How to Organize with ADHD - Simple Home Hacks

if you have ADHD having an organized home is extra hard our brain wants as few steps as possible in everything that we do so if something's hard to put away or even a little bit complicated we just won't do it and complicated can mean like opening a lid or unstacking a bin even walking a few steps across the room that complicates things for us so I'm going to show you how to uncomplicate your house how to make it really ADHD friendly and even if you don't have ADHD and you're stressed out or you're overwhelmed this can mimic ADHD symptoms of distractability and procrastination and just needing an easier space so I'm going to share with you 15 things that you can do to make your whole home more organized the first thing is letting your mess tell you what you need honestly you are piling stuff where you're piling it for a reason it's probably that that stuff doesn't have a home or putting it away is too far away or too hard to put away let your mess dictate how you should organize your space so if you're piling on the kitchen counter can you empty a drawer directly underneath for some of those things to go can you put a basket right there can you install floating shelving on the wall or hooks you really want to adapt your space based on where you're naturally piling because that is your brain telling you that that's the easiest place to put your stuff down the other thing that we have to do is Zone our house because we get distracted very easily so zoning is probably the most important thing what I mean by this is designating homes throughout your home and only keeping those type of categories within there so here's an example in my kitchen I have a zone for breakfast food I have a zone for baking I have a zone for snacks even on a bigger picture look at your living room and Zone where you watch TV do you craft in this space you have to like have a separate Zone and section for that when we mix categories together we're really distracted if we have a load of laundry in our office we're not going to be focusing on getting work done so zoning your home into different categories and keeping them separate at all times is so important for our ADHD brain and we go a step further like within that zone Zone think big categories you know where books go on a bookshelf that's a Zone we don't have to put them in alphabetical order we don't have to like color coordinate the bookshelf is the place where books belong you have big baskets for big categories like snacks or like craft supplies and Zone them into that category and the next most important thing that you can do is not use Lids because Lids over complicate it when we have these big macro C categories if we stack containers or we have a lid that we have to open we're just going to set it on top or beside and just hearing myself say this I'm like what are those zones what do they look like where do they go this probably is overwhelming you so here's the thing I have a macro organizing guide that breaks down zones by room and categories within there to give you like a jumping off point it's really easy to follow you can pick one thing a day and just create homes for like your light bulbs or your batteries or your snacks this can make it easier so I'm going to put a link to that in the description below it's totally free but it can help you rethink your home into big macro categories okay so speaking of categories uh adhders or chronically overwhelmed stressed out people we need categories for random not everything can be random but dedicating spots for homeless or I don't know where this goes is critical for for our ADHD brains another tool that we should use that's so important is a go back basket I use a tidy toe for when I'm cleaning but also at the bottom of the stairs why not have a big basket for things that belong upstairs and at the top of the stairs have a big basket for things that belong downstairs like a go back basket means you cannot have to leave the room or walk really far to put something away and then at the end of the night you empty your Gob back basket this will 100% keep your house tidier another thing that we have to do is put a trash can in almost every room especially where you normally just pile trash because we're lazy we're not lazy that's a bad word we are just if we have to walk to put something away we're not going to not only put a trash can in every room put it where you're naturally piling trash or if you're putting popcs beside the couch put a recycling bin right there put a lawn laundry hamper where you toss your clothes on the floor where you're making a pile that's where your laundry hamper should go this is about adapting your house to work with you you not trying to adapt to your house okay this is my favorite thing it's giving yourself a Time budget and capping it because listen we have time blindness also we procrastinate why because we're low on dope dopamine and we're seeking dopamine and when we wait till the very last minute to do something we get the dopamine that's why you can like crush it your mother-in-law's like I'll be over in 15 minutes you will clean like you've never cleaned before because we have that time pressure so timing yourself and giving yourself time pressure even though it's like a fake thing and no one's actually coming over or you don't have that deadline can increase your dopamine and and really get you motivated to get the task done also using a timer means that you're not going to overestimate or underestimate how long something takes I really love this cute little timer it's like based on the P Modo method I probably am not saying that right but breaking tasks into chunks of 3 minutes 5 minutes 20 minutes 15 minutes and then it has an audible alarm so it's really easy you just like move the little brick over to whatever time you want and then the race is on to get it done within that time we need this whether you're ADHD or you're just stressed freaking out you got to give these timer hacks a try the most important space to focus on and Zone if you have ADHD is definitely your entrance way where they call it like a landing zone or a Launchpad because listen we are always running late and we always forget everything and this sets us up for Success not only like in the outside world but when we're coming home as well it stops the Clutter at the door this means having hooks having spots for purses and backpacks and keys and all the stuff that's in your hands but also think about what you normally forget when you're leaving I just watched a video from how to ADHD and got this amazing idea having socks in our entrance way we always forget to put on socks until we're about to put on our shoes and we're already late we got to run back up upstairs so now I just have a bag of socks in the entrance way life changing if you always forget your phone charge it in the entrance way if you always forget your keys make them really visual right there like this seems so obvious but honestly if you focus on making your entrance way Landing Zone Launchpad the most functional space in your house it will change your life I know I already said this but I feel like I have to revisit this again do not have lids you can have lids on like long-term storage sure like your Christmas decorations but don't have lids or like things that are going to go stale use lids for those but don't have lids on any containers period do not stack if you use it all the time and so important friends label the crap out of your bins label them most adhders are visual but even if you're not visual a label sends a subconscious reminder to your brain that this is its home and you're more likely to put things away it also find makes it easier to find everything labels are magical they're wonderful you need them in your life label everything I promise you it will make you more organized and more efficient and your entire house more functional please please please give this a try I got 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free at hellofresh.com for free breakfast for Life click that link in my description below I want you to rethink paper organization because listen let's burn filing cabin let's kick them in the backyard and start a bonfire if you are a big picture thinker and you have ADHD filing cabinets suck you can use them for long-term paper you never really deal with but that daytoday paper it just doesn't work for us because it's complicated because it's multiple steps to file something so here's what you do instead you have a spot for important papers to go I got to deal with this I call that an action file you have a spot for papers to go that like maybe I want to look at this and reference this a magazine you want to read or a recipe you want to try fine that gets its own basket and then anytime you pay a bill or you have a statement or you have a piece of paper that comes in the house that you've dealt with it just goes in a big box or a basket labeled 2024 paid bills done and you only have to go through this at tax time you only have to file papers one day a year this is life freaking changing I do not want you just like pile all over the place if you have these three separate spots for paper to go like I got to pay the bill action I might maybe deal with this reference and like I've dealt with this but I'm not going to file it until I know I need it for my taxes or not these three things that's all you need for paper like seriously it will keep you organized and if you're a bit of a perfectionist let me just tell you as you pile it in the Box you are filing chronologically because the Bottom's January then February then March than April so if you need something it's not a big deal to look through and get it but you don't have to deal with paper every single day in fact only one day a year another thing that adhders should do is use color when they're doing like boring stuff like paperwork or working so different colored Post-it notes really important is one color not so important another color or if you are using file folders make sure they're color coordinated like green is money I don't know you get to pick the colors but colors is that visual cue to our brain of categories and zones which is how our brain works big categories big zones so use colors to help you identify those just at a glance that leads me to the next really critical thing that I talk about in almost every video that I do but it let me tell you if you have ADHD or you're stressed out this is a must and that is having a spot to brain dump it can be a notebook brain dump and then picking three to five important things and like circling those that this is a priority it doesn't matter what you use if you're a planner person I hate planners if you're a Post-It person maybe just like a sheet of paper it doesn't matter get the thoughts out of your brain because your brain is already going a mile a minute man you need to get it onto paper so that you can create a plan for yourself because as soon as you get it out of your brain and onto paper you are way more likely to actually do it and a way to help you actually do stuff is to book appointments with yourself before I did this I got nothing done I was like full squirrel man where am I what's happening what am I supposed to do so I book appointments with myself to remember to do everything from tidying to pay the bills this is the day that you clean the toilets I know this is it seems ridiculous but it's so critical like book an appointment with yourself every night to to tidy up your house these little appointments do something pretty amazeballs which is they train yourself to have muscle memory that's what this is all about like we need habits that our brain just does on autopilot because we would forget to remember them otherwise so booked appointments mean this is what happens I book an appointment throughout the day to do little five minute tidy ups and now I'm in the habit of putting things away now my brain has this muscle memory I don't need the alarms as often I'm just doing it out of habit I'm paying the bills on Friday out of habit I'm cleaning the toilets out of on Sunday out of habit muscle memory friends and you can train your brain in as little as one week with these little appointments which leads me to the last tip which is use digital things to make up for the fact that we don't have executive function use alarms use alerts I have an Alexa in every single room sorry if you do too and she's talking to you now but I set alarms on my phone and everything's going off all the time because I will not remember to do it otherwise I just won't and if I'm doing something I often will add it to my calendar and then add someone else another loved one also to that appointment that I've made with myself so they also are like hey your alarm's going off to do XYZ and I know this feels annoying and irritating but we need to do this we have to do this you better have a calendar app on your phone and you had better have some sort of electronic device in your house to help you remember things like hey set a reminder in 15 minutes to do blah blah blah set a reminder on February 28th to do XYZ this is critical to having fake executive function I spent a lot of time right now talking about how ADHD is a superpower and how it's so amazing and it's my favorite gift and while that's all true I also have to say like it sucks it also sucks I have no short-term memory I have no working memory period like everything is harder when you have ADHD so it is really important that not only we acknowledge the great parts of having it so it isn't like a poor me victim Fest but also acknowledge that we need extra help we need extra tools we need to simplify things not because we're dumb or lazy but because our brain works differently and if you don't even have ADHD and you're just stressed or overwhelmed and guess what a lot of clutter in a messy house mimics the symptoms of ADHD because you are distracted by freaking everything and everywhere you look there's something to do and your brain's like oh my gosh this and this and this and this and this that's what ADHD feels like so even if you don't have it if you are living in a chronically disorganized space in life you kind of have it you know what I'm saying and we treat it the same way we create simplified systems we stop trying to make you know uh trying to like work within our house and the and the the box that we're given and instead we remake the box and we make our house work for us we hack our ADHD so that where we're naturally putting things down that's where we put it away so that things are so easy we might as well put it away instead of putting it down this is the secret secet friends and using every tool that we can to just make life easier it's never going to go away okay it's not it's not it's not going to like fix us but it will make your life easier and I am so passionate about this after really suffering for the first 40 years of my life like what's wrong with me now that I know and I can adapt it's like a weight off my shoulders and I want that for you too thank you guys so much for watching I hope you are feeling inspired and you got like maybe a little tip put the socks in your entrance way and I'll see you guys next time thank you guys so much for those of you who have stayed to the end I know I've shared this before but I've been like uh I was diagnosed with ADHD at 40 and I started on medication basically right away and I've been unmedicated due to like a heart issue for the last just over a month at first I was like the medication's not really doing anything it's okay it's it's slight L improving my life but now I'm realizing what the heck is going on because every day I do this where am I what am I doing why am I in this room what am I supposed to be working on what day is it here's what happened after Christmas I bought Milo's shoes for Christmas and they were too small so I put them by back door to remind me to to drop them back off at the mall and every day I would forget I would forget I would forget so I set an appointment with myself on a Friday this is the day the only thing you're doing that day because with ADHD we can't do multiple things you know what I'm saying is go to the mall and return the shoes so I get to the mall and I'm bumping my my my 90s hip hop the whole way there I pull in I have no idea why I'm at the mall so I just go shopping and I'm buying random things that I don't need and I walk past the shoe store and I'm like I am here to return shoes so I go to my van I didn't even put the shoes in the van I forgot to bring them and this friend is like every single day I leave the house I forget while I'm driving where I'm even going or why I'm leaving the house like it's like 50 first 50 First Dates you know with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler if you haven't seen that movie I feel like she doesn't have brain damage she has ADHD that's how I feel and I want to know if if I am not alone it's crazy pants and so I'm really like I'm in the thick of it friends and I'm making a doctor's appointment to like get back on some kind of medication because this is hard every day is hard and everyone around me poor Emily she's like I know I know what Emily's thinking she's like are you okay I'm difficult to work with anyways thanks so much for watching and I'll see you guys next time

Channel: Clutterbug

Views: 347,407

Keywords: clutterbug, organizing tips, ideas, home organization, organize, clutter free, adult adhd, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, adhd hacks, adhd organization, adhd in adults, adhd organization tips, adhd tips, adhd friendly home, adhd home hacks, adhd home organization, adhd room organization, adhd and organization, adhd friendly organization, adhd friendly room, adhd friendly apartment, adhd home organization tips, adhd home organization hacks

Id: jex_NcCJw_E

Length: 20min 1sec (1201 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 06 2024