Is sever clutter in my home related to bipolar disorder?

I never thought about it before as bipolar related, I just thought I was a messy person! I have WAYYY too much stuff and clothes are just everywhere. I hate living like a slob but the idea of attacking this mess of a room is so overwhelming I just want to cry.

But when push comes to shove, I can clean it all up in about 30 minutes, clothes and all so its not THAT much of a mess. But its that I have to WANT to do it and since it is MY room I choose to live in the mess. I have just gotten used to it.

And honestly its MY living space. My mom and dad are total neat freaks. The rest of the house is immaculate except my room, (and my sister's and she is NOT bipolar) so I don't know if it's just a trait thing or just me and my sister are just messy people. But she works full time so she just doesn't have time, and I work part-time and I have no excuse!

InnerZone wrote: "Pile up, yes. But a major coping strategy is putting things immediately and always in the same place."

Thanks for this subject, InnerZone. I do that with a lot of things -- my keys; my wallet; my bus pass; my medic alert tag. These things all have laniers, if that's the word, so they are attached to my backpack, or to me. I keep my cell phone in a case on my belt. I also always put the plastic laundry card in the same place when I do laundry -- it often has more than $30 stored in it.

Most of my bills are automatic payments, too. I'm doing a lot of things "right," but too many things have "no place" to go/put.

Hi, Shazerac, What's a minimalist? I want to be one.

Me, too!! You have described me very well.

Very interesting, what you wrote: "Some people sooth themselves with substance addictions, some soothe themselves with things." How true!! My dad love things more than people, I know -- I could tell. And my late best friend was a hoarder. We talked about her apt. one time, and she said passionately: " I LOVE my stuff!" She had lots of roaches.

Google minimalism. It's an interesting concept that I'm not close to being at. It's basically doing with less. Instead of trying to develop an elaborate system to organize your stuff... get rid of it. Instead having 27 knickknack, vases, figurines, cutesy little thingamajiggies all over the house each one needing dusting.... Just have a few of the nicest pieces that bring you the most joy.

There is a challenge called the 100 thing challenge. This is for your personal belongings. Not kitchen stuff , your bike, car, etc. socks and underwear count as one thing. All your socks is one thing for examples. I got down to 200 once. iPad, iPod, phone, computer, speaker for iPod I kept. got rid of a bunch of old tech, old cords that I don't even know what the are for etc. MY shoes was the hard part. I have tons of them but I only wear about 3 or 4'pairs out of all of them. It's an on going project

Hi Shazerac Thank you for the info on minimalism. I wonder if this concept/actions would work for a highly creative person, such as myself. I already did give away my entire watercolor materials, worth several hundred dollars. I have a home office because I'm a writer, and besides, I have an adding machine to take care of my bank statements. I let them go for 2 months and it took HOURS to get my bank statements straightened out, with all the mistakes I made in my check register. I'm a musician, so have a music stand, notebooks of music, etc. I have given away 1/4 of my books. One thing I plan to do and have done somewhat, is to give away some of the pictures on my walls. I am also hoping to empty one small bookshelf and give away the bookshelf. There isn't much more I can do.

How are things going for you with minimizing things?

My bedroom is always a tip and it gets to the point where I'm very overwhelmed by it and cry when I attempt to clean it because I have no idea where to start, I hate throwing things away and I don't like other people helping me clean.

I am mild bipolar and messy, I think it is because when I put something down I will find it, when I put it away I may forget because when I take ambien my short term memory goes to the crapper. When I was off meds I was still messy but that is just a trait, as neatness would not be know without a person like me, as contrast - a little Daoism there for you. I wish you the best 2017!

My clutter waxes and wanes with my mood.
Has been that way since I was a teen.

If I'm in a good / excellent mood, cant stand clutter, if I'm depro and stressed, my room looks like I feel.
A mess.

My family can always tell my state of mind by the state of my room...

Thankfully its just a clothing bomb, I dont hoard, regularly throw out stuff I haven't seen or used recently and cant stand filth.

Whenever I get a really strong urge to spring clean and my OCD is kicking in, I know a hypo is on the horizon.

I hate it though, because it amounts to hours of obsessive cleaning and organizing that I can never keep in tact. Feels like such a waste.

And yes, cleaning reduces me to tears quite literally when I'm depressed and overwhelmed... But if I really have no choice, I set a 15 minute timer and attempt to clean in 15 minute bursts... Not always successful, usually OCD kicks in and I go full steam ahead in tears, or chuck it in the fuqit bucket and cry under the covers.

It could go either way.

I've never thought of it as a BP thing, but my BP definitely affects my tolerance for mess.

Dont care what's to blame though, Patrick Jane (The Mentalist) said messy women are excellent lovers.

Oh my.... Christmas took over my living room including random STUFF. At least the kitchen is clean.

On my usual meds I have absolutely no inclination to clean or even tidy. (Celexa, Clonazepam, Buspar, and Lamotrigine.) Two weeks ago my pdoc have me a new "sleeping" med Nozinan). Off label use. Last week I had a really bad drug interaction from it that made me very manic and delirious. I cleaned and cleaned for 4 days before I ended up in hospital and got my meds straightened out. When I'm hypomanic I scrub the bathroom from top to bottom every time I get really angry. Taking out my frustration by cleaning really helps. When I'm done cleaning I'm too tired to be angry anymore. BTW, I hope my posts make sense. My brain hasn't recovered from last week's med issue.

My minimalism usually hits a roadblock at Christmas time. I get a lot of presents I don't want or need. I'm not complaining at all. I just need to figure out how to redirect these items to people who might want or need them. I'm not going to eat 10 pounds of popcorn or 5 pounds of chocolate. I got a turtle neck sweater and I can't stand things tight on my neck. My husband bought me a necklace. Now that I will keep