How to De-clutter with ADD: Part 1

People say start small, but when it looks like you moved two 4-bedroom houses into one 3-bedroom townhome, small is not possible.

When you woke up determined to do something to be productive but couldn't find the one thing you needed to get it done, you decide it's time for the demolition. Basically at this point, if I had a bulldozer I would take the whole thing down with one swing and say goodbye to it all. As I know that's quite irrational, I agree to get this addiction under control. Why do I call this an addiction? Because no matter how many times I get cleaned up and promise to never do it again, I end up leaving a "few things lying around" and before I know it I have 3 days of cleaning ahead of me...

For months I kept asking myself, but mostly my husband, "But where do I start?". His answer? "I don't know.". Not very helpful, but I love him anyway.

Start small. Start small? Like the closet? Bathroom cabinet? Underwear & sock drawer? Yes! Underwear and socks! Done and done, 2 weeks ago.

Since then, nothing. It took me the entire length of the cult-classic Fifth Element to finish that drawer and putting 4 loads of laundry away. Ok, slow start! I know! I just don't know how to clean and KEEP it clean.

What's a girl to do? Google it!

Aaaaaand, that wasn't very helpful... moving on. Typically I would say that the internet is far too large of a research space for someone to find specifically what they are looking for, then again, you are reading this post among the millions of other "how-to" posts out there.

Is there such thing as a cleaning buddy? Well my best friend, Alyssa, agreed to come over and do a jigsaw puzzle before going to Disney Trivia.... the catch was that I was going to have to clean while she does the puzzle. Somehow, she is supposed to do a puzzle under this mess...

Commence first thing to clean off! While enjoying the background noise of The 10th Kingdom, a mini-series originally broadcast on NBC in 2000, which if you haven't seen it you'll either thank me or hate me after watching the 6 hour and 57 minute fairy tale wonder. Do a little Amazon shopping and get the Bluray, I might have to do this myself seeing as I own the 3 disc DVD version and the VHS.

Anyway, after approximately 4 minutes of cleaning, I find what I was searching for for nearly an hour that morning.

The Microsoft Office product key that my mother bought me when I was applying for jobs and realized my current Office subscription expired. Thanks, mom!

Well, after clearing off the puzzle table, putting a few clothes away that were on the mound of crap on our guest bed, and of course discovering my long lost product key, I felt I earned a 'well done, Christina!', and took the rest of the day off from cleaning...

Maybe I'd get more done another day.

Stay tuned for the next part highlighting more cleaning, organizing, tossing, and a man named Jack.

Introductions Suck.

Introductions take forever, I always feel like I'm reading a biography...

I'll keep this post fairly simple.

I have ADD. I was diagnosed when I was 24 years old. I should have been tested when I was younger, but that never happened because, 'if you don't get tested, you don't have it'.

After doing semi-ok in high school (3.4 GPA) and doing not-so-great in college (2.8 GPA), I figured I just sucked at exams and couldn't retain information. Simple as that, right? Wrong. Wrong! WRONG! If you feel you or your child may have symptoms of ADD (or ADHD) please do the right thing and get them tested, it will make life a lot less of a struggle.

My then-boyfriend, who recently upgraded to husband, was very supportive in my decision to go to therapy to get tested for ADD. Motivated by the notion that I would come home after work and may have taken a stressful, frustrating day out on him every so often, sure! But that's in the past! Now, I'm mostly level-headed and loving.

I like to think that discovering I had ADD helped me tremendously. I am less stressed (most of the time), forgive myself more often, and even find daily tasks that used to be challenging fairly easy.

There you have it, I have ADD and feel no shame!

Check out my next posts to find out how people with ADD (non-OCD) should and shouldn't clean/de-clutter. A serious struggle in this house, ask my grandmother...