[jarellan]

Hi
Im a bit every where I never have anything organized, and lose about everything I have at least once. And I know people closest to me get very impatient I don't know how to organize myself. Any ideas?

[slowinmi]

Hi jarellen and Welcome to PC!

Organizing is very tough for many of us. The things that have worked the best for me are having bins and folders clearly labeled so I can put my "stuff" into the appropriate place. That doesn't mean I don't still lose things, but it keeps the chaos down a little. My family still gets upset with me when I lose things, but I've gotten into the habit of putting my keys and things I need for work all in 1 area. I try to always put these things away in my spot as soon as I walk in the door. That way I usually can find my keys without searching everywhere in the house for them.

If you keep trying, I'm sure that you'll find some things that work for you. Don't give up - different things work for different people. You already took a good first step by coming here to PC.

[BatsAndButterflies]

It is really important to find patterns in your actions that frustrate you and find individual ways to conquer those frustrations... I used to get frustrated at school because I kept locking my keys in the percussion studio, so I made a habit of always putting my keys in my right pocket or throwing them back to my bag before going inside...

[Queen of Chaos]

I feel like I'm the most disorganized person on earth but something I find strange is the number of people who say they think I'm the most organized person they know. My world seems totally chaotic to me and I eternally feel overwhelmed by what seems like total disorganization but very few people seem to realize what crazy stuff I do...which, I suppose, is a good thing!

My father used to say I had been trying to get organized since birth and that wasn't a totally misguided observation. Something in my very soul cries out that it is of urgent importance that everything in my life needs to be orderly but it's just the opposite - I crave organization so much that I stay totally disorganized.

I read not long ago that the world of an adult with ADD/ADHD is a series of piles. How true is that? Right now I have a pile of stuff on the dining room table, a pile of stuff on the guestroom bed, a pile of stuff on the kitchen counter, a pile of clothes in the laundry room, a pile of winter stuff still in the sunroom - I constantly generate piles of belongings that I have every intention of organizing and I cannot put them away until I'm convinced they're sorted AND nine times out of ten I'm busily creating new piles while I'm sorting the old piles. It almost sounds funny and I'm at least bright enough to see what I'm doing to myself but I cannot make myself function any differently.

This all being said, yet another oddity in the way I function is people sometimes ask me to help them pack to move. They say I'm the best when it comes to organizing and packing things...but I can't even put away Christmas decorations in June in my own home without feeling like they've got to be organized and I can't see how!!!