How Organization for ADHD Can Transform Your Home: 3 Powerful Tips You Need to Know!
This is for you if you have ADHD, think you have ADHD, are undiagnosed, or 100% sure you have ADHD but not necessarily interested in getting a formal diagnosis. This is for you if you’re looking for ways to organize with ADHD.
Since I started sharing my home organization hacks and productivity tips, I’ve attracted a small community of folks with ADHD. My philosophies about home and approach to organization center on connection/community, slow living, quality over quantity, well-being, and critiquing consumerism. In addition to the countless emails, messages, and comments from people telling me they have ADHD and how much my tips have helped them, I think its safe to say that what I share is works. Plus, Sistaswithadhd follows me. So allow me to break down how to organize your home in a way that supports your ADHD.
Connection/Community is the Organize For Love way. Organizing can be isolating, overwhelming, and unnatural when it feels like your brain works differently than others. Tips around having fewer things so you have less to declutter aren’t necessarily intuitive. When I think about stuff, two things from my childhood come to mind:
On a basic level, there was too much stuff
Giving was a core value that justified having so much stuff
Two things can be true at once and I love to focus on the latter (giving) as a way to declutter. If you can rewire your brain to think about decluttering as a community act, rather than feel guilty for your mess, you can create a system within your home to give with a purpose. You can find the balance in stuff coming into your abode versus leaving it. Hint, for true harmony, things should be leaving your home more than coming in.
Now when it comes to what to do with all your stuff, you can donate to the Salvation Army or Goodwill, these are two places I’ve used and sometimes lean on. Instead, why not use that as an opportunity to create community and connect with your fellow neighbor? Here’s what I mean.
JOIN BUY NOTHING GROUP
You can join your neighborhood Buy Nothing Group on Facebook, where you can give your unwanted items to someone in your zipcode. And if you’re like me and get satisfaction from looking the person you helped in the eye, then you’ll love connecting with your neighbors in this way. From giving brand new hair products I got from a festival to a mom of 3, to watching a new mom who used to work for Task Rabbit break down a changing table, through Buy Nothing Groups, I’ve linked with some amazing people.
It’s truly magical to give away those random, miscellaneous, and unused items instead of giving them to Goodwill or Salvation Army where you’re not sure who gets it. I’ve given away plants, vases, candles, dinnerware, appliances, toys, notebooks, alcohol, these Marie Kondo Modular Glass Canisters, and so much more to people in my borough.
The way you can do this is to go to Facebook, search “Buy Nothing + your neighborhood”, take clear photos and videos of something you want to give away and post them to the group. Here’s my 3 quick and dirty tips to make this donating in Buy Nothing Groups seamless, safe, mutually satisfying.
Use discernment when sharing your address and selecting the giftee. Go to their profile, see how long they’ve been a member of the group, look at their activity, go to their main profile, and look at their photos. You can tell a real person from a scam by the cadence they post from the type of photos they share. I’ve said no to people who were requesting a donation simply because their photos seemed inconsistent. If something feels off, you have a right to refuse who you give your belongings to.
If it makes you feel more comfortable, when you give an address, give one that’s a couple of buildings/houses from yours, give a cross street, or don’t share your apartment number and leave the item in your lobby/outside your building. You get to create and adjust the rules of engagement based on your comfort level. You can donate your things and keep yourself safe, they’re not mutually exclusive.
Lastly, always be upfront and communicate with your neighbor, be clear about the time they can pick up an item and where. When I first started using Buy Nothing Groups, these were the boundaries I set in place for myself and how I interacted. Now, I can move more fluidly in the process and i have regulars I donate to now which is lovely.
If you’d prefer to skip this way of giving you can check out this post, where I share even more alternatives to donating to Salvation Army or Goodwill.
2. SCHEDULE A DONATION PICK-UP WITH VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA (VVA)
The VVA is a national service organization for veterans. What I love the most about their mission is that they support folks who’ve been forgotten and are starting over. This is so special because you get to give to a person or family in need what you have an abundance of while simultaneously clearing your space. It's a win-win. And when this becomes your way of life, your things become less of a burden but a vehicle to contributing to a cause bigger than you.
Between Facebook groups and donation pickups, I’ve been able to eliminate donating to large charitable organizations. And I prefer it this way. There are two main entities to schedule a donation pick up with:
Vietnam Veterans of America
Local church organization
When you often forget your purchases, can’t see them, or genuinely don’t know where you put them, this causes duplicates. What makes large donation centers so irresistible is the convenient drop-offs and what they accept, which seems to be everything. You can bag and box your most random household items and bring them to one place, no questions asked.
Ironically, this is the same reason why we’re asking if we should donate to Salvation Army and Goodwill in the first place. The Organize For Love way slows down the decluttering process in order to shift how you manage your things. And if you have ADHD, you can reduce your overwhelm by getting cozy with a new way of living, one that’s more intuitive, grounded in community, and character-building. This looks like:
free stores (like The Little Dam Free Shop in Brooklyn, NY)
co-ops
clothing swaps
community-based food systems
urban farming
community fridges (like The Forest Ave ComeUnity Fridge on Staten Island, NY)
These are just a few examples of how you can give, donate, and declutter your home of items you no longer want, use, or need. A cluttered home will have you stuck in a self-imposed cycle that’s plagued by anxiety and angst. Scheduling for a donation pick-up by VVA is the start of breaking you out of a toxic pattern.
3. SCHEDULE A DONATION PICK-UP WITH YOUR LOCAL CHURCH
Local churches have these semi-new (and free) services to support their members and the surrounding community by coming straight to your home to pick up your donations. Some churches like St Mary’s (NYC) and St Vincent De Paul (ARIZONA) have been doing this for awhile.
This is another win-win for your ADHD cause you’re giving with a purpose. Knowing that your things will be used for a growing family, a transgender teen who was kicked out of their parent’s home, newlyweds merging lives, or a student moving into their first apartment. This is how you give your things meaning.
Like VVA, you’ll have to research to see if any churches pick up in your area and if so, which church. If you find one, sign up for the text reminders. These have been a game changer for me in simplifying my decluttering process even more. They often text messages that they’ll be in my area for a pickup and if I want to donate anything. Once I respond yes, I receive the date and reminders. All there’s left for me to do is compile a donation bag or gather my existing ones. It can be so seamless.
Conclusion
My 3 special ways to organize your home in a way that supports your ADHD are to:
Join a Buy Nothing Facebook Group; this is where you join your neighborhood Buy Nothing Group on Facebook, where you can give your unwanted items to someone in your zipcode.
Schedule a donation pick-up with Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA); a national service organization for Vietnam veterans where you get to support folks who are starting over.
Schedule a donation pick-up with your local church; some local churches offer semi-new (and free) services to support their members and the surrounding community by coming straight to your home to pick up your donations. Some churches like St Mary’s (NYC) and St Vincent De Paul (ARIZONA) have been doing this for a while.
Aren’t these so special!?!
So, now that you have 3 new ways to get rid of your stuff, you can start to feel good about tidying up your home. I love talking about the nuances of home organization that aren’t often addressed so subscribe to my newsletter if you want more. For now, check out this blog post where I answer what home organization is.
Hey you, I’m Rebekah
And I create home-organizing tools for women who want to break generational curses starting with their home. I help them declutter with intention so they can create a safe home. I’m on a personal mission to help Black women and families (me and mines included) have more structure, order, and peace in our homes. Welcome to the revolution.
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