Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 3rd Edition: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized

by Susan C. Pinsky

No matter how excruciating, clean the kitchen nightly! Washing before the food is caked on is less work. If it is done every night, it shouldn’t take long and the AM is set up for success.

Give tasks that are naturally grounding to the ADHD family member. Having one’s hands in the warm soapy water or on a broom handle will keep people on task. Putting the food away is episodic and can lead to wandering.

Own just enough dishes to fill the dishwasher, and not many more. That way, everyone is motivated to run it after dinner (full or not if there isn’t room in it for tomorrow’s dishes), and empty it, regularly.

Keep a dish pan in the sink. For those occasions during the day when you can’t get the dish in the dishwasher, at least if the dirty dishes are in a pan, they can be moved aside easily if someone needs to use the sink. And anyways it is more efficient to open the dishwasher fewer times. But draw a line in the sand: when the dishpan is full, load the dishwasher.

Use attractive lidded enameled cookware. They double as serving and storage pieces reducing dishes. Whenever possible, line baking/roasting pans with tinfoil or parchment paper to ease cleanup.

Although it is acceptable to put an unopened stack of paper plates under the stack that currently in use, it is imperative that the first time we take a plate from the new package, we discard the packaging.

Don’t clutter your cabinets with a pack of turkey napkins and a half-dozen birthday cups that you are saving for next year; use up your decorative specialty napkins, cups, and plates in the days following your event.

Remember the rule: duplicate where necessary to store things where you use them.

If you use the formal dining room only a couple times a year, then go ahead and redefine your dining room as a dining room/project room.

Making Bed-Making Easy Place the bed away from the walls so that there is easy access to all sides. Keep only those pillows on the bed that are used to sleep—no decorative pillows and shams. Swap a puffy comforter for blankets and spreads—they are forgiving way to make the bed. Use a top sheet—they are easier to wash than comforters and duvet covers and provide a light blanket when the comforter is too much. Try zippered bottom sheets—they come in two parts and zip together around the edge—no contortions nor awkward mattress lifts to change the bottom sheet.

Don’t put sheets with your regular clothes laundry. They’ll get wait-listed in the laundry line forcing you to pull out the spare sheets. Give each bed its own laundry day to increase the chances that the sheets will make it back onto the bed.

Determine Your Nightstand Needs The only items that belong on the bedside table are those items you use while lying in bed—a book, your glasses, some lotion, a sleep bonnet, an eye mask, etc. Here is a simple chart to help you determine your storage needs: IF YOU . . . YOUR NIGHTSTAND THEN NEEDS . . . Talk on the phone in bed A pad of paper (sticky notes preferably) and pen Watch TV in bed A bin or basket for the remote Use your laptop in bed An open shelf to hold the laptop when not in use A charging station A cable organizer stuck to the side of the nightstand Floss your teeth or blow your nose in bed, file your nails, put on lotion A basket for toiletries only—nail file, lotion, floss A small trash bin nearby Take pills in bed, use birth control, or other private activities A drawer, a covered basket, or an easy-to-open box for private storage Sleep with an eye mask, sleep bonnet gloves or other A bin to corral ‘sleep accessories’

Keep your goals manageable and pragmatic: Once clothing items have been segregated to their correct drawers that are not overflowing, the job is done. Don’t aim for an impractical perfectionistic beauty by folding underclothes or rolling up socks. If you have the space, don’t fold jeans, bras, or any other category of clothing that won’t suffer from just being dropped in its drawer unfolded.

If an item of clothing is not yet ready for the laundry, then put it back in the drawer or bin. Do not worry that the lightly soiled clothing will “infect” the clean clothes. Instead worry that piles of lightly worn clothes will infect the bedroom with clutter.

Throw out all your socks. Identify a style of medium-weight sock that you can wear daily no matter the season and buy a couple dozen of that style in your two most often worn colors. Voilà! No more tedious matching issues—you will be down the cost of a couple of socks, and your drawer (if you don’t stack by color) will be a jumble, but you will have gained time, drawer space, and peace of mind. Go ahead and keep two or three pairs of specialty socks—ski socks, hiking socks, fuzzy socks, etc. If there are just a handful of pairs, efficiency is maintained.

Jewelry Storage Tips Jewelry should be stored in front of the mirror where you put it on. Long necklaces belong on press on hooks. Clear plastic trays with OPEN (no lids!) bins make it easy to see and stow jewelry. Multiple little drawers and covered boxes impede access/visibility and should be shunned. Keep cardboard jewelry boxes lidless (store lids underneath) and remove the lids from any jewelry trays. Small, tangle-prone necklaces and bracelets get individual bins in a clear jewelry tray. Rigid styles can go all together in a larger tray. Rings and pairs of earrings can go three to a bin in a jewelry tray. Sort roughly by color or style (pearls, hoops, red, etc.). When the bureau-top tray overflows, expensive pieces and lesser used pieces can be quickly and conveniently transferred to lidless boxes in the top draw. Reduce packaging to just those cardboard boxes you’ve drafted as open bins, and two or three little mesh or felt bags for travel—dump the rest. Create jewelry staging areas—a small bowl/box will suffice for those areas (sink, couch, desk, table near stairs) where you regularly dump jewelry.

Sentimental clothing should be kept to a minimum and size matters. Keep grandmother’s handkerchief but let go of her tweed coat. Keep the baby booties but dump the little league uniform. Keep the concert t-shirt (or better yet just the logo!) dump the Dracula Halloween costume. Then banish this memorabilia from your drawers and store it out of the way in an object memorabilia box.

Steps to Creating an ADHD-Friendly Closet 1 Remove anything in the closet (or your half of the closet) that is not yours and is not wardrobe related, EXCEPT for one set of bed linens. That’s right, do not allow other family members to share your closet space. 2 Next remove outdated, torn, ill-fitting, and novelty clothing until the size of your wardrobe comfortably fits in your closet space. 3 Improve the lighting in your closet or remove the door(s). If you can’t see comfortably, you won’t keep it organized. Sliding closet doors should always be removed; they prevent you from seeing the entire closet at once. Accordion doors or a curtain rod (longer than the closet is wide so that the curtains can be pushed completely back) are alternatives for those who wish to occasionally hide the contents for privacy or restfulness. 4 Install hooks in and around your closet for bathrobes, cardigans, and wet towels. It is quicker to use hooks than hangers. Over-the-door hooks on the bedroom door and heavy press-on hooks require no tools to install. 5 Arrange hanging clothes by length so that the space under shorter clothes can be utilized for extra storage. 6 Add cheap storage in the closet space you’ve created. Depending on the inventory (athletic clothing, shoes, hats, purses, etc.), some options include a shelf-style shoe rack, a stack of open-front bins that can be also be used side-by-side on shelving, lidless plastic bins, a unit with easy to open mesh drawers (see photo here), o...

Clothes-Purging Tips Discard old, stained, shabby, and ill-fitting clothing; if you haven’t worn it in a year, get rid of it. Do not own more clothing than you can comfortably fit, all seasons together, in your own closet. Make a list of your needs before shopping for clothes—avoid impulse purchases! Do not adopt a complicated system of “goes to my sister in Florida,” “take to consignment store,” “give to my neighbor,” and so on. Bundle everything in a plastic bag, put it in the car, and take to the nearest charity. Clothing must be in good condition to donate. Throw out those items that are stained, ripped, covered in pet hair (not worth your time to clean), and/or have missing buttons.

two basic rules for efficiency: reducing the steps and reducing the materials.

Radical Tips for Limiting Laundry Don’t wash an item until it is obviously stained or odiferous. Limit the number of clothes you own. Dresser drawers must not be overstuffed, even at the end of laundry day; you will never bother to put your laundry away if you must wrestle it into a drawer. Reduce clothing inventory to just enough to get by for the week, (with some extra pairs of underwear and socks). Think of it as the college model; aim for a single load a week that stays on your radar because you are out of clean clothes and nearing your last pair of underwear. Eliminate ironing and specialty care clothes. Embrace permanent press, and wrinkle free fabrics. Eliminate sorting by color and temperature; warm wash and medium dry is fine for most everything. Avoid fading simply by washing less (wait until it is dirty, not just worn!). Avoid mixing the clothing of various family members. It is inefficient for clean clothes to go to someone else’s room waiting for a time when the laundress can do a mammoth and overwhelming “family sort.” No mixing means family members can do their own laundry if they (or you) so choose. Fold things roughly (slap-dash!) and wherever possible avoid folding at all, never fold briefs, panties, bras, undershirts, PJs, or socks—a jumble of panties in a drawer with nothing else mixed in is organized enough. Eliminate sock matching and rolling (see here). Reduce towels to one bath towel per family member, two for those with long hair. Wash them infrequ...

As long as wardrobes are kept to a reasonable size (allowing for a single load per family member per week); the need for transferring from awkward hampers is eliminated; the sort by temperature and color “requirement” is abandoned; the hijacking of clean clothes to the couch is foresworn; the inefficient intermingling of various owners clothing is eradicated; and perfectionist folding duties are eschewed, any non-ADHD child over the age of eight and any ADHD teens and adults should be able to manage their own laundry.

Food And The Family Room Make a rule that meals, snacks, and treats are not allowed in the family room, with a very occasional adults-only exception. Food should be confined to the kitchen. If we need entertainment while we eat, we can put a small TV or radio in the kitchen or confine ourselves to playlists and podcasts on our hand-held devices. It is easier to add an electronic device to the kitchen than to be constantly scrubbing sticky jelly fingerprints from the walls, vacuuming crumbs from the couch, washing juice stains from the rugs, and gathering dirty dishes from every corner of the house. Free yourself from all that extra labor by sticking to the “food belongs in the kitchen” rule.

Clearing Out Electronics 1 Dispose of redundant devices and old electronic equipment the minute you have a newer model. For example, get rid of your old television as soon as a newer model is purchased. Do NOT just haul it to the basement. 2 Call or check the website for your municipal waste department or private waste-removal service for their rules, fees, and pickup and hazardous waste day schedules. Many electronics can go right in the trash. If you have old monitors or televisions, look at the websites of a few big box electronic stores, as many will take them immediately for a minimal fee. 3 Schedule the drop off or pick up. For a site that is “always receiving,” pick a day and write it on the calendar so the chore gets done. For set hazardous waste drop-off or pickup days, mark your calendar, and move the equipment out near the car or garbage area. 4 If you have items from which you want to recover data, bite the bullet and take it to a service. They will then recycle the hardware for you.

As soon as your electronics become redundant or outdated, recycle them.

Tips for Media Management Collections: Don’t collect. The most efficient system is the one that doesn’t require managing inventory—think streaming, e-readers, and good old-fashioned radio. Manuals: They are all online, so go ahead and toss them. If you must keep (why?) then place them as near to the electronic or appliance as possible. If there is a drawer or cabinet near your TV, slip the manual inside. If not, stash it behind the TV. For basement appliances the manual can go in a gallon-size (4.5 L) resealable plastic bag on top of the furnace or tape the bag to the side of the washer/dryer. Alternatively, every manual can go in an accordion folder—sometimes we make one for the kitchen, one for the garage one for the office, or we throw them all together in a box, but in both instances, you will be forced to weed through occasionally—wouldn’t it be easier to toss and find them online if you need them? If you know how to operate the equipment, don’t be afraid to throw out the manual. Remotes: A large, open, shallow basket conveniently located on your coffee table or end table is an easy target in which to drop the remote. Or if you want to keep the surfaces clear, a half open end table drawer will do. Choose the table that can be reached—without stretching or bending—when you are sitting in your favorite chair. Use neon stickers on dark remotes so they are easier to find. A reader’s tip: put glow-in-the-dark stickers on your remote controls so they are easy to locate in t...

Every bathroom in an ADHD home should contain a large kitchen-sized garbage can for empty bottles, rejected products, packaging, expired medications, used feminine hygiene products, and wipes.

Basic Bathroom Organizing Tips A set of cleaning supplies and a roll of paper towels should be kept in or near the bathroom. Every toilet deserves its own toilet bowl brush-fill the reservoir in the stand with cleaning solution eliminating the need to pull out the cleaning bottle every time. If you disrobe in the bathroom before you shower, add a tall laundry basket to use as a hamper. Get rid of that small decorative wastebasket (it’s inefficient because it needs constant emptying) and replace it with a tall lidless or swing top garbage can. It may need that cover especially if there are menstruating humans and dogs in the home. Keep a box of baby wipes on the back of the toilet or a tub of disinfecting wipes under the counter for quick swipe-and-go cleanings. If you have the means, it is well worth the money to hire a cleaning service for the bathrooms and floors.

In a house of menstruating teens, hygiene supplies should not be kept hidden in the back of a cabinet several feet away from the toilet but kept out in the open on a shelf or in a bin within easy reach of the toilet. In fact, I recommend this in all homes, ADHD or not, in which anyone is menstruating. Those who do not menstruate can learn to live with these items in the family bathroom as a courtesy and convenience to half the population.

How to Organize a Medicine Cabinet or Closet Bring a large lawn-sized garbage bag up to the bathroom. Procure open-front bins or clear plastic shoe box style bins (lids can be stored underneath) and give them loose names, like the aisles of the drugstore: cold/flu, skin care, eye/ear/nose. Transfer medications and toiletries into these bins, throwing out the old, unused, unwanted, and expired items. Do not overstuff these bins, or the view will again be obscured! If the home doesn’t have a medicine closet but rather an inadequate medicine chest, we may need to hang a wire-style spice rack behind the bathroom door for added storage. Give each shelf of the rack a rough name (label them with sticky notes—you will have to secure with tape) and then keep the inventory limited so that we don’t overcrowd any one shelf. In the future, when a bin or shelf becomes crowded, go through just that bin or shelf and get rid of lesser-used and expired items.

It is the aggregate of many small inefficiencies that ambush our lives and homes.

Outfitting the Office For a comfortable and efficient office space, you’ll need the following: A desk with at least one drawer for go-to small computer paraphernalia, stationery supplies, and any toiletries A comfortable adjustable rolling desk chair. A power strip and complete set of chargers. Bright lighting—both a desk lamp and an overhead bulb are desirable. A two-drawer file cabinet within arm’s reach of the desktop (the bottom drawer may just hold oversized or overstock office supplies) that can be drafted to support peripherals (printer). A cable organizer stuck to the side of the desk, so chargers are within easy reach. In your office supply drawer: A bin for earbuds, data sticks, and other small computer paraphernalia. Tape, stapler, paper clips, sticky notes, extra pens, and one iteration of any frequently used office supply. A small bin with whatever toiletries needed at the desk—perhaps a glasses cleaning cloth, lip balm, or lotion. Envelopes, stamps, and your checkbook—these can also go in a bin or on a shelf within easy reach. On your desktop or within reach: A computer and a printer on your adjacent file cabinet with varied colors of paper so not every print-out is white. Stacking trays for on-going projects. A pencil cup that holds retractable pens, a few pencils, scissors, a highlighter, and red and black felt-tip markers for creating files or drawing attention to items on your calendar. An active basket with active papers, a paper calendar if that is the ...

Creating an ADHD-Friendly Workspace How does the desk pictured here suit someone with ADHD? Here are some of the tricks that make this an ADHD-friendly workspace: The desk and adjacent file cabinet are large enough to comfortably hold a computer and peripherals while still allowing space for physical writing. Office supply essentials fit together in one drawer—it’s inefficient to both manage a large inventory and wander the house hunting down supplies. Nearby shelving with bins holds the overstock office supplies (cables, earphones, stationery supplies) conveniently nearby—a chair roll away. Generous shelving within reach of the desk supplements desktop space and go-to storage for the most oft used supplies; in this office the lesser-used paper processing items—stacking trays, envelopes, stamps, and checkbook—are on a bookcase to the left of the desktop out of the way but still easily accessible from the desk without standing or straining. Retractable pens eliminate the distraction of playing with caps. Stackable trays allow us to file or quickly clear away a project without opening a drawer and hunting down a folder. A handy wastebasket encourages us to throw out garbage the minute we are done with it. Varied colors of printer paper make give us a quick visual mnemonic—so much easier to find a needed paper when not every paper is white. Note too how the cell phone case is bright, eye-catching, and outfitted with glow in the dark stickers. A deep recycling basket encourage...

“I never know how long to hang on to papers or information, and then I never get around to throwing them out.” The recycle bin keeps papers out of the way while still on hand (for a time), operating on the 1 percent chance that you might need them again. This not only eliminates a second sorting later but also clears your desk the minute a chore is done because you don’t have to worry about “just in case.”

Let’s review some of the many papers we can clear away into our “slow recycle” bin: Receipts for all items, including those not yet used or worn. Confirmation numbers for items ordered over the phone (even those that haven’t yet arrived). Projects that you’ve completed but fear dumping just yet. Paid-bill paperwork. Phone numbers for calls you’ve returned. Notes for events or problems to which you’ve attended. Bank and financial statements (they are a dated snapshot and you can find the current info online). Just about everything else.

How does this bin simplify paperwork? If it is the correct size—large enough for a file folder to lay flat and 1 foot deep—it will hold about six- to eight-months’ worth of paper, naturally filed in chronological order. As such, the occasional mistaken discard can easily be fished out. Empty the bin only once it’s full. If you’re still worried about privacy, then don’t recycle the papers; empty them into the opaque kitchen garbage bag.

A slender upright Active Paperwork basket allows easy access to all papers and encourages weeding of the dated. The Active Paperwork basket is located near the computer and a charger, it also holds all current to-do lists and invitations or information of upcoming events. A slash folder corrals a handful of papers that go to the same activity; the bright color makes it easy to find in the Active basket.

Note that each catagory is written upside down on the folder so that it faces the reader. Note also that the papers do not go in the file folder (it is just a label) but rather get piled on top.

So what can we remove from our file drawer and where should it go? Current papers. These go in the Active basket. Current projects. These go in the Active basket if it is just a few papers, and in the stacking trays if there are many papers or they are so frequently referenced that it helps to have them set apart. Contact information, business cards, and envelopes with addresses. Label a pocket folder “Contact Info” and keep them in there. People we contact all the time will already be in our phone. Don’t bother transferring this information. Homeowners’ manuals and warranties. Toss them as they are all online. Alright if you must keep them, either keep them near or under their respective appliance or together in a clear accordion folder that lives on a bookshelf. Vacation or renovation ideas and inspiration. If it is a physical paper like a picture pulled from a magazine you can put it in a pocket folder on a bookshelf as it won’t take much room—or take a picture and file in a digital photo album you’ve created for this category. Receipts. Throw them in the recycle basket, where they’ll linger for 6 months so you can retrieve them if you need them. Large-purchase receipts can be tossed too, but most clients won’t give these up even though some stores can track the purchases through your credit card. If you must, make a large-purchase receipt file folder only for major purchase receipts. Alternatively, photograph them immediately and put in a “Receipts” photo album on your...

For the ADHD client, the finishing task is the most likely to be neglected, so we must therefore value the ease of putting something away above the ease of finding it. If it has been put away, it will be found, but if it hasn’t been put away, it could be lost for good.

Here are some additional file labeling tips: The files within the drawer should be arranged in alphabetical order, except for your most frequently used file, let’s say “Taxes 20--,” which then goes to the front of the drawer. Throw out the label maker—it values beauty over effort. Use a black felt-tipped marker to label tabbed folders in LARGE black letters. Throw out most of the plastic tabs on hanging folders. They are a huge expense of effort! Occasionally I will put one on a blank hanging folder to give a file drawer two categories—the back half of the drawer might be tax materials or office supplies. Avoid general labels like “Legal Docs,” “Urgent Papers,” or “Current Taxes” because they don’t tell us anything. Files labeled “Easement Lawsuit,” “Hurricane Boris Flood Insurance Claim,” and “Taxes 2019” will tell us everything we need to know immediately and will never date. It is better to have fewer files that are fuller, but within those files, staple or clip together papers that are one category. While we might have an insurance file with five policies, each with many papers, there will only be five items as all the papers for any individual policy will be stapled or clipped together. Put the colorful tabbed folder in a hanging folder of the same color. It will be easy to return that blue file (finishing task), because we can target the empty but matching blue hanging folder at the back of the drawer. Put only one tabbed file folder in each hanging folder. When crea...

Statistics show that people retrieve only about 20 percent of what they file. For someone with ADHD, this is wasted effort and visual clutter, both of which interfere with efficiency. Unless you have identified an imminent use for a paper, get rid of it. Do not save it for a possible future project. You will be able to gather that information again should you begin that project.

Active Papers Where: Standing in an upright basket Contents: These are papers that describe upcoming events, pertain to immediate scheduling, or give information for immediate action items on our to-do lists. Keep your upright Active basket small so that you are forced to weed through it monthly. As active papers have an immediate expiration date, most of the basket’s contents can be tossed out within 30 days.

Office Paper Recycle Bin Where: ‘slow’ recycling bin Contents: For all discarded office paper including just-in-case paperwork that we probably won’t need, but fear to take to the curb just yet. It can linger for 8–12 months, “filed” chronologically while the basket slowly fills giving you the chance to retrieve it on the slight chance you will need it.

If you can place an outside recycle bin so that your trip from the mailbox to the house takes you by it, drop all the junk mail in it so it never makes it into the house.

scheduling the lives of those with ADHD requires the implementation of routine along with a reduction of steps and materials. Socially acceptable strategies for reducing commitments to a manageable level—learning to delegate responsibilities, share commitments, and gracefully decline invitations—need to be adopted, and at-a-glance calendars, which require no more effort to maintain than picking up a pen or clicking a single button, must be employed.

Although it will often take someone with ADHD longer to establish a routine (and they may struggle to stick to it), the complete absence of a routine will ambush organization in an ADHD home as thoroughly as it would in any home. We all need daily routines—looking at our calendar and to-do list first every morning, cleaning the kitchen after dinner every night, etc.—to keep us on track, as well as weekly routines—Laundry Day Saturday, Bill Paying Monday—to ground us in our week.

If you are still using paper write a reminder in bold marker on the back cover of your current paper calendar so that when you switch at the end of the year, you can carry that information forward.

First things first: when we realize that we are overscheduled (ADHD or not, it happens to everyone!), admit it. Everyone around us probably already knows that we’ve bitten off more than we can chew; better to leave them impressed with our honesty than frustrated by our avoidance. Here are several ways to carry out this conversation: Overcommitted. Just because we can fit it into a day doesn’t mean that we should. It is okay to say, “Technically I am available, but that day is so overcommitted that it wouldn’t be wise to take on another obligation.” On second thought. Do not be subject to the Tyranny of the Promise. It is perfectly acceptable—even mature and responsible—to admit that, in retrospect, we shouldn’t have promised a trip to the ice cream stand after the 8p.m. movie, or to head up the new program before we had completed the program for the past fiscal year. Tell employers, friends, spouses, or even children, “On second thought, I now realize that this plan or schedule is too tight or ambitious. I’m sorry to disappoint, but it’s just not realistic.” How can we make this work? Once we’ve admitted that we are floundering, when appropriate, involve the other person in resolving the issue. Give them some options so they feel empowered. For example, “I can finish A if the deadline is extended; but if you need it imminently, it is more practical to assign it to someone else.” In the home, suggest to one’s spouse, “Perhaps we can set aside a day when you can get me back ...

I’m Late! I’m Late! Routinely look at calendars and to-dos in the morning (or the night before if that works better for you) and then set an alert 10 minutes before leaving for appointments. Set this alarm so that you will get there early. From Wes Crenshaw, author of I Always Want to Be Where I’m Not, I paraphrase this tip. “Plan to get everywhere 15 minutes early, you can use the extra time to play on your phone.” The reward element of this is what makes it so effective. Phone alarms and alerts are a game-changer, but no one wants to be beeped at all day long. Pair habits with daily routines, such as deleting emails on the Throne, looking at one’s calendar first thing in the AM, or discussing schedules with a spouse during dinner. This allows us to get through our day and function while keeping electronic alerts to a reasonable number. If you have trouble getting out of bed, it could be because you dread hitting the ground running. See if getting up an hour early and spending time relaxing (Soduku? Wordle?), allows you to ease into the responsibilities of the day. Break down tasks into smaller pieces and start always with the easiest task and one you can complete quickly—it gets you in the zone and starts the day with a win. When scheduling tasks always overestimate how long they will—take—if it should take an hour, schedule two. Try to give yourself an hour or two off at the end of each day and one day a week to relax. Organize your calendar to allow for pleasure in you...