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Fair warning for people with ADD/ADHD or otherwise struggle with organization: removing clutter is a different thing than hiding away everything so that the roo
by ThrustVectoring 8y ago
Fair warning for people with ADD/ADHD or otherwise struggle with organization: removing clutter is a different thing than hiding away everything so that the room is magazine-photograph ready. Being able to use your environment to give you visual reminders of various outstanding tasks and statuses is an incredibly important coping technique for people with executive function issues. Like, I have a bunch of open wire shelves for storing the bulk of my groceries - otherwise, I tend to literally forget that I have something, and I won't notice when I get low or run out of things. It's ugly as hell, but it's a functional ugly, and dropping functionality to make things pretty is not really a good idea IMO.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 8y agoThis also highlights why it's so helpful to eliminate clutter; the things you see are the things that matter. When I open my fridge, I don't see amorphous 'stuff'; I've got leftovers one and two here, extra ingredients that need to be used there and there, and the rest is staples that remain there and get replaced as needed. Anything that doesn't fit that gets tossed. If I can't pick it up and come up with a plan for it, it goes in the bin. If it's a longer-term plan, it gets noted on a list stuck to the door. ezpz I waste less food now, and have less stress about meal planning. Pantry is similar; at this point I can just glance at a shelf and sense whether I'm low on something.
- ThrustVectoring 8y agoOh nice, sticking the note on the door is really useful for that sort of thing. But yeah, the key insight is to make your environment as useful as possible for the goals and life you want to have.