Some TikTok tidying hacks make it seem like cleaning the house is sooo easy, but that’s not true for everyone. Sometimes, the task of decluttering, organizing, and cleaning is downright daunting. Luckily, not every CleanTok influencer is in the business of pretending not being able to clean is a character flaw, and if you’ve spent any time on the cleaning side of social media, you may have seen these more charitable sorts advocating for “doom boxes” to help you deal with your clutter.

Doom boxes are a solution seemingly tailor made for people who struggle with decluttering and organizing. Here’s what you need to know about the trend, and how to make it work for your home.

What are CleanTok’s doom boxes?

This technique works for anyone with a lot to clean or organize, but is especially recommended for individuals with ADHD or who may otherwise struggle with keeping track of everyday items or staying on task when it’s time to clean. More accurately, we should call them DOOM boxes, as the name is an acronym; it stands for “didn’t organize, only moved.” In short, this means that the stuff in the box doesn’t really belong there, but was moved there from somewhere else it wasn’t supposed to be.

Essentially, doom boxes are containers scattered around your space that hold random items with no apparent organization. They break the cardinal organizational rule of keeping similar items together, but uphold the second most important rule perfectly: They create a designated spot for everything.

When you follow the Organizational Triangle or another organizational framework, you put everything in containers, making sure each container is divided and all your items are stored according to specific categories. If you struggle with feeling overwhelmed by cleaning, remembering to put things away, or simply finding space for everything, a doom box can work similarly, minus the actual organization part. It keeps the clutter out of your open spaces and even if the things inside have nothing in common—though they sometimes might—they are still bound together in a category, simply by being part of your doom box.

How to use a doom box to declutter your home

If you find it difficult to stick to a cleaning schedule or regularly put away items that are out of place, a doom box could work well for you. Instead of committing to cleaning at a certain time or doing a particular amount of cleaning, all you have to commit to is putting all the clutter into the box. Seeing the immediate impact this has on your open space can motivate you, or make you feel less anxious about the mess, which means you have a better chance at finding the willpower to eventually go through the box and organize its contents. If the idea of organizing and decluttering the room all at once is too much, putting everything into a box, calmly enjoying the open space, and then organizing it all could be the move.

In other instances, the doom box can exist as is; there’s no rule against having a container that functions just to hold miscellany that doesn’t otherwise have a place. Frequently used items like keys, identification, outerwear, headphones, or the like could go in a doom box near your entry door, for example. Everything that is out of place in the living room, from kids’ toys to a discarded sweatshirt, could go in a room-specific doom box.

This might feel like cheating, but only if you let it bother you. It’s not “better” to organize in a different way, and it’s not “worse” to just hide random items away in a container. Everyone has a different cleaning style. For you, simply keeping things out of sight and making sure you’re not feeling stressed might be exactly right.

Find a doom box that works for you

You’ll need a semi-spacious box that fits in well with your home. Ideally, the doom box will be a little out of the way, stacked with other organizational containers, or will fit onto a shelf. Since the contents will be varied and the goal is to create a space free of clutter outside the box, look for something opaque and unobtrusive.

Something like this, which has a flat lid you can stack other things on, opens easily, and conceals its contents, could be a strong option:

popoly Large Toy Box Chest with Lid

$19.99

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$19.99

“Good.” “I found a team and a fortress too.” And one review that’s just a full transcript of Valve’s Meet the Heavy video. These were the top user reviews Steam showed me for the popular game Team Fortress 2, at least until I turned on the “Use new helpfulness system” filter.

Steam, the popular PC games storefront, has a bit of a meme problem. Users love to leave jokey reviews on games, so much so that there’s an official filter that shows “funny” reviews, and while that can be great for in-jokes, one word reviews and the like aren’t always helpful to people looking to actually buy a game.

That’s why Valve today updated Steam with a “New helpfulness system” that tries to surface content with more effort put into it.

In a post to its site, Valve wrote that it was “ready for public testing of a new system that changes the way Steam sorts user reviews on store pages.” The new system will prioritize “reviews that can best help players make a purchase decision about the game,” filtering out “one-word reviews, reviews comprised of ASCII art, or reviews that are primarily playful memes and in-jokes.”

The company says that some humorous reviews will still be peppered in, but that prospective players should “see them less frequently when trying to learn about a game.”

The change has been generally well-received on X, with game developers celebrating. Of particular note is a post from Matthew Castle, who formerly co-hosted the Mystery Steam Reviews series for Rock Paper Shotgun. According to Castle, who has seen hundreds of Steam reviews over the years, “There’s no community as crushingly unfunny as Steam reviewers.”

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All hope is not lost for anyone still looking to win t3h internet, though. While the new helpfulness system is enabled by default, users can toggle off the filter under “Display” above the user reviews list to go back to the old sorting method. The new filter also only applies to the Summary and Most Helpful views, so using the Funny or Recent views will also disable the system.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Hopefully, the solution will let everyone be happy, while allowing developers a better chance to look at genuine user feedback and prospective buyers a clearer idea of what they’d be getting into.

Valve says its categorization techniques involve user reports, some machine learning, and human judgment calls. The company also explained that it’s not deleting reviews categorized as unhelpful so that players who want to express an opinion about a game but who don’t want to write much can still do so using the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons, which will still be counted in the game’s total user reviews score.

Whether this will continue to be the case in the face of review bombing, which involves coordinated campaigns to lower user review scores that may not represent how the average player feels, remains to be seen.

As the summer wanes, you might find yourself buying as much fruit as possible while simultaneously trying to get rid of your surplus fruit. It’s a fruit paradox, and I, too, suffer from it. I’ve found myself relying on classic fruit bakes, and getting creative with some other favorites to use up my less-than-perky berries and stone fruit. It turns out, baking a small batch of mini fruit galettes is the best thing to make when you have an awkward amount of aging berries on your hands.

What is a galette?

Galettes are like pies but without a pie dish. They include the typical elements of a fruit pie—fruit filling and a pie crust—but they’re flat, open-faced, and kind of free-form. The allure of a galette is that it’s less fussy than a pie. The primary reason I make mini galettes in late summer is because, like a pie, large galettes still require a heap of fruit—two to four cups—and mini galettes don’t. You can make a batch of mini galettes with that random half-eaten pint of puckering blueberries or a single peach. And if you keep store bought pie crust in the fridge, well, it’s that much easier. 

How to make mini galettes

1. Prepare your pie crust

Thaw and unroll a sheet of store bought crust. Use a large biscuit cutter, a mason jar lid, or just use a paring knife to cut circles out of the dough. Remember, galettes are rustic so if you’re doing it with a knife, it’s alright if the circle is wonky. Make the circles about three to four inches in diameter. My local ShopRite had a box of these Pillsbury mini pie crusts, so I tried them. They’re no revelation, but they perforate seven little hexagons into the dough that you can cut out. You can make three circles or 12 depending on how much fruit you’re trying to get rid of. Put any leftover pie crust back in the fridge or freezer. 

2. Egg wash the edges

Place the pastry rounds on a parchment paper lined baking pan. Since galettes don’t have a pie dish holding the crust in position, you have to use egg wash. Egg wash will help to seal the crust and give the galettes a lovely golden color. I mix one egg yolk with a teaspoon-ish of water. Brush this mixture along the outer edge of each crust circle. 

3. “Waterproof” the bottoms

Summer berries release quite a bit of juice when they bake. Normally for a fruit pie we would cook the pie filling and thicken it on the stovetop to prevent a watery filling and soggy crust. But since these baby galettes use barely any fruit, that step would be overkill. Instead, give the crust a “waterproof” dusting of cornstarch and sugar. This protective starch layer will absorb the released fruit juices and gelatinize in the heat of the oven to create a sweet, thick syrup. I admit, the measurement is a bit of a gamble because you never know how juicy a particular fruit will be, but usually a thin layer of this mixture is enough to keep the crust from sogging-out. Mix two teaspoons of cornstarch with three teaspoons of sugar. Spread about a half-teaspoon in the center of each pastry round.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

4. Fill the galettes

Now you can simply place the berries or cut fruit chunks onto the crust. I’d say about a tablespoon or so in the center is a good place to start. If I’m only using berries, I’ll toss them with a squeeze of lemon juice in a bowl before adding them to the pie crust.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Leave an outer half-inch of pastry available and begin pleating the pastry edge by folding and pinching. The egg wash will act like glue to keep the pleats crimped. Pleat the crust all the way around and repeat this with the other galettes. 

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

5. Bake  

Egg wash the outside of the pastry dough, and sprinkle it lightly with sugar. Bake the galettes in a 400°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the fruit juices are bubbling and the pastry is well-browned.

Currently, all of my aging summer fruit is undergoing the mini galette stage of life. They make for great breakfasts with a cup of coffee, charming mid-morning snacks, and perfectly petite desserts with a scoop of ice cream. I find no fault with these personal summer fruit pies. I particularly enjoy walking around my apartment while snacking on one of these and pondering how hot it is outside. Best to play it safe, stay inside, and eat more mini galettes. 

Mini Summer Galette Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 roll of thawed store bought pie crust

• 1 cup of berries or chopped stone fruit

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

• 3 teaspoons sugar

• Egg wash for the crust

• Sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut about seven three-inch circles out of the pastry crust. Place the circles onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and brush the egg wash around the edges.

2. Toss the berries or stone fruit chunks with the lemon juice in a small bowl. In a separate bowl mix the cornstarch and sugar together.

3. Sprinkle about a half teaspoon of the sugar mixture into the center of each pastry round. Add a spoonful of the fruit on top of that.

4. Pleat the edges of the pie dough all the way around to create a secure “wall.” Pinch the pleats. Egg wash the outside of the “wall” and sprinkle it with a little sugar.

5. Bake the galettes for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling and the pastry is well-browned. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before snacking.