing on any given day. This seems like a fantastic way to incentivize yourself, because it adds a game of chance into the mix, and that's one of those things that can really affect executive function. Have fun with it!
November is hectic. People are doing NaNoWriMo, prepping for holidays, going to Thanksgiving dinner, etc. This is meant to allow people who aren't interested in NaNo to participate in "doing an intense activity". But doing a month-long deep clean in November also makes sense from Sam's midwestern point of view:
If you clean a little each day your home will be clean, or at least more in order, by Thanksgiving. If you’re leaving you’ll come back to a clean home, and if you’re hosting, your home will be something you’re proud of.
In places where it gets cold in winter, you’re going to be indoors more anyway, so you won’t have the urge to chuck the cleaning in favor of going outside. And if you're indoors more, it might as well be somewhere you find comfortable.
Late in the month, cleaning can morph into "decorating for winter" which is fun!
Ultimately, this is something you could do in June, January, or September! Especially if you get friends to commit with you, so that you have that “suffering together” network.
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.
These are harvested from posts Sam has done; they're not so much "how to clean" but more "how to engage emotionally with the concept of cleaning" which is a lot of big talk coming from a guy with two arts degrees, but nobody's technically obliged to listen.
Every once in a while you think you've hit the wall, that you just can't do anything more. Some days you're out of the house for too long, or you're tired, or you just don't want to. That's okay, because this is not actually a wall but a bench: a place where you can sit and rest for a while until you're ready to get up again. You can take some time for a breather, walk away and come back later, or do stuff that you know you still have to do but also know you can't really call "cleaning". You can always try again tomorrow, and you've lost nothing in the attempt.
A key part of cleaning for Sam has turned out to be that he needs stuff. A box to keep paperwork in, a laundry cart that isn't broken, drawers for tools. These make life easier, but also they feel like a treat because our monkey brains recognize "Hey, new thing! That's fun!"
Not everyone can afford to buy a lot of things, and some people overwhelm easily, so it doesn't have to be an entire organization system or a complete closet overhaul. It can be as simple as higher wattage lightbulbs for your floor lamp, or a small container for your pens and pencils. But remember that "buying this thing which will make my life easier" is a legitimate use of your cleaning time and funds.
No system is entirely compatible with everyone. It's important to know what's best for you, not what anyone else says is best. If it's easier to clean at 4am, go for it. If it's best to quietly clean after dinner, that's fine too. If certain kinds of work are easiest, do those and then rest before you tackle the hard stuff.
Relatedly, if you've just organized your desk and can't find anything, maybe that wasn't the best way to organize stuff and you need to rethink your strategy. That's not failure, that's experimentation. Take permission to experiment. Find what works for you, not what you think should work for you.
"The To Viking List" is a way to add excitement to any to-do list by pretending you are not simply doing chores but are in fact living in an epic poem. Re-describing chores as if they are feats of strength is very therapeutic.
The original To Viking list is here, and contains such items as:
Return some hardware to Best Buy AS MY ANCESTORS DID BEFORE ME
RAVAGE DOWNTOWN to find an appropriate and affordable new suit
SCOUR my home because it needs cleaning WITH FIRE AND THE SWORD
However, there's no need to confine it to Vikings. You can also To Vampire, To Con Man, To Monastery, To Super Mario, To Superhero, To Steve Irwin* -- really any figure of high adventure can be applied to a to-do list to make it more satisfying. And if you have fun, share it on the To Viking tag!
* Look at that vacuum cleaner. What a beaut. I'm gonna rassle it.
Sam has retired the Google Form for "signups" for Salty Pirates; it was voluntary to begin with and didn't seem to be a particularly useful resource, but if you miss the form do reach out and that will be taken into consideration for next year. If you wish to continue sharing media suggestions and cleaning tips feel free to post to the naclyoho hashtag on Tumblr (or your socmed of choice).
There is a resource document here sourced from past years' signups; it includes a list of media recommended by past Salty Pirates, cleaning ideas, tips and tricks, and ways to prevent yourself from feeling overwhelmed. These are varied suggestions -- the cleaning section is not a checklist!
Here is a post for people who feel like they need to learn how to run errands.
There is a system for organizing how to get many things done here which a lot of people have found useful. Caveat: while it may be useful, it can cause a struggle for people who are bad at estimating time or working under a time limit. It's okay not to use it. Sam doesn't use it because he is, as it turns out, a bit time blind.
This looks like it's just a post with a link to this document in it, but if you scroll down, jenndoesnotcare on Tumblr has added some excellent book resources here.
Some products Sam uses regularly are:
The Lilly Brush: This is just a thick piece of rubber, but it pulls pet hair out of upholstery with astonishing effectiveness. You can use it in place of a lint roller, including on clothes, but it's best for pet blankets that need a quick going-over before being washed. Sam's cats even like to be "brushed" with it. (The link goes to a third-party vendor who gets a percentage from the sale; he's a car detailer who introduced Sam to the brush and his site is reputable, but you can buy Lilly off most big retailers as you prefer.)
Bissell Steam Cleaners: Sam formerly recommended the Bissell Steam Shot because he had one and liked it; it's a handheld steam cleaner which uses a focused jet of pressurized steam to remove stains from walls, gunk from dishwashers and stoves, and streaks from other surfaces. However, the Steam Shot was recently recalled by the company for safety issues. Bissell paid $40 per recalled item and the brand is still pretty solid, so Sam recently purchased the Powerfresh Lift Off combo mop-steamshot. It can be a little heavy and unwieldy, but the steam output is tremendous and for storage purposes having the steam-cleaning mechanism housed inside the mop is very useful. After a year of use, it's still going strong, and it's great to be able to pull the mop head off and throw it in a washing machine to clean it.
Tineco Cordless Vac: Sam's review of this cordless vacuum cleaner is at the link. Essentially, Tineco brand is second only to Dyson in reliability and quality; if you're looking for a cordless vac but don't want to pay $700, it's your best bet. Not having to wrangle a cord really has altered Sam's cleaning habits significantly, for the better. Cordless vacuums are not generally as powerful as corded, but if you can vacuum twice as often because they're lighter and easier to manage, that strikes a nice balance.
Hey, you got this! But if you have questions, you can hit me up on tumblr or at copperbadge@gmail.com.
I used to link here to my ko-fi, but I'm earning more money and no longer making student loan payments, so I'm doing okay. Instead, if you'd like to show your appreciation for the work, please feel great about donating to one of these nonprofits!
You can also give to my paypal with a note reading "Salty Pirates" and any funds given will be donated in a lump sum at the end of November to the nonprofit I work for, which supports research, advocacy, and outreach for people with terminal lung disease.