I'm a single mom with ADHD who is blessed to have kids with both ADHD and ADD.

My entire house was a disaster (quite literally, my sister feared that CPS would come and take my kids away) until I found a website called flylady.com. The system turned my life around, literally. My house may not be Home and Gardens perfect, but it's comfortable, lived in, and I can actually find things... plus that fear is gone. Some of the things she talks about are:

You can do anything for 15 minutes. Go try it. Set a timer (egg timer, timer on your cell phone, on the microwave, just set a timer for 15 minutes) and start in one place. Perhaps the daybed. Get three boxes: trash, keep and give away. Start sorting everything on the daybed into those three boxes. When that 15 minutes is up take the give away box to your car to IMMEDIATELY take it to Goodwill, throw the trash away and put away those things in the keep box. Then set your timer again and do it again only in a different location in the room (say your desk next). Do this in 3 rounds, rotating the locations. Then take a 15 minute break. The key with this system is to remind yourself that you only have to stay focused for 15 minutes. It takes the pressure off. Put some fun music on to give you some energy and something to occupy your mind. Something fun and upbeat. Thing fling, fling, fling... oh and make sure you have your shoes on, you can accomplish a lot more with sneakers on then you can barefoot (I know, it sounds weird, but it's true).

Try it, it works.

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Check out flylady.net. It's a cool site.

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I was beginning to feel the same way about my house & office when I stumbled upon www.flylady.com I whole-heartedly recommend joining her daily e-mail message list. I can't tell you how much it helped me!

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I actually did get a professional organizer last weekend to come and help me start clearing my house. I have clutter everywhere, and I still have not unpacked all my boxes since I moved into my house, even though I moved in over 3 years ago!

It was the best thing I've done in years. I can finally see my floor in my office and I now know where all my stationery is! My office is clear and I threw out five big black sacks full of junk. We only made a start, but I'm definitely going to get her to come back and help with the rest of the house.

Don't be worried about what they might think. If they really are a professional organizer, they WILL have seen worse, or at least as bad! You have no reason to feel ashamed. You will be amazed how understanding they can be.

It can be expensive, but see it as an investment, like getting a new fitted kitchen.

Make sure you choose one carefully, preferably one with a good track record who understands and appreciates ADD.

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yikes, who knew there were so many of us! for years i have avoided having people over because of the mess. finally i just got over it, ok after a few years of reading ADDitude. i embrace my disorganization and clutter, it's mine! but sometimes it even gets to be too much for me. recently i hired a woman who not only helps me clean but she helps me declutter. she is not a professional organizer. there are no systems to purchase, or somebody else's way of doing things. she is my clutter-buddy, it really works. we are friendly but not friends. it is clear athat i am the employer, and i think that gives me a sense of not feeling ashamed or worrying what the professional organizer will think of me. we have tackeld different areas of my home each week, she stands nearby as i pick up items and decide whether to keep or toss. if i say toss, it miraculously dissappears, she wisks it away. if i say keep, she asks me where to put it, and then poof there it goes too. my only task is to make the decision. i don't have to get up and follow-through w/ putting everything where it goes, no chance of getting distracted or bored. i don't have to walk around bags and boxes waiting for a charity pickup/dropoff, as she takes those with her when she leaves (bringing me receipts from Goodwill). it is refreshing and i feel really good about developing this system that works for me so far. maybe someone will find this idea usefull too and tweak it just a bit to fit their style. goodluck.

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www. FLYLADY.com is the BEST!!! Timers, 27 days, 27 boogie fling. If you live in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) like I have in years past this is the greatest way to start reducing clutter and a great source when you have fallen off the tracks. Note of caution: Postpone joining her daily email service until you have started on the path of de-cluttering or you will end up with hundreds of emails that you must read and save, oops another type of clutter. As the FlyLady says set the timer and work until it beeps. Automatic break. Amazing what you can accomplish in 15 or 20 minutes. GOOD LUCK.

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My greatest distraction is stopping to read everything before I decide what to do with it. I try to set aside any magazines, articles, etc. in a box, to be read later. Which I never do. The next time I clean, they are usually too old or obsolete, so they're easier to part with!

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When I make up my mind that NO MATTER WHAT, I AM GOING TO CLEAN TODAY, I will go into the Family room and find something that goes into the bathroom. I go take that item to the bathroom & find things in the bathroom that need to go to my daughters bedroom. I take those things into her room and straighten things in there and find things that need to go to the kitchen so I head to the kitchen. Once I am in there, I can just forget about cleaning the family room. Now all that has taken 1/2 day. I did check out Fly Lady and this site sounds VERY promising. I am going to print out the pages and put them around the house and hope I can stay on track. I have a little 8yr old that has ADHD, I only have ADD. My 8 yr old daughter is raging lately. Her room looks like a tornado went off in there. Any suggestions for her room either?? Thanks!

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Ann Schide said: Delta!

I LOVE vertical filing! And now, as you have pointed out, there is support for "messy" people. I have been this way all my life, but can find anything as long as no one moves my stuff. My spouse also has ADD and is a pack rat who likes order and neatness...but cannot achieve it himself. So we are at detante! The house is clean with clutter.

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When I practiced removing the shame out of my messes and started accepting the disorder for what it is, my life began to have more joy. Like Dr. Hallowell says, Just be as organized as YOU need to be to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish; screw everybody else that thinks they know how YOU should operate. Take back your personal power of being YOU, ADHD and all!

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