Getting Rid of Clutter: Questions to Help You Decide

1. Do you use it on a semi-regular basis?

Semi-regular use means you actually use the item — not just intend to — a couple of times a year. The exception is seasonal items, like a Thanksgiving platter you’ve consistently used for years.

2. Is it currently making you money?

• Is the item helping you generate income?
• Do you use it for work?
• Does it help you pay your bills on time?

The item(s) must be actively helping you make money. The pile of stuff that’s been gathering dust for years that you might sell online or through a garage sale doesn’t count.

Online selling: Is it worth your time?

Extra cash is nice, but selling items online should be a worthy investment. Consider the many steps involved: photographing the item, writing a description for it, posting it, watching the sales, fielding questions, preparing it for delivery, and dropping it off at the post office. Is this all worth how much you’d be getting from the sale? Consider how much work goes into selling and if you have the time to spare.

[Get This Free Download: 22 Clutter-Busting Strategies for Adults with ADHD]

3. Can you buy it again for a reasonable price or borrow it?

Are you hanging on to items in hopes that they’ll come in handy someday? Worse, are you wasting money storing the unused item? Consider getting rid of it entirely. Take camping equipment. Keep it if you’re an avid camper. But if not, sell off the items and, when a camping trip does come up, either buy some items cheaply or borrow them from a neighbor.

4. Do you have a place to store it within your space?

The key phrase here is “within your space” — do you have room for your item? If not, then a) don’t keep the item or b) get rid of something else to make space for the item. To stay organized, you must acknowledge and work with the space you have. Don’t build a shed or rent a storage unit that will cost you hundreds per month.

5. Do you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it?

We all have items that make us happy and remind us of special moments or people. Keep those items. But as you decide if you really love an item, remember: If everything is special, then nothing is special. The rooster collection you adore and have been working on since childhood? Keep it! The Beanie Babies that you keep in storage because you swear they’ll make you millions one day? Probably not. (FYI: “Collectible” is a marketing term.)

Still not sure if you love, love, love an item? Try the “poop rule,” a decluttering method espoused by TikTok creator @adhdorganized that’s gone viral for its unusual ask: “Pick up an item and think — is this important enough that I would wash poop off of it?”

[Read: How Do I Get Rid of My Sentimental Clutter?]

Overcoming “But I Don’t Want to Be Wasteful”

• Try Buy Nothing groups, where you can give and receive items for free in the name of decluttering, sustainability, and community.
• Some stuff is just trash. When you hesitate to throw something away — especially if it’s broken and unusable — because you don’t want it to end up in the landfill, you’ve effectively made your home into a landfill. Holding on to trash won’t solve the landfill problem. Instead, not consuming and avoiding purchases of items you don’t want, need, or use will make a difference.

Click here for a handout version of these questions and more decluttering tips from Tracy McCubbin.

Getting Rid of Clutter: Next Steps

• Read: How to Motivate for Cleaning House When You Really Don’t Want To
• Read: How to Win the War on Clutter — One Battle at a Time
• Q: “How Do I Know When to Declutter Vs. Organize?”

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “How to Organize a Messy Home: Strategies for Clutter and Stress in ADHD Families” [Video Replay & Podcast #520] with Tracy McCubbin, which was broadcast on September 10, 2024.

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Keeping a clean house with ADHD — especially when all household members have it — is an exercise in teamwork. It requires planning, communication, routines, and lots of patience.

Focus on the Why

Especially with kids, talk often about how striving for organization and less clutter helps them and the family. Say:

• When we do the dishes and put them away, it means that we have clean dishes for our next meal.
• When we put our laundry in the hamper, our clothes get washed, so we have clean clothes to wear.

Bring up frustrating moments they’ve experienced due to disorganization and how a system could help them. Say, “Remember how anxious you felt that one morning when you couldn’t find your backpack? If you put your backpack away in the same place, you can find it every time.” Consider using visual reminders.

Other helpful scripts for all family members:

• “If you decide where something lives and you always put it back there, you will always know where to find it. That’s the reason that we’re organized.”
• “Don’t put it down, put it away. If you put something down, you’ll only have to deal with it later.”
• “Take the extra 10 seconds to put it away. Then it’s over with.”
• “This household is a community. We all live in it together.”

[Get This Free Download: How to Tidy Up Your Home Like a Pro]

Declutter Before You Organize

“Declutter” and “organize” are not synonymous; the latter means putting your things in places so you can find them when you need them. Organizing before decluttering often leads to headaches, as you’re trying to find spots for things that you don’t use.

Having less stuff is the key to being organized. If your home quickly becomes messy again after organizing, it’s a telltale sign that you have too much stuff and need to prioritize decluttering.

Avoid the “Right Vs. Wrong” Vortex

There is no “right” way to keep an organized home. But your family can agree to goals for common spaces and commit to systems that work for everyone, even if unconventional. One client of mine kept sunscreen in the kitchen; the only time her kids sat still enough to apply it was when they were eating. Brilliant! Rather than force her to store sunscreen in the “right” place, we made a sunscreen station for her in the kitchen.

Set up a routine that the family can do together, like a two-hour tidying session every Sunday after lunch. A practice, even if imperfect, can control mess before it explodes.

[Read: How to Win the War on Clutter]

Everyone Needs Space to Be Messy

Not everyone has the same standards for organization and tidiness. As much as possible, allow family members to maintain their personal spaces as they see fit. Trying to control every inch of your home can lead to conflicts, so it’s best to let go. Take it from me, a professional organizer with a messy husband: I stay away from his home office because it’s his space, and our marriage benefits from that.

Bring In Help If You Can

If you find yourself feeling exhausted, resentful, and hopeless about the state of your home, consider hiring a professional organizer who understands neurodivergence. They can demystify decluttering and organization, reduce your stress, and create efficient systems tailored to your needs.

How to Keep a Clean House with ADHD: Next Steps

• Read: How to Motivate for Cleaning House When You Really Don’t Want To
• Read: 33 ADHD-Friendly Ways to Get Organized
• Q&A: “How Do I Know When to Declutter Vs. Organize?”
• Free eBook: Declutter Your Life (and Home! and Office!)

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “How to Organize a Messy Home: Strategies for Clutter and Stress in ADHD Families” [Video Replay & Podcast #520] with Tracy McCubbin, which was broadcast on September 10, 2024.

Home is where the heart is — and if you have ADHD, there’s probably a bunch of clutter there, too. Poor executive functioning compromises organizational skills, leads to procrastination, and impedes planning and prioritization. The result? Countertops covered in paperwork, beds littered with laundry, kitchen tables strewn with homeless items, and a looming sense of overwhelm.

In a recent survey of 1,885 ADDitude readers, 30% said that clutter and home organization caused them the most stress in life. Sixty percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with their home organization and de-cluttering skills; only 1% said they didn’t experience trouble in this area.

The aspects of home organization that prove most challenging for readers include:

• Big decluttering projects (closets, garages, attics): 62%
• Managing daily clutter: 59%
• Finding space where items should ‘live’ in your home: 42%
• Organizing bills and other paperwork: 35%
• Curbing the impulsive spending that brings more items into your life: 27%
• Getting buy-in and cooperation from family or roommates: 22%
• Identifying items to donate or recycle: 12%

“A big challenge is having an ongoing system that works to deal with items that need decisions made about them,” shared one ADDitude reader.

Another reader said that their biggest issue was “unfinished projects like unbuilt furniture, flooring that covers 75% of a room or a half-painted room.”

[Read: 16 Organization Rules You Can Follow]

Decluttering Support: Calling in Reinforcements

The key to taming encroaching clutter? Readers say that getting the right kind of help can be indispensable. Toward that end, nearly 40% of readers report that ADHD medication helps them tackle clutter and home organization.

These supports were rated most helpful by readers (out of 5):

• Housekeeping service: 3.90
• Junk removal service: 3.53
• Professional organizer: 3.37
• ADHD coaches: 3.32
• Spouse, family member, friend: 3.06

[Read: 13 Clutter Hacks for the Easily Overwhelmed]

“Donation centers and groups that do home pick-up, like the Salvation Army, are helpful,” one ADDitude reader explained.

Another reader tip? “Planning a party or visit. It forces a panic sweep of clutter.”

Housekeeping, junk removal, and coaching services are powerful but also pricey. Here are 10 low-cost tools recommended by our readers:

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (book) by Marie Kondo
• How to Keep House While Drowning (book) and Struggle Care (site) by KC Davis, LPC
• Decluttering at the Speed of Life (book) and A Slob Comes Clean (site) by Dana K. Whi
• The Minimalist Home (book) and Becoming Minimalist (site) by Joshua Becke
• Clutterbug, podcast by Cas
• The Home Edit, YouTube organizing show
• FlyLady, online organizational coach
• Sweepy, cleaning app
• Dubbii, body doubling app
• Rock The Housework, guided cleaning session
• And, of course . . . ADDitude

Decluttering, Home Organization, and Cleaning Hack

To get to the ultimate goal — an ordered home that feels like a sanctuary, not a stressor — there are myriad paths. Here, our readers share a slew of successful clutter and home organization strategies that have worked for them:

“What helps me the most is everything having its own designated place. It makes it easier to put something away because I’ll know where to find it next time.” —Mariana

“Baskets! If an item doesn’t have a home, it goes in the basket until I figure out where it goes. I go through the baskets at least once a week.” —Mary, Pennsylvania

“Don’t look at the big picture. Instead of trying to organize your house, organize one drawer, or one dresser. As the saying goes: ‘The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.’” – An ADDitude Reader

“Clear plastic containers and clear plastic boxes, strategically placed to hold some of the D.O.O.M. piles I inevitably create in certain rooms of the house.”— Ryann, Pennsylvania

“If a large empty box comes into the house it has to be filled for donation in order to leave. I keep the box in the hall and we all add to it until it’s full.” — Amanda, Canada

“For each thing you bring into your home, remove one thing.” — Cynthia, Ontario

“O.H.I.O. — only handle it once.” — Ellie, Virginia

“I use the ‘Just 5 Things’ technique: I pick up and put away five items in a room, on a table, or another discrete area.” — Teresa, Ohio

“Having a friend come over to chat while I work on clutter is super helpful, even if they just sit and watch! Just having another person to help me decide where to start, what to do next, or what I should do with something is great.” — Nicole, Nebraska

“While I’m de-cluttering, I designate a space in the room for items that go somewhere else in the house, so I don’t get distracted.” — An ADDitude Reader

“Tackle a small area at a time, asking yourself 3 to 5 questions for each. For the closet, it would be: Have you worn it in the past year? Does it fit? Do you love the way it makes you feel?” — An ADDitude Reader

Decluttering & Home Organization: Next Steps

• Read: Home Neat Home – An ADHD Organization Plan
• Read: Organize Your Chaos to Find Calm
• Read: The Ultimate Room-by-Room Organization Guide

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

From boredom to shame, here are the emotional states tangled up with decluttering, along with strategies to calm or circumvent these feelings so you can stay organized.

Unpacking the Emotional Web of Clutter: Disorganization Solutions

1. Shame

Does your disorganized home spark feelings of humiliation and inadequacy? Fear of rejection and criticism due to clutter are common, and they may be so overpowering that you feel driven to escape the task of decluttering and organizing, leaving the problem to grow.

Solution: Shift to self-compassion

Acknowledge your feelings of self-loathing and treat yourself with the same kindness that you would offer a friend in a similar situation. Keep on hand a few positive phrases that you can easily read when shame appears. Remember that no one is devoid of clutter, and that yours doesn’t define your worth. Recognizing and challenging your shame will open the door to taking small steps toward a more organized space.

[Read: Making Peace With Your Clutter]

2. Overwhelm

When organizing a cluttered space, how do you know when to start, take breaks, and call it a day? Executive function weaknesses, common in ADHD and hoarding disorder, make it difficult to identify the logical and explicit steps required to declutter and organize living and working environments. Often, the result is procrastination and task abandonment.

Solution: Grab a Hula Hoop

Lay a hula hoop over an area that needs organizing and commit to cleaning only the space within the hoop. Set a realistic amount of time to organize (preferably under 30 minutes). Don’t have a hula hoop? Use tape, string, shoelaces, or any other method to clearly mark the boundaries of your focus. By concentrating on a single area, you’ll see a more obvious transformation, which will help maintain motivation. Take it a step further by covering ancillary areas with bedsheets or drop cloths.

The key to reducing overwhelm is to break down tasks into manageable parts, whatever that looks like for you. That may mean setting timers and taking breaks, identifying specific to-do list tasks, and/or separating items to organize into a box that you can chip away at little by little.

3. Anxiety and Fear of Regret

When decluttering, do you become anxious about discarding items you may later want? You may have once regretted cleaning out an item of sentimental value, or something you ended up needing after all, and so you avoid making that mistake again by keeping everything. The fear of regret is often strong in individuals with HD, who believe that they cannot tolerate any remorse from unwisely discarding possessions.

Solution: Recognize that regret won’t last forever

Regret is an emotional state that, like all other emotions, passes with time. Chances are that you’ve felt regret before, but you don’t feel the same intensity of regret today as you did in the moment. You are more capable of tolerating and coping with difficult feelings and mistakes than you know.

[Get This Free Download: 22 Clutter-Busting Strategies for Adults with ADHD]

4. Boredom

Boredom is a catastrophic and even physically painful state for people with ADHD, who have steeper and higher mental effort hills to climb. Any task that requires lots of mental effort to initiate and sustain — like decluttering, organizing, and maintaining tidy systems — will be experienced as boring and aversive.

Solution: Gamify It!

• Set a timer for a short period (e.g., 10-15 minutes) and see how much you can clean or declutter in that time. You can make it a race against the clock or try to beat your previous record.
• Create a bingo card with different cleaning tasks in each square. Mark off tasks as you complete them and aim for a full row, column, or diagonal.
• Turn cleaning into a scavenger hunt by making a list of specific items to find and put away.
• Create an upbeat playlist and challenge yourself to finish your task list before it repeats.
• Team up with a friend or family member and turn cleaning into a cooperative game.
• Treat yourself to something you enjoy, like watching a movie or having a special snack, after finishing a certain number of organizing tasks.

How to Deal with Clutter Anxiety: Next Steps

• Free Download: Hoarding Disorder Vs. ADHD Clutter
• Read: 17 Ways To Cut Back on Clutter
• Read: How to Declutter with an ADHD Brain — Organization Solutions for Real Life

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Clearing the Chaos: ADHD-Informed Strategies for Tackling Clutter and Hoarding” [Video Replay & Podcast #510] with Michael Tompkins, Ph.D., which was broadcast on June 18, 2024.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Your child can’t find their backpack and the school bus is here already. Wait, they found it. But where’s their homework and the permission slip for that field trip? Oh no, Dad misplaced his wallet and keys — again. Ten minutes later, he’s still searching. Now he’ll be late for work.

Does this sound familiar? Few things cause more strife in a household than clutter and disorganization. When a home is messy, and things are hard to find, it can make everyone feel stressed. Families touched by ADHD can thank weak execution function skills for this all-too-common scenario.

And here’s what can add another layer of conflict: When only some family members have ADHD and struggle to keep things organized and tidy, and others in the household are the opposite — and neat. ADHD or not, you can take control of your surroundings and optimize your spaces with our decluttering techniques and efficient storage solutions. We will bring harmony back to your newly organized and functional environment.

In the webinar, you will learn:

• About the common struggles families face when only some in the household have ADHD, and the conflict that ensues when all family members have ADHD
• About techniques to help kids and parents get started on their goal to become organized and create spaces to put things where they belong
• How having less stuff is key to being organized, and the techniques to help you decide what to keep and what to toss
• How to compromise and bring harmony back to your household

We will also tackle readers’ real-life situations, as well as recount my own experience as a professional organizer who is married to a very lovely but very messy man.

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Download or Stream the Podcast Audio

Click the play button below to listen to this episode directly in your browser, click the  symbol to download to listen later, or open in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts; Audacy; Spotify; Amazon Music; iHeartRADIO 

How to Organize a Messy Home with ADHD: More Resources

• Free Guide: Hoarding Disorder vs. ADHD Clutter
• Q&A: “Should I Hire a Professional Organizer?”
• Read: How to Motivate for Cleaning House When You Really Don’t Want To
• eBook: Declutter Your Life (and Home! and Office!)

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on September 10, 2024, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker

Tracy McCubbin has always lived by the motto, “Don’t put it down, put it away.” But who knew she could turn that philosophy into a booming business? While working for a major television director in Hollywood, Tracy discovered she had the ability to see through any mess and clearly envision a clutter-free space. Coupled with her keen time management and organizational skills, Tracy soon found fulfillment in helping people discover real solutions by getting to the root of their clutter. That’s when dClutterfly was born.

Almost two decades and thousands of decluttered homes later, Tracy knew it was time to take what she had learned working with her clients to help others around the world dealing with clutter. She authored two best-selling books: Making Space, Clutter-Free: The Last Book on Decluttering You’ll Ever Need and Make Space for Happiness: How to Stop Attracting Clutter and Magnetizing the Life You Want, bringing the beauty of organizing to homes everywhere. (#CommissionsEarned)

Tracy is also a regularly featured expert in The New York Times, Forbes, goop, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo News, CBS, NBC, FOX, Real Simple, and more.

#CommissionsEarned As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission from qualifying purchases made by ADDitude readers on the affiliate links we share. However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

Listener Testimonials

“I have heard Tracy before, and I think about what she says when I stare at boxes or piles. I have made small improvements. This motivated me to make a plan again and move forward.”

“Thank you SO much! I’m 74 and still trying. Best takeaways: If you’re keeping it because you’re afraid it’s going to the landfill, your home is the landfill; and keep putting it away in the same place, like your toothbrush, and you will eventually always know where it belongs.”

“This seminar really made me reflect on how I have improved my skills regarding decluttering. I remember years ago when I used to ‘shut down’ whenever the time came to get rid of things. Now, I do things differently, and I feel pretty good about these changes in myself.”

Webinar Sponsor

The sponsor of this ADDitude webinar is…

Play Attention: Boost Brainpower and Regain Control. Overwhelmed by daily chaos? ADHD can make managing family life challenging, but there’s a solution. Play Attention’s personalized program is designed to help parents and kids alike improve executive function, focus, and organization. Our NASA-inspired technology, backed by research from Tufts University School of Medicine, helps you develop cognitive control to enhance organization, regulate emotions, and improve productivity, creating a calmer, more structured family life.

Ready to turn the mess into success? Take our ADHD test or schedule a consultation to kickstart your journey to sharper focus and a better quality of life with Play Attention. Call 828-676-2240 or visit www.playattention.com.

ADDitude thanks our sponsors for supporting our webinars. Sponsorship has no influence on speaker selection or webinar content.

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Use Binders for Paper Organization

I use binders rather than filing cabinets. Here’s why: Filing cabinets are not portable, and you’ll most likely never remember everything that you put inside. Worst of all, there’s no limit on the amount of paper you can keep. This holds us back from staying organized.

After failing to get my own filing cabinet organized, I compiled task-specific binders to use instead. I organized my papers according to when I would need them, or how I would use them. Now I no longer waste time digging through years of papers in a filing cabinet to find the documents I need to take to a meeting or appointment.

Helpful Binders to Start (or Maintain) Today

Medical Binders

ADHD management often requires numerous providers. Each new clinician will likely ask for the following information:

• individual medical history
• family medical history
• medication list and log
• mental health and mood tracker
• immunization record

[Download This Free Guide: Organize Everything Today!]

Taking the time to type out and record answers to these common questions will reduce your cognitive load and speed up new patient appointments so you can get on to the reason for your referral.

Next, you’ll want to keep a written list of symptoms, notes from meetings with doctors, and medication dosages over time. These documents, which will include information from multiple providers, should be kept in a medical reference binder — one binder per family member. This makes it easy to coordinate care between different clinicians and practices.

Organize 365 has created a free downloadable medical emergency information binder for you to use at home to record your health history, medications, allergies, and diagnoses. (Go to additu.de/organize365 to find the download.)

The Warrior MAMA Binder

I created the “Warrior MAMA binder” to navigate and advocate for my kids’ needs. (MAMA stands for Managing All Medical Alternatives.) Charting the complexity of necessary school interventions and Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings can be overwhelming at times. This binder helps by encouraging you to bring medical records to school meetings and medical appointments, which facilitates better and quicker decisions regarding treatment, medication management, and educational planning.

[Read: Filing Cabinets Don’t Work for ADHD Minds]

Here’s a list of what to include in your Warrior MAMA binder:

• official letters of diagnosis
• standardized school test results
• IEPs
• intervention plans
• medication list and log
• medical test results
• notes taken at doctors’ appointments
• notes taken at school meetings
• schoolwork samples

I remember the first time I truly understood the power of paper documentation. I was in an educational meeting, requesting support for one of my children. The educators said my child’s test scores did not warrant support. I opened my binder and pulled out a test — it was from the previous year, from a different school and with a very different score.

The room went silent. This team had never seen such a variation in scores on this assessment. The educators, who had dismissed my verbal account of the score, became concerned. Now they were ready to take action to help my child.

Important Document Organizer: Next Steps

• Free Download: Your Guide for Controlling Clutter
• Learn: How To Beat Back Your Paper Clutter
• Read: Creative Alternatives to Piling Up Your Paper and Bills?

Lisa Woodruff is CEO of Organize 365.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Hoarding Disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that develops from vulnerabilities, information processing problems, and beliefs about and attachments to possessions.

Many ADHD symptoms, including weak organization, focus, and decluttering skills, overlap with hoarding disorder symptoms. The difference is that someone with hoarding disorder has a reason for saving items and may fail to see their hoarding behaviors as problematic; hoarding is not a function of being unmotivated or unable to organize.

Family history, poor health or disability, indecisiveness, perfectionism, procrastination, emotional dysregulation, and poor attention and focus (where you can’t see the forest for the trees) may lead an individual to have hoarding disorder, according to Carolyn I. Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Translational Therapeutics Lab in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.

“Individuals with hoarding disorder have beliefs about and attachments to their items,” she says. “It’s quite painful for them to let go of items. The clinician needs to have a shared agreement with the patient, in which they understand why it’s important to discard objects and what is gained from doing so — not just what is lost.”

In this download, you will learn:

• How hoarding disorder resembles — and differs — from ADHD
• The primary symptoms of hoarding disorder
• The negative impact of hoarding disorder on individuals
• And much more!

A cluttered, disorganized living environment is as common as it is unsettling for many people who have ADHD. Overwhelm often prevents them from even getting started on decluttering. For some people, the clutter reaches a level that compromises their ability to live safely in their homes. This is usually the result of hoarding disorder. Sometimes, it’s difficult to discern what constitutes clutter versus hoarding.

Michael Tompkins, Ph.D., will explain why the traits in ADHD contribute to excessive clutter and hoarding. He will also walk viewers through the process of managing these often-debilitating situations and employing strategies for success.

In this webinar, you will learn:

• About the ADHD traits and underlying causes that contribute to clutter and hoarding
• About signs of clutter and hoarding, and red flags for when clutter turns into hoarding
• How clutter is different from hoarding, and the characteristics that define each
• About practical strategies to help decrease clutter and disorganization
• How to deal with hoarding in your own living situation or with a loved one
• How cognitive behavior therapy for ADHD and hoarding can help people manage better

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Download or Stream the Podcast Audio

Click the play button below to listen to this episode directly in your browser, click the  symbol to download to listen later, or open in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts; Audacy; Spotify; Amazon Music; iHeartRADIO; YouTube 

Hoarding vs. ADHD Clutter: More Resources

• Download: Your Guide to Hoarding Disorder Vs. ADHD Clutter
• Get: Declutter Your Life (and Home! and Office!)
• Read: What Does Hoarding Disorder Look Like?
• Read: How to Motivate for Cleaning House When You Really Don’t Want To

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on June 18, 2024, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker

Michael A. Tompkins, Ph.D., ABPP, is a licensed psychologist and board certified in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology. He is co-director of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy, and a faculty member of the Beck Institute for Cognitive and Behavior Therapy. He is the author or co-author of numerous articles and chapters on cognitive-behavior therapy and related topics, as well as 16 books, including Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Cutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring (with Tamara L. Hartl) (New Harbinger, 2009) and Clinician’s Guide to Severe Hoarding: A Harm Reduction Approach (Springer, 2014). (#CommissionsEarned) The Mental Health Association of San Francisco awarded him the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the understanding of hoarding and cluttering. Dr. Tompkins has presented to national and international audiences on the topic hoarding, particularly managing hoarding behaviors through a harm reduction approach.

#CommissionsEarned As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission from qualifying purchases made by ADDitude readers on the affiliate links we share. However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

Listener Testimonials

“Dr. Tompkins gave a great presentation that relieved some of my worry about having full-blown hoarding disorder, as well as useful and practical techniques for dealing with clutter and disorganization. Thank you!”

“I thought Dr. Tompkins was wonderful! So clear and didactic. We got so much out of it and loved how he answered questions.”

“Really informative, with great advice. I never realized how shame and regret were major factors for me. Thank you so much.”

Webinar Sponsor

The sponsor of this ADDitude webinar is….

“Sorry about the random piles of stuff” is something we’ve all probably said to someone entering our house. ADHD can make it feel impossible to keep a tidy house, and the usual tips and tricks don’t work for the seemingly never ending piles of things. Here at Inflow, we get it and we’re here to help. Developed by leading ADHD clinicians, Inflow is a self-help program that uses CBT principles to teach effective strategies that help you stay organized, take control of your ADHD, and actually get stuff done. Get your ADHD score today to kick off your Inflow journey.

ADDitude thanks our sponsors for supporting our webinars. Sponsorship has no influence on speaker selection or webinar content.

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Here’s the only rule of thumb you need to tell if your closet is organized: If anyone walked into your closet and pulled out a complete outfit for you, would you hesitate to walk out the door in it? If you answered yes, it means you likely have pieces in your closet that you don’t want to wear, and thus should be gone.

An organized closet is one that is arranged for the phase of life you’re in, for the body you have, and for your roles and responsibilities. Bringing order to your closet is totally doable, but it’s not going to be done overnight, or even over a weekend.

[Read: What Will It Take for My Home to Stay Organized Forever?!]

When I first took to seriously organizing my closet, I realized I had to get rid of almost everything. My body had changed, and I only had three outfits that comfortably fit my body. But I didn’t get rid of everything in one go. I decluttered my closet 30% at a time over the course of a year. I replenished my closet with hand-me-downs and clothes from consignment shops. Eventually, I had a 15-outfit wardrobe.

As you consider which items to keep and toss, be careful not to over-declutter. Ask yourself: What kind of clothing do I need in this phase of my life? How many pieces of [insert clothing article here] do I need? How can I store them in a way that makes sense to me?

When you get your closet organized to your liking, you can then clean out your closet and maintain that organization three times a year.

How to Organize a Closet: Next Steps

• Free Download: Your Guide for Controlling Clutter
• Read: How Can I Break My Emotional Attachment to Unnecessary ‘Stuff?’
• Read: Don’t Organize It, Purge It — 10 Things to Throw Out Now

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Your Organized Home: Functional Organization for Your Life Phase Right Now” [Video Replay & Podcast #463] with Lisa Woodruff, which was broadcast on July 19, 2023.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Panic and frustration set in. Your inner critic starts up: Why can’t I be more organized? Why am I so forgetful? Why is this so hard? Why do I always do this?

This was me before I left my home to do practically anything. Keeping track of all the items I needed for various activities, no matter how many times I had done those activities, always felt overwhelming and stressful. For work, I need my ID card on a lanyard, my name badge, and an ethernet cable adapter. When I volunteer, I need to bring my name badge and a specific t-shirt that identifies me as a volunteer. For my personal training sessions, I need to pack an athletic top and shorts, my heart rate monitor, a water bottle, a sweatband, my gym membership card, and the right shoes. I struggled to remember these items in my rush out the door, and I couldn’t reliably keep them in one designated place.

Accepting that forgetfulness, disorganization, and time blindness are a part of my ADHD was a milestone toward self-forgiveness. But I knew that I had to find a way to limit the overwhelm and forgetfulness that plague “neurospicy” people like myself.

Go Bags for ADHD: The Ultimate Organizing Hack

While mulling it over, I noticed that my partner keeps her stationery in a zippered bag. Everything she needs related to stationery is in that single, portable bag – not scattered about in random spots. And there, in the simplest of organizing tools, was my solution.

[Get This Free Download: Clean Up and Get Organized in One Weekend]

Rather than waste time tracking down (often misplaced) individual items around my home for a particular activity (while racing against the clock), I created “go bags” for various activities. If I’m spending the day in the office, I toss my office go bag into my backpack and I don’t think twice about what’s in there, secure in knowing I won’t have to ask for anyone to badge me in. I also have go bags for my personal training sessions and for volunteering.

How to Create and Maintain Your Own Go Bags

I know this isn’t an earth-shaking organization tool, but I’m happy with my go bag strategy because it’s simple, effective, relatively low-maintenance, and endlessly adaptable. You don’t have to use a zippered bag – substitute a plastic container, a reusable shopping bag, a fanny pack, anything portable that can hold your items. Here are some sample go bags to get you started:

• Dog walking: Treats, waste bags, light-up collar (for night walks)
• Everyday health: Hand sanitizer, sunscreen, lip balm, ADHD medication, lotion
• Gym: ID card, clothes, water bottle, fitness monitors, sweat band or microfiber cloth
• International travel: Passport, travel adapter, credit card with no international fees
• Studying: Pens, highlighters, sticky notes, flash cards, energy bar (preferably one that doesn’t expire anytime soon!)
• Swimming: Swimsuit, towel, goggles, water bottle, sandals

I know what you’re thinking: How do I remember to bring my go bags? I’m not perfect, but I’ve found that setting an essential item, like my car keys, on top of the bag works well. After all, I can only go so far from home without my car keys.

[Read: The ADD Life Hacks That Work for ADDitude Readers]

What about maintaining go bags? Some go bags (like for the gym) require more maintenance than others. Make it a point to check your go bags once a week, once a month, and at any other frequency that works for you. You may find it helpful to make duplicate go bags, like a toiletry go bag, to keep in your car, office, bathroom, nightstand, and other areas. Go bags, especially duplicate go bags, may take more time to set up initially, but they’ll definitely save you time, energy, and frustration in the long run. Think of it as doing your future self multiple favors.

For those of us with ADHD, there’s no greater thrill than sharing the hack to end all hacks – the strategy that finally got us to do the thing. (Bonus points if the hack was right under our noses all along.) I find go bags necessary to alleviate the racing thoughts, confusion, and overwhelm that once was getting out the door to face everyday life.  

Go Bag for ADHD Organization: Next Steps

• Free Download: Organize Everything Today!
• Read: Everything in Its “Place”
• Q&A: “I Forget About My Things When I Put Them Away!”

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Q: “I can’t figure out how to throw things away. I’m afraid that if I declutter I’ll end up getting rid of something I actually need, which has happened to me before.”

It’s common to feel some level of guilt or anxiety at the thought of throwing things away, especially if you’ve had the experience of discarding items that you ended up needing. When this happens, it’s usually a case of too much decluttering and not enough organizing.

“Decluttering” and “organizing” are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. To declutter is to get rid of stuff. It’s fast, easy, and produces immediate results. Organizing is what comes after decluttering. It’s taking what’s left and making it work for the phase of life you are in right now. Organizing takes much longer to complete, and it requires regular maintenance.

[Get This Free Download: 22 Clutter-Busting Strategies]

Generally, decluttering works really well in our 20s and 30s. But it isn’t as useful in our 40s, 50s, and 60s, when we have things that we like and have used for a long time. We don’t have much need to declutter.

It seems that decluttering has been your default mode of achieving order in your home for a long time. You might be used to having success with decluttering, so you assume that you need to declutter every time you feel overwhelmed and need relief. But then you declutter things you actually need, and decluttering no longer brings you the same relief it used to. This is over-decluttering.

So instead of decluttering, try organizing. Organizing doesn’t mean putting everything in cute containers. It’s asking yourself: What do I need in this phase of my life? How many of those things do I need? Where would I store the things?

It sounds counterintuitive, but in the process of organizing, you might find that you need to buy more things, especially if you have transitioned into a different life phase and/or you’re living with other adults.

Decluttering and Organizing: Next Steps

• Free Download: Organize Your Home By Working With Your ADHD Brain
• Read: How Do I Get Rid of Stuff I Don’t Use But Worry I’ll Miss?
• Read: What Will It Take for My Home to Stay Organized Forever?!

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Your Organized Home: Functional Organization for Your Life Phase Right Now” [Video Replay & Podcast #463] with Lisa Woodruff, which was broadcast on July 19, 2023.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

In my time helping thousands of people get organized, I’ve come to learn that, just as we move through phases of life, we also move through phases of organization. What’s more, the ways in which we bring order to our homes must change with every new phase of life.

The Organizing Phases

• The mini apartment phase is from childhood to age 20. The only area you need to organize is your bedroom (i.e., your mini apartment).
• The accumulation phase spans from your 20s to about age 40. In this phase, you’ve finally moved out of your mini apartment into a larger space, and you’re building out your adult life. That entails buying lots of things. You might also accumulate degrees, spouses, and children in this phase.
• The survival phase is from age 40 to age 60. Life comes at you hard in this phase — you’re driving your kids everywhere, holding down a full-time job, caring for aging parents, and keeping your home together. You own everything you need for your home to function, but you continue to buy more things because a) you don’t realize you have the thing at home or b) it’s easier to buy a new thing than it is to go look for it.
• The downsizing and legacy phase from 60 and beyond is when you move out of your active income-earning and parenting years. This phase is all about decluttering. The question that should be top of mind: “What do I want to keep as I start to downsize the dwelling that I’m in?”

[Get This Free Download: How to Tidy Up Your Home Like a Pro]

These are the predictable phases of organizing through the life phases, but unexpected life phases — like the loss of a family member, a medical diagnosis, or a move — also add complexity to your life and to your organizing needs.

It’s clear that you’re in your downsizing phase. My suggestion is to focus on downsizing one of the four major areas of home organization — personal organization, storage areas, family and communal spaces, and paper organization — at a time. To keep moving forward and avoid feeling overwhelmed, ask yourself one question a day: “What do I want?” Do you still like that comforter on your bed, for example?

Organizing your home for your current phase of life will take time, possibly years, which is totally normal. Organizing is a process, so give yourself permission to take as much time as you need to make your new home comfortable.

Next Steps to Organize Your Life

• Free Download: 22 Clutter-Busting Strategies
• Read: The Professional Organizer’s Guide to Getting Rid of ADHD Clutter
• Read: 5 Steps Toward a Decluttered (and De-Stressed) Life

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Your Organized Home: Functional Organization for Your Life Phase Right Now” [Video Replay & Podcast #463] with Lisa Woodruff, which was broadcast on July 19, 2023.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Not everyone — not even the people in your home — will share your ideas about how much stuff to keep. And that’s okay. You don’t have to see eye to eye with your husband about how much stuff either of you like to have. There’s no right or wrong to it, as long as your home is habitable.

But you can try to agree on stuff-free zones in your home. Common spaces, for example, can be free of extra stuff. If your husband gets more stuff, it can go in storage or wherever his stuff currently lives, but it can’t go anywhere else. These are not hard and fast rules; the point is to come to an agreement that suits you both.

[Read: What Will It Take for My Home to Stay Organized Forever?! (Or At Least for a While Longer?)]

Keep in mind that even with stuff-free zones, your home might not be completely organized to your level of satisfaction. But trying to force your husband to do differently won’t work. It’s not your job to make sure that your husband is as organized as you are or that he meets your expectations. (In my home, I only organize myself unless others ask for my help.) It’s better to give yourself permission to move on and to focus your time and energy on organizing your own stuff.

Home Organizing Habits: Next Steps

• Read: How Can I Keep My Many, Many, Many Hobby Supplies Organized?
• Read: Saying Yes to Mess
• Read: Don’t Organize It, Purge It — 10 Things to Throw Out Now

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Your Organized Home: Functional Organization for Your Life Phase Right Now” [Video Replay & Podcast #463] with Lisa Woodruff, which was broadcast on July 19, 2023.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.