ADHD Coach Blog

Works for Me

Archives: August 2009

Clutter Clearing Tips for ADHD Adults

Learning to appreciate the beauty of a clutter-free environment will make it easier to maintain.

A lot of people say they actually prefer to work in a cluttered environment. I used to be one of them. "I wouldn’t be able to find anything if I cleaned off my desk!" I think what happens is, it’s so hard for us to stay organized that we surrender. We make friends with the piles. Then one day we get a lucky break and the thing we need is right on top. "See? I would have never found this if it was put away." Our belief that clutter is good has just been reinforced. Here are a few reasons why this is a false belief:

• Clutter is distracting. It’s hard not to pay attention to all that other stuff on your desk when you’re trying to focus on something.

• A good organization system will enable you to quickly find anything you need far more often than not.

• It’s bad feng shui. Clutter disrupts the flow of energy in your surroundings.

• It’s frustrating trying to cook in a kitchen that has only one square foot of open counter space. It won’t be long until you splash food on something important.

• You lose stuff. It’s much harder to find something if it’s camouflaged in a lot of stuff. Your brain has to sort through it all. You could be looking right at the item and not even see it.

• It gets expensive having to replace the things you lose (or splash food on).

• It’s harder to clean around all those piles.

• You can’t hire someone to clean until everything is picked up!

Convinced? Okay, good. Here are some pointers for reducing your clutter:

• Create an easy-to-access home for everything. If it’s not easy to use, you won’t use it.

• Take the extra few seconds to put something away instead of putting it down for "just a second." Admit to yourself that you will forget to come back to it if you don't put it away immediately.

• If you have kids, get them to help clean up before they’re allowed do something they like. This works for grown-ups too.

• Utilize your vertical space. Stacking shelves or bins is better than spreading them out.

• Practice minimalism. Get rid of stuff you don’t need, and stop buying new stuff that you also don’t need. If you have trouble getting rid of something, ask yourself if it’s worth the space it takes up, or who might appreciate it more than you do.

• Designate a spot where clutter is allowed to accumulate. I’m not sure it’s possible to be 100 percent clutter-free, so why set yourself up for failure?

• Do a "five minute cleanup" every day. Set a timer for five minutes and see how much you can get put away.

• Put things you don’t use often in boxes and store them in the basement or attic. Don’t forget to label each box (marker is fine), and store it with the label facing outward.

Learning to appreciate the beauty of a clutter-free environment will make it easier to maintain.

Don't Forget Your ADHD Coping Strategies When You're on Vacation

My mistakes added up to a very unpleasant evening as my ADHD symptoms collided into one big emotional mess.

I learned a valuable lesson on vacation the other week. Even though it happened on vacation, it’s a lesson that applies to any journey away from home. Here’s the story...

Rhode Island was our destination. None of us had ever been there before and we were excited about going to a new place. Wanting to be spontaneous, we didn’t do much planning.

On the first full day of our trip, we had donuts for breakfast. What a treat! We then spent the day exploring the area. The roads were poorly marked and didn’t match the directions we pulled up on the mobile phone’s tiny browser screen. We were chronically lost and incredibly frustrated. I ordered what I wanted when we stopped for lunch: a cup of chowda and homemade white bread. Yummy! By dinner time, after getting lost a few more times, my brain was so overloaded that I had a great deal of difficulty coping with the unfamiliar grocery store. I hadn’t made a shopping list, so I didn’t pick up anything with nutritional value.

Can you spot my mistakes? I did, but only after recovering from a complete meltdown. Here they are:

• Junk food. Since I was on vacation, I felt justified in eating whatever I felt like.

• No exercise. Similarly, I abandoned my exercise regimen. Not that I could have exercised much in the car during the 8-hour trip. But I could have a found a way when we arrived.

• Insufficient sleep. Not having exercised, and being in a strange place, it was hard to sleep the first night.

• No supplements. I failed to unpack my supplements and put them next to the coffee filters (so I bump into them in the morning) like I do at home.

• No printed maps. My coping strategy to avoid getting lost is to print and review maps ahead of time. Since we were being spontaneous, we didn’t do that. Can you believe that not one of the 47 maps in my glove box included the state of Rhode Island?

• No planning time. I’m very good at planning when I take the time to do it. When I don’t, I get overwhelmed by an unlimited array of choices.

All of this added up to a very unpleasant evening as my ADHD symptoms collided into one big emotional mess. Thankfully, my son and my boyfriend were extremely patient and supportive. Thanks guys! I was able to regroup the next day and enjoy the rest of the trip.

Don’t make the same mistake I did. When you go away somewhere -- whether it’s vacation, a weekend getaway, a business trip, or off to college -- remember to take your ADHD coping strategies with you.