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Hate to Wait? Here's Help

Seven time-saving, productivity-boosting strategies to help adults with ADHD or ADD get more done and feel less frustrated doing it.

4 Comments: Hate to Wait? Here's Help

  1. You made the kind of comment I would usually save – – but when I saw # 3 in the article- I laughed because I saw myself, wasting hours on sock sorting that could have been better used in a hundred other ways. And I was dumbfounds that someone else had also wasted time on their sack of lonely socks.

    When You have ADD and a problem with letting things go, the last thing I really need is to save a sack of socks, only to spend more time with them. I am never going to start stitching patches on socks with holes – – – so, bye bye socks.

  2. Sock tip:

    I have tried various methods not to lose socks in the wash. This is the best and easiest: when you take your socks off, cuff them together so they stay together in the hamper. When you wash socks, uncuff them and put them in a lingerie bag in the washer. Throw the bag in the dryer to dry. Don’t take them out of the bag until you are ready to match them and put them away. No lost socks!

    Matching tip:
    Match the most colorful and distinctive first-those are the easiest. Lump the rest into white, black, navy first. That reduces the number you have to choose from when you have to match the rest.

    Frugal tip:
    Save a sock from each color group. When you get the inevitable heel-hole, cut a piece of fabric from a matching color and stitch it around the hole. It won’t show in your shoe-it is covered by the shoe heel.

    For the inevitable toe-holes, I keep a sewing kit in the washroom cupboard and one in the bedroom. I darn on-the-spot with buttonhole thread (thicker and stronger) and keep pre-threaded needles of white, black, and navy. Always re-thread before you put the needle away. I buy the needles with the self-threading eyes (slit in the eye) to eliminate the step of a needle-threader or fumbling to find the eye. An egg-darner makes it easy to repair toes and heels. A hard-boiled egg or lightbulb will work, too. (Prevents poked fingers and stitching both sides together!)

    Tip: If you have a sock with a hole, never separate it from its hole-less mate or you never will find the mate when you do mend the holey one.

    When to mend: when you need to make those phone calls to long-winded people if you can’t do on-the-spot mending while you are doing the wash.

    If it is easy (all the materials there, little to no prep, takes a few minutes), I will do it!

  3. I suggest people really think about whether errands in batches will work for them. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by planning my to do list and judging the route and timing that I just give up and go back to sleep. I overthink all of it. I personally find it useful to have a written to do list and as I drive around I check things off as I go near/by them. I have been able to make it a habit to look at my list frequently, and I drive all over the city for work – so this is just something that makes more sense with my lifestyle. It’s better than ducking under the covers to escape the confusion I create!

  4. Great article! I agree with everything you suggest. My brother in law’s theory is that socks fight in the dryer and the losers turn into lint! He told my son’s this story when they were little! I have a cute pail next to my dryer that is painted with laundry on it. It is where I keep all single socks just like you. I toss mismatched after awhile too. Not worth keeping. Buy the same brand/same color always! When I run my errands in my small town I only drive “right” so I never have to cross traffic. Waiting for someone to let me cut to the left takes too long on our Main Street. I go to the grocery store first, turn right, gas station, turn right, pharmacy (drive thru to prevent buying stuff I don’t need!), turn right, bank, turn right, pet store, home the back way to avoid all Main Street traffic and red lights. Food shopping once every two weeks. My friend goes EVERY day to get bargains. I hate the grocery store. It gives me anxiety!!! I try to be efficient with lists. I always forget something but I try! I’ve also had great success with the “go to bed” alarm because I tend to hyper focus on a project late at night and 2am approaches quickly. An alarm at 10:30pm alerts me to reality!

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