The other day on Instagram a woman I follow had been decluttering but was having some difficulty due to ADHD (as well as a few other issues). I thought about it over the weekend and have come up with some solutions. As someone who could be (but isn't diagnosed with) ADHD and who has a partner who is diagnosed with ADHD, I know that decluttering and keeping your home free of clutter isn't exactly easy, so here are three tips that we use at our home that should make decluttering easier.
1) 15 minutes a day - I know, I know - I talk about this all the time. But, when someone has ADD/ADHD, only decluttering for 15 minutes a day (almost every day) becomes essential. This is especially true with any tendency to procrastinate when a task feels too big. It's only 15 minutes so it won't feel as overwhelming. You have a timer so you don't declutter only to find out an hour later you've gone on a tangent with something that has nothing to do with decluttering. And if you are doing 15 minutes a day the way I teach, you only focus on one part of a room (or one drawer, one closet shelf, etc). Here's the trick: only do a little bit at a time and don't take everything out of the closet or wherever because if you take out too much, it will be way easier to get off track.
2) Along with the 15 minutes, if you are decluttering a room, I'd suggest you get a few boxes or bags and set them up - one for all of the other rooms in the house. When you find something that belongs in another room, just put it in the box/bag for that room. Every day you declutter, continue to use those bags/boxes for the other rooms so you don't get distracted. Here's the trick: when it's time to declutter the next room - bring that bag/box into the room and put everything away from that bag/box first. That way you don't have a bag of stuff you will have to go through later. Then declutter the rest of the room.
3) One thing I have noticed with my partner and any clients I have with ADHD - not knowing how much you already have of something. The best way to handle this is to get everything that is the same (ex all toothpaste/dental stuff) and keep it together if possible. This doesn't work for everything but many items can be kept together and then you won't have duplicates all over the home. Here's the trick: keep it in a place that makes sense to you/your family. So in the case of the toothpaste/dental stuff, maybe it all goes into the linen closet or a bathroom vanity and then everyone knows this is where you go when you need another toothbrush or floss or whatever.
I hope this helps you on your decluttering journey.
If you want to clear the chaos in your home but feel stuck, I've created a FREE download of the decluttering system I teach just for you. This will help you declutter in a simple, manageable, and achievable way. Click here to download it today
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