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April 1 - April 3, 2024
TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF STEPS REQUIRED TO SUCCESSFULLY PURGE YOUR HOME OF UNUSED ITEMS, DON’T SELL OR DISPOSE OF YOUR POSSESSIONS IN FIFTY PLACES IN FIFTY WAYS. PLACE ANYTHING THAT YOU ARE GETTING RID OF IN THE FRONT SEAT OF YOUR CAR AND DROP IT AT A SINGLE CHARITY THAT WILL TAKE MOST THINGS THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE DRIVING BY, OR PUT ON THE CURB WITH A “FREE SIGN”. THEN BASK IN THE SATISFACTION OF AN UNCLUTTERED HOME AND A GENEROUS NATURE.
Purge Like a Pro Now that we have covered what not to keep, it’s time to get down to business and start the purging process. Reducing possessions down to a manageable number requires constant vigilance and liberal application of what I like to call the Brutal Purge.
THE DÉCOR DILEMMA If every end table is buried under framed photos, plants crowd the kitchen counters, and bobble heads populate the desktop, then there is no place to set our drinks, cook our dinner, or pay our bills. If we put our keys or phone down on any of these surfaces they could get lost in the decorative jungle!
Disposing of Purged Items THERE ARE THREE CONVENIENT DESTINATIONS FOR EXCESS POSSESSIONS: THE TRASH, THE CURB, OR A CHARITY THAT TAKES MOST EVERYTHING. If the object is of little value to others, throw it in the trash. If the object has some life left in it and you are fortunate enough to live on a busy street, placing objects on the curb with a “Free” sign can be an efficient method of decluttering the home.
No organizing project is complete until purged items are off the property.
ADHD AND THE ENVIRONMENT: ECOFRIENDLY EFFICIENCY When we commit to the Shopping List and the Brutal Purge, we become more “green,” but as with everything else, we must marry the least amount of effort to the best outcome.
would be helped by reduction alone. In the great reduce-reuse-recycle triangle, it is the reducing that most greatly benefits the planet. Purchasing is the villain; the manufacture and shipping of goods is the major culprit behind any item’s carbon footprint. Reusing and recycling combined cannot make up for those initial pollutants and improvident purchases.
All of us can and should be green by reducing inventory and purchases, shopping only from our lists, and donating items we aren’t using so others can reduce their need for newly manufactured goods. By all means recycle regularly, but cut yourself some slack with the occasional lapse. If we commit to living lightly on the planet by reducing purchases, favoring ecofriendly products and packaging, and eliminating excess, we will be much greener than an average American who acquires recklessly and recycles assiduously.
GARBAGE AND RECYCLING: FATIGUING FINISHING TASKS In many of the homes I enter, as much as 40 percent(!) of the improvement is accomplished just by taking out the trash! To be clear, I am NOT referring to weeding/purging/culling where we organize possessions by sorting into ‘keep or go’ piles, the latter, depending on condition, for donation or trash. Instead I am talking about removing those items that have always or already been identified as garbage. This is not just possessions that are too shabby to donate but usually largely comprise pizza boxes, soda bottles, broken furniture, spoiled
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OFTEN 40% OF CURING THE ORGANIZING ILLS IN AN ADHD HOME—SUBSTANTIALLY REMOVING THE CLUTTER, ELIMINATING WAYWARD ODORS, AND RENDERING THE HOME A MORE FUNCTIONAL PLACE TO BOTH LIVE IN AND MAINTAIN—IS ACCOMPLISHED BY CREATING AN EFFICIENT, HASSLE-FREE TRASH REMOVAL ROUTINE. STREAMLINING GARBAGE REMOVAL MAKES ALL OTHER TASKS MORE EFFICIENT AND IS THE FIRST THING I ADDRESS WHEN I TACKLE ANY AND EVERY PROJECT.
Quick Garbage Tips Use LARGE waste cans in every room of the house. Do not empty bathroom, bedroom, etc. cans on garbage day, empty when they are full. Store liners for cans near each can or in between the current liner and the can—there is usually room for a whole box of plastic trash bags. Use large, lidless, indoor recycle bins that accommodate a week’s worth of recycling. Consider recycling redeemable cans and bottles rather than returning them—the deposit may not be worth your time and effort. Place outdoor garbage and recycling bins near the most often-used exit of the home. Place one
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there is no curbside pickup, name a day as “transfer station day,” or “Go-to-the-dump Thursday,” so a weekly trash trip becomes part of your routine. Most importantly, take the trash out! This unbreakable routine should be on the same day(s), and at least weekly. Set a recurring, regularly scheduled, digital alarm so that trash makes it to the dumpster, the car, or the curb.
1 Way Station Staging Area: Items in a way station staging area are actively in transit. An effective way station must be in the direct path of the object’s journey and should be so obvious (irritating, in fact) that we are motivated to move the item along. The front seat of the car, the doorknob on the garage door, the exit to the home, and the top and bottom of stairs are all useful way stations for items on their way out the door or to another area in the home. During the regularly scheduled daily two-minute tidy up, all items whose home is on another floor may go to a stairway staging area
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2 Interim Storage Staging Area: Items in the interim staging area need temporary storage until a specific date. An empty shelf in the garage can provide storage for the fertilizer waiting for the rains to let up. An empty shelf in the basement may be drafted to hold the troop’s camping equipment that you volunteered to transport to the next cookout. Every rough storage area (basement, garage, attic, etc.) in our homes should have empty shelving to create a buffer for our living areas. Do not worry that these shelves are “wasted” if they sit empty.
3 Project Staging Area: Dedicated project staging areas can help those with ADHD keep their paints, pastels, graphics, and paperwork off the kitchen table and away from the family room couch. For involved projects (sewing, scrapbooking, auto repairs, etc.) that must be left out for several days, but then get put away, set up a folding table, preferably out of the way of foot traffic and other activities, or draft a seldom-used dining room table.
The ADHD community is our most valuable resource. There are many online chat groups where we can describe a challenge and the brilliant, empathetic, ADHD population can suggest a solution drawing on their creativity or the reservoir of their own experience.
The ADHD Organizing Method
Be it large (the garage) or small (a single kitchen cabinet), all organizational projects require the following approach: 1 Schedule and Prepare.
2 Weed and Sort.
Keep a large lined trash handy to take care of any rubbish—as always we want easy access to the trash. Then, starting on the floor (because it makes it easier to move about), empty the space. Follow the floor with surfaces and finally interiors. Sort and weed as you clear things out.
3 Remove and Clean.
4 Name and Return.
5 Containerize and Bask.
Sorting and Organizing Roadmap First: Always start on the floor; a clear floor immediately provides a more restful and efficient project environment because you can easily move about. Next: Clear the surfaces as these provide staging areas for sorting. Finally: Tackle interior spaces like drawers and cupboards.
Defining What We Do Tidy Up/Picking Up = getting a room to look somewhat neat by putting things away. Cleaning = washing floors, vacuum dust Organize = schedule and prep, weed and sort, remove and clean, name and return, containerize and bask
This is the simple procedure for organizing every room, closet, and cubby in your home. You can use it as a guide to organize any space not covered in this book. However, on larger projects, or for those chores that are regularly neglected or left incomplete, getting help from a family mem...
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Creating Workspaces That Work for You An efficient workspace is a powerful tool for keeping yourself organized. Our workspaces can include everything from an office to a home carpentry shop. They are a subset of activity areas that should be outfitted with storage and space enough to pursue our work and store all the support items necessary to do that work. Curate these spaces to personal limits and work habits. Work better with music? Then place a speaker in the office and crank up the tunes. If extraneous noise is too distracting, then create a bare-bones, distraction-free workspace that
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Create extra cabinet space by getting rid of odd-shaped dishware and specialty cookware. Impulsivity is a common symptom of ADHD, which then can lead to overshopping and result in overcrowded cabinets filled with unnecessary items. The best way to solve this problem going forward is to commit to strict adherence to the shopping list. To repair damage already done, we must resort to the Brutal Purge.
A built-in lazy Susan–style cabinet is reasonable for those small appliances that you don’t use often enough to keep on the counter but that you nevertheless feel you must keep (and must you?). The heavy items can be tucked to the back, but easily retrieved
If a small appliance is rarely used, is broken, or duplicates the function of another tool (do you need both a toaster and a toaster oven?), then get rid of it.
Get rid of those dull, old, and unused knives—
The most efficient knife-storage system is a magnetic strip—but it requires installation, which may be one step too many.
Reduce your collection to four to eight of your most often used pots.
All our pots should fit side-by-side, no pan in front of or blocking another, and no pot nested in another.
Stop keeping a large stock of groceries “on hand.” Reduce food inventory to those food items you have imminent plans to eat, with no more than a couple of frozen dinner back-ups, then stick to the shopping list so that you purchase only those groceries needed for the coming week’s menu plans.
Use the cabinets farthest from the sink to store food. We can maintain clutter-free cabinets by suppressing the common tendency to hoard enough food to get us through a nuclear winter; after all, most of us live within easy driving distance of a grocery store. Consider
Be guided by the following rule: If a cabinet no longer has empty shelf space for groceries, then it is time to eat down our stock or make some donations to the food pantry and garbage can.
Store all brown paper shopping bags in the paper recycling bin.
Plastic grocery bags and shopping bags are a common pest in many kitchens. The best way to tame that bothersome surplus of plastic bags is to shove them in a canvas bag, hung by one handle from a nail preferably in the kitchen broom/utility closet. Never allow the canvas bag to fill. Once it is half filled, throw out all new plastic grocery bags.
Reduce the dishes in your cupboard to reduce rummaging. Keep only what can be stored without all that inefficient shuffling. It is frustrating and inefficient to be forced to lift, nest, and puzzle each piece into its unique spot—an overly complex organizing system that is the dish cabinet version of a Rubik’s cube.
A large number of crusty, old, dirty dishes can be overwhelming and even paralyzing for someone with ADHD. To cut down on the unwashed mess, we first must limit the number of dishes in our home. Consider reducing the china to a volume that fills the dishwasher and not much more. It is better to be forced to run the dishwasher or wash a small number of dishes more frequently, than to have a kitchen always buried beneath dirty dishes.
No matter how excruciating, clean the kitchen nightly!
Share the load—everyone, kids too!
Its OK if doing the dishes starts by unloading the dishwasher.
Give tasks that are naturally grounding to the ADHD family member.
Cook more one-pot meals.
Own just enough dishes to fill the dishwasher, and not many more.
Consider sorting the flatware in the basket while loading by placing
Keep a dish pan in the sink.
Place a dry rack next to the sink.
