Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 2nd Edition-Revised and Updated: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized

by Susan C. Pinsky

Inventory shouldn’t just conform to storage but should be less than storage, so that it never requires a multi-step dance to put things away. Instead, every item should be stored where it is used so it can be stowed in one single motion. This not only makes the home sensible and efficient, it allows everyone to help out. That is, not only will my ADHD clients be able to pick up any room in their home in less than three minutes, but anyone—your mother-in-law after Thanksgiving dinner or your eight year old after any meal—can help out, too. Indeed the house should make so much sense that a stranger could figure out where something belongs.

The straightest, most effective path to achieving the golden rule of efficiency is reduction.

To set up a maintainable system for my ADHD clients, I must first eliminate all of those systems that are too complex, unwieldy, and tedious and replace them with systems that are simple, fast, and convenient. The best organizational system for someone with ADHD is the one that is most efficient, simplest, most convenient, and the easiest to maintain, because it requires the least number of steps and materials.

People with ADHD are fast thinkers—to paraphrase Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, author of Driven to Distraction, they have “Ferrari brains with Chevy brakes.”

The Rules of Organizing 1. Inventory (i.e., your “stuff”) must conform to storage. In the ADHD home especially, inventory MUST NOT fill storage. • Don’t keep building storage—reduce your inventory. • Don’t overcrowd shelving, cabinets, and drawers. 2. Make your things easy to access and easier to put away. In the ADHD home, ease of stowage takes precedence over ease of retrieval. • Keep things where you use them, arranging possessions within activity areas or “zones.” Give everything a “home.” • Take advantage of vertical storage space by using tall shelves and tall bureaus. • Store things on the wall or on a shelf, never on the floor. 3. Only touch (or sort) it once. For example, sort or toss mail as soon as you open it; don’t add it to a pile you’ll have to sort again later. 4. Duplicate where necessary to store things where you use them (e.g., a toilet bowl brush in every bathroom). 5. Eliminate items that unnecessarily duplicate functions (e.g., hand-powered can opener or electric can opener, not both). 6. Name your cabinets and shelves (dish cabinet, sock drawer, etc.) to remind yourself that only those items are stored therein. 7. Make sure the “rough storage” areas in your home are well lit and easily accessible. Value these spaces because they guard against long-term storage items cluttering your living space.

Although we can all enjoy the flawless charm of a meticulously organized space, we should not make the mistake of equating beauty with organization. Unfortunately, many people with ADHD suffer from a kind of “perfectionism” (often tragically, frustratingly unattainable, given the nature of the disorder) that makes them quite vulnerable to this misguided yardstick of organizing success.

When an area becomes messy, the person with ADHD must ask herself: Has the number of my possessions been reduced enough, and my organizational system simplified enough, that it can be cleaned in a matter of minutes?

Don’t use your money to buy “stuff.” Instead, use it to procure helpful services.

IN THE MODERN AGE, OUR SOCIETY’S RAREST COMMODITY IS NOT GOODS, BUT TIME, AND THE ADHD SUFFERER—WHO REQUIRES MORE TIME ON AVERAGE TO COMPLETE A TASK—MUST GUARD HIS TIME AS THE MOST PRECIOUS OF ALL HIS POSSESSIONS.

WE MUST ALWAYS GO SHOPPING WITH A LIST AND PRACTICE STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE LIST TO AVOID OVERBUYING. LIMIT PURCHASING ONLY TO THOSE ITEMS FOR WHICH YOU HAVE AN IMMEDIATE NEED OR USE.

Buy only items for which you have an imminent plan or need.

The Two-Minute Cleanup In an ADHD home, no room should take more than two minutes to pick up. How do we achieve this? By purging brutally and committing to acquire sparingly; by using money saved on avoiding impulse purchases and overstock to procure services (e.g., a housekeeper to maintain bathrooms, floors, and possibly laundry); and by keeping storage efficient while encouraging routine.

TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT 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, DROP IT AT A SINGLE CHARITY THAT WILL TAKE MOST THINGS THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE DRIVING BY. THEN WALLOW IN THE TWIN SATISFACTIONS OF AN UNCLUTTERED HOME AND A GENEROUS NATURE.

THERE ARE THREE CONVENIENT DESTINATIONS FOR YOUR EXCESS POSSESSIONS: THE TRASH, THE CURB, OR A CHARITY THAT TAKES MOST EVERYTHING.

For those with ADHD, starting is usually easier than finishing. Unfinished projects—dirty dishes, clean laundry in piles, unwashed paint brushes—can litter the home. For this reason, when organizing for ADHD, we will always make the ease of putting something away take preference over ease of retrieval.

EMPTY SHELVES ARE LIKE THE HAMMER IN YOUR TOOLBOX: THEY STAND READY TO SERVE YOU BUT WON’T NECESSARILY GET USED EVERY DAY.

Guard your rough storage areas—they have a price above rubies, for they are your only defense against distracting and inefficient clutter in your living spaces.

Food and papers don’t mix. There is nothing more disabling than a mixture of papers and dishes cluttering the kitchen. The simplest and best organizational plan is to ban all paperwork from the kitchen.

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.

Your cleaning supplies are scattered because you use them in other areas of your home. Remember the rule: Duplicate where necessary to store things where you use them.

Also keep modest cleaning supplies handy for small spontaneous jobs. A container of disinfecting wipes along with a wastebasket should live in just about every room in your home.

that a china cabinet or breakfront is an extravagance. Innumerable homeowners pay me exorbitant sums to unclutter their kitchens, when all they really need is a china cabinet in their dining room. Your formal dishes and large serving pieces do not belong in the kitchen (nor certainly the basement)—it is an inefficient use of space that is probably causing the daily irritation of overcrowded kitchen cabinets.

Radical Tips for Simplifying 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, or you will never bother to put your laundry away. ▪ Reduce your clothing inventory to just enough to get by for the week. 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 on your last pair of underwear (compared to an overwhelming eight loads per week—never done—with piles of dirty and unfolded clean clothes littering the house). ▪ Eliminate ironing and specialty care clothes. Embrace the permanent press cycle. ▪ 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’s 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 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 page 86). ▪ Reduce towels to one bath towel per family member, two for those with long hair. Wa...

Egg timer: Invest in an obnoxiously loud egg timer with no automatic shutoff. The buzzer on most washers and dryers switches off after a couple of seconds, but your egg timer should emit a loud, relentless beep until you actually go to the laundry room to shut it off. This will prevent laundry from loitering in the machine.

It is the aggregate of many small inefficiencies that ambush our lives and homes. Reduce the number of towels in your home and simplify towel storage. Assign all family members one bath towel in colors that match their bedroom.

Overcommitted. Just because you can fit something onto your calendar doesn’t mean that you should. It is okay to say, “Technically I am available, but that weekend 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, you shouldn’t have promised a trip to the ice cream stand after the 8:00 movie, or to head up the new program before you had completed the program for the past fiscal year. Go ahead and tell your employer, friend, spouse, or even your children, “On second thought, I now realize that this plan or schedule is too tight or ambitious. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it’s just not realistic.”

1 Memorize a sincerely apologetic (but not self-deprecating) delivery of the following: “Upon reflection/study of my schedule, I realize that I am too overcommitted at this time to take on/complete this project and do it justice. Realistically, something has to give. Would you prefer to assign it to someone else/hire a professional or remove some of my other commitments so that I may focus my attention on this?” 2 When you realize that you have lost interest in a project and need to move on, a variant of this sentiment could be: “I have been reflecting on why I can’t seem to get this done. I think we have to be realistic and realize that this follow-up work/implementation/cleanup is not my strength. I think it would be more efficient and practical to look into hiring someone, trading favors, assigning me a partner, or trading assignments in order to overcome the inertia surrounding this task and see it completed.”

Under-pack. Under-packing is your friend. You never need more than one suitcase and one carry-on—anything more will just be cumbersome. Pack only enough outfits to get you through your trip—no extras, no options, and no “just in case.” It is better to occasionally improvise or shop than to constantly carry around enough stuff to see you through every contingency from Hurricane Ivan to dinner at the White House. You can and should pack an extra set of underwear and socks because they are small and pack easily.