Organizing Solutions for Those with ADD

Organizing Solutions for Those with ADD

by Basic Organization team member Debbie Baker.

I’m reading a book called Organizing Solutions for People with Attention Deficit Disorder: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized by Susan C. Pinsky, and the thoughts that keep coming to my mind are, “That makes so much sense” and “what a great, simple idea.”

These solutions may be key and essential to make life more manageable for people with ADD, but they are also wonderful time and frustration-saving ideas for everyone else. It’s my belief that the point of being organized is to save time and energy. Then you can devote most of your time and energy toward the activities and goals that are truly important to you. And the point of the tips and solutions in this book is to make your organization as easy and intuitive as possible, so therefore great for everyone!

Some of the tips that stood out:

• Think visual! Don’t store things such that you can’t easily see everything you have.
• Only use clear contains so that you can see what is inside without having to look inside.
• Use open containers whenever possible, to eliminate the need to remove and replace a top.
• Hooks and shelves are wonderful things!
• Use bookcase-style shelves for shoe storage. Avoid any storage where you can’t see the shoes, and remove/replace them very easily.
• Throw all your socks away and buy all the same kind, in the 2 or 3 colors you wear. No need to ever mate socks! Just throw them back in the drawer after laundering, separated by color.
• DO NOT create organization systems that are complex! The simpler and easier to maintain, the better.
• Less is more – don’t burden yourself and your children with too many possessions. Only have what you use and what you love – in the present!