This article presents an ultimate household chores list for adults, divided into categories to help manage your home efficiently. The list includes daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning tasks and tips to boost productivity. Some tasks bring unexpected joy, such as scrubbing away grime or folding laundry. Completing a chore can save time and effort, and sorting through mail immediately is essential.
Achieving a goal of spending less time folding and putting away laundry can result in a cleaner bathroom, neater yard, and tidier house. Parents can also reward their children for completing their chores by paying them and taking them to their favorite toy store. This assessment helps divide the most common tasks across the household, allowing parents to decide which tasks apply to their family. By focusing on these tasks, parents can achieve a cleaner home and a more organized life.
📹 Stop feeling overwhelmed with household chores! (4 Steps to Housework Happiness)
Cleaning your house when overwhelmed seems impossible, but you can stop feeling overwhelmed with household chores by …
What helps you to finish things quickly?
Working faster is a crucial skill in today’s business world, as it allows employees to achieve their tasks in less time and achieve better results. Employers value the ability to work faster and employees benefit from this skill. Working smarter involves obtaining the best results in less time while wasting less time and energy. This strategy requires reflection on work habits and ways to be more efficient in the same allotted time.
Using a timer or stopwatch to track work time on each task can help you stay on track. Additionally, creating a plan, organizing your workspace, minimizing distractions, prioritizing tasks, dividing life into smaller parts, grouping similar tasks, and putting an end to procrastination can help you work faster.
Working faster allows you to finish your obligations earlier, have more time for personal life and hobbies, and improve your self-esteem. By completing more work, you may notice a growing sense of accomplishment that benefits your well-being and outlook on work and life.
How to finish household work quickly?
To manage your time effectively, break down chores into manageable chunks and create a daily, weekly, or monthly list of tasks. Focus on immediate tasks to avoid procrastination and complete easy tasks first. Prioritize tasks that require attention and complete them first. When deep cleaning, clean rooms from top to bottom, ensuring they are clean from top to bottom to avoid recurrence. This approach will help you stay organized and focused on your tasks.
What household chores shows reaction time?
Prompt reaction time is crucial for safety in everyday activities like driving, walking, cooking, running, and laundry. However, as we age, reaction time decreases due to impaired cognitive functioning. This slow brain engagement is essential for signaling the body to react to its environment, making falls and injuries more likely. A study on older cancer survivors found a direct connection between decreased brain functioning and falling-related injuries, highlighting the importance of quick reactions in maintaining physical mobility and preventing injuries.
How do maids clean so fast?
Speed-cleaning expert Debbie Sardone suggests that reducing cleaning time by half can be achieved by following a system. This involves cleaning one room at a time, starting and finishing at the same spot, and working in a consistent order. This method is more efficient as it eliminates the need for constant reorganization. Sardone also advises starting at the top of the room, such as dusting a ceiling fan, and working down to the floor to eliminate redundant work. This approach is not a gimmick but a method that can lead to a cleaner house in half the time.
How to get housework done faster?
The article provides 22 simple tips to help tackle household chores and save time. It suggests including the family in the process, as everyone contributes to the mess. Tasks should be assigned to each family member, and a 15-minute time frame should be established. Breaking down chores into smaller parts can help maintain focus. Time awareness should be developed, and a designated space for supplies should be created.
A cleaning caddy can also be created to keep things organized. The article also emphasizes the importance of prioritizing tasks to avoid wasting time. These tips can help save time and improve overall household efficiency.
How to finish work in 2 hours?
To finish work in just two hours, follow these quick and effective tips:
- Make a focus tune.
- Prepare yourself by planning 1. 5 to 2-hour deep work sessions.
- Sort tasks by type.
- Remove distractions.
- Set one goal for each work block.
- Use apps to manage your time.
- Use apps to help you manage your time effectively.
In summary, these quick and effective tips can help you finish work quickly and efficiently, saving you time and reducing the amount of time spent on tasks.
What are the three least popular household chores?
The ten most disliked domestic tasks, as identified by a representative sample of the population, are as follows: cleaning the bathroom or toilet, washing dishes, cleaning the hob and oven, doing laundry and ironing, dusting, washing, vacuuming, mopping, grocery shopping, and cooking.
What is the least liked household chore?
The bathroom is a common household task, particularly the cleaning of the toilet, which can present a challenge due to issues such as clogged drains and the removal of hair.
How long should it take one person to clean a house?
The maintenance of a clean home is a time-consuming task, yet it is of the utmost importance. The time required for standard cleaning of a single room is estimated to be approximately two hours per week. In the event that this is not a viable option, it may be advisable to consider engaging the services of a professional cleaning company. Eco-friendly cleaning services can facilitate apartment or house clean-ups. To arrange for assistance, contact the company directly. To ensure a clean and organized home, book your appointment at your earliest convenience.
How many times a week should I do chores?
The average person spends nearly 6 hours a week cleaning their house, with most homeowners cleaning the floor, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, and dusting furniture once a week. They also clean kitchen countertops, appliances, and washing dishes daily. In bedrooms, they change sheets and pillowcases weekly and dust surfaces as needed. Living rooms vacuum and dust furniture weekly, increasing frequency with pets or frequent guests. Windows are cleaned monthly, with more frequent cleaning if needed. Research by the American Cleaning Institute shows that many Americans wonder if they are cleaning enough and correctly.
How can I work my reaction time at home?
Improving reaction time is crucial for physical fitness and functionality. It can be achieved through various methods such as maintaining calmness, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, properly fueling the body, and performing cognitive training exercises. These techniques can make a significant difference in various situations, including athletics and daily life. By implementing these strategies, you can enhance your reaction time and experience improved performance in various activities. By incorporating these techniques into your routine, you can enhance your overall performance and overall well-being.
📹 How to Deal with Clutter When You Have ADHD
Clutter is one of the hardest things for me personally. I move quickly and stuff ends up everywhere. I finally hired someone to help …
Hi all! Carmen here, so glad to see that people are finding this helpful! I saw some people ask about making it so they could fill it out online, and others concerned about creating paper clutter (I hear you on that one!!!). If you want to edit an electronic copy of the worksheet, you can copy it into your own google drive and then it will be your own private copy. You go to file and select “make a copy.” If you don’t have a google account, then “file, download” should let you open it in a standard word processing program, although it might look a little unsightly (I haven’t tested that).
I’m a professional organizer of 19 years with a lot of ADHD clients and this was so eye-opening for me! Clutter in motion vs. clutter in stasis is going to be so helpful. I think of clutter in terms of active vs inactive, but for some cases, motion vs stasis is more fine-tuned. Thank you! Just subscribed.
I’ve got adhd and i actually figured this out a few years ago. Whenever I obtain a new item, I immediately make a home for it so i know if I’m not using it goes there and if I cant find a home for it, I make one by buying some furniture that helps or coming up with a DIY solution. I have dozens of hooks, baskets and extra shelves around my house because of this and it works pretty well. It also helps me not lose things because they are always in the same place. And for sheets of paper, I have a folder that i just shove all my sheets into immediately I get them so that I can properly sort them out later; although we all know that most of the time that never happens, I’m comfortable knowing that I cant lose the sheets because they are all in one place and usually when the folder gets full I then will spend time filing everything and deciding what’s still useful and not. I also always leave an empty space by my door and by my desk as a visual reminder of whether I’m putting stuff away or not and I just have a rule in my head that nothing should be there unless it will move within the next week. Also for my solution to not leaving plates, cutlery and cups everywhere is to only have 1 of everything. If you only have one plate, one cup, one set of cutlery and a few pots and pans then if they’re dirty and you want to use them then you have to wash them. Also, it means you can never have loads of unwashed dishes because you don’t have many. If you live with other people just make it 1 set of dishes per person and if you plan to have people over you can have extra dishes but keep them in a difficult to reach place so that its harder to get those than it is to wash the dishes.
My best friend has ADHD, and really messy rooms. I’m a minimalist. He’s always saying we need to clean up (pick a room), which I can help him with. But I get frustrated when it doesn’t stay that way for more than a day. He blames his ADHD. This article helped me understand a little what he’s going through. Thank you.
As a feng shui consultant, clutter is drummed into our training as being “bad feng shui”’and “negative energy”. I knew it had nothing to do with that and more about how our stories of stuff were impacting how we treated it and ourselves. I always say that piles aren’t the problem, it’s the stagnation of the piles. I love this article for the perspective shift, especially about the comfort to tech item ratio balance!
Clutter makes my brain feel terrible, but the clutter-overwhelm-avoidance cycle is SO REAL. Also, I tend to want to fix the clutter when I have other things I absolutely have to do—like when I’m overwhelmed at work. Edit: Clutter in stasis is SUCH a thing. I moved recently and a lot of stuff still doesn’t have a home. There’s a lot of stuff standing in the way of getting everything in place (e.g., I need to set up the cabinet I purchased because the new apartment has way less clutter). Edit edit: I ALSO hate tech clutter. Husband and I have deep disagreements about this, because he likes to have his tech free and accessible, whereas wire clutter makes my brain feel jumbled and chaotic.
“I spent a lot of my life ashamed of how my ADHD symptoms affected me. I think it’s a lot more helpful to be proud of the steps I’m taking to manage it.” This brought me to tears. I’ve always strived for excellence and perfection and it’s so hard to feel proud of the things that seems to just keep your head above water. Things that NT folks do without thinking. Sure, I have plenty of huge personal and professional achievements, BUT OMG CAN I GET SOME GODDAMN CREDIT FOR MAKING MY BED LIKE 4 OUT OF 7 DAYS LAST WEEK AND ONLY BEING LATE TO WORK ONCE??????? In my brain and to most NT people, these are not things to be proud of, but when the usual is 0/7 and being late most days, I should be proud!
I have severe ADHD and so does my husband, my son is going through the diagnosis stage but he’s obviously adhd and my daughter is adhd/autistic…..I spent HOURS tidying yesterday…today the place is a disaster again….but our home is full of love, laughs, understanding and we try to help each other.
As the wife of an ADHD husband, this article was very eye opening. After 35 years together, we basically came to the same conclusions concerning the different kinds of clutter. I happen to be a super organized person, but I had to give my husband space to live life his way. So we created “no clutter zones.” This way, I could have my neat spaces, and he could have his places to spread his belonging out (you know what I mean.) He has been working at home since the virus hit, and this has caused some new issues, but we have found solutions for them. We compromise so that we each get to feel good about the space we live in.
I am a maximalist, borderline hoarder, and impulse buyer fixated on collecting material things that pertain to my interests. Organized clutter is huge for me. Every countertop showing is my opportunity to decorate a theme of trinkets. Every wall has different theme of things. It is a museum of sentimental trinkets and art in collage. It makes people’s jaw drop. Every corner is my opportunity to store things essential and or hide unpretty everyday items like deodorant and hair spray. It could be ADHD, but my grandparents done the same thing collecting items to the point of maximalism and hoarding. I need my room to be a museum of my interests but annoyed with how much I have at the same time. If I can’t see an essential item in plain sight, I will forget it and face a consequence (like keys, toothbrush, medicine, water)
Ive always wondered why cleaning my room till it’s entirely clean and organized never left me feeling happier. I guess it’s because a clean big space with white walls makes me hella anxious, making clutter happen even quicker because the clean version of my room makes me feel too out of place. This was so useful!
Me: with literal tears and my boys asking what’s wrong… Because I don’t feel so alone or like such a failure at life! Thanks so much for speaking up and creating such helpful content, you are a true blessing! Ive been trying to figure everything out on my own, which is tricky when staying on task seems impossible… So, finding your website has been a true gift! Can’t wait to check out the worksheet, so grateful to your friends !
When it comes to cleaning the clutter or organizing it I’ve found having a folding table is great. I set up my folding table then pile it relatively full of clutter that I know doesn’t belong where it was before. The first bit is awesome because now the couch or kitchen table is clear and I can tidy or clean them the rest of the way, like wiping it down or fixing the wrinkles on the couch cover. Now it looks clean so it’s like instant success, but the table is still messy. But that table doesn’t feel so bad because it’s like this designated space to be messy. Then I go through the table and then it gets clean, and that can be a lot of work but you’re working off the success of seeing the other thing clean so it’s very motivating. Best $20 I spent in my life was for that table, lol.
I’ve was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder as a teenager and I’m actually starting to think that ADHD is much more accurate….I can see why that was the diagnosis as a teenager. Lots of health issues and medical trauma compounded with a bad family situation definitely just appears to be someone riddled with anxiety. But anxiety isn’t a constant. Everything I’ve learned about ADHD so far lines up with my behaviors. I’m very hesitant to actually pursue a diagnosis though. In my experience, any kind of mental health issue (like the anxiety disorder diagnosis) is used against women with Endometriosis as just another way to write us off as crazy. It would be really nice to know that what I’m dealing with is pretty normal though, if it is in fact ADHD.
ADHD diagnosed for 26 years now and my friends and family have been threatening to call the show hoarders on me… This article is extremely helpful. I’m realizing that I’m not crazy for having tons of my stuff randomly stacked up, but that I just need get some help sorting or getting rid of things. THANK YOU!!!
This website is by far the most helpful website I have ever encountered on YouTube or the whole Internet for that matter on the subject of ADHD! I have learned more from you than actual doctors. I am so appreciative for you sharing your life and your experience and for how real you are. I was diagnosed with adult ADHD, I cannot tell you how long I spend and how many years I wasted feeling ashamed, dumb, useless, Not to mention suicidal. It was because of the information you provided in this website that I realized oh dear she’s describing me. You are the reason I sought treatment, you are the reason I have no problem taking Adderall. You have changed my life. Your articles are so jampacked and easy for the ADHD 🧠 to absorb. I don’t go anywhere else for my information because I don’t need to. Many thanks and much love from a very old woman. You’ve changed my life. You might say you saved it. Don’t ever give up doing what you’re doing, we need you out here. Some of us are so alone we feel caged in our brains. Thank you for being a part of setting mine free. I can’t help but cry while typing this. 🌹🕊🥰💜✨🙏❤️🧠🌺
My family has been in a huge cleaning/decluttering mood recently, and we’ve been making some good progress. I’ve found that an addition to the marie kondo method has really helped me. Figuring out if something brings you more anxiety than motivation. I enjoy being surrounded by books, but seeing a ton of unread books stresses me out. So I moved my books to somewhere I don’t have to see them and only move them back into view while reading them or once I’ve finished them and know I love them. I find that I read a lot more now (and get rid of more). Too many options can be overwhelming.
I… just burst into body shaking sobs. You know how something resonates so hard, you can’t respond in any other way than to just cry in relief because someone gets it? yeah. that’s me right now. I’ve been trying to clean my apartment for 6 weeks now. and I only have 2 days to do it now, I’ve put it off so long, and like, everything is clutter in stasis, and I HATE IT.
I try to declutter rooms every morning as a quick routine as I wait to wake up fully. Not a morning person! It gives me a quick feeling of accomplishment and just takes a few minutes if done daily. Just start with one room, declutter it and master doing a quick pickup/put away first thing every morning, then after a week, move onto adding another room the same way. It does make life easier to put stuff away! No more wasting time looking for needed items. And it is much faster to dust and vacuum.
I was shamed and abused so deeply for “being messy” that I spiralled into very deep depression. I was even told I couldn’t have a relationship because I am messy. The depression made it worse. I am now moving towards minimalism. Sometimes I “joke” to judgmental people that a lot of serial killers are extremely tidy and they would love them as their neighbours because they prefer tidiness over nice people that care about you. And that they would be those surprised neighbours on TV saying, “We didn’t notice anything, he was so quiet and neat…” Now that I know that I have inattentive ADHD I know my mess is not a character trait. It’s a symptomatic habit that formed and that can be undone. It means everything to me to know that.
I love this so much. I’m actually crying because I haven’t heard someone else explain what this feels like. I hold so much shame about myself and ‘the way that I am’, I feel so defeated. I am so appreciative of you sharing your experiences with us and providing this kind of help. I feel like this article was made just for me! I think I have felt that about many of your articles. Thank you for doing what you do, I have so much love and respect for you.
I was just almost crying over the huge clutter piles all around my room that I have procrastinated over for months now and then I got notification off this. I got relief. I have lots of stasis clutter around the shelves and on floor, I have got my worktable cleared from it. It is slow progress but progress non the least. I got finally my ADHD-C dg this April and coming around it has been a huge pressure from my shoulders. Now my parents also know and after hige burstout they even understand me, especially my ADHD like mom. I have been your huge fan for 1,5 years now and it feels like coming home to get called your Brains. Thank you, your articles have helped me so much, they are short, easy to follow, interesting, relatable and offer actually working tips. And your voice makes me smile always. I am 21 old woman and only now am I learning most about myself aside being lesbian. Thank you ❤️🙌
This article just brought me to tears! I’m 51 years old and I was always told and treated like I was lazy or just a messy person. Why can’t I keep my house clean? How do I live like that? And I would clean. For a while. This article exactly explained me! I’m not the only one. I just realized last week that I have ADHD. I am now looking for the right professional help. My whole life…..I never knew or understood why I was me. I saw your Ted talk and it clicked. Thank you!
Thank you for making this website, i used to feel so ashamed of myself for not being able to get work done like my friends and classmates do, turn in assignment that i actually finished on time and i really appreciate the effort you put into each article you make. My parents dont buy me meds anymore and it’s been so hard for me to adjust even tho they stopped buying it over a year ago. I love your website so much and I love you so much. I hope you continue to grow here on YouTube and get the recognition you deserve
Thanks, this one is really spot on for me. I get overwhelmed with my clutter and try to ignore it. Then, sometimes I feel bad that I never have people over (besides my son and my brother). When my boyfriend has his adult daughters over (once in a while), I feel like I need to go through everything any really clean the apartment. I end up doing the best I can. Sometimes, I go through a pile or 2 of paper and other stuff. By that time, most of it ends up being trash. Thanks for normalizing it for us Brains.
This is SO HELPFUL. My girlfriend is so fond of minimalism and a “control freak”, I love how clean her house is, even with a cat, but I have ADHD. After moving together we are in an endless conversation of how important it is to put my stuff where it belongs (like I actually know where it belong, when did I even misplaced it and what the heck did I misplaced). It’s not even arguments, it’s just conversations, because she is trying her best to be patient to me and she is wonderful. But still, MY STUFF IS EVERYWHERE, I’m mentally stressed of my clutters and facing my gf, so I’m trying to avoid both. And obviously both didn’t help 😛 anyway I need to deal with the pile on my desk… now
Years ago there was a show on tv with people who came to help declutter homes (not hoarders). One thing that always stood out to me was “Does it makes sense?”. An example was the coffee table. The participants were asked to look at it and remove anything that didn’t make sense had to be removed. So now every time i see my tables getting cluttered i ask myself “does it make sense?”
Your website has literally changed my life. I am 51 years old & when I stumbled across your article last fall on how to make your house ADHD friendly, I had an epiphany that I had ADHD! Without knowing it, I had survived with some coping techniques (analog clocks in every room, alarms on my phone, lists for everything), but I’ve always struggled with feeling “less than” with what I now know is executive functioning. I’ve been implementing many of your tips since last fall & want to support your Patreon website. I know I could dig around & probably figure out how (after millions of distractions!😜)…OR just as here how to sign up! I can NOT express how much gratitude I have for your work. 🙏🙏🙏💝💝💝Please keep us posted on your book. I will definitely be buying copies for myself, family members & friends. I’m a teacher too, so if you have resources I can refer parents to for their children, that would be awesome too. Maybe that’s book #2???😁
Don’t have ADHD…that I know of, but I do have crippling anxiety which honestly has a lot of the same triggers and feelings that you explained in your vid. This helps so much, especially when I was able to have my husband watch it! He has OCD/ADD, I have anxiety, we’re quite the pair. But we love each other endlessly and cleaning up our house is really important to both of us. Being able to share this article with him empowered us both, I feel so much less guilty now that we’ve both watched it, gone through the list attached, and started our clean up. I still look around and feel shame but it is definitely getting better and it is definitely easier to keep working together without the guilt or frustration now that we have a clear plan to work with and the knowledge of how we got here. I am definitely getting excited to host around the holidays and I can say that 100% of the help has come from your article! Thank you so very much!
Omg it’s so nice to hear that some clutter can’t be avoided from someone else! I’m so tired of arguing that point to others, it was starting to feel weak But not anymore!! Really love how you address these every-day kinda troubles adhd brings about, it helps a lot more than the big exestential but also really non-specific “guides” any time
I hope you realize how important these articles are. This so accurately frames the ping pong chaos of the ADHD mind and background working processes. The executive dysfunction is not a voluntary thing,and the people in our lives who insist that we’re just selectively choosing to “forget” when it’s convenient for us, or to try to get out of important tasks because we’d rather just pass the buck because our ADHD is interpreted as an excuse for someone else to do things for us is almost more debilitating and dispiriting than the disorder itself.
Thank you! This is such a great topic! Personally, stressing about the clutter in my house and going throught that wheel over and over has affected my quality of life. I’m going to start working with that worksheet and see what progress I can make 🤗 This article, as well as the “wall of awful” have been some of my fvorites!
Oh god, I needed this article, thank you! I constantly get the clutter-overwhelm-issue, and the main thing that helped me was finding proper spaces for the things that didn’t have one. I actually started doing that while perusal Marie Kondo 😀 Now I have two zones in my room that are easy to tidy up and make them presentable, and I try to at least have one that is looking neat and makes me want to spend time in that space. As for what I need for work? A pillow fort. I kid you not, I am working on a bed with 15 pillows and 3 blankets and snuggling into a pillow nest allows me to to hyperfocus and work for hours on end. This was definitely one of the “what I did not expect I would need” cases, because the other zone of the room is a whole working area with a 10 foot desk and proper chair 😂
I just came across your website not too long ago and I have to say that you make me feel so much better about my ADHD and it’s overwhelming how my place can get so cluttered and I also have like PTSD from how messy my house was and the environment that I lived in as a child so having you be there to confidently tell me that it is okay and that it is normal makes me feel so reassured thank you
Hey Jessica! I just wanted to stop by and let you know how much you’ve enriched my life since my diagnosis. I’ve commented before, but I want you to know that even simple little articles like this about clutter often bring me nearly to tears. Seeing such simple ideas that seem so daunting to me explained in such a patient and understanding way help me feel understood and more at ease with myself. I’ve followed you for a couple of years now, and I can’t thank you enough. You’re a truly beautiful soul and one heck of a brain.
Yes i love the topic of this article! I’ve found in my experience that alot of the times if i don’t do things perfectly that i get discouraged and give up. Instead of recognizing the progress that I’ve made and being proud of that, i instead focus on how i didn’t live up to my own expectations of perfectionism. We ADHD people have a really hard time with being confident in our own ability to follow through with our goals and instead beat ourselfs up for not being perfect on the first try.
You have helped me realize my ADHD was this bad I was diagnosed at 12 and was prescribed medication but my family is extremely religious and don’t believe medicine works and that it just destroys your liver etc. So I never took ADHD medication and I believe staying inside has made my ADHD worse. So I showed my parents these articles in hope to educate them more on what ADHD is and they will allow me to take medicine to help now.
OMG! I have tears of joy because of how much this article has helped me. I am a mom that is cleaning clutter 24/7. My daughter has adhd and, thanks to you, I now have a way to learn how to work with it and show my 7yo how to live with it. Your articles are a blessing! I’ve even send a couple to her teacher so he can understand her better and her grades have improved because we now understand how to help her study. THANK YOU! You are a prayer answered.
Yay!!!! I found this website last week. And I binged for like 4 days. I was waiting for a new vid!!! I love them so much. I have also been trying to clean my room (and keep it clean) since quarantine started. I still haven’t kept it clean for more then 2 days. I literally was almost done cleaning it 3 days ago. And now it’s messy again, so thanks. I was also wondering if u could make a article about being nicer, and not being impulsive about what we say, and how it makes people feel (I know you have done some, but I need more solutions. Everything comes out rude or mean. And I don’t think about how it will affect the person) Also sry for the long comment
PERFECT! This is where I am at right now! I have realized that I have limited space, but unlimited stuff, and I’m trying to figure out what stuff I need in which spaces. Mostly I sit and think, “that’s a lot of stuff… and I love this stuff and I need that stuff and I will need that stuff when I start doing that thing…” I am downloading the checklist. This is a start. Next, I will print the checklist (when I get the stuff off the printer.)
I moved last year and promised myself I’d design it to be easier to sort clutter and my multiple forms of work while still managing all that in a studio flat. I took one wall and built a full wall unit with shelves, a worktop counter as a desktop (2.5m) and doors/drawers in most of them to help keep the visual clutter down (even when it’s tidy, sometimes it still feels like clutter so closing it off helps me focus). Over the last 5 years, I’ve been ruthless with my stuff, took a while but I’m fairly minimalist whenever I can be. I wasn’t diagnosed til the year after but I think deep down, I was screaming at myself to manage this somehow because of how much it was weighing me down.
Things I’ve done that have been life changing for clutter are: a large gargage can RIGHT next to the couch and SO.MANY. Laundry baskets. I was tired of clothes piles ending up on the floor, couch, bed, etc. but I know myself well enough to know I’ll never just complete the entire task of “doing laundry” in one go, so instead of trying to hold myself to that standard, I established boundaries. Clothes can be clean or dirty or anywhere in between as long as they’re in a basket. 5 laundry baskets for dirty clothes so they’re presorted and I don’t have to put any mental effort into doing a load of laundry, just grab and go. 3 baskets for clean clothes. Once they’re clean they can stay in the dryer or go in a basket. When I get around to folding, they can remain in a basket. When I get around to putting them away I have a free basket. Do the dirty clothes baskets sometimes start to mound over the top of the basket? YUP. Does clean and folded laundry sit in those baskets for weeks until they’re put away or worn? YUP. But because those laundry baskets are the laundry “boundaries” clothes don’t end up outside of them. And the system gives me enough leeway to get “behind” without failing.
Now that I have been diagnosed, I understand why I had so much emotional attachment to things I don’t need. I am still figuring out my room. Also speaking of kids haha! 6 and 5 in school so there is soooooo much stuff. This article made me pretty proud of myself. Thank you so much!! You may just be my first Patreon!!
Thank you so much again, Jess. My boyfriend and I watched this and ha d a whole conversation with our eyes of mutual understanding. Me: looking around my bedroom/office Boyfriend: sigh Me: *thinking about the rest of the combo rooms like the nursery/playroom, kitchen/dining room, and middle room/work space” Boyfriend: double sigh Both in unison: we should print that
I have been binge perusal (thanks to YouTube) your articles, now that I have found you. I am 60 years old and have been dealing with this my whole life. Usually I don’t like perusal young people do articles because of the “young people lingo” and the sense of entitlement I see. You’re different. You are down to earth, common sense and you admit that you have faults. You’re So Awesome!
My simple tip for dishes and living alone: Pack away ALL the dishes except for; 1 bowl, 1 cup, 1 plate, 1 knife, 1 fork, 1 spoon, 1 teaspoon. This makes doing the dishes a 3 and a half minute job (yes I timed it) which I’m not going to pretend I do everyday but I do FAR more often than I used to. I have allowed myself one extra cup and one extra bowl and spoon to be unpacked as it turns out I used two of those a day. Now if only I could think of something similar for laundry…
I have got to say, I LOVE your website! It’s not only helpful for me understanding my family members who have ADHD but also for understanding myself. There’s a few things I personally connect with but I’m not sure there’s enough that I have it myself. And considering how health insurance is something we can’t really afford right now too really figure it out, this helps me cope a lot.
I’ve always been so frustrated with keeping my apartment clean because it felt like I needed to spend 5+ hours just to make it look decent enough for company (who haven’t been there since we moved in). Which would leave me too exhausted mentally to maintain it, so it would then go back to square one within a few weeks. Maybe this new method will be able to stick with me and my husband (who also has ADHD) 🙂
This was so helpful thank you so much! I’ve been figuring out bits and pieces of this by trial and error over a long time and living with multiple other folks who also have adhd, but it’s so helpful to be reassured that I was moving in a good direction, and to get other ideas and have so many helpful thoughts in one place! 🎉🎉🎉 can’t wait to try the worksheet! Thanks so much for asking them for that!
Good tips. For me, with the “clutter stasis,” I start in the corner with the first thing there and push everything else away. I put away, throw away, or if undecided, put in a separate pile. I do this one thing at a time until I’m finished or reach my limit for the time being. Not the most efficient I can be but getting through any of the stasis is a good thing.
Jessica! YOu are the one I started looking into neurodivergency. Thank you so much. I’m really into the healing journey now. I am not 100% sure if I am neurodivergent, but I’m sure I am struggling, and so I think it’s okay to look into neurodivergency and learn. I do think being in a community I feel safe in, is never wrong. So, again, thank you, for being the starter for my healing journey to a better life. Take care!
Thank you for these articles. When I first found you on YouTube I was irritated by your happy-smiley-upbeat persona. But I found some great ideas and info and kept perusal, then subscribed when I realized I was trying to fight my ADHD and “get it right” and quit being a disappointment….well, I realized you had stopped fighting ADHD and accepted it as a brain thing (not personal faults) and could be happy. You inspire me. I’m 71, diagnosed at 60 ( husband thought I had dementia) on meds, and awakening to a new perspective. Thank you again.
I just discovered your website and watched this article and yup, this is me. I’ve had it all my life and I didn’t get diagnosed until after 30! I’m now over 50 and still learning how to deal with ADHD. I swear, we need T-shirts that say “ADHD is my superpower!” There are a lot of things that are challenging to deal with living with ADHD, but there are some great things about it too. Hyperfocus is great if you can take advantage of it. I find setting alarms so I don’t forget to eat while focusing on art are really helpful. Thanks for the great article and the worksheet!
Thank you so much for this! For years I managed my clutter fairly well. Then, just as my kids were making the transition between high school and college I fell in to a multi-year eldercare and estate resolving cycle. Between the life changes, some health issues in my family, and the massively increased paperwork of the estate the overwhelm got so bad my house looks like someone dumped a truck full of stuff randomly in every room. I have felt like an abject failure. Thank you for helping me start reframe this. As someone who in their mid-50s is just starting to figure out they probably have ADHD your website is a huge help.
I’m not sure if I have ADHD but a lot of what I’ve watched on your website hits home. And, over the years, in order to help me feel less overwhelmed, I’ve whittled down my possessions to a bare minimum—I now consider myself a minimalist. I still struggle in many areas, namely staying organized, getting stuff done, keeping my place clean, and setting/reaching goals and I still feel overwhelmed but it’s no longer my stuff causing it. I will definitely check out more of your articles to see what else might be helpful. And, consult with my doctor.
I began perusal your website as a means of understanding my son’s recent diagnosis, but along the way I’ve identified with so much in your articles that I’m beginning to wonder whether perhaps I’ve just never seen these traits in myself or been diagnosed. Thanks for your great delivery of well prepared content, which makes it easy to understand. You simply shine! 💖
And I used to wonder why it was more fun tidying and organising someone else’s place than my own. I have so much stuff and it’s well.. yeah. Everywhere. But I just completely refinished two antique blanket boxes I got off fb market place two days ago! That was fun! Not fun is washing up or going through paperwork or laundry. Thank you Jessica
Thank you! I feels so amazing not not feel incompetent or like a bad person. As a kid I would be sent to clean up my room and I would have spent hours trying to organize my book case so it looked as cool as one in the bookstore. The rest of the room was a disaster pit . I was so happy with my beautiful bookcase I never understood why my minimalist parent was upset with me, or why after she helped me clean I always felt uncomfortable and things would be messy within a day or two!
What really helps me its a storage boxes under the bed, btw its convenient to not close them and put the lid on the bottom, so they slide out of the bed so easily. : 1. BOX – Nails / Manicure – Hair dryer (cause its close to socket) + hair stuff 2. BOX – Documents & important files 3. BOX – My ART items 4. Smaller box under the sleep table with some papers, note books (which i have plenty of) + cup of pencils, pen, scissors,…+ hand lotions which i love to use before sleep. Hope it will help anyone. I love to use separators and shelfs to uplift some stuff and add to the space even more space. Pill boxes can be used as jewelry boxes. every jewel has its own space.
I am not a hoarder but I am quite the packrat. Life has just always been so difficult, I expect it to always be difficult, so I save everything in case I (or someone I know) need it. This has led to my home being very cluttered and disorganized. On top of that, I helped someone move and brought loads of stuff to my house to go through and sell. Unfortunately, so many catastrophes happened and life got so hard, I just got horribly overwhelmed. Even when I did have a little free time, I was so depressed and overwhelmed, I couldn’t tackle the task. Years later, some of those piles of stuff are still exactly where they started. After a really low period, I’m finally feeling better enough to start working on cleaning out my house. The irony is, while I’ve partially gone “blind” to the piles, they have still contributed to my anxiety, which made dealing with them even harder. I have realized that I simply have to get rid of probably half of everything in my home, and while it will be very difficult, I truly believe getting rid of the mountainous clutter will make a significant improvement in my life. Knowing this, I don’t understand why it has been so difficult.
This is the first of your articles that made me cry. Thank you! I enjoy learning from your website and wanted a short article to watch and relax before going and tackling the clutter/stuff that’s been taking out of the guest room and is now on it’s way to a storage room but I want it to be intentional… IDK how your articles are exactly what I need but I’m so beyond grateful for this one. if I could, I’d post a pic of my living room (it’s a mess but I see the progress)… I need a workable space set up and I found the best way to set it up is to just start working and see where it makes sense for things to fall.
I was trying to clean my house (one surface of a room at a time) when I watched your article. My ADHD brain was so happy to find that we aren’t alone. Standing in my kitchen, looking at a pile o dishes with dread – but remembering – one dish at a time. It’s so hard to not be overwhelmed. Thank you for what you do.
Im really happy that some clutter is inevitable. Being asian and a woman, my mom always taught me that especially when guests are over that the house needs to be in tip top shape. I knew my friends didnt mind my clutter and mess but i did feel very internally guilty. Living on my own now, i still struggle with it a lot but this helped thanks
Love this article. Lots of true and honest information. I don’t have ADHD, but I have a chronic illness, so I can’t spend a lot time cleaning but have to do little and often. I love that tray table idea. Also what works for me is big boxes I can keep under the bed or sofa where things are kept out of sight but still reachable where I use them.
My best de-cluttering strategy: HOUSEPLANTS! I’ve really gotten into houseplants this year and I LOVE buying new ones, it’s like going to the sweet shop but so much more gratifying! Because they have this unique position as both decorative objects and actual living organisms, I find myself anthropomorphizing them a lot and feeling sorry for them if they look squished into a messy space (yay over-empathizing!. So, if I see a cluttered horizontal surface I want to remedy, I put a houseplant there and get on with my day without actually moving the clutter. Over the next few days, I start to remove the clutter as I now notice it so much more when it’s imposing on one of my plant babies. And it’s way more gratifying than normal cleaning, because I feel like I’m helping someone else too rather than just doing it for myself. Add in more plants as the space gets clearer, and (for me at least) the clutter never returns because I hate seeing my beautiful plant displays spoiled by a single rogue item. Try it! For me it has been one of the most effective strategies I have ever found!
This is so helpful I just actually cried… I never really considered the possibility I might not be neurotypical; I thought I was just incapable of staying tidy, organising myself, focusing right or being on time beyond the fruit salad fog in my brain. But this article had me yelling ‘YES!’ in my bombsite house, and nodding most of the way through. So have most of your others. Neurotypical or not I’m still so grateful for the insights you have provided on your website. Thank you!
Thank you for this article! You know, this article as well as the worksheet provided would work as a great homework assignment for high school students, because I think everyone should consider whether someone’s clutter is causing anxiety or is distracting them. I am among one of the people that struggle with clutter anxiety, and dishwashing, putting stuff away, etc is a soothing habit I’ve developed to remove that anxiety. It also helps me get the ball rolling for when I want to be productive in homework assignments. I feel like if I encountered this article sooner as a student then I would have been less stressed out about my productivity levels.
What helped me a lot was to organize things, even my clothes, in a way that lets me immediately see everything I own in one row. I open the fridge, and as mus stuff as possible is pushed to the front where i can see it. It might seem messy to others. But it really helps me keep track of what I own and what i need to buy.
Oh my word…I honestly love you and appreciate the work you do, Jessica! Thanks for this… I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in Anxiety disorders (and healing my own anxiety) but have recently wondered if I have ADD or ADHD and in trying to sort that out, found you! Thanks again for sharing your story so bravely and for educating and inspiring others! Keep up the good work!
This is essential information for people with ADHD. Over the past few years I have been tackling a major home improvement project. It was necessary to deal with clutter on the whole in order to repair and redecorate a dysfunctional environment. I had to solve storage and cleaning issues as I went from one area of the house to the other. It’s not just about getting rid of things like the Marie Condo method. You have to get to the root of the disfunction, which is way more work than painting walls and styling bookshelves. I agree that finding a place for everything and placing these solutions where they need to be is key to creating a functional environment. It becomes second nature to put things away and clean up after yourself when there are no obstacles for this habit. I used to be a serious slob. It was horrible and most people I knew just didn’t understand how I could live that way. I was diagnosed with pretty severe ADHD in my late 30s, so I spent a good part of my life like that. I wish I would have had this kind of advice decades ago, but I am so glad that ADHD is taken more seriously now and that there are resources for younger people.
I’ve had a professional organizer come over about 3 times and it has really helped. She doesn’t just put things away, she asks what it is and why its here and do i want to keep it. Sometimes when she asks these questions, i don’t really have an answer, and she replies with, then do you need it? I’ve used her enough to “hear her” while im doing stuff solo, but when i get stuck trying to declutter i call her and make an appt. I will mention that im 38 and never really sorted thru my things on a deep level before, so it feels like a massive project, but the result will be so soul satisfying, i keep going
Literally going through this exact struggle — ongoing for YEARS and it has been hurting my self-esteem horribly. Was just thinking, “Great, all I have to do now is get help from professional organizers that I can’t afford!” but there’s a free tool in the description? For free? Thank you, you three ladies may just have saved my life.
This is my very first time coming across your content. Looking for help on how to clean a messy home, lol. I have never had someone mirror EXACTLY how I feel when it comes to my relationship with keeping a clean home. I don’t know if I have ADHD but I have never felt so “seen” when it comes to that part of my life and the shame associated with it. Thank you for sharing.
For me, it’s key to not have any counters or surfaces by the bathroom sink. If I have to put something away, there’s a shelf on the wall, or another place to store it. I have containers that are see-through, baskets, and bins. It also makes it easier for me to move things around, clean surfaces and put things back in their places.
I started perusal some articles and eventually this one in order to avoid cleaning up the clutter in my house. I am a huge perfectionist, so hearing someone talk about clutter in a way that’s not blaming was very helpful! I’ve always wondered how many people don’t really ‘see’ the clutter around them, while I get hyper focused on stuff laying around in other people’s houses as well. Btw as someone with self-diagnosed ADHD I often feel like having strategies to cope with it feels somehow “childish”, because other people don’t need these types of mechanisms to live their lives. It’s like being your own mother who’s telling you to clean up your room (but this time a more gentle and helpful way).
I know this article has been around a while, and I’ve been putting off perusal it because of… overwhelm, haha. (I hold myself to such an unattainable standard that I put off trying to improve.) Let me just say: simply hearing “some level of clutter is inevitable” gave me chills and I started tearing up. So thank you! My brain obviously needed to hear that. I’m sure a lot of brains did!
“Some of us don’t know what we want because we’re so used to our space being a mess” gods I almost cried when I heard that! That’s exactly how I feel about my room! I have basic aesthetic preferences but I don’t know how I want my room to look or where I want things to be kept because my room has been in roughly the same state of disorder for the past 5-6yrs with only a few months total of genuine cleanliness. And hearing about the different states of clutter was certainly eye opening! I’ve never heard it put that way before, and it’s perfect in getting me to understand how my room gets the way it does! ❤❤❤❤
Not diagnosed but relate to this so much! This is exactly how my brain has handled my clutter forever. I have always called it “organized chaos”. As soon as either I or someone else helps clean up my clutter I can’t find things but I could find it in the “mess”. I have never found a system (thus far) that works for me to not create more clutter as much as I don’t like the clutter. I think I definitely need to get some pros in at this point, too 😅
Seeing this was very reassuring! Now I feel like somewhat less of a loser given my complete inability to have one of those neat, tidy homes no matter how much sh*t I get rid of or how much time I spend trying to figure out more efficient and aesthetically pleasing methods of storing what’s left after every purge.
Thank you…your descriptions are so on! I have spent a life-time embarrassed by clutter. I live in a tiny cabin that makes me crazy. I am fine in a tinier trailer because there are cupboards and it is so easy to declutter. I still suddenly discover that i am buried, but it is easy to declutter in minutes. In my cabin, there seems no place to put things that is easy to get to or reach. So i live with piles stacked around me. I tried to post a picture of a piece of jewelry i made, but there was no uncluttered area! Ugh! So today i promised myself to look for solutions. I bought some hanging shelves since i cannot find someone to build them for me. I like having things near because walking is very hard…failed spinal surgery. The light is terrible, so I am going to try to find wall lighting and some kind of easy ready done shelving for nice baskets to put on them. I spent years trying to find good lighting. But batteries run down quickly, and the clamp light i used on a tv tray broke 4th use! Almost $100 for those lights for crafters! I am older now and lighting is essential for painting and jewelry making. I feel encouraged seeing this article. Yes, i have ADHD, too. All great doers have had it!
Hi Jessica and website Brains! As a person who has suffered from cluttering / hoarding, this was really interesting to me in terms of the “in-motion vs in-stasis” differentiation and the techniques that you can apply. I’d never really thought about the different types of clutter and even though my clutter is occasionally quite ordered, it still creates visual interruptions every time I go into a room. When I don’t have time to organise and want to stop being visually interrupted, I often find that (if safe to do so), closing your eyes really helps to avoid losing track of the thing that you came into the room to do – if you develop this as a habit, you can also picture yourself doing the task, which helps me a little bit with working memory / staying on task).
This is so so helpful. I can usually clean the rest of my house, except my room. For weeks, every inch of my floor was covered in clothes, and it just seemed like a part of my room. I have ADD, and anxiety, so cleaning for long periods of time overstimulates me and I get bored – or I find random tasks that I feel I HAVE to do. Like cleaning the grout in the shower. I’ve had friends, family and a professional organizer help me clean my room before and find places for things, but to this day I still don’t have good habits set for cleaning. Maybe this worksheet will be a good start. Thanks for posting this, I appreciate your vulnerability. (:
Thank you so much! I just discovered your articles and this one resonates with me so much. I am always, ALWAYS, struggling with clutter and mess, but also always trying to clean it up. It never ends and it’s so overwhelming. It makes me feel like a failure and I hate not having a clean space. I’ve recently been wondering whether I may have ADHD mainly due to how I get lost in doing projects and will force myself to keep working on them till I literally can no longer stand how tired or hungry I am. How I flit from project to project and though they bring me joy, it’s like I get a bit obsessive over making them happen. Now knowing clutter is often something people with ADHD struggle with, I think I will go and get tested so I can know for sure. Regardless, this article made me feel more kind to myself about my messiness, so thanks.
This was very helpful. Great content as always! Would love to see a follow piece – as a practical guide – with a special focus on how to structure and implement THE STARTING STAGES. Take paperwork for example. Has anyone else ever thought, “This is no longer tolerable. I know what I’ll do. I’ll start 5 piles: 1) Recycle/Shred, 2) Important memories, 3) Taxes, 4) Receipts, & 5) Legal documents. Once I’m done, I’ll file them appropriately.” Then, 20 minutes later you’ve decided you need 10 more categories of piles, you keep getting stuck trying to decide which pile is most appropriate for a paper you’ve picked up, and soon can’t even remember which pile is which and you’ve run out of space to stage those piles. Then the whole thing comes to a standstill because you have other responsibilities you have to get to, until the next time you delude yourself into thinking you can conquer it. Thoughts?
I have become a minimalist in comparison to what I used to be like. Also, I am getting better at cleaning as I go. Hope to those of you younger out there with ADHD, it has gotten much better for me over time. perusal this reminds me of how far I’ve come and how time, practice and hormone shifts (I think) have made the ADHD symptoms lighter!
THANK YOU for the information and help you offer in this article!!!!! I am a 62 year old grandma (The Marme) and have lived with ADD since elementary school (golly, thanks genetics), which became much worse when I was in Junior College and suffered a concussion. I also have lupus and a veritable plethora of concomitant auto immune afflictions, with “brain fog” being a symptom of more than one of those. whoopee. Thanks again for the worksheet, references, and every word of encouragement and assistance!!!