I’m not sure?

[Nevaehdodd12]

Uh, hi. I don’t know how to go into this but I’m hoping you will understand. So organizing...I get really flustered and super angry when I want to organize something but can’t figure out in what way. Such as by color, by brand, by usefulness, etc. I get so mad at my self for not figuring out the perfect way. I try one thing and have to go back and reorganize it because I’m not content with how its organized. I completely gave up on school because one bad grade meant I was gonna fail. I need help coping. I’ve been going to therapy, I’ve been on medications, been to the psych ward, I’ve done everything and nothing is working. I feel crazy, I drive myself insane with the obsessions. I don’t have enough time in the day to do all my compulsions and it’s angering when everything feels like it’s consuming you. Ya feel?

[Hidden]

Hi Nevaehdodd12 - I have a lot of the same characteristics you are describing in your post. I've overcome some of it, but I find myself procrastinating and a lot of times just not doing anything or making decisions about things because I'm so unsure of how to do them "correctly". A lot of clutter can pile up because of this. When I was in school or taking classes, I had to get it perfect, too. A lot of that was because my dad expected perfection of me, which is very unreasonable. I don't know if the majority of your issue is OCD, but if it isn't, then the book "Decluttering at the Speed of Life" by Dana White is the best decluttering book I've ever read. It is just common sense for some of us who don't have much when it comes to taking care of a home. If most of yours IS OCD acting up, then I wish you well in finding just the treatment you need for it.

[Nevaehdodd12 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you, this was very helpful, and much appreciated

[Hidden in reply to Nevaehdodd12]

You are very welcome.

[Catx]

"Stuff" can become so overwhelming and stressful. I do think it can help mental state of mind to have things organized a bit and think it is normal to be stressed out by an overwhelming amount of unorganized stuff. Here are some tips for fast organizing:

1) Don't try to tackle everything at one time. Have a goal of doing ONE DRAWER a day for instance and then moving on to something fun; being with friends, etc.

2) to organize: Get a plastic container/shoebox, dump everything out of the drawer into the container, quickly wipe the drawer with wet wipe and dry, then put ONLY what goes in that drawer back from the bucket. This will immediately feel amazing and should take you less than 5 minutes

3) Now, for the stuff left in your container/shoebox, get 4 bags with handles, plastic containers or shoeboxes and sort the remaining stuff as follows 1) Stuff for charity 2) trash 3) stuff that belongs somewhere else 4) keepsake stuff you want to keep/store (add a box if you find another category of items-i.e. stuff you need to return to a friend)

4) Then, throw away the trash, take the charity bag to charity, put keepsake stuff in storage container and store in attic/storage and go put the remaining stuff away where it goes

5) Reward yourself by doing something you enjoy

[Nevaehdodd12]

Thank you so much! I will be using this method in the future.