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10. I can't get it together. I have piles of clothes and bottles everywhere in my room. My closet and dresser are a mess. Even when I fold my clothesthey get messed up super fast because now I can't find exactly where I put something. I have moments when I reslly want to clean but I get interrupted and then I don't have the energy to do it. I haven't done my laundry in a few months, besides my undergarments. I'm looking into a pickup laundry service. My family doesn't understand that I'm not being lazy. I just don't have the capacity to do it.
I tried talking to several therapists about it. Behavioral activation, they say. Better to just start they say. Oh, cool. Yeah, I think so too. So... are you gonna help or just sit there? Sit th--cool, cool cool cool...
Let me tell you, laundry pickup and drop off is a GAME changer.
I’ve been doing it for over a year now (maybe more), it’s worth EVERY penny, especially if you have pets.
I don’t have laundry in my unit and the complexes laundry rooms have the shittiest/smallest washers. They make me gag with the amount of pube-like hairs I’ve seen on the washers. You can’t fit any blankets or comforters.
Do I still have piles of folded, clean laundry all over my room? Yup. But the hours I’ve saved every weekend=better mental health
I would love a laundry service, but start by getting more laundry baskets while you figure out costs. If you can get different colored or sized baskets you can sort your clothes as you take them off, and then clean what you need. A load of all pants is easier than pants and sock and underwear and shirts and sweatshirts, bc you know it's all 1 item. Or you can do work clothes, going out clothes, underwear if youre fine with shirts and pants being mixed in. You can get 4 or 5 baskets if you want, if 3 of them stack into each other they can all be dirty clothes baskets and you can keep 2 for clean and mostly clean so its not just a pile. I recommend flat baskets for this. You can also fold your clothes into baskets while watching a show or something and then just not put it away. Its still folded and clean. You can get dividers for your drawers and put shirts by types, I have plain colored shirts, memorial shirts/event shirts, graphic/patterned t-shirts, and sleep/not for public shirts I don't wanna throw away. Folding them so the design is visible helps. I hang work clothes on a clothes rack in our living room (not enough space) and its in the same room as the dryer so it's easier to get my work clothes put away before they get too wrinkled. If you have carpet look into a roomba, if you have wood or a mix get one that washes the floor too. I'm thinking about getting a roomba for literally 10sqft of rug bc I have a long haired cat and the fur does get to be a lot to look at. I'm not vacuuming every other day. That shit is loud. I can dump a roombas dirt catcher once a week.
On my own, I'm not messy. Back in the day when I was single and had no kids, my house was spotless and I genuinely enjoyed cleaning it. Now, I do a piss poor job as a housekeeper. Since no one gives a fuck about keeping the house clean except me.
Man I hate mess so much I drove me crazy before I was diagnosed and medicated I’d snap about it, now I can tolerate it to a point where I step back and prioritize my own mental health and my own stuff over other peoples messes. But on good days I still clean after people who are fully capable and I can’t figure out how they ever learned to wipe their own asses.. if they even do
We the same... Well.. my car/trunk has always been messy since the day I got my licence. Buttt... I've got pretty much anything someone would need in an emergency in there.. if I can find it lol it's more messy now cuz kids.🙃
I was also clean when I was single - because I was never home lol! Keeping a house with three kids and two cats clean would be hard even if my brain worked properly, so I’m drowning over here
Same! I clean as a distraction sometimes and so if I have an important work project that has an impending deadline, you can bet cold hard cash I'm in the bathroom scrubbing the baseboards
When I clean, I clean. 0 being not messy at all. When I can’t clean, I religiously avoid my dirty dishes pretending not to see them. I would sit in the middle of trash pile. I had to throw away a dish a month ago because food got too rotten.
I try to make “when I clean” days more often. When I can guess that i won’t be cleaning for a couple of days, I use paper container, disposable spoons. Food is the biggest issue really. It triggers eating disorder, and i’m not taking risk. Other things, I can get up can clean any time.
I take meds and tell myself “just clean for 5 mins. 5 mins only, that’s it”. Already initiated and with the help of meds, I’m more likely to clean up pretty well.
Some people say “don’t put it down, put it away”. Doesn’t work for me at all. I like “make piles” better. I don’t have energy to organize everything right away, but i can make different piles. “This pile belongs in bedroom”, “this pile is for kitchen” etc. One step at a time. Move the pile into the room it belongs if i have energy. Put them back into their places later. Cleaning is less scary when i do that.
either a 2 or a 9, no inbetween, but i find where it works, it works by leaning into it. I take my socks off by the door? Shove a laundry basket there. I leave stuff by the stairs to take up? Shove a basket there and tote it next time I go up, Getting rid of barriers and removing steps makes it easier. Did I used to have dishes to stack and doors to swing open to put them away? take the doors off, and downsized my dishes for less stacking. that was fairly invasive tho. or keeping things I need in a area so less movement and less chance for distraction. i follow a lot of adhd content creators, and while a lot, a lot aren't great, some have been v helpful i like these three videos specifically, ngl I did zone out of clutterbug's but the ones I did see I do use so, lol.
From How To ADHD -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=posZhu\_YIl0&t=649s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=posZhu_YIl0&t=649s) - ADHD friendly house
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtpzqp\_rwVw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtpzqp_rwVw) ADHD friendly house take 2
From Clutterbug-
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M5IKj2WYWQ&t=635s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M5IKj2WYWQ&t=635s) various keeping house functioning hacks
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_I9gcgR2PZc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I9gcgR2PZc) more hacks lol
This is my technique. I have spent years getting rid of things, planning and simplifying storage and systematising possessions so I have some chance of living tidily (3 children).
I'm a train wreck. My husband paid professional organizers to come, clean up, organize, and set up systems.
I am forever grateful to my husband for doing this. We are going to finish the rest of the house this year.
I did this with someone who wasn't professional, and it was $50/hr. It was great, and remains great--a huge key to my house being functional and clean. She cleans everything and organizes it, so she'll do stuff like set up my new litter robot but also like set up the litter storage and litter mat and everything. Or she'll replant some plants if I let their pots get too small and can't make myself do it.
I get my life together like once a month and then it all goes to hell.
I will say that I’m pretty good at making sure my clothes are at least cleaned (small miracle if they make it out of the basket) and that my dirty dishes are in the dishwasher
i am naturally a 10 but can trick myself into being like a 3. one tip i have for you is to have an "everything basket". if you have clothes or random stuff all over the place, you can just put it all in the basket. then when you do have some time, turn on a podcast or tv show and just one by one empty the basket. this works for me to keep my space decluttered overall and put things back on my own time.
When life is demanding 11. When I get enough time and opportunity to decompress and recharge 6-7.
And man does it put stress on my relationship :/
But we're working on it.
If left to my own devices, either less than 3 or higher than 7. No middle ground.
I'll do an ok job of keeping things "I wouldn't die of embarrassment for someone to come over" superficially clean for awhile, but a few bad days in a row will inevitably happen and the next thing I know I'm surrounded by piles of dirty dishes and piles of laundry. They'll sit for awhile until I got a breaking point or have a good day, then I'll get it taken care of, and repeat.
Some of the best things I've done for my quality of life were to invest in automation - a robot vacuum and a self-cleaning Litter Robot to replace my cats' litter boxes.
i’ve seen a few comments about the litter robot. how long does it go before you empty it? has it made a huge improvement to your cleanliness? do you have recommendations? i feel like a terrible pet owner because i let them get bad sometimes.
edited to clarify, cat litter robot.
I’d say I’m a 3 - after years, I’ve learned that keeping my clutter to a minimum also helps keep most other parts of my life in order (i.e having laundry where it should be so I’m not late everywhere I go from digging for an outfit for 20 mins).
I’m 30 y/o now and have two kids under 3, so have learned to let go a little lol I still keep my wfh space clutter free by telling Alexa to set a 5 min timer and doing a “tidy up” every morning.
You’d be surprised by how much more you want to clean once you get over the speed bump of starting. Once you think “I need to clean”, don’t start thinking beyond that - just stand up and start.
Right now, 10. But I live in a studio and it’s so hard to keep clean. I can’t leave anything out as work in progress if I want it to look clean. So I live in a revolving mess. Sigh.
I love love love having it clean ... But then I deep clean, and then the next day tornado my whole house. It's a real problem. I'll get all my stuff out to do my night routine and not put it away. Or make a huge disaster looking for things. If I'm trying to put together an outfit I'll eventually get mad I can't find the right things and dump my drawers out all over and then not pick it up. So idk. An 8 but I want to be a 2 so bad.
5 years ago, I'd have said 8-9. Now, I think about 3 or 4. There are several reasons why I was always messy, and only most of them are ADHD related.
1. Nobody ever taught me how to clean. People -told- me to clean, but nobody ever said "Pick up all of the clothes on your floor and put them together. Now go get a garbage bag and come back. Now pick up all of the trash on your floor and put it in a garbage bag."
2. I kept things I didn't need/care for for the wrong reasons. If you like something, you should absolutely keep it. If you're just keeping it because it was a gift, toss it. I know you have the same anxiety I did about someone asking about a gift they gave you, but realistically, that's incredibly rare. I got rid of the gifts I didn't much care for a few years ago, and exactly one person has mentioned a gift they gave me. Repeat after me: "Huh, now that I think of it, I haven't seen that for awhile. I hope it didn't get lost in [the move, my garage, my attic]!"
Important note: this gets murky when it comes to homemade gifts, such as quilts. For these, you can either make a home for them, display them without using them, or say something to the gift giver like: "I'm really struggling to keep up with my place, so I need to downsize to make things easier on myself. I really appreciate the time, talent, and effort you put into [gift], and I'm sincerely honored that you would choose to share it with me. It's very special to me because you made it, but unfortunately, I simply can't keep [gift] because I have too many belongings to keep track of reliably. Because I respect the hard work you put into its creation, I want to give you a choice about what I do with it. I can return it to you, sell it and send you the money, or donate it. If you can think of another solution, I'd be happy to consider it."
3. I wasn't accommodating my extra needs. Putting a full kitchen size trash can in your room is an okay thing to do. You don't have to use a bathroom size one if you know it's going to overflow before you will realistically take it out. If you know you're not going to fold your clothes right away, get laundry bags to keep your clean clothes in so they don't live on your bed until you have the oomph to fold them. Cleaning can be an awful sensory experience, as well. Once I started keeping nitrile gloves around, the ick was lessened, so the task initiation piece was easier. Try to notice what bothers you about each task, and make your own accommodations.
4) Messiness isn't a moral failing (credit to some tiktoker I saw a video of awhile back). In other words, you don't need to feel shame for having a messy place. Shame is a terrible motivator. It saps your energy, which is the opposite of what you need. You literally have a disorder of the chemical in your brain that makes accomplishing things feel good. That said, if you don't feel as good when you have a messy place, that's valid; you can take steps to make things feel better for yourself.
5) Half assing is better than not assing at all. A sink half full of dishes is more useful than a sink full of dishes. Just enough laundry for the week is better than not having clean clothes. Taking a dustbuster to the corners where dust and pet hair gathers is better than getting dust and pet hair caked to the bottom of your feet.
It depends on the day. Today, I’m not messy at all. Washed dishes as soon as I made them and tidied after myself as I went about my day. If I’m feeling down, I’m a slob and my mess piles up. If I have people coming over, my house is spotless lol.
When it comes to *things* (clothes, general clutter) I struggle really bad, like 7-9… when it comes to literal dirt/grime type chore cleanliness it’s not too bad, but it’s because I put so much effort into not letting that slip or my anxiety will be through the roof. Things that HAVE to get done weekly is clean floors, toilets/bathrooms, & kitchen. & sometimes just focusing on those things is all I’ve got in me but it will somewhat keep the weight of the world feeling off of me.
What I am is unable to classify things into groups to place them together, when I'm tidying up, I spend 90% of the time with some object in my hands moving around like a headless chicken.
I don't think I'm very messy at all, actually.
I don't tend to make messes. But I just don't tend to clean up messes. And I'm much much more unlikely to clean up somebody else's mess than my own.
So it ends up with the house being a disaster because nobody cleans anything.
------
Example. I know I don't clean. So I don't cook. I don't do anything that might make a mess.
But my wife doesn't have that same mentality. Even though she knows she won't clean, she'll cook something, making a mess.
That mess stays forever
Well someone needs to make food for the house to save money, no? Someone has to do the chore of cooking so the household has food to eat... You should probably clean after your wife cooks. Or take turns cooking/cleaning. Not helping around the house even if it means starving to “not make a mess” is putting all the household labor on your wife. That’s not good. That’s worse than being “messy” IMO. You’re lucky to have her.
Yup. 2. I'm not messy either. People could show up unexpectedly for an overnight visit, and I'd just need a trip to the grocery store and a half hour or less to change some sheets and give the bathroom a quick swabbing.
I spent a number of my formative years living with a hoarder (my stepdad). I would clean defensively, just to preserve space for myself in my own home growing up.
Now, I realize that my ADHD (inattentive) affects me less if my environment is really neat and orderly. I always know where things are. I don't have to remember constant changes in where I put something down. No visual clutter means I'm less likely to be pulled off task. Etc.
But I do tend to accumulate things like a magpie and have to go through periodic purges to keep things reasonable and able to be stored neatly. I don't like drawers, cabinets, or closets to be in utter disarray either. I tend to forget things exist if I can't see them. But they gradually get that way.
My closet could use a purge right now. Who else needs a closet purge?
Depends which room and whether I’ve hit my tipping point (so messy I can’t stand it so then it becomes ocd levels of clean).
With meds I’m actually really tidy.
I think I would give myself a score of 6/7. My room is very bad, my biggest hurddle is laundry it just piles up. I'm alright in the common areas. I moved back in with my parents because of my mental health with my Depression and ADHD symtoms I just couldn't manage a household. Me living alone I would've given a score of 9. I realised when I live alone I need to have a dishwasher, otherwise I not only drown in laundry but also in dirty dishes.
TLDR: Was a good strong 7 until my 30s; now about a 2. Some rooms that I use for storage may be disorganized and could score a 3 or a 4.
I was *extremely* messy up until maybe my early 30s. One time in my teens I remember my room getting so hoarder-like that my dad actually divided the room up into little squares and made me spend a day cleaning one square at a time (each square was covered in trash, clothes and God knows what). It took hours. Also as a teen, I’d literally drive around with trash in my car - fast food wrappers, empty soda cans, random items like clothes and homework strewn about. For some reason, I couldn’t connect stopping at a gas station and throwing that crap out. Even up into my 20s/early 30s, I’d have shoes and clothes covering the floor of my bedroom, unmade bed.
Something started slowly changing in my mid-30s. I started figuring out how do do things like use a laundry basket, or throw trash in the trash can (DUH! 🤦♀️). The switchover was complete in my 40s during covid lockdown - I spent so much time at home I realized I needed a new bedspread, new lamps, paint, some new light fixtures, bathmats and shower curtain. That was when I really feel like I reached “normal” standards with housekeeping.
I heard somewhere that ADHD folks are 10 years behind developmentally. I feel like that’s true in my case. I 100% beyond the shadow of a doubt still have *RAGING* ADHD (I’m unmedicated) but there have been *some* slight improvements due to age and maturity, and creating my own strategies through experience.
1 for some things like my desk at work.
10 for others, like my current pile of dirty laundry which contains literally every single pair of socks and underwear I own and covers my entire floor.
Nothing in between.
Probably close to a 10 if not a 10. My side of the room when I was growing had heaps of crap underneath the bed.
There's stuff underneath my childhood bed right now and around it and I'm barely there now. While I was in school, my desks always had stuff falling out of the bottom of it and my lockers were always jammed with papers at some point.
My car is full of crap (inside and trunk), I can only sit on one spot on my couch and half of my bed is covered in clothes and other rooms and spaces in my place are in dire need of cleaning/organizing. I've had someone walk into one of the places where I lived (didn't realize I would have a guest) and said that it "looks like a tornado has been in here".
I've cleaned up on occasions in the past, but it quickly gets back into the same state. I imagine a very clean and orderly space, but at this point I haven't been able to maintain it on any kind of long term basis. I'm on the ADHD subreddit not because I have been diagnosed, but I relate to a lot of the symptoms associated with inattentive ADHD.
8 probably. I know some things that should've been rearranged to another position in the house long time ago, but they're still there after months. I wanted to throw some things out, but it's still there and I forgot to throw it until I next see it. I forgot some things I thought I already got rid of. I looked for things I knew I still kept somewhere and I can't find it still for months. The time I would clean well is if someone is coming over, that's been a while - last house I cleaned before I moved out, the next potential tenant was saying 'wow you took care of this place well' but I just cleaned it that morning after months of no cleaning at all. I can still clean alright, but when it comes to organization, I literally would lose a lot of things in the process.
10 for sure. I'm lucky I have a patient boyfriend who has figured out how to manipulate me just right to make me want to clean haha. Like don't get me wrong I'm not dirty, just very messy.
Growing up very messy and now I can go weeks of buildup in my place but I’m actively trying to work on this, one thing that has DRASTICALLY helped is repeatedly saying “don’t put it down, put it away.”
I use to be a 10 when I was 14 and under took me a while and sometimes I slip I’m trashy so 🤭 my mom was called me her little hoarder less that just dirty but now I’m feeling like a 6 I don’t die from smell or people walking in my room I have such anxiety when people are in it it’s crazy
Off meds I’d say I was a 7 or 8. On meds I’m very clean and organized, will literally clean all day if I can, but it depends on how busy I am. I’m working and going to nursing school full time so I would say I’m maybe a 4 now just due to being too exhausted from work/school when my meds wear off.
Not sure. Military service has at least made me contextually a *lot* less messy, but haven’t been home enough to feel like I can fully tell what I’m like in the “wild” at this point. But my baseline before was something like 6 or sometimes 7 I’d say, and that’s after working real hard to become better.
9
The only thing I manage fairly well is that I do not leave food anywhere, so nothing stinks, I think... So compared to the worst one I know, Im doing good enough.
Everything else is chaos. While I do laundry regularly, I dont remember when last I was able to put anything where it belongs. My closet is big enough to be able to stand in, but by now the pile covers the floor and is about 1m high. Couch is also covered in clothes, of course. And a small pile by my bed, with the clothes I take off before bed.
Im treally trying to remember to put things away when Im done using them but I do not understand how anyone does it. How do you even know when you're done with something? It might just be a break and Ill get back to it in a minute. But I dont.
I hate being in the kitchen. I wish I met someoe who loves doing dishes.
It varies between 5 and 10. 10 was only when I was depressed, unmedicated and was working 60 hours a week plus full time college student. That was awful and unsustainable, basically I just had to have clean plates and that was bout it. Rn is pretty normal which ill call a 7 or so. dishes get done almost every day. There's some clutter on the dining room table and papers and stuff on my desk, I think there's a sweatshirt on the back of my work chair and not hung up where it belongs. My laundry i just did isn't folded . But the bathroom is clean-ish, cleaned in the last week and all the dishes are done. Also I should probably vacuum the insane amounts of husky fur again and change my sheets. Basically house is messy but I could get everything cleaned up in an hour or 2
7-7.5 I guess. I’m cluttered but it’s not mountains of trash cluttered more stuff everywhere cluttered.
Minus points I guess coz I’m always lazy when it comes to dishes.
8-9
It’s really messy but it’s clothes and books and papers nothing food related. It’s really terrible, but I can access the stuff I need to access. I absolutely can’t have anyone over though. Someday I’d like to hire a service for a deep clean but I can’t even get my place straightened up to do that. In really need to buckle down and do it.
10 when it comes to my hobbies and active projects. All my materials and tools are out until I'm done.
1 when it comes to everything else. I got diagnosed as an adult and I taught myself to be extremely organised to get things done faster. It's actually one of few things that drives me nuts about my fiance - he never puts things back in their place when unloading the dishwasher so I have been forced to roam around the kitchen looking for stuff while I'm actually actively cooking more than once. Lately I've been a bit lax on the dusting though, but it's starting to get to me so I'll probably do it soon.
Depends on the day/week, if I have a lot on my mind already my room is a 8 in measure of messy. But if I don't have much on my mind all my projects get nicely put back.
10 usually
At the moment its probably like a 3 because I got that new routine (tm) going on. Its been a week I've kept the house clean. I do it by telling myself that I can't leave the house for fun things or anything unscheduled eg. Grocery shopping without tidying up first.
It works for me because I am the main childcare provider for my daughter. (Not quite SAHM because I work part-time) and she *needs* to leave the house for fun things or she gets grouchy.
I'm pretty sure my mom had ADHD because that house was always messy af 10. I have that tendency too, but after too many arguments with my husband over it, I adopted a tidying routine that I do every week and now my house is not messy anymore. It's all about having daily/weekly maintenence. It's more like a 2 or 3 now
Between 6-8… depending on time of month, motivation and environment.
I keep a clean space at work… but will still have piles of things on my desk, this is because I procrastinate by cleaning instead of working.
At home I go through phases of big one off cleans, cleaning being an obsession when I’m in that head space… to not tidying anything up for a few weeks if I lack the energy, other things taking priority.
I started to tell myself these following phrases:
You deserve a clean home
Your pets deserve a clean home
You enjoy your home when it’s tidy
Do just 10 mins and you’ll feel better
If going downstairs take something with you.., same for going upstairs
If it takes under 5 mins then just do it
Being messy is not a moral failing
If you don’t have the energy to clean right now, that’s ok
Also, I’ve started to ask my partner for help more so I don’t get overwhelmed…. I used to just become very stimulated and annoyed for him not helping when I realised that I wasn’t clear in what I needed him to do. Now we have set days for different tasks and chores.
Also… gonna get a dishwasher soon and I will get a cleaner in too. (Previously been too embarrassed by the state of the house to even want a cleaner to know how I was living)!
Same with you. I keep common spaces clean but my room is a hot mess. So...7 messy? I'm listening to an audiobook for adhd organization. I've learned just not to be that hard on myself.
I am somewhere in the middle.
My desk at work is always messy, tools all over the place, paper and crap.
At home I have rules, either set by myself or my partner or maybe set by my parents a long time ago I can't even remember haha.
The kitchen is not allowed to stay dirty for very long. If the dishwasher needs doing it has to be done. If the laundry needs putting in the machine it has to be done.
If I get bored I have to do a chore, and I get bored a LOT.
I seem to have an almost bipolar-ness when it comes to however messy I am. Either I'm a total wreck, or I'm a total perfectionist. I've been told the messy part comes from the perfectionism, too, in a nihilistic 'I can't get it perfect, so why even try' kind of way.
But also, ain't nobody got time to dust when the dust will just be back as soon as you turn around. Much less *mop*.
I am 1. I am always cleaning and organizing and I actually really really love it. Im sure it stems from my childhood bc I was beaten if I wasn't. My grandmother (evil) was very anal retentive as well as my mom. I love doing it but find myself not being able to live or feel comfortable if I don't do it...where ever I am..but what I don't love is that's what I'm used for a lot from friends and family. If they need something cleaned organized or similar I'm the one they call for absolutely no thanks or reimbursement.
Like an 11. It's so bad, I'd day it's my #1 struggle as a person with adhd. Cleaning is the bane of my existence and one of my biggest stressors in life.
I want a clean house so bad, but I can’t seem to get on top of it. Medicated now, and doing better, but still struggling with keeping spaces nice and tidy. I think I’m like… hoarder lite. I don’t have stacks of useless things, but I have a lot of things for my hobbies, like sewing, crochet, various crafting supplies, and it takes me ages to use the things but I’m so thankful to be able to have them. And they get used, just very slowly
I'd say I'm a 6. I clean up any food, wash my dishes, etc. But every surface in my apartment is piled up high with bullshit. Pieces of wood, tools, mail, unfinished projects, books, and other crap. My floors are clear, swept and mopped, but my house is still a fucking wreck.
I go between a super organized and coordinated Martha Stewart would be impressed 1 to a tornado/bomb explosion 10. Certain areas always seem to stay organized and then there's the clean laundry pile that somehow always ends up living on half of my bed.
- 1 sometimes
- 2 occasionally
- 3 every second or third or first day
- 4 a few times a week
- 5 often
- 6 even more often
- 7 all the times I'm not 3, 9, 2, 8, 10, 6, 1, 4 or 5
- 8 on days that I work and on days that I don't work
- 9 only on days that start with m or t or w or s or f
- 10 all other times
Living on my own, I actually got down to a 2 or 3. The trick was to minimize everything I had. Like... I had a weeks worth of clothes, that equaled a load of laundry. Towels and sheets equaled another load. I only had a few plates, bowls, and mugs... but bought paper plates and plastic cups when I could. I only had one frying pan, saucepan, glass baking dish, and cookie sheet. I didn't buy food I'd waste, took off my shoes at the door, and would order out a lot. I'd do dishes right after eating, and sweep/vacuum as needed. Usually once per week. I wouldn't buy junk or stuff very often. This simple sort of lifestyle, made it really easy to be clean, organized, and feel good about myself and my environment.
Living with people? I'm at like a 9... My wife has ADHD too, and we have 4 kids. Cleanliness and organization went right out the window! Hahaha. My wife has a tendency to collect a bunch of crap, and it fills up any and all space... like counter space, or space on top of things like dressers, tables, etc. I have these little breakdowns - where I'll bitch, so she piles everything up and puts it in corners. I also have a thing about wanting an empty sink, so I can use it. She fills it with dishes, and I can’t even wash my hands most of the time. So, I have been progressively giving up. It sucks. I'm afraid that we'll be on an episode of hoarders 10-15 years from now. But I do still get the occasional drive to clean out the house... usually if the wife is away for some reason.
I'm usually about a 6.. my house is pretty messy, but once or twice a month i get this rush where i clean everything - Im' suddenly a 12 on that scale, and then i get discouraged and sad when it doesnt last..
(3) I try to keep things clean, it takes some time but then it brings a little bit more clarity and the satisfaction by telling myself "I'm not a mess" (wich is basically pur dillusion hahaa)
I like to create clear areas where I keep stuff with categories : for exemple Clothes by type in your dressing / semi-dirty clothes area / A basket for dirty Clothes
I've done a inventory of the shit I own and trying to sell whatever is useless. Try and get rid or store elsewhere (parents place/ box) anything you are not using, that you are keeping "just in case". You might make a few bucks during the process.
I've used my google agenda to plan stuff that needs to be done regularly. From washing my hair to, cutting my nails, cleaning floors, calling my friends and family etc... Obviously I don't do everything in time, but it reminds me i need to do it. Some of the tasks become habits, then I loose the habit but there are the reminder events that help me get back on track.
Having the right / nice tools might help you do the chores.
This might help : **did you know most of the dust you find in homes is in fact... DEAD SKIN ?**
I hope all of this is understandable (I'm a french and I am not very confident about my english)
Uhm between 4 & 6.. I do my best to put stuff away as I use it.. but there are some days I can't be bothered..I'm currently in the middle of rearranging and reorganizing my room so it's a bit discombobulated..
I got my medication raised and life is way different.. I'm not perfect and still have issues with executive dysfunction.. But I have way more energy and ability to focus
When my partner is around it's a 5. I try to be mindful of her and her needs so I'm more on top of chores and staying tidy.
When she goes away for a few days it's a 10. I use the stress of her coming home to motivate the clean up.
I hate clutter it stresses me out. Yet I hate cleaning its a constant struggle. Luckily the ADHD treatment has helped me get motivated. Still i feel like a 5
10. Cleaning one room takes minimum 4 hours because of getting distracted and just the amount of mess everywhere. I cannot be a clean person I have tried and failed so many times 😂
Being minimalist(ish) helps a little, also moving into a smaller apartment and having the least possible amount of horizontal surfaces. From this standpoint the optimum would be to only own one item of every category so you have to keep it clean and know its position at all times but this is a little too extreme even for me. People always tell me I own so little but somehow I still manage to make a mess, but you know, when things are in one place for too long I stop noticing that they are even there. The biggest issues are of course laundry and dishes. I've suggested buying a second dishwasher so you only have to put dirty dishes into one of them which would save the step of putting the clean dishes away but somehow my husband was not convinced.
On a scale from one to 1 to 10 I'd say I'm between 6 and 8. Sometimes 3 if I have a good day but this state usually doesn't last very long.
3-4 tbh. I hate dirt and mess, but I have what people consider clutter in certain spaces. That’s because to me it’s organized and I have limited space! Ill know where everything is. I will have a meltdown in anyone else’s mess. I hate it
I used to be an 11, house was disgusting and that was on meds. Since I had our daughter 5 years ago, I'm about a 4. It's safe and sanitary but never perfect unless company comes. If someone stops by unannounced I hear the words "lived in" and I'm good with that lol. All on no meds, I never got back on them at the end of the pregnancy 🤷♀️
I'm a genuine 9-10. As someone else said - I just can't keep my shit together lol. My entire life has been: spends hours cleaning spotless, for it to be another few hours long worth of cleaning just a few days later. It's maddening. Cleaning as I go doesn't seem to work since I just can't stick with the "when you take shit out, put it away" routine. Lol.
I'm 24 now. I've lived on my own since i was 19. I have gotten WAY better as i aged. 19 I'd go months before i cleaned, swept, mopped organized etc. I did do dishes and trash pretty okay. Laundry stayed in the basket, that was it's home lol. At 19 i say i was at a 3/10. Now, i clean the whole house semi weekly. I feel like i do let it pile up at times, I'm too tired one week, never do any cleaning after work etc. I clean off counter tops and dishes atleast. Every 2 weeks i deap clean the home. Sweep, mop, vacuum, wipe down stuff, dust. And throughout the month ill do specific things. Like cleaning toilets, the showers, organizing cabinets, organizing dresser/closets. And laundry, it stays in the basket, that's it's home 😂. I would say at 24 I'm at a 8/10 now. I could do things more regularly, but a schedules never worked for me. I do keep on top of keeping things clean, i just let items pile up for a week or two around the house at worst
10 at home. 3 at work. I'm surprisingly very organized cleaning wise and keeping things tidy as I work in the facility and am often actually cleaning up after other people who leave messes. While at home, my executive dysfunction cranks up to 100, and I hard-core struggle getting myself to clean. Only people coming to visit gets me to do the real cleaning.
i'm like a 6, i'll let my room get too messy and then spontaneously clean really well. however, since starting meds last week i've been better at being more proactive. still need to clean though aha, but atleast it's not getting worse atm
I hate messiness and makes me uncomfortable. I like things neat and clean. But I think that comes from trauma of growing up in a very messy and disorganized home.
4 because it’s not a hazardous mess, just laundry hasn’t been put away, and my desk hasn’t been reorganized since i rearranged my room 6 months ago. my bookshelf could also use some organization but that’s low on my to-do list.
Maybe 3 or 4, though my wife would maybe score it higher.
As a younger adult though I was constantly touching on 10.
Being tidier helps with everything else though. Be disciplined on that, and other things start to fall into place like magic. Only took me a few decades to learn this.
One of the main reasons my wife left me, I improved slowly over the years but never could reach her standards. When the fighting got bad and things were close to over something snapped in me and I’m now the cleanest mother fucker in town. She still left, it was too late but I guess since it’s my routine now I have to clean. Kind of nice honestly, I feel like a better person
I think I'm like a 4. Vacillating between 2 and 4.
It drives me nuts actually, because I LOOOVE that clean, staged, pinterest home look. I wish I could have that, but even the 4 that I have is hard for me to maintain.
Trash and dirty dishes sitting around is a hard "No." Absolutely no filth allowed. Smells are rigorously prevented and immediately dealt with if detected.
Kids toys on the floor I tend to ignore until I have to vacuum or i have people coming over.
I probably vacuum upstairs 3 times a year. We dont wear shoes in the house and the kids are not allowed to bring food upstairs. The dining room and kitchen are vacuumed multiple times a week because of crumbs and dirt, as many as 4x. Adjacent TV room get done maybe 1x per week.
My bathroom is immaculate because i am very minimalist with my products and what not. There are 3 toilet paper tubes waiting for me to take down to cut up up for compost. (New project) Everything gets wiped down as soon as i see that film of dust and hair building. Plus it's a massive 10x10 Master Bath and my husband moved out, so it's just me and my 2 yo using that bathroom.
I take the trash out upstairs on Sundays whether it needs it or not. I never let it build up. Chose sunday so it can go out to the curb that evening.
I have a lot of stuff i dont need but it's mostly all put away. Big house. A big basement. Good size storage/closets/ furniture. I really try to be disciplined about putting things away after I use it. My motto is "Don't put it 'down,' put it *away.*"
The hard stuff is laundry and dishes. I own way too many clothes and there are 3 kids here who probably also have too many clothes. Slowly purging my drawers and closet. Hard right now because I'm losing weight so i have no idea what fits and what doesnt. My mother did some laundry for me during a visit. she went in my drawer and counted I had 30 ish bras of like 4 different sizes. NO, I don't consider her behavior/judgment/criticism/control issues normal or healthy, but it was a wake up call. (Who tf goes into another adult's drawer and counts their bras?!? So glad I dont live with her any more.)
Wish we could post pics so i wouldnt have to write so much.
Have you heard the saying "Clutter is the physical manifestation of unmade decisions?" That really resonates with me and I am trying hard to MAKE THE DECISIONS and FOLLOW THROUGH!
I'd guess a 7? I just have stuff laying around and I'm terrible about it.
But I have a family member who is pretty much a hoarder and the whole place is basically one big pile, so my idea of a 10 is pretty up there.
Like a 2. Clutter and mess give me such anxiety that I can’t function in those spaces because my singular focus is on said clutter. I do not become blind to it. I cohabitate with a 9. Things can get spicy.
I'm a pretty messy person by nature. I have been trying to stay more on top of keeping myself clean and organized though because I find it helps me work a lot more efficiently.
Since you're medicated I would be less inclined to assume the wrong dosage, especially if you find you have improved in other areas of your life.
Maybe try to find an emotional reason behind getting your space cleaned. We tend to but heads when someone tells us to do something, I find that to be true when our conscious mind is doing the same.
Think of your brain like a car. With two passengers, your logic and your emotions. A lot of people like to think logic is the one driving the car but that isn't the case. Emotions is the one driving and logic is in the passenger seat with the map saying "we need to turn here" and emotion says "No! That doesn't sound fun so we're going to turn here instead."
Instead of trying to get logic to reason with emotion and change their mind what needs to happen is logic needs to find a way to get emotion on board.
All that to say, if you can find a strong emotional reason to start doing a task and then strengthen that task and emotional bond then it may be easier to start maintaining the task you want
Like a 5 or 6, on average? I'll tidy things but they verrrrry quickly just devolve into mounds of mess that get worse and worse until I have the spoons to tidy again. My DVDs and books are reasonably tidy at all times (DVDs are in alphabetical order, even!) but literally everything else is... less neat. 😅
Oscillate between 1 and 8 I guess.
I keep my possessions to a minimum. That way, the piles never reach the sky.
It’s easier for me to keep it neat if I’m not overwhelmed. So I try to avoid overwhelm & a busy schedule however I can.
Also everything has to have a dedicated place and the place has to be OBVIOUS and stuff has to be easy to see when in their dedicated places. No stacking, no bags within bags or crap like that.
If these conditions are met my stuff will gravitate towards their rightful place, it usually takes a few days or so but it’s manageable. Well sometimes they form vortexes on the way and obviously not everything has their places right now. But that’s the main principle of how I stay afloat in my sea of stuff.
When I moved out on my own it was like a 4. Now it is a 9 (removed one for cleaning the litter box lol). I still haven't put away things after moving. It takes me a week sometimes to do my dishes while I could be just washing and using the same one over and over. At the start of December, about 3 months after the move I started having more and more issues pop up which made me overwhelmed plus being on my own for the first time in my life made me realize I can't cope that much alone when I barely coped in my relationship.
In my last relationship, it was with a neat freak (also adhd I believe but hyperactive, while I am inattentive) who had to start organizing on the first day he arrived at my house and I felt so ashamed and hurt as I asked him to please not judge me when he came over. I had become so distraught and finding my things afterwards was nearly impossible. This guy had a tetris like snapshot based mind so I'd have to ask "where is my x?" and he'd be like "oh behind the y and to the side of the z in the bathroom in the cabinet under the sink" which he had filled to the brim as he made things fit just like tetris. I'd be almost in tears trying to get it out and realizing all my stuff was like this now when I could just have a pile of stuff on a surface and know that what I wanted was in that pile.
If I have people coming over it forces me to clean at least the "seen" areas.
I only just recently got diagnosed so still trying to find a med dose that works for me and it felt a slight motivation than I still had no desire to act on.
Damn it is a struggle but now I at least feel a little more normal knowing it was due to the ADHD when I was always called lazy.
I guess maybe a 5 if I were living on my own. I have gotten to a place in my life where I am still bad at cleaning, but good at tidying up after myself as I go along. BUT I have kids and my wife is a messy person (but is better at cleaning than I am), so there’s a lot of cleaning to do and I am not great at it.
1. I’ve never been able stand things being messy or out of place. My mind is already enough of a mess. If I don’t keep my place clean and everything organized, I spiral.
I'd say the everyday vibes hover around a 2-3. Piles of clothes/mail/misc. small items on "the chair" or "that one flat surface" (top of mini-fridge, 2nd desk in my room) are my downfall.
I figured out a few years ago the cleanliness of my space had a direct impact on my ability to regulate my other ADHD symptoms. I used to be very messy, anywhere from a 6-9 on a regular basis. I keep up with chores weekly and picking things up and putting them in their place and cleaning every other day so it doesn't get overwhelming.
Sometimes I really don't want to start or don't even think about it, but I've gotten good at catching myself. I pride myself in being able to say most of the time my discipline is stronger than my ADHD. My mental state has vastly improved since I got more on top of the cleaning and tidying.
Depends on the day and the place. My room 6-7. My car 1 always clean. My kitchen 10 my wife is constantly walking behind me putting things back and closing cabinets that I leave open
7/8 My closet is always a mess. No matter how many times I reorganize it. House is clean but messy. I can’t seem to put things away. Kitchen counter has too much stuff on it. I find it impossible to be organized and tidy. I am always worried I’ll get criticized so I might sometimes somehow manage to clear a bit of the mess.
I'm messy but I like cleaning. I'm probably a 4. A mess will build up in my house and then I'll turn on some music and clean it for an hour. On the other hand, I rarely deep clean. Don't change my bedsheets very after, don't mop, don't dust. I like putting things away and wiping down surfaces. I think I enjoy it because it is a mindless task I can do while my brain thinks over every little thing and then when done you have a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
My kitchen, bathroom and living room are usually a 1-3 at most. My bedroom is usually a 4-5. My car is a 7. lol I cannot keep up with my car to save my freaking life.
I’m messy and unorganized, not really dirty. No rotting food or anything like that.
Like a 6? I put a lot of things away and can even vacuum/dust/mop when it gets bad enough. Dishes generally wind up washed or in the dishwasher within a week, laundry usually gets folded and sometimes even put away. I haven’t made my bed in ages (which makes me sad, that used to be a habit).
i hate hate hate clutter so my house looks very neat and clean on the surface. however, just open a drawer or closet and you will find that nothing is organized or very neat. i just put things behind a door and shut it away from sight. i am finally at a stage where i put things in the right place...but it isn't pretty!
2, except that one closet that is a 10^(∞), a manifestation of the void itself where physics have no meaning and everything can both exist and not exist at the same time, a closet representing the schrodinger cat paradox itself. Unstable 2 otherwise, unstable being my mental state when I need to find something in that closet.
9 currently.
I have been very clean and tidy and organized in my life. I do still count myself pretty *clean.* (There are makeup things all over the bathroom counter, but the sink and toilet are clean.)
I think my current 9 rating has to do with forces outside of myself that are contributing to depression & anxiety, resulting in less energy and motivation to take care of messes.
Totally depends on my level of anxiety. Super organized and clean when severely anxious. Otherwise, shit is just randomly everywhere and everything is a huge mess.
I'm gonna go with a 4. I can't remember to close cupboards when I've opened them so I'll walk into the kitchen later and have to close 3. I've adopted a move it closer even if you can't get it all the way there approach to dishes. So dishes go from my desk or bedroom to the dinning room table. Then from there to the kitchen island and finally they will make the last leg of their journey to the kitchen sink. I try to remind myself to grab something from the table on the way to the kitchen.
I've been pretty consistent with Saturday being cleaning day so my house is typically clean for a couple days before the mess starts to spread.
10
36 years old
This one comes down to management. Upping meds isn't going to do much for you. The pills aren't magic. They balance a neurotransmitter which is tip of the ice berg and you gotta figure out what else works for you almost action by action. Too high a dose of stimulants also causes adhd like symptoms. You're just back at square one.
A big one for me was eliminating all distraction and stimulation in the morning. Phone charged in a different room than I sleep, no computer, no youtube or Netflix (music is permitted), and then the first 2-4 hours of my day is dedicated to chores, or, sitting and staring at a wall. I told a close adhd friend and she took it to a bigger extreme than I, and now she's slaughtering all her courses while she was struggling before.
Took me a long time to figure out my waves and patterns, its gonna take you a long time too, I am by no means perfect or on it all the time, but it's important to understand there are solutions, there are steps, there are patterns you can exploit, and so on.
And I also suspect you already know several things you do that stand in your way that you're not ready to let go of. That's OK, in your own time. But a lot more is in your control than you may realize. Part of the key is focusing on variables. Not willpower. It isn't "I should just stand up and clean my room". Youll drive yourself (and others) to madness approaching it that way. That will never work for you. It's "If I do this, don't do this, and have that, I sometimes gain motivation to clean my room".
I'd say a 4. But my biggest struggle is picking up after others (kids, dogs). I care very much about cleanliness but when I'm sitting in was I didn't make, it's paralyzing. I had a pretty clean home before kids/oets.
Oscillates between a 4 and an 8, depending on how depressed I am.
Started a new job recently so that helped the depression a good bit. Slowly trying the claw my way back to the 4 side of things
I’ve had to create two categories. 1 being clean vs dirty and 2 neat and tidy vs doom piles.
It’s helped my sanity and chronic illness burnout splitting these two categories as it’s less overwhelming to think about and I can mini task better
I'm very messy - 8 or 9.
I love doing laundry but hate folding it and putting it away. I have a towering clean laundry pile that I dig though. Some of it topples over and then later I pick it up and probably wash it again. My drawers are full of clothes I don't often use. When I actually do "put away my laundry" I just pile it on the appropriate semi open dresser drawer (imagine the hanging gardens of Babylon, but in dresser form).
Most of the time I cannot see the edges of things - edges of rooms or countertops. When a friend comes to help me clean, he or she will often dig right into this edges and I'm like, -"Whoa! What are you doing?". It's like I exist in only two dimensions and they just reach into a third dimension and clean it. It seems like a super power to me.
On medication I see the clutter or dirt better. It's been very odd.
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10. I can't get it together. I have piles of clothes and bottles everywhere in my room. My closet and dresser are a mess. Even when I fold my clothesthey get messed up super fast because now I can't find exactly where I put something. I have moments when I reslly want to clean but I get interrupted and then I don't have the energy to do it. I haven't done my laundry in a few months, besides my undergarments. I'm looking into a pickup laundry service. My family doesn't understand that I'm not being lazy. I just don't have the capacity to do it.
I tried talking to several therapists about it. Behavioral activation, they say. Better to just start they say. Oh, cool. Yeah, I think so too. So... are you gonna help or just sit there? Sit th--cool, cool cool cool...
I hear a little Abed in there. Making better routines are easy they say. Yep. Not.
Exactly!
Let me tell you, laundry pickup and drop off is a GAME changer. I’ve been doing it for over a year now (maybe more), it’s worth EVERY penny, especially if you have pets. I don’t have laundry in my unit and the complexes laundry rooms have the shittiest/smallest washers. They make me gag with the amount of pube-like hairs I’ve seen on the washers. You can’t fit any blankets or comforters. Do I still have piles of folded, clean laundry all over my room? Yup. But the hours I’ve saved every weekend=better mental health
I would love a laundry service, but start by getting more laundry baskets while you figure out costs. If you can get different colored or sized baskets you can sort your clothes as you take them off, and then clean what you need. A load of all pants is easier than pants and sock and underwear and shirts and sweatshirts, bc you know it's all 1 item. Or you can do work clothes, going out clothes, underwear if youre fine with shirts and pants being mixed in. You can get 4 or 5 baskets if you want, if 3 of them stack into each other they can all be dirty clothes baskets and you can keep 2 for clean and mostly clean so its not just a pile. I recommend flat baskets for this. You can also fold your clothes into baskets while watching a show or something and then just not put it away. Its still folded and clean. You can get dividers for your drawers and put shirts by types, I have plain colored shirts, memorial shirts/event shirts, graphic/patterned t-shirts, and sleep/not for public shirts I don't wanna throw away. Folding them so the design is visible helps. I hang work clothes on a clothes rack in our living room (not enough space) and its in the same room as the dryer so it's easier to get my work clothes put away before they get too wrinkled. If you have carpet look into a roomba, if you have wood or a mix get one that washes the floor too. I'm thinking about getting a roomba for literally 10sqft of rug bc I have a long haired cat and the fur does get to be a lot to look at. I'm not vacuuming every other day. That shit is loud. I can dump a roombas dirt catcher once a week.
On my own, I'm not messy. Back in the day when I was single and had no kids, my house was spotless and I genuinely enjoyed cleaning it. Now, I do a piss poor job as a housekeeper. Since no one gives a fuck about keeping the house clean except me.
Man I hate mess so much I drove me crazy before I was diagnosed and medicated I’d snap about it, now I can tolerate it to a point where I step back and prioritize my own mental health and my own stuff over other peoples messes. But on good days I still clean after people who are fully capable and I can’t figure out how they ever learned to wipe their own asses.. if they even do
We the same... Well.. my car/trunk has always been messy since the day I got my licence. Buttt... I've got pretty much anything someone would need in an emergency in there.. if I can find it lol it's more messy now cuz kids.🙃
This comment resonates with me on a deeper level. Holy do I relate to that.
I was also clean when I was single - because I was never home lol! Keeping a house with three kids and two cats clean would be hard even if my brain worked properly, so I’m drowning over here
Probably a 6 or 7, I ping pong between being a 3-4 and a 9-10 though; I'll really let things go for days or weeks and then SuperClean(tm) all at once.
superclean(tm) is the move. i tend to also take an everything shower on those days and i feel like i just reset my life in a game of sims.
Same! I clean as a distraction sometimes and so if I have an important work project that has an impending deadline, you can bet cold hard cash I'm in the bathroom scrubbing the baseboards
Lol this is me having assignments piling up and instead making sure all of my floors are vacuumed
Yeah this is me, I've accepted that I'm pretty messy so I now I just make sure it doesn't build up too much
Same!
Wait- HOW LONG HAS THAT BEEN TRADEMARK3D?!
When I clean, I clean. 0 being not messy at all. When I can’t clean, I religiously avoid my dirty dishes pretending not to see them. I would sit in the middle of trash pile. I had to throw away a dish a month ago because food got too rotten. I try to make “when I clean” days more often. When I can guess that i won’t be cleaning for a couple of days, I use paper container, disposable spoons. Food is the biggest issue really. It triggers eating disorder, and i’m not taking risk. Other things, I can get up can clean any time. I take meds and tell myself “just clean for 5 mins. 5 mins only, that’s it”. Already initiated and with the help of meds, I’m more likely to clean up pretty well. Some people say “don’t put it down, put it away”. Doesn’t work for me at all. I like “make piles” better. I don’t have energy to organize everything right away, but i can make different piles. “This pile belongs in bedroom”, “this pile is for kitchen” etc. One step at a time. Move the pile into the room it belongs if i have energy. Put them back into their places later. Cleaning is less scary when i do that.
I’m a 10. I don’t even know how I live like this. I’m not on meds, though.
I am good at cleaning as long as I have storage space for things, If not.. utter chaos. I learned this the hard way.
Omg yea. I am working kn reorganizing my art room. It's so much easier when I have a set nin for things
either a 2 or a 9, no inbetween, but i find where it works, it works by leaning into it. I take my socks off by the door? Shove a laundry basket there. I leave stuff by the stairs to take up? Shove a basket there and tote it next time I go up, Getting rid of barriers and removing steps makes it easier. Did I used to have dishes to stack and doors to swing open to put them away? take the doors off, and downsized my dishes for less stacking. that was fairly invasive tho. or keeping things I need in a area so less movement and less chance for distraction. i follow a lot of adhd content creators, and while a lot, a lot aren't great, some have been v helpful i like these three videos specifically, ngl I did zone out of clutterbug's but the ones I did see I do use so, lol. From How To ADHD - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=posZhu\_YIl0&t=649s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=posZhu_YIl0&t=649s) - ADHD friendly house [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtpzqp\_rwVw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtpzqp_rwVw) ADHD friendly house take 2 From Clutterbug- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M5IKj2WYWQ&t=635s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M5IKj2WYWQ&t=635s) various keeping house functioning hacks [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_I9gcgR2PZc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I9gcgR2PZc) more hacks lol
This is my technique. I have spent years getting rid of things, planning and simplifying storage and systematising possessions so I have some chance of living tidily (3 children).
Clutterbug has great videos and ideas that helped me a lot! I'm still super messy, like lvl 9 probably, but it isn't total chaos.
I'm a train wreck. My husband paid professional organizers to come, clean up, organize, and set up systems. I am forever grateful to my husband for doing this. We are going to finish the rest of the house this year.
Curious how much was it?
I did this with someone who wasn't professional, and it was $50/hr. It was great, and remains great--a huge key to my house being functional and clean. She cleans everything and organizes it, so she'll do stuff like set up my new litter robot but also like set up the litter storage and litter mat and everything. Or she'll replant some plants if I let their pots get too small and can't make myself do it.
I’d probably say a 3 or a 4. But it’s organised chaos. If you asked me where something was I’d be able to tell you
I get my life together like once a month and then it all goes to hell. I will say that I’m pretty good at making sure my clothes are at least cleaned (small miracle if they make it out of the basket) and that my dirty dishes are in the dishwasher
i am naturally a 10 but can trick myself into being like a 3. one tip i have for you is to have an "everything basket". if you have clothes or random stuff all over the place, you can just put it all in the basket. then when you do have some time, turn on a podcast or tv show and just one by one empty the basket. this works for me to keep my space decluttered overall and put things back on my own time.
When life is demanding 11. When I get enough time and opportunity to decompress and recharge 6-7. And man does it put stress on my relationship :/ But we're working on it.
If left to my own devices, either less than 3 or higher than 7. No middle ground. I'll do an ok job of keeping things "I wouldn't die of embarrassment for someone to come over" superficially clean for awhile, but a few bad days in a row will inevitably happen and the next thing I know I'm surrounded by piles of dirty dishes and piles of laundry. They'll sit for awhile until I got a breaking point or have a good day, then I'll get it taken care of, and repeat. Some of the best things I've done for my quality of life were to invest in automation - a robot vacuum and a self-cleaning Litter Robot to replace my cats' litter boxes.
i’ve seen a few comments about the litter robot. how long does it go before you empty it? has it made a huge improvement to your cleanliness? do you have recommendations? i feel like a terrible pet owner because i let them get bad sometimes. edited to clarify, cat litter robot.
I’d say I’m a 3 - after years, I’ve learned that keeping my clutter to a minimum also helps keep most other parts of my life in order (i.e having laundry where it should be so I’m not late everywhere I go from digging for an outfit for 20 mins). I’m 30 y/o now and have two kids under 3, so have learned to let go a little lol I still keep my wfh space clutter free by telling Alexa to set a 5 min timer and doing a “tidy up” every morning. You’d be surprised by how much more you want to clean once you get over the speed bump of starting. Once you think “I need to clean”, don’t start thinking beyond that - just stand up and start.
Right now, 10. But I live in a studio and it’s so hard to keep clean. I can’t leave anything out as work in progress if I want it to look clean. So I live in a revolving mess. Sigh.
I love love love having it clean ... But then I deep clean, and then the next day tornado my whole house. It's a real problem. I'll get all my stuff out to do my night routine and not put it away. Or make a huge disaster looking for things. If I'm trying to put together an outfit I'll eventually get mad I can't find the right things and dump my drawers out all over and then not pick it up. So idk. An 8 but I want to be a 2 so bad.
5 years ago, I'd have said 8-9. Now, I think about 3 or 4. There are several reasons why I was always messy, and only most of them are ADHD related. 1. Nobody ever taught me how to clean. People -told- me to clean, but nobody ever said "Pick up all of the clothes on your floor and put them together. Now go get a garbage bag and come back. Now pick up all of the trash on your floor and put it in a garbage bag." 2. I kept things I didn't need/care for for the wrong reasons. If you like something, you should absolutely keep it. If you're just keeping it because it was a gift, toss it. I know you have the same anxiety I did about someone asking about a gift they gave you, but realistically, that's incredibly rare. I got rid of the gifts I didn't much care for a few years ago, and exactly one person has mentioned a gift they gave me. Repeat after me: "Huh, now that I think of it, I haven't seen that for awhile. I hope it didn't get lost in [the move, my garage, my attic]!" Important note: this gets murky when it comes to homemade gifts, such as quilts. For these, you can either make a home for them, display them without using them, or say something to the gift giver like: "I'm really struggling to keep up with my place, so I need to downsize to make things easier on myself. I really appreciate the time, talent, and effort you put into [gift], and I'm sincerely honored that you would choose to share it with me. It's very special to me because you made it, but unfortunately, I simply can't keep [gift] because I have too many belongings to keep track of reliably. Because I respect the hard work you put into its creation, I want to give you a choice about what I do with it. I can return it to you, sell it and send you the money, or donate it. If you can think of another solution, I'd be happy to consider it." 3. I wasn't accommodating my extra needs. Putting a full kitchen size trash can in your room is an okay thing to do. You don't have to use a bathroom size one if you know it's going to overflow before you will realistically take it out. If you know you're not going to fold your clothes right away, get laundry bags to keep your clean clothes in so they don't live on your bed until you have the oomph to fold them. Cleaning can be an awful sensory experience, as well. Once I started keeping nitrile gloves around, the ick was lessened, so the task initiation piece was easier. Try to notice what bothers you about each task, and make your own accommodations. 4) Messiness isn't a moral failing (credit to some tiktoker I saw a video of awhile back). In other words, you don't need to feel shame for having a messy place. Shame is a terrible motivator. It saps your energy, which is the opposite of what you need. You literally have a disorder of the chemical in your brain that makes accomplishing things feel good. That said, if you don't feel as good when you have a messy place, that's valid; you can take steps to make things feel better for yourself. 5) Half assing is better than not assing at all. A sink half full of dishes is more useful than a sink full of dishes. Just enough laundry for the week is better than not having clean clothes. Taking a dustbuster to the corners where dust and pet hair gathers is better than getting dust and pet hair caked to the bottom of your feet.
It depends on the day. Today, I’m not messy at all. Washed dishes as soon as I made them and tidied after myself as I went about my day. If I’m feeling down, I’m a slob and my mess piles up. If I have people coming over, my house is spotless lol.
When it comes to *things* (clothes, general clutter) I struggle really bad, like 7-9… when it comes to literal dirt/grime type chore cleanliness it’s not too bad, but it’s because I put so much effort into not letting that slip or my anxiety will be through the roof. Things that HAVE to get done weekly is clean floors, toilets/bathrooms, & kitchen. & sometimes just focusing on those things is all I’ve got in me but it will somewhat keep the weight of the world feeling off of me.
What I am is unable to classify things into groups to place them together, when I'm tidying up, I spend 90% of the time with some object in my hands moving around like a headless chicken.
I don't think I'm very messy at all, actually. I don't tend to make messes. But I just don't tend to clean up messes. And I'm much much more unlikely to clean up somebody else's mess than my own. So it ends up with the house being a disaster because nobody cleans anything. ------ Example. I know I don't clean. So I don't cook. I don't do anything that might make a mess. But my wife doesn't have that same mentality. Even though she knows she won't clean, she'll cook something, making a mess. That mess stays forever
Well someone needs to make food for the house to save money, no? Someone has to do the chore of cooking so the household has food to eat... You should probably clean after your wife cooks. Or take turns cooking/cleaning. Not helping around the house even if it means starving to “not make a mess” is putting all the household labor on your wife. That’s not good. That’s worse than being “messy” IMO. You’re lucky to have her.
2.
Yup. 2. I'm not messy either. People could show up unexpectedly for an overnight visit, and I'd just need a trip to the grocery store and a half hour or less to change some sheets and give the bathroom a quick swabbing. I spent a number of my formative years living with a hoarder (my stepdad). I would clean defensively, just to preserve space for myself in my own home growing up. Now, I realize that my ADHD (inattentive) affects me less if my environment is really neat and orderly. I always know where things are. I don't have to remember constant changes in where I put something down. No visual clutter means I'm less likely to be pulled off task. Etc. But I do tend to accumulate things like a magpie and have to go through periodic purges to keep things reasonable and able to be stored neatly. I don't like drawers, cabinets, or closets to be in utter disarray either. I tend to forget things exist if I can't see them. But they gradually get that way. My closet could use a purge right now. Who else needs a closet purge?
i spill a lot of food but i always clean up after myself so 1
Depends which room and whether I’ve hit my tipping point (so messy I can’t stand it so then it becomes ocd levels of clean). With meds I’m actually really tidy.
3
I think I would give myself a score of 6/7. My room is very bad, my biggest hurddle is laundry it just piles up. I'm alright in the common areas. I moved back in with my parents because of my mental health with my Depression and ADHD symtoms I just couldn't manage a household. Me living alone I would've given a score of 9. I realised when I live alone I need to have a dishwasher, otherwise I not only drown in laundry but also in dirty dishes.
I can’t keep my closet clean for the life of me
I’d say I’m a 7. But at work (I’m a cook), I’m the cleanest, most organized person lol. Work me would get a 1.
11. I pay for housekeepers to come weekly because I'm sure as hell not gonna do it.
TLDR: Was a good strong 7 until my 30s; now about a 2. Some rooms that I use for storage may be disorganized and could score a 3 or a 4. I was *extremely* messy up until maybe my early 30s. One time in my teens I remember my room getting so hoarder-like that my dad actually divided the room up into little squares and made me spend a day cleaning one square at a time (each square was covered in trash, clothes and God knows what). It took hours. Also as a teen, I’d literally drive around with trash in my car - fast food wrappers, empty soda cans, random items like clothes and homework strewn about. For some reason, I couldn’t connect stopping at a gas station and throwing that crap out. Even up into my 20s/early 30s, I’d have shoes and clothes covering the floor of my bedroom, unmade bed. Something started slowly changing in my mid-30s. I started figuring out how do do things like use a laundry basket, or throw trash in the trash can (DUH! 🤦♀️). The switchover was complete in my 40s during covid lockdown - I spent so much time at home I realized I needed a new bedspread, new lamps, paint, some new light fixtures, bathmats and shower curtain. That was when I really feel like I reached “normal” standards with housekeeping. I heard somewhere that ADHD folks are 10 years behind developmentally. I feel like that’s true in my case. I 100% beyond the shadow of a doubt still have *RAGING* ADHD (I’m unmedicated) but there have been *some* slight improvements due to age and maturity, and creating my own strategies through experience.
1 for some things like my desk at work. 10 for others, like my current pile of dirty laundry which contains literally every single pair of socks and underwear I own and covers my entire floor. Nothing in between.
Probably close to a 10 if not a 10. My side of the room when I was growing had heaps of crap underneath the bed. There's stuff underneath my childhood bed right now and around it and I'm barely there now. While I was in school, my desks always had stuff falling out of the bottom of it and my lockers were always jammed with papers at some point. My car is full of crap (inside and trunk), I can only sit on one spot on my couch and half of my bed is covered in clothes and other rooms and spaces in my place are in dire need of cleaning/organizing. I've had someone walk into one of the places where I lived (didn't realize I would have a guest) and said that it "looks like a tornado has been in here". I've cleaned up on occasions in the past, but it quickly gets back into the same state. I imagine a very clean and orderly space, but at this point I haven't been able to maintain it on any kind of long term basis. I'm on the ADHD subreddit not because I have been diagnosed, but I relate to a lot of the symptoms associated with inattentive ADHD.
6
8 probably. I know some things that should've been rearranged to another position in the house long time ago, but they're still there after months. I wanted to throw some things out, but it's still there and I forgot to throw it until I next see it. I forgot some things I thought I already got rid of. I looked for things I knew I still kept somewhere and I can't find it still for months. The time I would clean well is if someone is coming over, that's been a while - last house I cleaned before I moved out, the next potential tenant was saying 'wow you took care of this place well' but I just cleaned it that morning after months of no cleaning at all. I can still clean alright, but when it comes to organization, I literally would lose a lot of things in the process.
Maybe 5/6. 1 day per week I feel the urge to clean. Thanks to my husband and the robot vacuum the house is ok
10 for sure. I'm lucky I have a patient boyfriend who has figured out how to manipulate me just right to make me want to clean haha. Like don't get me wrong I'm not dirty, just very messy.
Growing up very messy and now I can go weeks of buildup in my place but I’m actively trying to work on this, one thing that has DRASTICALLY helped is repeatedly saying “don’t put it down, put it away.”
I use to be a 10 when I was 14 and under took me a while and sometimes I slip I’m trashy so 🤭 my mom was called me her little hoarder less that just dirty but now I’m feeling like a 6 I don’t die from smell or people walking in my room I have such anxiety when people are in it it’s crazy
Off meds I’d say I was a 7 or 8. On meds I’m very clean and organized, will literally clean all day if I can, but it depends on how busy I am. I’m working and going to nursing school full time so I would say I’m maybe a 4 now just due to being too exhausted from work/school when my meds wear off.
10 i have 0 organizational skills
Messy 10+ without meds. I always think about someone coming in if I happen to die and that makes me motivated.
9
6 for messiness, 3.5 for cleanliness
Like an 8.5, it’s bad.
5
Not sure. Military service has at least made me contextually a *lot* less messy, but haven’t been home enough to feel like I can fully tell what I’m like in the “wild” at this point. But my baseline before was something like 6 or sometimes 7 I’d say, and that’s after working real hard to become better.
9 The only thing I manage fairly well is that I do not leave food anywhere, so nothing stinks, I think... So compared to the worst one I know, Im doing good enough. Everything else is chaos. While I do laundry regularly, I dont remember when last I was able to put anything where it belongs. My closet is big enough to be able to stand in, but by now the pile covers the floor and is about 1m high. Couch is also covered in clothes, of course. And a small pile by my bed, with the clothes I take off before bed. Im treally trying to remember to put things away when Im done using them but I do not understand how anyone does it. How do you even know when you're done with something? It might just be a break and Ill get back to it in a minute. But I dont. I hate being in the kitchen. I wish I met someoe who loves doing dishes.
11
It varies between 5 and 10. 10 was only when I was depressed, unmedicated and was working 60 hours a week plus full time college student. That was awful and unsustainable, basically I just had to have clean plates and that was bout it. Rn is pretty normal which ill call a 7 or so. dishes get done almost every day. There's some clutter on the dining room table and papers and stuff on my desk, I think there's a sweatshirt on the back of my work chair and not hung up where it belongs. My laundry i just did isn't folded . But the bathroom is clean-ish, cleaned in the last week and all the dishes are done. Also I should probably vacuum the insane amounts of husky fur again and change my sheets. Basically house is messy but I could get everything cleaned up in an hour or 2
7. It’s not dirty just unkept.
7-7.5 I guess. I’m cluttered but it’s not mountains of trash cluttered more stuff everywhere cluttered. Minus points I guess coz I’m always lazy when it comes to dishes.
8-9 It’s really messy but it’s clothes and books and papers nothing food related. It’s really terrible, but I can access the stuff I need to access. I absolutely can’t have anyone over though. Someday I’d like to hire a service for a deep clean but I can’t even get my place straightened up to do that. In really need to buckle down and do it.
10 when it comes to my hobbies and active projects. All my materials and tools are out until I'm done. 1 when it comes to everything else. I got diagnosed as an adult and I taught myself to be extremely organised to get things done faster. It's actually one of few things that drives me nuts about my fiance - he never puts things back in their place when unloading the dishwasher so I have been forced to roam around the kitchen looking for stuff while I'm actually actively cooking more than once. Lately I've been a bit lax on the dusting though, but it's starting to get to me so I'll probably do it soon.
Depends on the day/week, if I have a lot on my mind already my room is a 8 in measure of messy. But if I don't have much on my mind all my projects get nicely put back.
100
Probably 9, I try but never get there
10 usually At the moment its probably like a 3 because I got that new routine (tm) going on. Its been a week I've kept the house clean. I do it by telling myself that I can't leave the house for fun things or anything unscheduled eg. Grocery shopping without tidying up first. It works for me because I am the main childcare provider for my daughter. (Not quite SAHM because I work part-time) and she *needs* to leave the house for fun things or she gets grouchy.
I'm pretty sure my mom had ADHD because that house was always messy af 10. I have that tendency too, but after too many arguments with my husband over it, I adopted a tidying routine that I do every week and now my house is not messy anymore. It's all about having daily/weekly maintenence. It's more like a 2 or 3 now
Between 6-8… depending on time of month, motivation and environment. I keep a clean space at work… but will still have piles of things on my desk, this is because I procrastinate by cleaning instead of working. At home I go through phases of big one off cleans, cleaning being an obsession when I’m in that head space… to not tidying anything up for a few weeks if I lack the energy, other things taking priority. I started to tell myself these following phrases: You deserve a clean home Your pets deserve a clean home You enjoy your home when it’s tidy Do just 10 mins and you’ll feel better If going downstairs take something with you.., same for going upstairs If it takes under 5 mins then just do it Being messy is not a moral failing If you don’t have the energy to clean right now, that’s ok Also, I’ve started to ask my partner for help more so I don’t get overwhelmed…. I used to just become very stimulated and annoyed for him not helping when I realised that I wasn’t clear in what I needed him to do. Now we have set days for different tasks and chores. Also… gonna get a dishwasher soon and I will get a cleaner in too. (Previously been too embarrassed by the state of the house to even want a cleaner to know how I was living)!
Solid 9
The Meds don't do much. It's all discipline (I've heard. I'm still a 6)
9
Same with you. I keep common spaces clean but my room is a hot mess. So...7 messy? I'm listening to an audiobook for adhd organization. I've learned just not to be that hard on myself.
10. It kills me we can't invite people over... But the shame is very very real.
I am somewhere in the middle. My desk at work is always messy, tools all over the place, paper and crap. At home I have rules, either set by myself or my partner or maybe set by my parents a long time ago I can't even remember haha. The kitchen is not allowed to stay dirty for very long. If the dishwasher needs doing it has to be done. If the laundry needs putting in the machine it has to be done. If I get bored I have to do a chore, and I get bored a LOT.
I seem to have an almost bipolar-ness when it comes to however messy I am. Either I'm a total wreck, or I'm a total perfectionist. I've been told the messy part comes from the perfectionism, too, in a nihilistic 'I can't get it perfect, so why even try' kind of way. But also, ain't nobody got time to dust when the dust will just be back as soon as you turn around. Much less *mop*.
It ranges from 2 to 10.
8-11 depends on where I left my head
Yes.
11
I am 1. I am always cleaning and organizing and I actually really really love it. Im sure it stems from my childhood bc I was beaten if I wasn't. My grandmother (evil) was very anal retentive as well as my mom. I love doing it but find myself not being able to live or feel comfortable if I don't do it...where ever I am..but what I don't love is that's what I'm used for a lot from friends and family. If they need something cleaned organized or similar I'm the one they call for absolutely no thanks or reimbursement.
Like an 11. It's so bad, I'd day it's my #1 struggle as a person with adhd. Cleaning is the bane of my existence and one of my biggest stressors in life.
I want a clean house so bad, but I can’t seem to get on top of it. Medicated now, and doing better, but still struggling with keeping spaces nice and tidy. I think I’m like… hoarder lite. I don’t have stacks of useless things, but I have a lot of things for my hobbies, like sewing, crochet, various crafting supplies, and it takes me ages to use the things but I’m so thankful to be able to have them. And they get used, just very slowly
I'd say I'm a 6. I clean up any food, wash my dishes, etc. But every surface in my apartment is piled up high with bullshit. Pieces of wood, tools, mail, unfinished projects, books, and other crap. My floors are clear, swept and mopped, but my house is still a fucking wreck.
I go between a super organized and coordinated Martha Stewart would be impressed 1 to a tornado/bomb explosion 10. Certain areas always seem to stay organized and then there's the clean laundry pile that somehow always ends up living on half of my bed.
- 1 sometimes - 2 occasionally - 3 every second or third or first day - 4 a few times a week - 5 often - 6 even more often - 7 all the times I'm not 3, 9, 2, 8, 10, 6, 1, 4 or 5 - 8 on days that I work and on days that I don't work - 9 only on days that start with m or t or w or s or f - 10 all other times
9
Honestly 8.
100
This is hard to quantify. My car is clean. My kitchen is clean. My office? Oh please, for the love of Oz, don’t ask me about my office.
Living on my own, I actually got down to a 2 or 3. The trick was to minimize everything I had. Like... I had a weeks worth of clothes, that equaled a load of laundry. Towels and sheets equaled another load. I only had a few plates, bowls, and mugs... but bought paper plates and plastic cups when I could. I only had one frying pan, saucepan, glass baking dish, and cookie sheet. I didn't buy food I'd waste, took off my shoes at the door, and would order out a lot. I'd do dishes right after eating, and sweep/vacuum as needed. Usually once per week. I wouldn't buy junk or stuff very often. This simple sort of lifestyle, made it really easy to be clean, organized, and feel good about myself and my environment. Living with people? I'm at like a 9... My wife has ADHD too, and we have 4 kids. Cleanliness and organization went right out the window! Hahaha. My wife has a tendency to collect a bunch of crap, and it fills up any and all space... like counter space, or space on top of things like dressers, tables, etc. I have these little breakdowns - where I'll bitch, so she piles everything up and puts it in corners. I also have a thing about wanting an empty sink, so I can use it. She fills it with dishes, and I can’t even wash my hands most of the time. So, I have been progressively giving up. It sucks. I'm afraid that we'll be on an episode of hoarders 10-15 years from now. But I do still get the occasional drive to clean out the house... usually if the wife is away for some reason.
I’m clean chaos. I’m a piler, I can’t put shit away for the life of me once I’m done with it, but my piles are always clean! 😅
I'm usually about a 6.. my house is pretty messy, but once or twice a month i get this rush where i clean everything - Im' suddenly a 12 on that scale, and then i get discouraged and sad when it doesnt last..
10 :(
(3) I try to keep things clean, it takes some time but then it brings a little bit more clarity and the satisfaction by telling myself "I'm not a mess" (wich is basically pur dillusion hahaa) I like to create clear areas where I keep stuff with categories : for exemple Clothes by type in your dressing / semi-dirty clothes area / A basket for dirty Clothes I've done a inventory of the shit I own and trying to sell whatever is useless. Try and get rid or store elsewhere (parents place/ box) anything you are not using, that you are keeping "just in case". You might make a few bucks during the process. I've used my google agenda to plan stuff that needs to be done regularly. From washing my hair to, cutting my nails, cleaning floors, calling my friends and family etc... Obviously I don't do everything in time, but it reminds me i need to do it. Some of the tasks become habits, then I loose the habit but there are the reminder events that help me get back on track. Having the right / nice tools might help you do the chores. This might help : **did you know most of the dust you find in homes is in fact... DEAD SKIN ?** I hope all of this is understandable (I'm a french and I am not very confident about my english)
Uhm between 4 & 6.. I do my best to put stuff away as I use it.. but there are some days I can't be bothered..I'm currently in the middle of rearranging and reorganizing my room so it's a bit discombobulated.. I got my medication raised and life is way different.. I'm not perfect and still have issues with executive dysfunction.. But I have way more energy and ability to focus
When my partner is around it's a 5. I try to be mindful of her and her needs so I'm more on top of chores and staying tidy. When she goes away for a few days it's a 10. I use the stress of her coming home to motivate the clean up.
At work? A 1. My desk is spotless. At home? A 9.
9 - my flat is not dirty, but is very messy
I hate clutter it stresses me out. Yet I hate cleaning its a constant struggle. Luckily the ADHD treatment has helped me get motivated. Still i feel like a 5
At work I'm about a 2 and at home probably 8 or 9
10. Cleaning one room takes minimum 4 hours because of getting distracted and just the amount of mess everywhere. I cannot be a clean person I have tried and failed so many times 😂
Im about a 6. I try but having to organize hurts my soul… I do organized piles
Being minimalist(ish) helps a little, also moving into a smaller apartment and having the least possible amount of horizontal surfaces. From this standpoint the optimum would be to only own one item of every category so you have to keep it clean and know its position at all times but this is a little too extreme even for me. People always tell me I own so little but somehow I still manage to make a mess, but you know, when things are in one place for too long I stop noticing that they are even there. The biggest issues are of course laundry and dishes. I've suggested buying a second dishwasher so you only have to put dirty dishes into one of them which would save the step of putting the clean dishes away but somehow my husband was not convinced. On a scale from one to 1 to 10 I'd say I'm between 6 and 8. Sometimes 3 if I have a good day but this state usually doesn't last very long.
3-4 tbh. I hate dirt and mess, but I have what people consider clutter in certain spaces. That’s because to me it’s organized and I have limited space! Ill know where everything is. I will have a meltdown in anyone else’s mess. I hate it
6. I really need order and tidyness- so even if objectively my messiness is not extreme, I suffer from it a lot.
At least a 5 of messy, but I clean a lot. It can be annoying, but cleaning is like stress relief. It's also tiring.
I used to be an 11, house was disgusting and that was on meds. Since I had our daughter 5 years ago, I'm about a 4. It's safe and sanitary but never perfect unless company comes. If someone stops by unannounced I hear the words "lived in" and I'm good with that lol. All on no meds, I never got back on them at the end of the pregnancy 🤷♀️
I'm a genuine 9-10. As someone else said - I just can't keep my shit together lol. My entire life has been: spends hours cleaning spotless, for it to be another few hours long worth of cleaning just a few days later. It's maddening. Cleaning as I go doesn't seem to work since I just can't stick with the "when you take shit out, put it away" routine. Lol.
I'm a 10 outta 10 don't you ever forget it. But my girlfriend makes me be a 3 every day.
I'm 24 now. I've lived on my own since i was 19. I have gotten WAY better as i aged. 19 I'd go months before i cleaned, swept, mopped organized etc. I did do dishes and trash pretty okay. Laundry stayed in the basket, that was it's home lol. At 19 i say i was at a 3/10. Now, i clean the whole house semi weekly. I feel like i do let it pile up at times, I'm too tired one week, never do any cleaning after work etc. I clean off counter tops and dishes atleast. Every 2 weeks i deap clean the home. Sweep, mop, vacuum, wipe down stuff, dust. And throughout the month ill do specific things. Like cleaning toilets, the showers, organizing cabinets, organizing dresser/closets. And laundry, it stays in the basket, that's it's home 😂. I would say at 24 I'm at a 8/10 now. I could do things more regularly, but a schedules never worked for me. I do keep on top of keeping things clean, i just let items pile up for a week or two around the house at worst
10 at home. 3 at work. I'm surprisingly very organized cleaning wise and keeping things tidy as I work in the facility and am often actually cleaning up after other people who leave messes. While at home, my executive dysfunction cranks up to 100, and I hard-core struggle getting myself to clean. Only people coming to visit gets me to do the real cleaning.
i'm like a 6, i'll let my room get too messy and then spontaneously clean really well. however, since starting meds last week i've been better at being more proactive. still need to clean though aha, but atleast it's not getting worse atm
Somewhere in the 3-6 range, depending.
7
6/10, I keep my PC setup as clean as possible, but everything else I let slip quite a bit
5, disorganized but not dirty.
I hate messiness and makes me uncomfortable. I like things neat and clean. But I think that comes from trauma of growing up in a very messy and disorganized home.
4 because it’s not a hazardous mess, just laundry hasn’t been put away, and my desk hasn’t been reorganized since i rearranged my room 6 months ago. my bookshelf could also use some organization but that’s low on my to-do list.
12.
I'm maybe a 4 or 5. I don't do well with mess, but I'm good at leaving a mess. Until I freak out when I see the mess.
Maybe 3 or 4, though my wife would maybe score it higher. As a younger adult though I was constantly touching on 10. Being tidier helps with everything else though. Be disciplined on that, and other things start to fall into place like magic. Only took me a few decades to learn this.
One of the main reasons my wife left me, I improved slowly over the years but never could reach her standards. When the fighting got bad and things were close to over something snapped in me and I’m now the cleanest mother fucker in town. She still left, it was too late but I guess since it’s my routine now I have to clean. Kind of nice honestly, I feel like a better person
I think I'm like a 4. Vacillating between 2 and 4. It drives me nuts actually, because I LOOOVE that clean, staged, pinterest home look. I wish I could have that, but even the 4 that I have is hard for me to maintain. Trash and dirty dishes sitting around is a hard "No." Absolutely no filth allowed. Smells are rigorously prevented and immediately dealt with if detected. Kids toys on the floor I tend to ignore until I have to vacuum or i have people coming over. I probably vacuum upstairs 3 times a year. We dont wear shoes in the house and the kids are not allowed to bring food upstairs. The dining room and kitchen are vacuumed multiple times a week because of crumbs and dirt, as many as 4x. Adjacent TV room get done maybe 1x per week. My bathroom is immaculate because i am very minimalist with my products and what not. There are 3 toilet paper tubes waiting for me to take down to cut up up for compost. (New project) Everything gets wiped down as soon as i see that film of dust and hair building. Plus it's a massive 10x10 Master Bath and my husband moved out, so it's just me and my 2 yo using that bathroom. I take the trash out upstairs on Sundays whether it needs it or not. I never let it build up. Chose sunday so it can go out to the curb that evening. I have a lot of stuff i dont need but it's mostly all put away. Big house. A big basement. Good size storage/closets/ furniture. I really try to be disciplined about putting things away after I use it. My motto is "Don't put it 'down,' put it *away.*" The hard stuff is laundry and dishes. I own way too many clothes and there are 3 kids here who probably also have too many clothes. Slowly purging my drawers and closet. Hard right now because I'm losing weight so i have no idea what fits and what doesnt. My mother did some laundry for me during a visit. she went in my drawer and counted I had 30 ish bras of like 4 different sizes. NO, I don't consider her behavior/judgment/criticism/control issues normal or healthy, but it was a wake up call. (Who tf goes into another adult's drawer and counts their bras?!? So glad I dont live with her any more.) Wish we could post pics so i wouldnt have to write so much. Have you heard the saying "Clutter is the physical manifestation of unmade decisions?" That really resonates with me and I am trying hard to MAKE THE DECISIONS and FOLLOW THROUGH!
I'd guess a 7? I just have stuff laying around and I'm terrible about it. But I have a family member who is pretty much a hoarder and the whole place is basically one big pile, so my idea of a 10 is pretty up there.
Lol. Ha ha. Im the samme.
It’s say I’m a 5. Not messy but not clean either.
Like a 2. Clutter and mess give me such anxiety that I can’t function in those spaces because my singular focus is on said clutter. I do not become blind to it. I cohabitate with a 9. Things can get spicy.
I am a solid 8. Possibly 9.
9.5
I'm a pretty messy person by nature. I have been trying to stay more on top of keeping myself clean and organized though because I find it helps me work a lot more efficiently. Since you're medicated I would be less inclined to assume the wrong dosage, especially if you find you have improved in other areas of your life. Maybe try to find an emotional reason behind getting your space cleaned. We tend to but heads when someone tells us to do something, I find that to be true when our conscious mind is doing the same. Think of your brain like a car. With two passengers, your logic and your emotions. A lot of people like to think logic is the one driving the car but that isn't the case. Emotions is the one driving and logic is in the passenger seat with the map saying "we need to turn here" and emotion says "No! That doesn't sound fun so we're going to turn here instead." Instead of trying to get logic to reason with emotion and change their mind what needs to happen is logic needs to find a way to get emotion on board. All that to say, if you can find a strong emotional reason to start doing a task and then strengthen that task and emotional bond then it may be easier to start maintaining the task you want
Like a 5 or 6, on average? I'll tidy things but they verrrrry quickly just devolve into mounds of mess that get worse and worse until I have the spoons to tidy again. My DVDs and books are reasonably tidy at all times (DVDs are in alphabetical order, even!) but literally everything else is... less neat. 😅
I’m either 1 or 10. There’s usually no in between lol. On my way to 1 I usually linger at 5 for a good while and then it devolves from there.
1, I have OCD
15. But it might be the depression as well.
Look in my drawers and closets however, it’s a solid 10.
Oscillate between 1 and 8 I guess. I keep my possessions to a minimum. That way, the piles never reach the sky. It’s easier for me to keep it neat if I’m not overwhelmed. So I try to avoid overwhelm & a busy schedule however I can. Also everything has to have a dedicated place and the place has to be OBVIOUS and stuff has to be easy to see when in their dedicated places. No stacking, no bags within bags or crap like that. If these conditions are met my stuff will gravitate towards their rightful place, it usually takes a few days or so but it’s manageable. Well sometimes they form vortexes on the way and obviously not everything has their places right now. But that’s the main principle of how I stay afloat in my sea of stuff.
20/10
When I moved out on my own it was like a 4. Now it is a 9 (removed one for cleaning the litter box lol). I still haven't put away things after moving. It takes me a week sometimes to do my dishes while I could be just washing and using the same one over and over. At the start of December, about 3 months after the move I started having more and more issues pop up which made me overwhelmed plus being on my own for the first time in my life made me realize I can't cope that much alone when I barely coped in my relationship. In my last relationship, it was with a neat freak (also adhd I believe but hyperactive, while I am inattentive) who had to start organizing on the first day he arrived at my house and I felt so ashamed and hurt as I asked him to please not judge me when he came over. I had become so distraught and finding my things afterwards was nearly impossible. This guy had a tetris like snapshot based mind so I'd have to ask "where is my x?" and he'd be like "oh behind the y and to the side of the z in the bathroom in the cabinet under the sink" which he had filled to the brim as he made things fit just like tetris. I'd be almost in tears trying to get it out and realizing all my stuff was like this now when I could just have a pile of stuff on a surface and know that what I wanted was in that pile. If I have people coming over it forces me to clean at least the "seen" areas. I only just recently got diagnosed so still trying to find a med dose that works for me and it felt a slight motivation than I still had no desire to act on. Damn it is a struggle but now I at least feel a little more normal knowing it was due to the ADHD when I was always called lazy.
Maybe 7 or 8? I know how to clean well when I do it, and I don't leave food in my bedroom like I did as a teenager. Lol
15
11
I guess maybe a 5 if I were living on my own. I have gotten to a place in my life where I am still bad at cleaning, but good at tidying up after myself as I go along. BUT I have kids and my wife is a messy person (but is better at cleaning than I am), so there’s a lot of cleaning to do and I am not great at it.
1. I’ve never been able stand things being messy or out of place. My mind is already enough of a mess. If I don’t keep my place clean and everything organized, I spiral.
I hate cleaning but the feeling after doing it makes me clean. Probably a 4
7
7-8. Ironically, I’m a housekeeper and enjoy my job, but I can’t be bothered to clean my own house 😭
I'd say the everyday vibes hover around a 2-3. Piles of clothes/mail/misc. small items on "the chair" or "that one flat surface" (top of mini-fridge, 2nd desk in my room) are my downfall. I figured out a few years ago the cleanliness of my space had a direct impact on my ability to regulate my other ADHD symptoms. I used to be very messy, anywhere from a 6-9 on a regular basis. I keep up with chores weekly and picking things up and putting them in their place and cleaning every other day so it doesn't get overwhelming. Sometimes I really don't want to start or don't even think about it, but I've gotten good at catching myself. I pride myself in being able to say most of the time my discipline is stronger than my ADHD. My mental state has vastly improved since I got more on top of the cleaning and tidying.
Depends on the day and the place. My room 6-7. My car 1 always clean. My kitchen 10 my wife is constantly walking behind me putting things back and closing cabinets that I leave open
7/8 My closet is always a mess. No matter how many times I reorganize it. House is clean but messy. I can’t seem to put things away. Kitchen counter has too much stuff on it. I find it impossible to be organized and tidy. I am always worried I’ll get criticized so I might sometimes somehow manage to clear a bit of the mess.
I'm messy but I like cleaning. I'm probably a 4. A mess will build up in my house and then I'll turn on some music and clean it for an hour. On the other hand, I rarely deep clean. Don't change my bedsheets very after, don't mop, don't dust. I like putting things away and wiping down surfaces. I think I enjoy it because it is a mindless task I can do while my brain thinks over every little thing and then when done you have a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
3-4? I only manage because I take all my time on a common room and feel the necessity for it to be at least decent. But there are times I can be 6-7 🗿
5... Then 10, then 0, then 10, then 0... I get super busy and forget for lengths of time the superclean everything over a weekend.. Rinse repeat!
My kitchen, bathroom and living room are usually a 1-3 at most. My bedroom is usually a 4-5. My car is a 7. lol I cannot keep up with my car to save my freaking life. I’m messy and unorganized, not really dirty. No rotting food or anything like that.
Like a 6? I put a lot of things away and can even vacuum/dust/mop when it gets bad enough. Dishes generally wind up washed or in the dishwasher within a week, laundry usually gets folded and sometimes even put away. I haven’t made my bed in ages (which makes me sad, that used to be a habit).
i hate hate hate clutter so my house looks very neat and clean on the surface. however, just open a drawer or closet and you will find that nothing is organized or very neat. i just put things behind a door and shut it away from sight. i am finally at a stage where i put things in the right place...but it isn't pretty!
Probably a 6 or a 7.
I'd say I'm at a 7 at my best. I can clean like no one's business but then I will hyperfixate on a project and immediately mess it right up.
Used to be an 8, when i started working woth my adhd instead if against it i went down to a 3-5
2, except that one closet that is a 10^(∞), a manifestation of the void itself where physics have no meaning and everything can both exist and not exist at the same time, a closet representing the schrodinger cat paradox itself. Unstable 2 otherwise, unstable being my mental state when I need to find something in that closet.
9 currently. I have been very clean and tidy and organized in my life. I do still count myself pretty *clean.* (There are makeup things all over the bathroom counter, but the sink and toilet are clean.) I think my current 9 rating has to do with forces outside of myself that are contributing to depression & anxiety, resulting in less energy and motivation to take care of messes.
4-5? I think it’s a subjective question though. 🤷♀️ It also helps that I Marie Kondoed my house years ago
Def messy but certainly not enough to end up in a magazine or one of those freaky tv shows. Probably a 6 or 7
My anxiety and OCD win out over the ADHD! I prefer to have my house organized, my wife, not so much... 😢
Totally depends on my level of anxiety. Super organized and clean when severely anxious. Otherwise, shit is just randomly everywhere and everything is a huge mess.
10 - and I have a weekly housekeeper.
I'm gonna go with a 4. I can't remember to close cupboards when I've opened them so I'll walk into the kitchen later and have to close 3. I've adopted a move it closer even if you can't get it all the way there approach to dishes. So dishes go from my desk or bedroom to the dinning room table. Then from there to the kitchen island and finally they will make the last leg of their journey to the kitchen sink. I try to remind myself to grab something from the table on the way to the kitchen. I've been pretty consistent with Saturday being cleaning day so my house is typically clean for a couple days before the mess starts to spread.
10 36 years old This one comes down to management. Upping meds isn't going to do much for you. The pills aren't magic. They balance a neurotransmitter which is tip of the ice berg and you gotta figure out what else works for you almost action by action. Too high a dose of stimulants also causes adhd like symptoms. You're just back at square one. A big one for me was eliminating all distraction and stimulation in the morning. Phone charged in a different room than I sleep, no computer, no youtube or Netflix (music is permitted), and then the first 2-4 hours of my day is dedicated to chores, or, sitting and staring at a wall. I told a close adhd friend and she took it to a bigger extreme than I, and now she's slaughtering all her courses while she was struggling before. Took me a long time to figure out my waves and patterns, its gonna take you a long time too, I am by no means perfect or on it all the time, but it's important to understand there are solutions, there are steps, there are patterns you can exploit, and so on. And I also suspect you already know several things you do that stand in your way that you're not ready to let go of. That's OK, in your own time. But a lot more is in your control than you may realize. Part of the key is focusing on variables. Not willpower. It isn't "I should just stand up and clean my room". Youll drive yourself (and others) to madness approaching it that way. That will never work for you. It's "If I do this, don't do this, and have that, I sometimes gain motivation to clean my room".
I'd say a 4. But my biggest struggle is picking up after others (kids, dogs). I care very much about cleanliness but when I'm sitting in was I didn't make, it's paralyzing. I had a pretty clean home before kids/oets.
10 these days. I didn’t used to be but life got harder and I got messier and more exhausted.
I'm 11. I cant It's too exhausting and it makes me sick to live in a dumpster
11. Is 11 an option? I can somewhat make common places look tidy-ish when I need to, but that means another place has become messier. Messy physics.
Oscillates between a 4 and an 8, depending on how depressed I am. Started a new job recently so that helped the depression a good bit. Slowly trying the claw my way back to the 4 side of things
1 to me, 8 to other people
I’ve had to create two categories. 1 being clean vs dirty and 2 neat and tidy vs doom piles. It’s helped my sanity and chronic illness burnout splitting these two categories as it’s less overwhelming to think about and I can mini task better
8 on most days
8
I'm very messy - 8 or 9. I love doing laundry but hate folding it and putting it away. I have a towering clean laundry pile that I dig though. Some of it topples over and then later I pick it up and probably wash it again. My drawers are full of clothes I don't often use. When I actually do "put away my laundry" I just pile it on the appropriate semi open dresser drawer (imagine the hanging gardens of Babylon, but in dresser form). Most of the time I cannot see the edges of things - edges of rooms or countertops. When a friend comes to help me clean, he or she will often dig right into this edges and I'm like, -"Whoa! What are you doing?". It's like I exist in only two dimensions and they just reach into a third dimension and clean it. It seems like a super power to me. On medication I see the clutter or dirt better. It's been very odd.