#ADHD & #AuDHD people who have historically been deeply disorganized, messy, & unable to keep things clean: but were able to change?
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@moss empathy and compassion for myself and learning that being organized and clean isn’t a morality issue, it’s a brain issue. Coming up with little hacks that work for me (all socks the same color, hooks for my clothes in the same places always). Doing things over and over to try to build a new routine and experimenting with my own ways to get things done
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@moss I get really agitated by the visual noise of clutter, but also forget things exist if I can't see them.
So I use clear storage (for the seeing) and curate them/keep them pretty - because that's a treat for me, not because It's Important To Be Tidy.
And, to be quite honest, I got rid of a ton of stuff.
I also gave up on doing things "right." The "right" thing to do is hang your clothes up or nicely put them in dresser drawers. Well, I'm 51 and have never managed this.
Recently I switched to using a cube storage unit with fabric bins. I can put the sock bin on the floor next to me and throw all the socks in. Bang, done. Contained and concealed. Tshirts, loungey pants? Who cares if they're folded? Chuck 'em in the bins.
For chores I do races. Race to empty the dishwasher before the toast pops! Race to vac the house before Side A of the record ends! This serves two purposes: dishwasher gets emptied (or part emptied) and I didn't wander off and do something else "quick" for 3 hours and forget my toast.
Can't say any of this actually "worked," as in problems solved forever whee - but I'm less stressed keeping on top of things/generally feel better as a human.
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@mehitobel this is good advice.
I should work the clear containers in, I have the same, must see but hate clutter, issue. -
@MardraS You didn't ask, but here's an example of what I mean by curated and pretty: here's my desk organizer with fountain pens in the bottom tray and washi tapes in the middle. (And my flip timer to the right, adhd hallmark right there.)
If those drawers were full of a jumble of stuff I'd feel jarring emotional feedback all day. So keeping them neat became a comfort rather than a chore, if that makes sense.
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