ADHD Weekly -- Planning to Get Organized? Get Tips That Can Help

[KarenADHDWeekly]

Are you among the many, many people who have resolved to get organized this year? We have some tips to help you get started. Read "Planning to Get Organized? Get Tips That Can Help" at bit.ly/nrcorganized2020 for ideas.

What tips would you share?

[Hidden]

What amazing timing for this topic! I am a homemaker and PCA for a neighbor who does not have ADHD but had a hoarded, filthy apartment that the Health Department was going to lock him out of until he could clean it up. I couldn't find his cat, but I found feces everywhere. Houseflies and fruitflies were multiplying by the minute. It took several hours of my own time to get his apartment improved enough so he would not be locked out, and I've been working with him ever since, on a daily basis. It's been more than a year. Now, here's the itch... who am I to help him when my place is so disorganized and I cannot keep track of my own stuff!! I am not a hoarder by any means (although my mother was), and I love a clean, organized apartment, but before being diagnosed with ADHD, I lost the ability to keep up with things. I chalked it off to being a recent widow and in the throes of severe depression. Now I know that's not the reason. How could I have gone so long without being diagnosed?

My neighbor and I have a schedule for when I come and clean his apartment, do his laundry, take his trash and recycling. Do I do the same for my own home? Nope. I'm the last priority, it seems. I cannot keep track from one minute to the next what to do and what I was doing.

I am eagerly awaiting posts here. I need help. I used to be a live-in housekeeper after high school and always a perfectionist when it came to cleaning and organizing (to the point of being OCD). I was the person everyone asked for help to help them. Now I cannot get the dishes done before I go to bed (usually) or even make the bed. I do what is most in my way, except for my desk. Every time I look at my desk, I hate it. It's sitting there, with all its piles (and the credenza, too, as well as the full box on the floor), nagging me and making me feel guilty for ignoring everything. I even take care of my neighbor's mail and he has no idea I've let things ride so long.

Help!!

[nk1820 in reply to Hidden]

Oh my dear CatladyofStCloud, I was just talking to someone about the same or similar issue . I will drop everything to help someone else , but, myself and my mess go untouched. We have to be a priority to ourself! Makes sense, but, actually putting that into practice is a conundrum. Maybe we could communicate and learn together.