ADHD and Clutter

A few years ago I was diagnosed with ADHD. Unfortunately, in my area, there is not help for adults with ADHD. I have read encouraging informational books, but am unable to take the ideas and put them to work.

My main problem is the clutter. I have major depressive disorder. When I have some extra time, I am too depressed to care about the clutter. When I try to work on it, I start to get very anxious, then have to stop because I cannot cope with making decisions about stuff. The task of dealing with clutter is so overwhelming that I am not motivated to do much about it. So I procrastinate. Some would say to do it in small bites. Well, with my depression, a small bite occurs about twice a year. I just do not know how to deal with the clutter when I am being weighed down with depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, and self esteem issues.
I know there is a thread going on right now about decluttering. I have not seen anyone mention ADHD in the thread. I feel lost in all this.
Yes, I do manage to keep up with the laundry; sort of keep up with dirty dishes and house cleaning. But the clutter.....I am upset to look at it, and even more upset when I try to figure out a way to deal with it. I cannot even cope with it one room at a time. It is too overwhelming.
Does anyone else have this overwhelming problem?

I am a clutter person and have a hard time dealing with it. everything goes on the table, desk, end table, floor by my chair, piles, piles, piles. I live in a small apartment and don't know what to do with it. and cleaning...ive only dusted once in the two years ive lived here...lol

so when it gets too much, I do the slow cleanup. everytime I get up to do something I putaway/throw away 5 items or 10 if I am feeling energetic. so get up to go the bathroom, get a drink, something to eat, or during commercials, and the piles slowly go away. usually as the pile starts to get smaller, I start feeling better and clean more because I am excited to get it done.

hope this helps. take care

Every little apartment I have ever lived in is a mass of clutter. It's not like hoarding, it's not that I don't WANT to throw anything away. I just don't seem to ever get around to it.

kaliope, I'm going to try your strategy. 5-10 things at a time. My apartment is such a mess I can't let anyone in.

Thanks for the encouragement. I think what stands in the way of dealing with it is the never ending depression. I rarely let anyone in. And its not really very dirty. Its just piles of stuff. I just don't know where it should go. And it helps to know I am not alone.

Honestly, no matter how many times I clean up (not often) I always seem to make more mess, almost on purpose. Self defeating maybe, not really thought about it.

Yeah the ADHD+OCD+anxiety, and ofc exhaustion, and others, aren't viewed as "serious disorders", but come on, like to see them handle their mind spinning off a thousand lines, obsessing about each one, then getting anxious about putting in wrong order or making sure each is perfect, then realising the day is gone, you're exhausted, depressed, and the worst is, you never give trying, even though the day after is pretty much the same.

It sucks, and I have a huge problem with clutter! Using a laptop/PC in place of paper is not a good idea, for me at least. Paper items, things have piled up so bad, that I can't sort through it, too much, and I chuck everything, my ideas, plans, drawing, BILLS, on occasion money by accident. It sucks.

Best thing can do is have a "paper in" "paper out" tray, put one in out, after done.
I learned a lot of tools like this, damned if I can use them though. Need a bloody secretary!

Oh and clothes? I wear minimal around the house, saves on washing. :P

Worst thing is though... buying things to help, actually taking action and steps, with anything, say, diet, or alarm, or giant *** calendar even, having those things pile up which can help you, but somehow you end up oblivious to them, and end up with a year old protein powder costing you £55, doh.
You know it's bad when you reach that point!

Damn it, just thought about putting calendar up now think about it... and realise have nothing to put it up with. Depressing. Ah well. *breaks into Beyonce, i'm a survivor song, cause am that damn tired and doesn't care right now*

I used to be a neat freak, idk what happened? :O

Using the todo, and done/in out tray system though is pretty good one for paperwork

Numbed, you made me smile and almost laugh. Once I bought 3-4 file boxes and hanging files. When I realized that in addition to the sorting, I would have to decide on how many files to use, what to name them, and then divide up the stuff...well, it was just too much. Back to the store the unused items went.
Though I find this problem embarassing & overwhelming, you and the other posters have helped me feel better about myself. Sometimes I feel so alone in this. I do care. It is just that it causes more stress in my life. I am so tired most days. I will try again to conquer the piles when I am off again in two weeks.

I need help with clutter and actually like some degree of it. X.x I need help staying motivated to clean. ;/ Every 2-3 months my SO and I will put effort in cleaning. It stays nice for about a week.

I find that I forget I've left trash somewhere and seem to automatically glaze over the sight of the mess and then it becomes really overwhelming. I also don't like throwing stuff away.

My clutter is quite overwhelming and I seem to move it from place to place. If I was the only had to deal with it would be different but having 2 kids are it and follow the same pattern is driving me nuts...

I guess I need a strong motivator. A few days ago I was looking in the cabinette over the fridge for something. Well, I saw some mouse droppings. I immediately emptied that cabinette; cleaned it out; put a mousetrap in it and checked it every day. Caught nothing. There was a quarter inch wide space between boards. I filled the space with wood putty. Cleaned the cabinette again. And started to put the stuff back. Well, it somehow did not fit. So, I decided to rearrange the cabinette next to it as well. I am pleased with how it came out.
This inspired me to clean out my desk drawer. Well, basically, I just filed some papers lying loose in the drawer. Then I tried to work on the pile of papers on the kitchen table. I only found a few to throw away. I have a box of "important" papers sitting by my end table. I started to sort. I got about one inch down. Well, by then, I was feeling hugely overwhelmed. So I stopped.
Today, I have some housework to do. I do not know if I will get any more sorting done until I am off again in two weeks.
All this may sound trivial to some people. It is a really big roadblock in my life. I hate clutter, but cannot seem to mentally deal with it. I am pleased that I accomplished something on my day off.

This is not trivial at all and is a terrible problem. I was recently diagnosed (about 5 years ago at 40) and my son also has ADD. We are both not hyperactive, we are primarily inattentive. It sounds like you could be too? My pdoc told me that people with this type of ADHD tend to need a fire lit under them to start projects. Not out of laziness but because our minds just don't process information the way other people's do. I know I always miss the small details in things and it gets me in trouble. With the clutter in cleaning I don't see things (like paper on the table, or a sock on the floor) on an individual basis. I see it only after they pile up into a big overwhelming mess. Then there is a wave of adrenaline to get things done but I don't know how and get frustrated.

My friend taught me that the best way for me to work with clutter is to purge and throw things away (or donate) constantly. I just try not to let things accumulate.

But to get to this point, the best help I've had is medication. You say there isn't help where you live, but do you have a primary doctor who can prescribe you something? There is a lot of misinformation and stigma attached to stimulants, but when you have a real diagnosis of ADHD of any kind, it is usually the best help available. Over years the ADHD will lead to anxiety and depression, so it's no wonder you're overwhelmed. Even if you can't get anyone to give you a stimulant, Wellbutrin or Straterra (and SNRI) are used as well, so maybe a doctor could help you there?

I wondered for years why I was so messy. I don't seek to live in clutter, but I cannot seem to not have stacks of things. I am still really struggling with this area, but I finally started making a small amount of headway once I tried to start adopting a more minimalist lifestyle. I've started giving away clothes that I don't absolutely love, gave away one couch, lots of furnishings, etc. I figure if there's less stuff to sit my stacks on, maybe I'll be better about putting stuff away.

My biggest issue is organization. I cannot function in an organized room. A filing cabinet with things labeled looks beautiful, but I will forget my filing method and be unable to find anything. At least with my piles, I don't have to try to remember what safe place I his something where it's out of sight.

Hello Haverty. You sound a bit like me. I cannot understand how one person can make such clutter. My stuff is in stacks because I cannot figure out where stuff logically goes. I would love to be organized. I crave it.

Once when I was teaching, I had a stack of papers to be filed that I finally put off for so long that one day while giving a lecture, the pile (about 18 inches tall at this point) slowly began sliding across my desk until several books and various office implements were knocked to the floor.

The students found it hilarious of course, and frankly, so did I.

Werewoman, I actually had that happen to a stack on an end table. So.....I put the stack in a cardboard box. It is still there, but I did sort thru the top one inch.

Clutter clutter. So much. Here is what has helped me:
My girlfriend reminding, encouraging, and expressing that she didn't want to live with me if I didn't improve
Small steps
Letting myself feel good about a small step (thank you therapist)
A to do list on a white board mounted on my wall. short and small steps. Like 1. Put away 5 papers 2. Put clothed on couch in basket 3. Watch TV
An organization buddy. My boss at work will come and label files for me or send me follow up emails about what we talk about. My girlfriend helps at home.
Starting cleaning with trash. It's easy and there is a lot of it l.
This rule:if I don't have a need for something right now, it is trash (I do have a hoarding tendency)
And finally....adderall, lol.

Well, I finally cleaned the corner table off. I had to use radical acceptance to do it since I was feeling rather depressed at the time. It really helped to not pass judgement on my mood. I was so glad. I had a sense of accomplishment.

Awesome! !!

I'm a college student on a very tight budget. I need to cover tuition and living costs, so it's a balancing act. I keep clutter at bay by not letting myself buy anything unless I absolutely need it. Even if you aren't a student, it can help to focus on the basics and try to avoid cluttering things up.

Take your current clutter and sort through it by placing it in boxes and assigning yourself a box each day. Donate stuff to thrift stores, give it to friends and family who can use it, throw it away, recycle, it... you get the idea. Before you know it, the clutter will be gone.

I do not recommend my method for getting rid of clutter but sometimes drastic is the only thing that works.

I have a table that all my mail is on. All papers, personal correspondence, comics that my family thinks I'd like, sales papers, coupons etc.... Well it gets pretty bad after awhile so I'll grab a pile but then my ADD kicks in and I lose focus. Then I get tired and I'm depressed and I put the pile back. Well one day it hit me. "HEY, I haven't touched this crap for more than a year. How important could it be??" So I got a trashcan and simply swept everything off the table into it. Once I had a clean table to work with again I was able to keep it from building up.

Organization is a skill that either gets developed or not very well. A big complaint of some of the familes I work with is that their child is not organized. They do not clean their room...and so on. If this skill is not well developed...it is very difficult to clean your room without good organizational skills!! A child/individual is not necessarily being defiant or lazy!

It's nice to know that some of you have others that are undersanding and are willing to help you instead of shaming you. Others are figuring it out on there own - whatever works best for you is "your" answer.

In general some skills to do get very well developed. My ablilites in art are not very well developed same with music (although I love to listen to music & dance - just cannot sing or read it).

I know it is a common thing that people with ADHD struggle with organization. I was not taught in younger years. Now, combine that with anxiety, depression, and generally feeling overwhelmed at a "new" task, well, I almost want to give up.

"Organization" refers to both an executive function and a set of skills, i think, and if its hard to organize its hard to learn organizing skills too .. theres a lot of different methods and ideas for organizing and it can get overhwelming. pick what works best for you - if you're not sure, then pick a method randomly and stick it out a while, get a feel for it.

i like the book "add-friendly ways to organize your life" but halfway thru i was overwhelmed by all the tips on how not to get overwhelmed (whoops!) since you ahve problems with decluttering right now, heres what i thought was most useful.

cleaning whats already there is a long term goal, so split it into steps. i suggest one room at a time, for 30mins at a time. set a timer and when it goes off, step back, stretch. decide if you're going to do another 30 minutes, and if so, make sure you're focusing on the right task. rinse, repeat

you can prioritize rooms based on how long it will take, how important having that room clean is, or simply start at the entrance room and work your way around.

keep three boxes with you labelled 'give away', 'throw away', and 'transport'. definitely label them. the first two are as labelled, the third is for any item which belongs in a different room. that way you really can take it one room at a time and not break your concentration.

if you find yourself retreating to minor tasks when you need to address the big picture, the timer & stretching can help break you out of what you're doing so you might go, "wait a minute, why am i organizing my thread spools based on color and size?" When you aren't sure where to go next, narrow the focus by picking visually & without too much thought. "the bed" is as good to start as "the dresser", so whichever you saw first is first. (visual is easier to keep track of than something more abstract like "things i borrowed from people")

if you can, have a friend or family with you. they don't even have to clean - having someone there to keep you company can keep you energized and focused too. other ways to make cleaning more energizing are listening to (especially singing along with) music, or planning a fun task to do afterwards

anyways theres a bunch of tips on organizing mail and incoming items, and keeping a out box next to door for things like packages you need to mail, and stuff like that.. but it might be hard to figure everything out at once. so you could choose between "decluttering", "preventing clutter", and "maintaining clutter" to work on at first.

And keep in mind if its a complete nightmare, you can always hire a professional organizer. Good luck

Stages, you're wonderful! All the posters made me laugh in that they expressed what I've seen in myself, and if we don't laugh, we'll cry, right?

We finally hired someone to do cleaning every other week, became friends with her and her girlfriend, but now I've had a blowout with them (another part of the ADD but also their fault as well), so I'm back to no cleaner. I am trying to tackle it myself but I don't have much hope of staying ahead. Even when she came to clean, it would be a miracle if the place stayed at all tidy for more than a few days. Doesn't help that my husband is also a clutterbug in his own right. We still have boxes in our bedroom from a move two years ago! That move was to be cathartic for me, to ditch a bunch of un-needed stuff, but then he vetoed a lot of it, saying that it was worth money and he wouldn't want to have to re-buy the stuff! I'm talking stuff that is out in the garage that we NEVER USE! Argh!

Like many, I was a messy kid and was never pushed to keep my room clean or do chores. I was the baby in the family, 6 years younger than my sister who was the work-horse chore doer and who is rather neurotic about cleaning, ironically! I find the clutter very stressful, and tidying up even more stressful due to the decision-making on what to toss, what to keep, and how to organize what I keep. I'm horrid at keeping the dishes done and kitchen clean. Everything gets put off until later.

I'm especially tormented because I'm not working, and my husband is the one keeping us afloat, yet I can't seem to keep my end of the bargain which would be to take care of things here. I can go on the roof and repair our swamp cooler, but I can't do your basic cleaning.

Worst of all is that I hate cooking, so he even has to do that. I hate figuring out what to cook, making those decisions, and the clutter that comes with cooking. When I do prepare meals, it's always something ready made from the store that only requires heating up. It's all I can handle.

I especially get freaked out when we are going to have company stay with us because now I've got a behemoth job of cleaning and preparing, and don't want the meals to be on my husband. My mom keeps making reference to the fact that I should have a meal prepared for my husband when he comes home from work. Thankfully, my husband is very understanding. I don't know what I would do without him, but perhaps he's an enabler of sorts. Problem is, I don't choose to be this way and beat myself up about it all the time.

I just discovered that I am probably ADD (or even ADHD, though I spend a lot of time lying around avoiding...), so it is a relief in a way to realize there's an actually neurological reason why I am like this.

It really helps to read all of your posts and know that I am not alone.

And to the OP, I am so proud of you for tackling a goal you set for yourself. All of you have inspired me and given me good ideas.

My bedside table was very cluttered. I fineally could not tolerate it. I took everything off. I threw away some mail I had not had time to read. And the good papers (my psych stuff) I stacked neatly and found a better place for them. Yay for me!

I'm the opposite. All I know is, If I clean I won't be able to find anything.