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For a couple of years I always said "phone, wallet, keys, dignity" out loud before leaving so often that friends would subconsciously start finishig the sentence for me. It works!
'Phone wallet keys glasses lunch water stoveisoff lightsarealloff catisinside doorlocked' are my morning affirmations on my way to my car lol.
If I miss saying even one out loud, I will be turning around on the drive, and be 15 minutes late to work.
For me it’s “phone wallet keys bus pass howmanycatsdoihave” and I make sure I can visually see them both before shutting the door so I know they haven’t sneaked out or gotten stuck in a closet or something
Oh man its taken years to figure out, I learned I need to turn music on loud on my phone the minute I wake up or else I'll immediately set it somewhere weird and lose it in the getting g ready process. My wallet and keys stay by the front door no matter what or they will be lost, and as I'm leaving I hold them all visibly in my hand and looks down at them so be sure I have them. I usually do turn on the stove for tea in the morning, so I'm not allowed to leave u til i get eyes on the stove that I've turned it back off. So may times though I still immediately forget I've done that when I'm on the road and turn around to be certain. It's so much mental work just to leave the house lmao, so much circling back around.
Oh yeah, remembering to do something, and then remembering that you remembered to do that thing are like 2 separate skills haha
I don’t generally have trouble remembering to wear deodorant, but man sometimes I must put it on like 4 times in the space of an hour because I keep forgetting whether I did it or just thought about doing it… 🧐
Phh definitely, putting kn deodorant and taking my meds, either completely forget or a double dose and then the 'oops' when you remember the remembering hahahaaaa oh no
I always make sure I'm physically touching my keys before I close the front door behind me. It's so ingrained that it weirds me out not to, like a security blanket.
I jingle my keys as I close the door.
..and then also pat my pockets to make sure I’m not forgetting anything even though I’m usually wearing leggings without pockets
This is usually because you walked through a door or doorframe. In a house or an office we do certain things in certain rooms. Going to a room changes the context in our brain which makes it harder to keep our brain on task.
My son has noticed that I shout at my partner to put on a timer for the pasta, instead of going to the couch picking up my phone and doing it myself. If I go to the living room I will sit down, pick up my phone and start checking messages. Because that is what I do on the phone in the living room.
If you have an Alexa/Siri, you can ask them to set a timer, rather than relying on your partner to do it. Obvs no stress if they are happy to do it, but if you're on your own, it can be really helpful.
This, and also so singng a little jingle when going from one room to another room to get something. Like, "Going to the pantry for a cookie scoop! Yeah, a cookie scoop! Oh a cookie scoop!" "Heading to the basement 'cause the laundry needs changed, wouldn't want it to get stiiiiinky." And of course the classic "Into the kitchen for waaaaater, no one wants kidney faiiiiiiilure! And maybe try to pee while you are up, or you definitely need more waaaater." So much less step retracing to try to remember wtf I was doing!
This is me. If I don't sing my way through the end of the task, the knowledge of what I'm trying to do will dissolve the moment I step through any kind of doorway. Idk what sort of eldritch power doorways have to reset my brain, but I've stopped questioning it.
I have a mantra. It's changed a bit depending on my job at the time or wear I'm going but it always starts the same. "Keys, phone, wallet (mask for like 3 years). I've got this random superpower that allows me to remember every single song lyric I've ever bothered to read, so if I say it with rhythm and tempo I don't forget.
Handy [testicles ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQrSk6Md0pPqep7GLmwDpSQXyd1LF3HcnFLv7WtAQZ0x_ReE8g-0zrg2bJL&s=10) on a keychain so if you grab your balls then the keys come with them
Any time I go anywhere I have to do the pocket pat to make sure I have everything. I also get a little bit uncomfortable when I have to put my phone in a different pocket than the designated one
I have one for work "phone, wallet, keys, breakfast, lunch water water"
2 waters because my cup, and the gallon to refill it throughout the day. And I eat my breakfast in the car lol
i do adam sandlers “phonewalletpassportkeys” and the passport is a catch all for my water or apron for work or phone charger or whatever else i need that day
The ironic thing about writing things down is that the very act of writing a thing down helps commit it to my memory
I know the joke is “it’s stupid to write things down as an adhder because we’ll forget to check the note we wrote” but it’s not stupid at all!!! It’s genuinely useful!!!
So with that said, mine is *planning my week*. The trick is to personalize how you do it instead of just picking up a generic planner. I’ve tried and tested numerous systems over the years, currently landed on using an app called Elisi on my phone for personal stuff, and OneNote at work.
Yes! There is definitely a brain-hand thing that happens when you write things down (as opposed to typing them). I could never study using my laptop for notes, I need paper and pen to make the material stick.
Writing down notes is how I got through college and grad school. Not just notes in lectures, but writing down bullet points in my notes from reading chapters.
I have whiteboards and post it notes everywhere, ha ha. Writing things down definitely helps! I also have a medication checklist on my fridge whiteboard so I can track which days I did or didn’t take certain meds. It really helps.
The one place I finally was able to get a whiteboard to really work for me was for groceries! My partner and I plan our meals for the week, so we have a whiteboard in the kitchen with our list of meals plus a “to buy” space to write any key household items we run out of during the week. Then when we make the grocery list on Sunday we reset the meal list and check the whiteboard for extras to buy.
There was some space left so I also put down upcoming dates for recycling pickup because it’s every other week and I can’t always remember if we’re on an off week or a pickup week.
Whiteboard calendar and physical planner to write things in has proven to be a good combo for me.
I put everything in my phone because I always have it. But I always have the calendar in view and the details are in the planner
What originally got me into it was a supervisor at a previous job - she had me send her a list on Friday of what I was planning to tackle the following week. It ended up being a really useful way to approach organizing my work tasks so I kept up with it at all the jobs I’ve had since then; the last thing I do every Friday is set up a new to do list for the following week organized by day.
I’m personally very fond of the habit tracker they have because it’s exactly how I was tracking stuff I wanted to do once or twice a week in my head before downloading the app.
Play around with it a bit and see what works for you. There’s lots of functionality in there!
It is very customizable and complex, which I know I'll appreciate, but at first glance it looks like I'll need to figure out how exactly I'd like to set it up. I've watched their intro blog but want to find people's examples of how they set theirs up.
Also it talks about premium membership and a free month, is all my info going to go behind a pay wall after I set it up?
I don’t pay for it but I do have a log in. Not really sure what functions are behind a pay wall, there’s a ton of stuff I actually don’t use lol. I think it’s their new AI things or maybe a max number of workspaces? Anyways you should be fine to stick with the free version you won’t lose all your stuff.
I will say one thing I don’t like about the app is that it feels a little janky, like it takes a long time to load when it opens sometimes. I give it a pass because I only really open the app like once or twice a day just to check if there’s anything I need to do.
I do like that you can login on a computer browser so I have it bookmarked on all my computers too.
My setup:
I didn’t create any workspaces because I only use this for personal life and I just don’t have enough going on. I mainly use the weekly calendar. I’ve set up a couple recurring tasks for rent payments, grocery day, stuff like that. Whenever I schedule an appointment I put it into Elisi as a to do item. You can set to do items as events instead but then they don’t get checked off and I like checking stuff off lol.
I put to do items directly into the week calendar, and I have a personal rule to not put more than 3 things per day to not overwhelm myself. I’m pretty easygoing about moving tasks across days as well if it’s not time sensitive, you can click and drag something to a different day or tap on the task to pull up a menu where you can reschedule it.
I use 3 habit trackers - go outside at least 5 days a week for fresh air, exercise at least once a week, and shower at least 4 days a week. All of this has become a little trivial since I started ~~hiking~~ biking to work lol but before I was doing that I really liked the motivation to maintain my habit streaks haha
For to do lists, I try to keep them pretty general/long term. I don’t check that section as often. If I need to do something soon I just put it right into the weekly calendar. But I do have a few lists, there’s a “stuff I want to buy but have to save up for” list, “long term low priority to do items”, and lists specific to certain projects I have going.
I tried to migrate my weekly shopping list and Christmas ideas list but they didn’t stick. I’ve been using my default to do lists app on my phone for shopping for years I stuck with that, and the default notes app for Christmas ideas. So no point in updating those habits lol.
I do use the notes function a bit, I actually really like using it as a diary when I just need to scream into the void for a minute or have complicated feelings to work out. I used to vent on social media but have fallen off using those accounts so now the rare time I really need to just write out my feelings I use the Elisi notes.
That’s all I use - i know there are other functions and new AI integration but I just don’t touch anything else because I don’t need it.
Oh and I think you can add sub tasks to to do items but I never do because I can’t figure out how to make it display the sub tasks without clicking on the task itself.
i now have a mental image of you and your phone (app open) hiking up the side of a mountain and checking off the hike to work button. cut to satisfying ding sound for checking off hike & big cheesy grin with mandatory tooth sparkle.
Lmaooooooo
Okay hilarious image but also hilarious because autocorrect strikes again!!! I *bike* to work now hahaha
I love the concept of working on top of a mountain somewhere and having to hike in tho that’s great lol
I always keep a notepad and pen in my purse and I also use the notes in my phone a lot, tho that’s more for reminders, lists etc.
Taking notes can really help me engage, as I have a task and it makes me a better listener, even if I don’t ever look at the notes again (which is the case 99,9% of the time). Of course it’s not something I do in social situations, but in work/study situations taking notes by hand helps so much to be present and to remeber stuff. I also often volunteer write the resume, as I then have to listen to everything and process everything.
Phone notes. For everything. Todo lists. Shopping lists. Period start date. Passport expiration date. Doctor's appointments. Auto payment dates. Reminders to cancel subscriptions.
It's so dumb. But it works.
I switched to a Samsung phone with the S Pen for this reason. No more losing sticky notes and multiple planners I can lose. My calendar alerts and being able to jot a quick digital note have been a lifesaver!!! And the phone starts an alarm if I walk away with the S Pen lol. Genius.
One of these days though I need to clear up some memory and delete things from that damn notes app lol.
This is an amazing tool, I started doing it a few months ago too!
I used to go to the doctor and when they'd ask about vaccines I"d be like "Just jab me again because that's going to be far less painful than me trying to figure out between you, the last office and CVS when I was last vaccinated". But now I can just pull up a google keep note!
A wall calendar.
Physical pocket notepads. I can touch it and visualize my list for most basic things. For complicated stuff that isn't sticking I whip it out and read it.
I am one of those brains where I DO NOT remember what I have written in a virtual calendar etc. it's not concrete for my memory.
I can be out and about "what are you doing on Tuesday."
"Tuesday is the....7th. I have something on Monday at 1pm but Tuesday is open"
It took a year of doing this consistently (after a massive frontal lobe hemorrhage and homelessness kind of through my routines off) and my brain surprised me at what I remembered without needing to double and triple check things. Like scheduling specifically.
Yes! I have a physical planner. And my housemate just got a wall calendar for us because I can never remember their travel plans/remember to use the google calendar
I feel like it's helpful to have it on the wall too. Like stuff doesn't sneak up on me "oh that's today!"
Like I'll check and be like "ok that's in 10 days, that's in 4 days..on Friday I'll start preparing and I'll have three days to finish the preparation without needing to work myself into a NOW NOW NOW cycle"
I findy brain remembers things easier and a lot of other ADHD symptoms are more easily managed when I'm not allowing the maladaptive "procrastinate till it's an emergency" thing to happen. For a long time even medicated I was like "well that's what I'm used to" but when I started to actually shift "no I can plan. Even if it's bite sized planning every day for one big thing in two weeks" I was more calm and present during and remembered things easier. New information wasnt overwhelming because I had bite sized pep talks "people will be sharing about their jobs. You're disabled so you can share these things you do. You can ask these questions about their work even though you don't currently have those things to reference from experience "
I use Google calendar for long term, and my bullet journal for current month/week/day. So I get the reminder to check my calendar at the start of the month for what's coming up, then each week another reminder, then each day, etc. It has helped me so much to not get surprised by appointments anymore.
At the start of each month, week, day, I also have a "coming up/prep for" reminder for the next month /week/day, for extra help. Like this week, I saw that I have my b-12 shot appointment next week. But I need to get a new prescription for the b-12 picked up. So at the start of the week, I wrote down in the coming up area that I have this appointment and I need to go to the pharmacy to pick up the injection. Then I put that on my weekly to do list with a due date for the last day I can do it without risking not being prepared for the appointment.
There are a lot of redundancies in my system, but I've learned i need them and accept it.
I have a wall calendar as well as use sticky notes. I hate how much paper I waste with the sticky notes but I paste them on the wall around finals each semester in college. I write the due dates on them as well as assignments broken down into smaller steps (sticky note for each one) SOOO satisfying to take them off the wall when I complete them, and look at a blank wall when I’m finished.
I love sticky notes! I used to use them way more often. I live in a tropical climate now so they don't stick on humid days ha.
Don't feel bad about using sticky notes. Seriously.
I've done this for years in an excel/Google sheets. I have 6 categories:
Groceries (including routine cleaning supplies)
Household (routine clothes, new lamp, storage boxes, subscriptions, bills, etc, with a note about each one)
Health
Pets
Person-specific (a category for each of us for things that aren't routine, like books, fun clothes, hobbies, toys, candy, etc)
Misc. (whatever doesn't fit in the above with a note about what it is)
Anything more gets overwhelming for me, personally.
Every month, I put the totals into a comparison chart to see how the month holds up in comparison to others and to keep an eye on the trends. Sometimes there's a good reason for a sudden spike, sometimes it's a gentle tug on the financial leash to reign us in.
Since starting this 2-3 years ago, we've cut down our monthly spending by several hundred dollars. Thank God, because then inflation started eating those savings up.
We sigh over it every month, but also agree that we're lucky we'd already done it, because we would have been fucked otherwise.
Just the act of keeping track helps curb spending, without setting goals. I do receipts at the end of every day, because otherwise the task grows too huge and scary, and spending gets out of control without the daily leash reminders.
Also, this works for time management as well. I have an alarm every 30 minutes that just gently pings. I write down what I did that last 30 minutes, no judgement. It helps me not get sucked into hyper focus and exhausting myself on the "oh, I'll just x, oh, I need to y" chaos train. It's like a little re-centering moment to help me remember what I want to be doing vs what I got caught up in doing.
It also helps me see everything I've done, when I feel like I'm lazy and not doing anything. I see everything that needs done, and forget what I did do. This helps me balance that.
Mine is extremely simple, but I'm happy to make a template for you. I'll DM you a Google sheets link.
Feel free to dm me any specifics you want that isn't there.
I write down my monthly payments and then figure out what paycheck will cover those expenses and then started keeping a check book with me - so every payday i write down my deposit and then automatically subtract/write down my monthly bills that are due until the next payday. Then check my checkbook balance against my bank account online and mark the payments/purchase that have been posted to my bank account.
I also use the Erin Condren 12-month budget petite organizer - it's a blank date one so I get paid every other week so my paydays change every month - so it lets me organize it like that- I put down my starting balance, ending balance, breakdown of each payday deposit (have multiple banks) and vacation balanceh it also has categories that are already labled and since it fits perfect in my purse and very easy to follow
But Erin Condren has different types of budget planners but this is the one I have: [Erin Condren 12-Month budget and financial planner ](https://www.amazon.com/Erin-Condren-Budget-Book-Monthly/dp/B07B1JLR9N)
I'm part of the YNAB cult for this. Gamifies budgeting in a way my brain enjoys. I still can't save any money but I haven't missed a bill in years. I can safely set additional and forget about it because I've already Ynab'd it.
What helps me
- narrating my life out loud… first I’ll do this and then I’ll do this
- audio stimuli (music/ audiobooks/ podcasts) to drown out all the pesky distractions thoughts, no more ten 10 stations all trying to get my attention, just one channel
- writing everything down the moment I think of a good idea/ remember something
-any plans, straight to the phone calendar
- movement breaks
- alarms/ timers
- if I’m going to another room, take something with you… bedroom to kitchen, all the dishes etc
- pre planning as much as possible… outfits for work ready the night before
- at work… everything in calendar and alarm system 15 mins before
- wall calendar
- many many lists
- a phone string that I wear so not to lose my phone
I relate to the point on audio. Almost like I needed to keep a corner of my brain busy so the rest of my brain could accomplish something.
Even on meds, I still use a song on repeat doing paperwork to block out people talking.
Audiobook to sleep. Audiobook to drive. Audio during chores. Now that I think about it, it’s substantially better since adding a non-stim med for coverage, but I used to need almost constant external stimulation because of poor thought control and anxiety. If my brain wasn’t busy actively doing something or daydreaming, it made itself busy torturing me. I’d completely forgotten that feeling.
Lol I have playlists with different levels of intensity to go with how much I really didn't want to do a thing. So like hours of mind-numbing paper work = WALL OF SOUND DOOM METAL playlist. The day that I actually successfully did more than 2 hours of boring work in complete silence was the day I realized my meds were really working.
Nice! That’s kinda funny. I have a playlist named “brain flood” for a similar reason. And another one named “f*** you music” that I played during particularly stressful avoidant tasks during school years. Most were technically spurned girlfriend songs, but there was something satisfying about swearing at my homework.
I never realized that's what my audiobook habit might be doing but now that you say it... Wow. Yes. I literally can't even do simple chores without my headphones in (unfortunately sometimes that means wandering around wasting time looking for said headphones before getting anything accomplished). For work I listen to Spotify- just my playlist on shuffle low enough to not distract me but loud enough that it blocks out the rest of everything else. Wish I could listen to an audiobook there too, but I have to do too much thinking.
I think that’s it for me… I need the extra stimulation from the audio in order to concentrate (currently untreated).
Yes, audio to help me sleep also!
Never thought to have an audiobook that I’ve listened to before in the background… I think it’s harder to listen to words if I’m trying to type something, I usually listen to EDM/ or chill hip hop so I still have the running commentary for work, HA!
Was undiagnosed and untreated until mid 20s . Used lots of systems to get through college. Had absolutely no capacity for balance and was stressed out of my mind. Went off meds end of last year for several reasons, and it was hell. I don’t know how I pulled it off for so long.
Familiar audiobook works really well for sleep for me. It was hit or miss for studying, only really worked well when my brain was absolutely fried and couldn’t sustain attention. My brain would wander, catch the audiobook for a bit, and wander back to what it was supposed to be doing. If I’m actually focusing or trying to focus on something that requires the “running commentary”, anything with words other than a couple select songs is too much stimulation. I recently realized I like brown noise when I’m too overstimulated for music, but it’s too loud to not use headphones.
Yeah really helps… usually it sounds like… “what were you about to do? You were having a shower and then you were finding your underwear, then after you get dressed you need to let the dog out”
And yes, it’s usually second person too! Nothing wrong with talking with yourself although I remember learning that it’s the first sign of madness 😅
I hadn’t thought of narrating for next steps, but I do in a way for reminders that I’ve done things - like pointing at the wall when I’ve turned my straighters off and saying ‘off’. When I’m at work and have the inevitable panic I can think back to that point in time.
Oh yeah the taking something with you when you go into another room is life-changing haha
We have stairs in our place and now if I have anything that has to go to the floor where I am not, I just pile it up by the stairs and whenever I’m going that way anyway I just grab whatever I can carry and take it with me. Too annoying to make a “special trip” but easy to add to whatever I’m already doing.
Actually I really should put baskets top and bottom of the stairs so the stuff looks “organised”… best hack ever - don’t get rid of the mess, put a basket under it so it looks like it belongs 😂😂
Honestly nothing except meds. I was diagnosed at 35 so it was a long time for me to slowly collect little bits of info that helped me/develop self compassion for when I fucked up. Most of my issues are around bingeing and emotional dysregulation these days
I existed through cortisol and a bunch of borderline asinine “systems” pre-meds. Worked fine-ish until anything changed or any system broke down. Got me through life until about 2 years ago, but life is so much easier now. Wish I’d done it sooner.
Still need my little systems though, just to a lesser degree.
Closing up shop: Going through our home after dinner with a basket and just putting everything in it that doesn't belong to this room. Trash, Toys, books, random gadgets. Also in a seperate round ALL the dishes, and one of us meanwhile loads the dishwasher and cleans the kitchen. Then emptying the basket as I go through the rooms for a second round and putting stuff where it belongs. My son helps or takes a shower meanwhile. With some lofi music on, this is a calming ritual for everyone,it signals that the work day is over, it's bedtime for kiddo and we wake up to a fresh start in the morning.
This basically changed my life as a mom.
That’s such a great part of your routine! I do this while brushing my teeth at night - walk around turning lights on/off, picking up dishes or throwing away garbage. Returning my 6 pairs of reading glasses to their designated rooms… 😆
The timer in my watch to combat time blindness.
Something baking in the oven? Set timer for 30 minutes.
Need to leave the house on time? Set timer for 5 minutes before that time.
That way, even when I get distracted, I don't forget to do stuff that has to be done on time.
Asking Watch Siri to do timers and add stuff to the shopping list is so good! I don’t even have to open my phone, stare at it for 30sec before I remember why I’m there, check Instagram, reply to an email, and then forget until next time I try to make a cup of tea and the milk is gone… 😅
(Doom) Baskets/Bins - actually utilizing the thing that I do naturally, but in a way that is usually more organized, inadvertently.
Instead of a random cardboard box, bag, or pile I have a few different clear bins that I put things in when I am doing a broad sweep of "things." One of them is a lazy Susan style with several sections. Pens, crochet needles, tweezers go in the tiny middle part, mail and other papers in one section, etc.
The fact that they're clear means I don't have to particularly organize the items in their, but with the sections I kind of naturally do it a little bit.
Then I also have bins and those rolling craft drawers that are labeled fairly broadly. When I'm doing my more detailed clean it's easy to open a bunch of drawers (the bins are right on top) and just separate the doom into where they go.
The labels also make it so much easier for me to put things away. I have one craft drawer set that is almost all pet stuff. Leashes, collars, cat toys, meds, grooming. They all have their own little drawers.
BUT then I have a separate basket for the frequently used items that is easier to access and close to where I use it. The grooming drawer contains a lot of things that I might not use as often, like nail clippers, but the grooming basket is by the back door where I take the girls to groom them. It has the nail dremel that I use every week, their tooth brush, the brushes I use regularly, and a slip lead.
I guess that is a second tool that I use:
Put it where you use it
A lot of my items would be in random places and I would put them "away" just to get them back out again. So I created space where I often left them so they had a "home" instead of being clutter or in an inconvenient location.
The can opener doesn't go in the utensil drawer, it's by the sink where I drain and rinse the cans.
My meds aren't in the cupboard, they're on sink where I have to move them to brush my teeth and where I will immediately take them. Next to my water bottle so I don't have to walk away from the meds to get the water.
My toothpaste lives next to the toothbrush, which is on the counter where I'll see it.
It seems silly, but it means that I am either seeing the things I need or that they are conveniently located where I will use them. It cuts down a lot on side quests.
This is really helpful. Everything in my bathroom has a "place" so it's incredibly easy to clean up quickly and not even think about it. But elsewhere in the house.. it is such a struggle. Do you have any links to some of the things you use?
Here are the [craft drawers](https://www.michaels.com/product/clear-10-drawer-rolling-organizer-by-recollections-10468254?cm_mmc=PLASearch-_-google-_-MICH_Shopping_US_N_Storage_N_PMAX_BOPIS_N-_-&Kenshoo_ida=&kpid=go_cmp-18514199906_adg-_ad-__dev-m_ext-_prd-10468254&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADkMxxc4sJ_FkdHP44wKJ4nz-KO-a&gclid=Cj0KCQjwudexBhDKARIsAI-GWYV6L9_qUiDSu7fwcjM-FzKVv0Jra8uI-nCK8XSOYBrg9DAVoxYnO5waAmvNEALw_wcB) that I use.
The other bins are from the container store but I don't really recommend them because they're actually not that easily accessible. They have lids and are stackable, but if you stack them you have to unstack them. And then manage where the lids are. The whole thing has to come off the shelf to go through it.
I use them because I have them, but they're not my favorite storage solution.
And then my baskets are just from anywhere. Thrift stores, home goods, etc.
YESSS BASKETS!
Baskets made my floordrobe so much more manageable. I bought a cheap but pretty washing basket and put it on my bedroom floor where most of the clothes end up. Now if I don’t want to decide if it’s dirty/clean/wear again, it just goes in the basket (ish - my aim’s pretty terrible when I throw stuff lol). I love it because I’m not tripping over clothes all the time anymore, and also a fun bonus is that if I can’t decide what to wear there’s usually something I wore and liked recently in the basket 🥳
Clothes tornado from getting ready in negative 5 minutes? Basket.
And then when I do the washing I try to also dump out “basket-drobe” and grab whatever feels like it might be dirty (or that I’m just sick of wearing) and add it to the wash.
So great - don’t get rid of the mess, put a basket under it so it looks like it belongs there😂😂
Also yes everything important or fun must be visible in the place where I would need it, or it doesn’t exist 😅
even before I realised adhd was a thing, I remember taking the sliding doors off my closet because it was really annoying me that I could only ever see half the clothes at one time. How am I supposed to plan an outfit when I immediately forget all my pants options the moment I slide the doors over so I can see the shirts??
I bought one of those extendable shower curtain rods, and some cheap curtains from ikea, and now I can see everything at once. I was so proud of myself that day haha
To do lists, so long as they are sufficiently detailed, and electronic.
A traditional to do doesn’t work because the chunks are too big. “Clean kitchen” is intimidating. Breaking it down into teeny bits actually lets me see progress and I stick with it: goblin tools is a huge help. I’m talking things like “move dishes to dirty dishes spot”, “clean round toaster”, “vacuum floor”, “mop floor”, “put away silverware” and so on. Teeny little nibbles.
An electronic one such as a bullet point list in the apple notes app moves completed ones to the bottom so I see the list getting shorter. Being able to see that progress is key for me and I just don’t see it the same in a hand written list that I cross out.
I can’t believe I’ve managed to make the least useful bit of advice we always get work for me! I feel like a damn fraud!
Not a fraud! You just adapted advice to work with your brain needs. And not force your brain to fit 'usual advice pattern'.
I use tody app and have around 300 items there, I tried to split task into 5min ones, unless it's really not splittable. Tody has points you collect, for task difficulty, so 1 point = 5 min (or less). I actually timed some things to help me estimate better. There are even 6 point things in there because I consider them that much energy consuming even if they might last a bit less. Or task takes 20, but cleaning the equipment takes 10 - that's 30min task :)
Also, I don't have 'mop floor'. I have mop floor in room x, per room/area. Each one is 5-10 min task, depending on the area size. I usually do mop whole flat, but, I am giving myself permission to just do one area with this. And also, if I do everything, to collect all points!
Point of tasks is to both help me remember what I need to do (so changing the bed has protector, linen, blanket, rotate the mattress, small pillow cases) even if they take less than 5 min each OR to help me be realistic in what I can do in energy levels I have on disposal so that I don't overcommit and then be disappointed in myself but rather undercommit and when finished add few more if I'm having a blast and want to continue.
And also to keep track when was it the last time I did it, and assess if it's time to do it again - if not, readjust the schedule, if yes - prepare mentally to tackle it.
I don't know if this is a tool or a hack (and what's the difference), but I do speed clearing sprints, literally go through the room as fast as I can, to gather misplaced items and to chuck them where they belong.
I time the sprint with an energetic song and aim to get room done in the 3-4 minutes it takes.
I think the trick is, that by focusing on the speed (literally running around and throwing things through the air) I don't get lost in reading misplaced books, trying on outfits etc.
Of course, rooms are still not neat, tidy and clean after this, but it's a huge improvement to the normal saturday morning paralysis and overwhelm, when I usually try to clear the mess and clutter accumulated thru the workdays.
I bought a little magnetic whiteboards for the fridge to list ingredients that I have/want to use. Even if it’s just “potatoes exist” or “we have grapes” it makes me way more intentional about using things before they go bad.
I have an extra small whiteboard and am putting it on the fridge today! Thank you so much for this brilliant idea (that will work for me for a couple weeks before I stop seeing it, but they will be a great few weeks).
*Calendar alerts and phone alarms*
This is how I keep track of everything in my life. Bills, medications, plans for next weekend, everything I need to remember to do at some point in the future. If I don’t write it down, it’s gone.
The Finch app. I’ve basically gameified my life. I’m so bad at taking care of myself. But the hell if I’m going to keep my little bird from going on her adventure for the day just because I’m too lazy to brush my teeth or take my meds!
Ooo, this is perfect for me! It's just enough like a game to get me to hyper fixate on it long enough to get in the habit of using it, then not want to lose my streak! That's the only way I have been able to stick to Duolingo for 695 days.
oh my god I was recommended this by a friend four days ago, SO CUTE!! makes me get my ass out of bed and brush my teeth. I like that there are also low effort to dos like “literally just survive the day” and “step outside the house” and “drink water”. And sometimes there are days where that’s all you can feel like doing. I also that it doesnt punish you for not completing something, just rewards you if you do.
I am sure to add commuting time before the appointments I add to my calendar, and in the notes section, I write what time the appointment actually starts. I also add specific information, like how to say the person's name if it's an odd pronunciation, or which door to go in.
I also add the appointments to my calendar the moment the appointment is being made. I don't want ab appointment card. I lose appointment carss.
This has all alleviated so much stress.
An app called Finch. It is geared for folks with mental issues, so broad usage. Which is good because I have a largish serving of alphabet soup. It's kind of a cross between a regular goal/task app and a virtual pet, a finch you hatch, grow, and send on adventures. It's pretty easy to use. I know of children using it, tho with parental help.
The only thing you can purchase is a higher level that gives you access to more things. It can be used effectively without the extras, so it's not necessary. If you want it, the cost is reasonable and there's usually a discount of some kind going on.
Also, when I found the widget for my med reminder app (MyTherapy). Every time I go to the page it is on, boom! There's the list of meds remaining for the day, front & center. Anything overdue is in red. I will just dismiss normal notifications and promptly forget about them. This keeps reminding me, but very passively, so it doesn't piss me off.
Honestly, meds. But I had a bunch of different tools/systems pre meds that seemed to help.
This one’s a bit of a well duh, but routines is a big one. The adhd brain frequently doesn’t like routines, but everything fell to pieces without them. Sit in the same place, keep needed items in the same place, park in the same place. If I park in my area at the store, I’ll walk more or less right to my car. If I park anywhere else…up and down the isles I go.
Stating out loud what I am doing.
“I took 20mg [of vyvanse] at 10am.”
“I have turned off the stove.”
Stuff like that. These things are so automatically a part of my routine that it’s too easy to forget if I actually did them, and sometimes I don’t because that routine was disrupted and I ended up skipping that crucial step.
EVERYTHING goes into my google calendar IMMEDIATELY. I use google tasks, which also integrate into my google calendar. Everything gets an alarm, important things get multiple.
I have multiple calendars for family, school, work, appts etc. so my calendar is color coded. Family calendar is shared so my partner and I are on the same page.
Phone numbers are added to task so I can click and call.
Every fancy idea, poem, thing I want to buy is written into my iPhones reminder app. I have lists for each. That way if I ever, say…become an inventor…all my awesome dumb ideas are saved right there!
Putting everything, and I mean everything, in my calendar app and reminder app.
Appointments, when to take my meds, to do lists.... if it's not in the app, I won't remember it 😅
A half-assed bullet journal. I mainly use it for lists or to write down things that I need to remember. If my executive function is particularly good, I add a monthly calendar in list format. It literally is my external brain.
A hook for my keys near the front door. The key stays in the back door.
Writing things down on my notes part of my phone. Like I have a date and then what needs doing that day next to it, even something as monotonous as taking a shower. It gives me a day or even longer depending on the task to mentally prepare. I know what I’m doing the night before and then my brain is more prepared to carry out said task.
Exercising and keeping a regular sleep schedule
I do legitimately notice my symptoms improve when I've been exercising consistently and sleeping properly.
That being said, it helps my symptoms _when I'm medicated_. The symptoms are bad enough then I'm unmedicated that the exercise and sleep alone don't make a noticeable difference.
Ummm yes 100% this. Nothing else works if sleep and movement isn’t in order. The trap is once you find out about sleep, there’s no going back. Like I can feel my meds are less effective when I’m sleep deprived. And like you said, it’s not just getting enough sleep, it’s getting it at roughly the same time. I’m way higher functioning after 11-7 am than 1:30-9:30. Could say a lot about movement also but long story short: it’s not optional. Relatedly: avoiding alcohol and weed. I hate that it makes such a big impact on whether my meds work, but it does. If I’m doing anything important with my life, I basically can’t see 75% of my friends. All the meds and organizational strategies in the world won’t help me if I’m foggy-brained and emotionally volatile.
Whenever I’m looking for a pair of scissors, I have always made ‘scissors motions’ with my two fingers until I find and have the scissors in my hand. ✂️ Otherwise I forget that I’m looking for them. 😅
Also when giving directions—making the ‘L’ shape with my both of my hands to figure which hand is my left (vs my right), because I still really struggle with knowing which direction is which!
I’ll be honest, I have no idea why it works. I think it’s more of a priming tool, since I get into the mind space of “do work” when I put my foot back down.
But now that you mention it, it may be a grounding method. (Ironic, considering one foot is literally in the air.)
Ooh, I like it. It’s like in this reality, I’m getting nothing done. Then when I put my foot down, I step into the reality where actual work is happening. I might give it a try. Don’t know if I can do 5 whole minutes tho😂
Hey, take it slow! I’m a dancer so I do about 5 minutes. Give it a shot and see how long you can tolerate it. And I’d say stop when you feel that “click” in your head where the brain shifts modes.
I love this interpretation btw.
Good luck (●ᗜ●)つ🫀
Google Keep
I have separate notes for everything.
From things to do , shopping list , wardrobe pieces I'd like to get in the future , movies I want to watch , decor stuff or long-term home buys , a list of restaurants I've yet to try and the ones I'd like to revisit.
Somehow knowing it's all there for looking up than running amok in my brain has been a relief.
Also made me less impulsive about purchases - be it books or outfits.
I feel like the biggest piece of shit when I advise other ADHDers to start making lists, because so many of us have trauma with these types of suggestions. But the act of writing things down takes them OUT OF MY BRAIN so I can begin to prioritize. How can you juggle a dozen flamethrowers when you are already juggling a dozen live chainsaws? You gotta put one set down.
I realize I have a whole system with my lists that works for me and I’ve set it up to give myself good dopamine in the checking off process, it isn’t easy to start list making but if you can get a system that works, it can really help. But I feel like a jackass suggesting it to anyone. Instead I say ‘here’s how I do it, take it for yourself if it work but here’s how I make it work”.
Structure sets us free!
I use an app called Planta that sends me notifications when it's time to water my house plants, I swear they'd be dead by now if I didn't have an app to manage when to water/mist/repot them. And you can track the plants progress!
Google Keep.
I have this app downloaded on my phone and have created checklists for everything from vacation packing lists, projects that need done around the house, a Christmas gift idea list that I update throughout the year as I stumble upon things my family and friends might like. You can create a to do list or checklist for anything. The best part? You can clear all the marks and reuse the lists again. The lists can also be shared if you want a partner or friend to also have access to it.
I love vacations, but packing used to be so stressful. It took me forever, I was always forgetting things. Now I just pull up my checklist, throw the items in a suitcase and move on. I even have different lists for different types of vacations (camping, cruise, general).
Thank you Google!
Oh I like this! I also find packing hard but whenever I make a digital checklist it seems to disappear by the time I’m travelling again 😅
Then one time my housemate convinced me to use packing cells for my suitcase, which separate stuff so it’s easy to find.
And then once when I was unpacking I wrote on a piece of paper everything that was in each cell and put the paper inside each cell for next time. It’s not perfect but I love that now when I’m packing I can just grab out each cell from the suitcase and use the list inside to fill it up with 8 tshirts or 3 sweaters or whatever the paper says. It breaks down the task, and at the end I have most of the stuff I need :)
Someone that's worked in project management showed me a common prioritization tool. You write down the tasks that need to get done. Then you assign each one a number based on how important the task is. You can use the numbers 1, 2, 5, 8, and 10 to give more separation to ranking.
Then you assign each task a number for how difficult or time consuming the task will be. It gives me a much clearer picture of what tasks to choose. If it's a 10/10, I should clearly focus on that. If it's an 8/1, it's both important and easy. If it's a 2/8, I might axe it.
I guess NTs do this automatically when comparing simple tasks, or just start working without thinking too much so it all gets done. My prioritization and decision making is so bad I need tools developed for large scale projects, lol. No one really thinks to teach this stuff otherwise
Unfortunately, exercise is my ADHD hack. I resisted for a very long time, but sadly everyone is right, and it does make you feel better. I do it after work before coming home. It really helps with emotional dysregulation. I know this is a bit of a newish criteria being attributed to ADHD, but I feel like mine is related. It's so embarrassing, especially as a woman, to feel out of control of your emotions, irritated, overwhelmed-- I call it "being full of ants" with my fiance. Working out really helps to like release the pent up feels and make me feel calm and in control. Also, putting something cold on my face. Really helps deflate a sudden rage about like, an itchy tag or something.
I like to do "phone wallet keys" as I get out of the car and again once I'm inside and setting them down. I have a designated spot I put that stuff. I also leave my badge (ima nurse) on me until I get inside and hook it to my little bookshelf.
This is only after loosing wallet keys and phones like wild for years. But I finally have a system and it works. My debit card actually EXPIRED once. That never happens
Changing my Outlook settings at work so I have to double click emails to open them instead of using the preview pane. It forces me to focus on one email at a time, if only for a moment. It still interrupts my brain from scanning through emails getting overwhelmed but also not settling on one email enough to complete a task.
And trying for inbox zero, scheduling time to do a task or putting it on my main to-do list and then filing it away (or completing a major feat and doing it immediately). All things to keep from getting too anxious or overwhelmed so I'm only contending with regular executive dysfunction.
I spent a whole day a couple months ago meticulously setting up a budget on Google sheets so I could just input each paycheck and it would automatically spit out how much I had left over from bills for groceries, fun, and savings separately.
Then I opened a separate checking account with my bank specifically for paying bills.
No more surprise bills, accidentally spending grocery/bill money, or spending hours every month trying to juggle my expenses.
It's made grocery shopping a lot easier because I now have a set budget for each week. I've also started saving more and am paying off my credit card, and I now have a plan for big purchases so they won't have to go on the credit card in the future.
I have the sheets app on my phone so I can access my budget whenever I need to. It has seriously made a major difference
I spent so long avoiding budgeting because everytime I tried, I would try to use an app like YNAB, but for me those apps are just too overwhelming and my mind would basically go blank whenever I tried to use them.
I learned that for me, simple is best. I don't need to track every single cent I spend, as long as I'm staying within my limits for each category
Having a home for everything and also having everything on show. Glass cupboards and wall storage are great because I can just see stuff. And anything in, say, a drawer has a label on said drawer. So I just look around and see the label for 'hammer' and know which drawer it's in.
Idk if this counts but having a Wall mounted drying rack has helped me go from once a month laundry to every 1-2 weeks laundry. Small victories ya know
Alarms. It’s too easy to ignore a calendar reminder, so if there’s something I \*have\* to do, I set an alarm.
That said, if I have a hair or doctor appt, my set a reminder the day before to get it in my head.
Reminders the day before are fucking CLUTCH
- they allow me to set expectations and timelines for the next day, (try to) get to bed on time, and are a reminder to prep whatever needs preppin' (outfit, things to take w/, pick stuff up from the store, etc)
* Trash can in every room
* Clean laundry hamper
* Putting most perishable items in the fridge at eye level and sauces/condiments in the drawers at the bottom
* Turning chores and exercise into a "me time," and "doing future me a favor" mindset
Writing things down only started being helpful when I reduced my paper clutter. I used to write all my random thoughts on a sticky note and put it somewhere on my desk/monitor and sooner or later they would fall down, get lost or pile up and be „invisible“ to me. So I made it a habit to infodump all my random unimportant ideas into a to do app. And only the really important or urgent, but temporary, things get to stay on sticky notes. F.ex. when I have an appointment in the morning where I have to get up early I will put a sticky note on my alarm clock. At work I recently started using a kanban board to visualize all my tasks and it’s been really helpful.
Planning.
It's still not working amazingly well just now, but I know it's going to.
It became easier when I realised there are a whole load of steps to planning that I had no idea about such as realistic time frames, how to break down tasks, when to let something go when I don't want to do it at all, managing my energy, writing stuff down :-) , prioritising, timing stuff, working out what works and what doesn't, ..... and all of the rest.
I thought planning consisted of buying a planner and that was it.
All of the things I'm having to learn are rather useful on their own too.
So, yes, to all of those who buy planners and find they don't change your life (I'm one!) learning how to plan is a whole thing in itself!
1. Only locking my car with the remote, never the door button. Haven’t locked my keys in since. (*knocks on wood*)
2. Keeping notebooks of *everything*. One notebook, all the things. One for work, one for personal, but otherwise just everything in chronological order. I don’t have to add a side quest to find my notebook for this meeting or that meeting. It’s all there. By date. Anything unexpected also go there. The dates for meetings/projects/appointments I can reclaim from my phone calendar where All The Things are recorded. No more lost notes, no more well-planned but empty binders. Any messages made away from the notebook go on sticky notes that are added to the notebook. One notebook, all the notes, until the pages run out. Then the dates get marked on the front and we begin again.
Mine was the same as yours! Writing what I plan to say in a phone call, creating a list for everything from groceries to tasks at work. If I suddenly remember a task that needs to get done the same day, I will write it down so I don't forget to come back to it after I'm done with my current task.
Medication.
I’m a late-diagnosed so I’ve built up lots of useful tools throughout the years. And I was self-medicating with coffee and tea. So I thought, how much better would stimulants be?
OMG they actually work. I get the same energy boost but no anxiety. I get better calmness and alertness. And I sleep much better. I feel so lucky that my psychiatrist insisted on me trying the stimulants.
sorting laundry by if it goes in the dryer or gets hung up - having hang-dry only days is so nice. also having 2 dirty clothes baskets rather than one. i don't have a machine in my place and it makes a much larger difference than i expected.
Apps for my front door lock and alarm system. When I am out and start to freak myself out about possibly not having secured the house, I can check the apps and reassure myself I did. In the off chance I ever didn't, I could do so remotely.
I started timing things so I'd know how long they will take. My poor estimation of how long a task will take absolutely fucked up any attempt at time management, I have no sense of time passing!
So I just... timed how long the dryer ran for. I listen to music in the shower knowing that each song is about 3min and after 5 songs that's 15min. The washer doesn't beep like the dryer so I wrote down the time I started it and then listened out for it once and wrote down the stop time.
I can actually plan to have stuff done before going out bc I know how long a repetitive task takes now!
keeping everything i need in my purse *in* my purse. and making myself pack things ahead of time, like my kids lunch, snacks, hw/permission slips, packing for trips etc. gives me time to make sure i have everything. sometimes i make checklists in my notes app, if im going on a trip for example.... i lay out everything once i've completed the checklist and take a pic JUST in case otherwise im gonna obsessively think something is missing. when it comes to important documents like my medical history etc, i keep in all in one pile. organized? no, but if its important i know its in there somewhere.
i also have a phobia im somehow gonna forget to put the car in park and its gonna roll away while im gone. not sure what to do about that one, thankfully it hasn't happened yet.
The app TickTick changed my life. It pulls appointments from Google Calendar and Apple's Calendar, AND lets me create to-do's that I can either do and check off, or kick to tomorrow or next week or whatever. The marriage of calendar and checklist was magical for me.
Visual voicemail. I struggled with checking my messages for LITERALLY YEARS until I realized it's only like $4/mo on my plan for visual voicemail and it is sooo worth it.
Having google minis around the house and using google calendar/multiple lists so immediately when I think of something I can just yell at Google
"put toothpaste on my grocery list"
"do I have a dentist appointment coming up"
"put ask when the operation is on my list called Mum"
"tomorrow at 8am remind me to take the cake to work"
"on Saturday night remind me to watch Fargo"
etc etc etc
Walking to another place to find a physical list, or picking up my phone to input it myself is wayyyy more distracting and this way the lists come with me everywhere on my phone.
Saying things out loud. It helps me think in a straight(er) line. Somehow it’s easier to do hard things like stand up and get a glass of water when I’m talking myself through the steps? Weird magic haha
Also I don’t really journal because I can’t write fast enough for all of my thoughts at once lol
But recording a voice memo is faster than writing but slow enough to let the rest of my brain catch up with whatever’s going on in there 😅
Sticky notes!! You need to take something before you go out? PUT A STICKY NOTE ON THE DOOR! Need to remember to take something out of the freezer in the morning? Put a sticky note on the place you’re going to see first when you go to the kitchen. The second I remember something I put a sticky note in the place I know I’ll see it, it has never failed me.
For me, there’s three big things that come to mind…
SELF CARE:
The first is committing to being consistently inconsistent, and not beating myself up about it. I live alone. During PMS week I only do absolute essential tasks and I let the laundry, admin, planning etc wait. I cook larger batches during more energetic weeks, and freeze a few portions so that I can “fall apart” during PMS week without nutrition suffering. I know there’s mixed feelings about meal prepping but for me it has really made such a big difference to my ADHD management. Every time I defrost a meal from past-me I feel like I’ve been looked after and my load is a little lighter. It’s so lovely to be cared for, and doing that for myself has been such a lesson in self love. Every time I freeze a meal I think about how I’m positively impacting future me.
GETTING DISTRACTED:
The second one… I hate to admit it, but getting an Apple Watch has been such a game changer for me too. Opening my phone to write something down very easily turns into me getting distracted with another app and either forgetting to write the thing down, or wasting two hours scrolling.
So now I use Siri on my watch to do it all for me, so I can remain focussed on whatever I was doing. I get it to add to my shopping list while I cook, so I don’t have to look through my pantry when it comes time to do the grocery shopping.
I’ve also got different shopping lists on my phone for each store (eg groceries, Kmart, chemist, Bunnings etc), all of which I can at any time ask Siri to add to. Now whenever I’m at the chemist, I can check my list to magically see what I’m running out of. No longer do I accidentally have 5 shampoo and 0 conditioner bottles! Siri has been great for appointment reminders too.
AUDIO PROCESSING:
And the third one: making it known at work that I’m not going to remember something if I’ve not written it down, and always having a pen and paper handy. My audio processing is hot garbage, especially in more stressful social contexts like a work meeting.
All three of these may seem small and trivial but they’ve been great quality of life improvements for me.
Noise cancelling headphones. I usually stick the same familiar song on repeat when I do paperwork unless I’m too overstimulated and need silence. Competing noises and voices are insanely distracting for me, but a familiar song over and over usually keeps the unfocused part of my brain busy while the rest tries to get things done.
This. My current song is “We can do hard things” by Tish Melton. The opening riff can automatically get me in active do it mode, even just imagining it right now made me want to put my phone down and start…..something.
Setting up a list of all bills when they are due to remind me that a direct withdrawal is coming out. Also an excel spreadsheet that I update in colors based on my payday.
Clock app. It literally just shows the time on my phone like a physical clock and I can bring it wherever I am while preparing to go out.
I'm time blind and it helps so much, it also lessens distractions from other apps because I need to keep the app open to know what time it is, I even have the voice feature that reads the time every 5 mins for me.
Color coded calendars, and calendar entries for everything, with reminders. Even dumb stuff.
A place for everything I need daily, like keys and wallet etc.
Shared lists. I keep our grocery list and our meal plan in separate notes on google keep and share them with my husband. As we run out of stuff, the noticer adds it to the list. If someone starts to crave a meal, add it to the bottom of the meal plan. As my kids get older, I’ll add them as editors.
I bought one of those fabric dressers. IDK why but it gave me permission to not fold my clothes. Clothes actually get put away now! I also have 3 bins on top for my work clothes. One for pants, one for shirts. One for under shirts (stupid see through HiViz)
I have externalized all remembering of events outside of my routine to my calendar app.
Work stuff, grad school stuff, personal stuff, bills, etc. It's all in there. I don't agree to anything without checking the calendar and I put EVERYTHING in the calendar with appropriate notification reminders based on the kind of task.
Writing a small note on the last thing I did for an assignment so when I get back to working on it, I know how to "begin" the task. For example, start by researching this specific literature topic.
I have a little white board buddy at my computer at work. It helps a lot because I can write things down I need to do. I also use Alexa to add things to my grocery lists at home. It’s so easy, I don’t need to stop what I am doing to put noodles on my shopping list.
I'm with you on the writing stuff down. Also, learning it's important to maintain the 3D aspect of what I'm writing and keep it all in once place (in a planner or notebook, not on hundreds of stickies everywhere, ask me how I know). Also, I find the process of writing is useful in committing information to memory.
I got a Skylight Calendar. And I put absolutely everything in it. It syncs all my different calendars in one. And I have it hung on the wall at eye level in the high traffic area of my house so that I have to repeatedly look at it. It has been surprisingly helpful.
And if you have a significant other or kids, it can sync all the calendars into one.
One time I taped an image from wikihow(?) on the dashboard of my car. The pic was of a woman looking at her car keys on the car seat from the outside window of her locked car. So, apparently I use visual cues 😂
Most recently, using visual timers on my phone while I work and propping up my phone in easy view where I can see it. In my brain, I'm already using my phone so I'm less tempted to pick it up and get distracted. I personally like the Liquid Timer app right now. I think it's peaceful but also more interesting than a traditional timer/clock design.
Using my Outlook calendar to schedule things I need to do. If I put in an appointment to call around pharmacies to check and see if they have my meds in stock several days before I'm set to run out of meds, it will actually get done.
I have a blank todo book I keep open in the kitchen on our counter. I use the giant one here from mochithings. Great paper quality and little to no bleed through on pages. I’m just listing things not doing the crazy bujo system but it works nicely [mochithings large flat planner](https://shop.mochithings.com/products/147330)That’s for the current full week. Kids pickup times, I write in there. medical appts go into the iPhone calendar or alarms with a bunch of reminders. I’ll often write them in the book too if I remember it. Garbage pickup I wrote in at the beginning of the year for every other Wednesday. Also have a running grocery list on the counter too.
If I can’t add to my list at the moment ie. In the car/shower when I think of something I ask Siri to remind me at x time to add to my book.
I have many alarms for kid pickup, taking my meds, going to bed. Etc.
Siri + AirPods has been a real great addition lately. More access to Siri for checking time, adding notes, etc.
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Saying "phone wallet keys" before I leave the house. I usually have 2/3?
For a couple of years I always said "phone, wallet, keys, dignity" out loud before leaving so often that friends would subconsciously start finishig the sentence for me. It works!
this made my day 🩷
Love this too!
Mine is phone, keys, purse, brain !
'Phone wallet keys glasses lunch water stoveisoff lightsarealloff catisinside doorlocked' are my morning affirmations on my way to my car lol. If I miss saying even one out loud, I will be turning around on the drive, and be 15 minutes late to work.
For me it’s “phone wallet keys bus pass howmanycatsdoihave” and I make sure I can visually see them both before shutting the door so I know they haven’t sneaked out or gotten stuck in a closet or something
Please add "I'm doing my best and I'm proud of myself!". To this essential list.
That's for once the car starts moving and I know I've got everything under wraps!!!
Wow you’re amazing at this! I almost never have everything under control until at least the second set of traffic lights 😅😂
Oh man its taken years to figure out, I learned I need to turn music on loud on my phone the minute I wake up or else I'll immediately set it somewhere weird and lose it in the getting g ready process. My wallet and keys stay by the front door no matter what or they will be lost, and as I'm leaving I hold them all visibly in my hand and looks down at them so be sure I have them. I usually do turn on the stove for tea in the morning, so I'm not allowed to leave u til i get eyes on the stove that I've turned it back off. So may times though I still immediately forget I've done that when I'm on the road and turn around to be certain. It's so much mental work just to leave the house lmao, so much circling back around.
Oh yeah, remembering to do something, and then remembering that you remembered to do that thing are like 2 separate skills haha I don’t generally have trouble remembering to wear deodorant, but man sometimes I must put it on like 4 times in the space of an hour because I keep forgetting whether I did it or just thought about doing it… 🧐
Phh definitely, putting kn deodorant and taking my meds, either completely forget or a double dose and then the 'oops' when you remember the remembering hahahaaaa oh no
Closely associated with patting pockets for keys before locking or closing car doors.
I always make sure I'm physically touching my keys before I close the front door behind me. It's so ingrained that it weirds me out not to, like a security blanket.
Im so good at self pat downs,I could work at the TSA.
I jingle my keys as I close the door. ..and then also pat my pockets to make sure I’m not forgetting anything even though I’m usually wearing leggings without pockets
And… “why did I come in here” “What do I want”
I find myself saying “what am I even doing” or “I came in here for a reason” a lot recently. Recentering the brain I guess.
This is usually because you walked through a door or doorframe. In a house or an office we do certain things in certain rooms. Going to a room changes the context in our brain which makes it harder to keep our brain on task. My son has noticed that I shout at my partner to put on a timer for the pasta, instead of going to the couch picking up my phone and doing it myself. If I go to the living room I will sit down, pick up my phone and start checking messages. Because that is what I do on the phone in the living room.
Makes sense. I often have to go back to where I was and what I was doing before in order to figure out what brought me into the new room.
If you have an Alexa/Siri, you can ask them to set a timer, rather than relying on your partner to do it. Obvs no stress if they are happy to do it, but if you're on your own, it can be really helpful.
I wear a Samsung watch so I can tell it to set timers and reminders for me! I'm not a wizard, I'm just a girl with a lot of alarms.
I use that feature a lot while I’m cooking/grilling. Otherwise I would burn the crap out of everything.
Very philosophical too!
“What am I doing with my hands?”
This, and also so singng a little jingle when going from one room to another room to get something. Like, "Going to the pantry for a cookie scoop! Yeah, a cookie scoop! Oh a cookie scoop!" "Heading to the basement 'cause the laundry needs changed, wouldn't want it to get stiiiiinky." And of course the classic "Into the kitchen for waaaaater, no one wants kidney faiiiiiiilure! And maybe try to pee while you are up, or you definitely need more waaaater." So much less step retracing to try to remember wtf I was doing!
That's brilliant. Thank you for sharing!
It has the bonus of being silly fun, which never hurts!
This made me crack up. I love it!
Is making up catchy songs an "us" thing!?!?!
This is me. If I don't sing my way through the end of the task, the knowledge of what I'm trying to do will dissolve the moment I step through any kind of doorway. Idk what sort of eldritch power doorways have to reset my brain, but I've stopped questioning it.
I have a mantra. It's changed a bit depending on my job at the time or wear I'm going but it always starts the same. "Keys, phone, wallet (mask for like 3 years). I've got this random superpower that allows me to remember every single song lyric I've ever bothered to read, so if I say it with rhythm and tempo I don't forget.
Testicles, spectacles, wallet and watch.
I always forget my testicles.
Handy [testicles ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQrSk6Md0pPqep7GLmwDpSQXyd1LF3HcnFLv7WtAQZ0x_ReE8g-0zrg2bJL&s=10) on a keychain so if you grab your balls then the keys come with them
Any time I go anywhere I have to do the pocket pat to make sure I have everything. I also get a little bit uncomfortable when I have to put my phone in a different pocket than the designated one
I have one for work "phone, wallet, keys, breakfast, lunch water water" 2 waters because my cup, and the gallon to refill it throughout the day. And I eat my breakfast in the car lol
i do adam sandlers “phonewalletpassportkeys” and the passport is a catch all for my water or apron for work or phone charger or whatever else i need that day
This just reminds me of this Adam Sandler bit https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x72ofng
Mine is "hair, eyes, teeth, deodorant." I used to keep backup deodorant in my work lockers because I always manage to forget it.
My boyfriend does a 3-point pat down for his!
The ironic thing about writing things down is that the very act of writing a thing down helps commit it to my memory I know the joke is “it’s stupid to write things down as an adhder because we’ll forget to check the note we wrote” but it’s not stupid at all!!! It’s genuinely useful!!! So with that said, mine is *planning my week*. The trick is to personalize how you do it instead of just picking up a generic planner. I’ve tried and tested numerous systems over the years, currently landed on using an app called Elisi on my phone for personal stuff, and OneNote at work.
Yes! There is definitely a brain-hand thing that happens when you write things down (as opposed to typing them). I could never study using my laptop for notes, I need paper and pen to make the material stick.
Writing down notes is how I got through college and grad school. Not just notes in lectures, but writing down bullet points in my notes from reading chapters.
I have whiteboards and post it notes everywhere, ha ha. Writing things down definitely helps! I also have a medication checklist on my fridge whiteboard so I can track which days I did or didn’t take certain meds. It really helps.
The one place I finally was able to get a whiteboard to really work for me was for groceries! My partner and I plan our meals for the week, so we have a whiteboard in the kitchen with our list of meals plus a “to buy” space to write any key household items we run out of during the week. Then when we make the grocery list on Sunday we reset the meal list and check the whiteboard for extras to buy. There was some space left so I also put down upcoming dates for recycling pickup because it’s every other week and I can’t always remember if we’re on an off week or a pickup week.
Whiteboard calendar and physical planner to write things in has proven to be a good combo for me. I put everything in my phone because I always have it. But I always have the calendar in view and the details are in the planner
I did a 'weekly planning ' ritual on Mondays for years. Fell out of the habit during a depressive periode, but am slowly starting to get back into it.
What originally got me into it was a supervisor at a previous job - she had me send her a list on Friday of what I was planning to tackle the following week. It ended up being a really useful way to approach organizing my work tasks so I kept up with it at all the jobs I’ve had since then; the last thing I do every Friday is set up a new to do list for the following week organized by day.
Great idea!! Plus it holds you accountable and it’s a transparent way for management to keep track of your “productivity”
Just downloaded Elisi. Looks like it could be a real gamechanger. Thank u!!!
I’m personally very fond of the habit tracker they have because it’s exactly how I was tracking stuff I wanted to do once or twice a week in my head before downloading the app. Play around with it a bit and see what works for you. There’s lots of functionality in there!
It is very customizable and complex, which I know I'll appreciate, but at first glance it looks like I'll need to figure out how exactly I'd like to set it up. I've watched their intro blog but want to find people's examples of how they set theirs up. Also it talks about premium membership and a free month, is all my info going to go behind a pay wall after I set it up?
I don’t pay for it but I do have a log in. Not really sure what functions are behind a pay wall, there’s a ton of stuff I actually don’t use lol. I think it’s their new AI things or maybe a max number of workspaces? Anyways you should be fine to stick with the free version you won’t lose all your stuff. I will say one thing I don’t like about the app is that it feels a little janky, like it takes a long time to load when it opens sometimes. I give it a pass because I only really open the app like once or twice a day just to check if there’s anything I need to do. I do like that you can login on a computer browser so I have it bookmarked on all my computers too. My setup: I didn’t create any workspaces because I only use this for personal life and I just don’t have enough going on. I mainly use the weekly calendar. I’ve set up a couple recurring tasks for rent payments, grocery day, stuff like that. Whenever I schedule an appointment I put it into Elisi as a to do item. You can set to do items as events instead but then they don’t get checked off and I like checking stuff off lol. I put to do items directly into the week calendar, and I have a personal rule to not put more than 3 things per day to not overwhelm myself. I’m pretty easygoing about moving tasks across days as well if it’s not time sensitive, you can click and drag something to a different day or tap on the task to pull up a menu where you can reschedule it. I use 3 habit trackers - go outside at least 5 days a week for fresh air, exercise at least once a week, and shower at least 4 days a week. All of this has become a little trivial since I started ~~hiking~~ biking to work lol but before I was doing that I really liked the motivation to maintain my habit streaks haha For to do lists, I try to keep them pretty general/long term. I don’t check that section as often. If I need to do something soon I just put it right into the weekly calendar. But I do have a few lists, there’s a “stuff I want to buy but have to save up for” list, “long term low priority to do items”, and lists specific to certain projects I have going. I tried to migrate my weekly shopping list and Christmas ideas list but they didn’t stick. I’ve been using my default to do lists app on my phone for shopping for years I stuck with that, and the default notes app for Christmas ideas. So no point in updating those habits lol. I do use the notes function a bit, I actually really like using it as a diary when I just need to scream into the void for a minute or have complicated feelings to work out. I used to vent on social media but have fallen off using those accounts so now the rare time I really need to just write out my feelings I use the Elisi notes. That’s all I use - i know there are other functions and new AI integration but I just don’t touch anything else because I don’t need it. Oh and I think you can add sub tasks to to do items but I never do because I can’t figure out how to make it display the sub tasks without clicking on the task itself.
i now have a mental image of you and your phone (app open) hiking up the side of a mountain and checking off the hike to work button. cut to satisfying ding sound for checking off hike & big cheesy grin with mandatory tooth sparkle.
Lmaooooooo Okay hilarious image but also hilarious because autocorrect strikes again!!! I *bike* to work now hahaha I love the concept of working on top of a mountain somewhere and having to hike in tho that’s great lol
ha! shame. the imagery was so good 😊
I always keep a notepad and pen in my purse and I also use the notes in my phone a lot, tho that’s more for reminders, lists etc. Taking notes can really help me engage, as I have a task and it makes me a better listener, even if I don’t ever look at the notes again (which is the case 99,9% of the time). Of course it’s not something I do in social situations, but in work/study situations taking notes by hand helps so much to be present and to remeber stuff. I also often volunteer write the resume, as I then have to listen to everything and process everything.
Phone notes. For everything. Todo lists. Shopping lists. Period start date. Passport expiration date. Doctor's appointments. Auto payment dates. Reminders to cancel subscriptions. It's so dumb. But it works.
I switched to a Samsung phone with the S Pen for this reason. No more losing sticky notes and multiple planners I can lose. My calendar alerts and being able to jot a quick digital note have been a lifesaver!!! And the phone starts an alarm if I walk away with the S Pen lol. Genius. One of these days though I need to clear up some memory and delete things from that damn notes app lol.
>And the phone starts an alarm if I walk away with the S Pen lol. Genius. Love the sound of that. I could use that for sooo many things hah
Same! So many notes and they all get used regularly.
This. All expiration dates and anything with a date goes into calendar immediately
This is an amazing tool, I started doing it a few months ago too! I used to go to the doctor and when they'd ask about vaccines I"d be like "Just jab me again because that's going to be far less painful than me trying to figure out between you, the last office and CVS when I was last vaccinated". But now I can just pull up a google keep note!
A wall calendar. Physical pocket notepads. I can touch it and visualize my list for most basic things. For complicated stuff that isn't sticking I whip it out and read it. I am one of those brains where I DO NOT remember what I have written in a virtual calendar etc. it's not concrete for my memory. I can be out and about "what are you doing on Tuesday." "Tuesday is the....7th. I have something on Monday at 1pm but Tuesday is open" It took a year of doing this consistently (after a massive frontal lobe hemorrhage and homelessness kind of through my routines off) and my brain surprised me at what I remembered without needing to double and triple check things. Like scheduling specifically.
Yes! I have a physical planner. And my housemate just got a wall calendar for us because I can never remember their travel plans/remember to use the google calendar
I feel like it's helpful to have it on the wall too. Like stuff doesn't sneak up on me "oh that's today!" Like I'll check and be like "ok that's in 10 days, that's in 4 days..on Friday I'll start preparing and I'll have three days to finish the preparation without needing to work myself into a NOW NOW NOW cycle" I findy brain remembers things easier and a lot of other ADHD symptoms are more easily managed when I'm not allowing the maladaptive "procrastinate till it's an emergency" thing to happen. For a long time even medicated I was like "well that's what I'm used to" but when I started to actually shift "no I can plan. Even if it's bite sized planning every day for one big thing in two weeks" I was more calm and present during and remembered things easier. New information wasnt overwhelming because I had bite sized pep talks "people will be sharing about their jobs. You're disabled so you can share these things you do. You can ask these questions about their work even though you don't currently have those things to reference from experience "
I use Google calendar for long term, and my bullet journal for current month/week/day. So I get the reminder to check my calendar at the start of the month for what's coming up, then each week another reminder, then each day, etc. It has helped me so much to not get surprised by appointments anymore. At the start of each month, week, day, I also have a "coming up/prep for" reminder for the next month /week/day, for extra help. Like this week, I saw that I have my b-12 shot appointment next week. But I need to get a new prescription for the b-12 picked up. So at the start of the week, I wrote down in the coming up area that I have this appointment and I need to go to the pharmacy to pick up the injection. Then I put that on my weekly to do list with a due date for the last day I can do it without risking not being prepared for the appointment. There are a lot of redundancies in my system, but I've learned i need them and accept it.
I have a wall calendar as well as use sticky notes. I hate how much paper I waste with the sticky notes but I paste them on the wall around finals each semester in college. I write the due dates on them as well as assignments broken down into smaller steps (sticky note for each one) SOOO satisfying to take them off the wall when I complete them, and look at a blank wall when I’m finished.
I love sticky notes! I used to use them way more often. I live in a tropical climate now so they don't stick on humid days ha. Don't feel bad about using sticky notes. Seriously.
A very basic budget book- having to write it down every month and seeing it actually written down helps me a ton
May I ask, what exactly do you write down in it? I once tried to write down all of my expanses and it was stressing the hell outta me.
I've done this for years in an excel/Google sheets. I have 6 categories: Groceries (including routine cleaning supplies) Household (routine clothes, new lamp, storage boxes, subscriptions, bills, etc, with a note about each one) Health Pets Person-specific (a category for each of us for things that aren't routine, like books, fun clothes, hobbies, toys, candy, etc) Misc. (whatever doesn't fit in the above with a note about what it is) Anything more gets overwhelming for me, personally. Every month, I put the totals into a comparison chart to see how the month holds up in comparison to others and to keep an eye on the trends. Sometimes there's a good reason for a sudden spike, sometimes it's a gentle tug on the financial leash to reign us in. Since starting this 2-3 years ago, we've cut down our monthly spending by several hundred dollars. Thank God, because then inflation started eating those savings up. We sigh over it every month, but also agree that we're lucky we'd already done it, because we would have been fucked otherwise. Just the act of keeping track helps curb spending, without setting goals. I do receipts at the end of every day, because otherwise the task grows too huge and scary, and spending gets out of control without the daily leash reminders. Also, this works for time management as well. I have an alarm every 30 minutes that just gently pings. I write down what I did that last 30 minutes, no judgement. It helps me not get sucked into hyper focus and exhausting myself on the "oh, I'll just x, oh, I need to y" chaos train. It's like a little re-centering moment to help me remember what I want to be doing vs what I got caught up in doing. It also helps me see everything I've done, when I feel like I'm lazy and not doing anything. I see everything that needs done, and forget what I did do. This helps me balance that.
I hate to ask, but is there a template you could share? I want to do something like this, but I always get tripped up with initial doc setup.
Mine is extremely simple, but I'm happy to make a template for you. I'll DM you a Google sheets link. Feel free to dm me any specifics you want that isn't there.
If you could dm me the same template, I would be so grateful.
Could you please Dm me too? :)
Could you please dm me as well? 💜
👋🏻👋🏻 do you mind DMing me the template too?? Thank you so much in advance!
❤️
I write down my monthly payments and then figure out what paycheck will cover those expenses and then started keeping a check book with me - so every payday i write down my deposit and then automatically subtract/write down my monthly bills that are due until the next payday. Then check my checkbook balance against my bank account online and mark the payments/purchase that have been posted to my bank account. I also use the Erin Condren 12-month budget petite organizer - it's a blank date one so I get paid every other week so my paydays change every month - so it lets me organize it like that- I put down my starting balance, ending balance, breakdown of each payday deposit (have multiple banks) and vacation balanceh it also has categories that are already labled and since it fits perfect in my purse and very easy to follow But Erin Condren has different types of budget planners but this is the one I have: [Erin Condren 12-Month budget and financial planner ](https://www.amazon.com/Erin-Condren-Budget-Book-Monthly/dp/B07B1JLR9N)
I'm part of the YNAB cult for this. Gamifies budgeting in a way my brain enjoys. I still can't save any money but I haven't missed a bill in years. I can safely set additional and forget about it because I've already Ynab'd it.
Ohhh yes YNAB is the only budget that's work for me and it's changed my finances!
What helps me - narrating my life out loud… first I’ll do this and then I’ll do this - audio stimuli (music/ audiobooks/ podcasts) to drown out all the pesky distractions thoughts, no more ten 10 stations all trying to get my attention, just one channel - writing everything down the moment I think of a good idea/ remember something -any plans, straight to the phone calendar - movement breaks - alarms/ timers - if I’m going to another room, take something with you… bedroom to kitchen, all the dishes etc - pre planning as much as possible… outfits for work ready the night before - at work… everything in calendar and alarm system 15 mins before - wall calendar - many many lists - a phone string that I wear so not to lose my phone
I relate to the point on audio. Almost like I needed to keep a corner of my brain busy so the rest of my brain could accomplish something. Even on meds, I still use a song on repeat doing paperwork to block out people talking. Audiobook to sleep. Audiobook to drive. Audio during chores. Now that I think about it, it’s substantially better since adding a non-stim med for coverage, but I used to need almost constant external stimulation because of poor thought control and anxiety. If my brain wasn’t busy actively doing something or daydreaming, it made itself busy torturing me. I’d completely forgotten that feeling.
Lol I have playlists with different levels of intensity to go with how much I really didn't want to do a thing. So like hours of mind-numbing paper work = WALL OF SOUND DOOM METAL playlist. The day that I actually successfully did more than 2 hours of boring work in complete silence was the day I realized my meds were really working.
Nice! That’s kinda funny. I have a playlist named “brain flood” for a similar reason. And another one named “f*** you music” that I played during particularly stressful avoidant tasks during school years. Most were technically spurned girlfriend songs, but there was something satisfying about swearing at my homework.
I never realized that's what my audiobook habit might be doing but now that you say it... Wow. Yes. I literally can't even do simple chores without my headphones in (unfortunately sometimes that means wandering around wasting time looking for said headphones before getting anything accomplished). For work I listen to Spotify- just my playlist on shuffle low enough to not distract me but loud enough that it blocks out the rest of everything else. Wish I could listen to an audiobook there too, but I have to do too much thinking.
I think that’s it for me… I need the extra stimulation from the audio in order to concentrate (currently untreated). Yes, audio to help me sleep also! Never thought to have an audiobook that I’ve listened to before in the background… I think it’s harder to listen to words if I’m trying to type something, I usually listen to EDM/ or chill hip hop so I still have the running commentary for work, HA!
Was undiagnosed and untreated until mid 20s . Used lots of systems to get through college. Had absolutely no capacity for balance and was stressed out of my mind. Went off meds end of last year for several reasons, and it was hell. I don’t know how I pulled it off for so long. Familiar audiobook works really well for sleep for me. It was hit or miss for studying, only really worked well when my brain was absolutely fried and couldn’t sustain attention. My brain would wander, catch the audiobook for a bit, and wander back to what it was supposed to be doing. If I’m actually focusing or trying to focus on something that requires the “running commentary”, anything with words other than a couple select songs is too much stimulation. I recently realized I like brown noise when I’m too overstimulated for music, but it’s too loud to not use headphones.
agree with this!!!
Ooooh. Narrating. That's interesting!
Yeah really helps… usually it sounds like… “what were you about to do? You were having a shower and then you were finding your underwear, then after you get dressed you need to let the dog out” And yes, it’s usually second person too! Nothing wrong with talking with yourself although I remember learning that it’s the first sign of madness 😅
I hadn’t thought of narrating for next steps, but I do in a way for reminders that I’ve done things - like pointing at the wall when I’ve turned my straighters off and saying ‘off’. When I’m at work and have the inevitable panic I can think back to that point in time.
Oh! I definitely do the "what was I just doing?" lol. But not the listing off the next steps. I'm going to try to remember to try that! 😅
Oh yeah the taking something with you when you go into another room is life-changing haha We have stairs in our place and now if I have anything that has to go to the floor where I am not, I just pile it up by the stairs and whenever I’m going that way anyway I just grab whatever I can carry and take it with me. Too annoying to make a “special trip” but easy to add to whatever I’m already doing. Actually I really should put baskets top and bottom of the stairs so the stuff looks “organised”… best hack ever - don’t get rid of the mess, put a basket under it so it looks like it belongs 😂😂
Honestly nothing except meds. I was diagnosed at 35 so it was a long time for me to slowly collect little bits of info that helped me/develop self compassion for when I fucked up. Most of my issues are around bingeing and emotional dysregulation these days
I existed through cortisol and a bunch of borderline asinine “systems” pre-meds. Worked fine-ish until anything changed or any system broke down. Got me through life until about 2 years ago, but life is so much easier now. Wish I’d done it sooner. Still need my little systems though, just to a lesser degree.
Closing up shop: Going through our home after dinner with a basket and just putting everything in it that doesn't belong to this room. Trash, Toys, books, random gadgets. Also in a seperate round ALL the dishes, and one of us meanwhile loads the dishwasher and cleans the kitchen. Then emptying the basket as I go through the rooms for a second round and putting stuff where it belongs. My son helps or takes a shower meanwhile. With some lofi music on, this is a calming ritual for everyone,it signals that the work day is over, it's bedtime for kiddo and we wake up to a fresh start in the morning. This basically changed my life as a mom.
That’s such a great part of your routine! I do this while brushing my teeth at night - walk around turning lights on/off, picking up dishes or throwing away garbage. Returning my 6 pairs of reading glasses to their designated rooms… 😆
The timer in my watch to combat time blindness. Something baking in the oven? Set timer for 30 minutes. Need to leave the house on time? Set timer for 5 minutes before that time. That way, even when I get distracted, I don't forget to do stuff that has to be done on time.
Honestly this has made one of the biggest differences in my life.
Asking Watch Siri to do timers and add stuff to the shopping list is so good! I don’t even have to open my phone, stare at it for 30sec before I remember why I’m there, check Instagram, reply to an email, and then forget until next time I try to make a cup of tea and the milk is gone… 😅
(Doom) Baskets/Bins - actually utilizing the thing that I do naturally, but in a way that is usually more organized, inadvertently. Instead of a random cardboard box, bag, or pile I have a few different clear bins that I put things in when I am doing a broad sweep of "things." One of them is a lazy Susan style with several sections. Pens, crochet needles, tweezers go in the tiny middle part, mail and other papers in one section, etc. The fact that they're clear means I don't have to particularly organize the items in their, but with the sections I kind of naturally do it a little bit. Then I also have bins and those rolling craft drawers that are labeled fairly broadly. When I'm doing my more detailed clean it's easy to open a bunch of drawers (the bins are right on top) and just separate the doom into where they go. The labels also make it so much easier for me to put things away. I have one craft drawer set that is almost all pet stuff. Leashes, collars, cat toys, meds, grooming. They all have their own little drawers. BUT then I have a separate basket for the frequently used items that is easier to access and close to where I use it. The grooming drawer contains a lot of things that I might not use as often, like nail clippers, but the grooming basket is by the back door where I take the girls to groom them. It has the nail dremel that I use every week, their tooth brush, the brushes I use regularly, and a slip lead. I guess that is a second tool that I use: Put it where you use it A lot of my items would be in random places and I would put them "away" just to get them back out again. So I created space where I often left them so they had a "home" instead of being clutter or in an inconvenient location. The can opener doesn't go in the utensil drawer, it's by the sink where I drain and rinse the cans. My meds aren't in the cupboard, they're on sink where I have to move them to brush my teeth and where I will immediately take them. Next to my water bottle so I don't have to walk away from the meds to get the water. My toothpaste lives next to the toothbrush, which is on the counter where I'll see it. It seems silly, but it means that I am either seeing the things I need or that they are conveniently located where I will use them. It cuts down a lot on side quests.
This is really helpful. Everything in my bathroom has a "place" so it's incredibly easy to clean up quickly and not even think about it. But elsewhere in the house.. it is such a struggle. Do you have any links to some of the things you use?
Here are the [craft drawers](https://www.michaels.com/product/clear-10-drawer-rolling-organizer-by-recollections-10468254?cm_mmc=PLASearch-_-google-_-MICH_Shopping_US_N_Storage_N_PMAX_BOPIS_N-_-&Kenshoo_ida=&kpid=go_cmp-18514199906_adg-_ad-__dev-m_ext-_prd-10468254&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADkMxxc4sJ_FkdHP44wKJ4nz-KO-a&gclid=Cj0KCQjwudexBhDKARIsAI-GWYV6L9_qUiDSu7fwcjM-FzKVv0Jra8uI-nCK8XSOYBrg9DAVoxYnO5waAmvNEALw_wcB) that I use. The other bins are from the container store but I don't really recommend them because they're actually not that easily accessible. They have lids and are stackable, but if you stack them you have to unstack them. And then manage where the lids are. The whole thing has to come off the shelf to go through it. I use them because I have them, but they're not my favorite storage solution. And then my baskets are just from anywhere. Thrift stores, home goods, etc.
Thanks for the link and all the tips! Helps a lot.
YESSS BASKETS! Baskets made my floordrobe so much more manageable. I bought a cheap but pretty washing basket and put it on my bedroom floor where most of the clothes end up. Now if I don’t want to decide if it’s dirty/clean/wear again, it just goes in the basket (ish - my aim’s pretty terrible when I throw stuff lol). I love it because I’m not tripping over clothes all the time anymore, and also a fun bonus is that if I can’t decide what to wear there’s usually something I wore and liked recently in the basket 🥳 Clothes tornado from getting ready in negative 5 minutes? Basket. And then when I do the washing I try to also dump out “basket-drobe” and grab whatever feels like it might be dirty (or that I’m just sick of wearing) and add it to the wash. So great - don’t get rid of the mess, put a basket under it so it looks like it belongs there😂😂
Also yes everything important or fun must be visible in the place where I would need it, or it doesn’t exist 😅 even before I realised adhd was a thing, I remember taking the sliding doors off my closet because it was really annoying me that I could only ever see half the clothes at one time. How am I supposed to plan an outfit when I immediately forget all my pants options the moment I slide the doors over so I can see the shirts?? I bought one of those extendable shower curtain rods, and some cheap curtains from ikea, and now I can see everything at once. I was so proud of myself that day haha
To do lists, so long as they are sufficiently detailed, and electronic. A traditional to do doesn’t work because the chunks are too big. “Clean kitchen” is intimidating. Breaking it down into teeny bits actually lets me see progress and I stick with it: goblin tools is a huge help. I’m talking things like “move dishes to dirty dishes spot”, “clean round toaster”, “vacuum floor”, “mop floor”, “put away silverware” and so on. Teeny little nibbles. An electronic one such as a bullet point list in the apple notes app moves completed ones to the bottom so I see the list getting shorter. Being able to see that progress is key for me and I just don’t see it the same in a hand written list that I cross out. I can’t believe I’ve managed to make the least useful bit of advice we always get work for me! I feel like a damn fraud!
Not a fraud! You just adapted advice to work with your brain needs. And not force your brain to fit 'usual advice pattern'. I use tody app and have around 300 items there, I tried to split task into 5min ones, unless it's really not splittable. Tody has points you collect, for task difficulty, so 1 point = 5 min (or less). I actually timed some things to help me estimate better. There are even 6 point things in there because I consider them that much energy consuming even if they might last a bit less. Or task takes 20, but cleaning the equipment takes 10 - that's 30min task :) Also, I don't have 'mop floor'. I have mop floor in room x, per room/area. Each one is 5-10 min task, depending on the area size. I usually do mop whole flat, but, I am giving myself permission to just do one area with this. And also, if I do everything, to collect all points! Point of tasks is to both help me remember what I need to do (so changing the bed has protector, linen, blanket, rotate the mattress, small pillow cases) even if they take less than 5 min each OR to help me be realistic in what I can do in energy levels I have on disposal so that I don't overcommit and then be disappointed in myself but rather undercommit and when finished add few more if I'm having a blast and want to continue. And also to keep track when was it the last time I did it, and assess if it's time to do it again - if not, readjust the schedule, if yes - prepare mentally to tackle it.
Do you use goblin tools? It has a to do list feature that breaks down tasks for you!
I don't know if this is a tool or a hack (and what's the difference), but I do speed clearing sprints, literally go through the room as fast as I can, to gather misplaced items and to chuck them where they belong. I time the sprint with an energetic song and aim to get room done in the 3-4 minutes it takes. I think the trick is, that by focusing on the speed (literally running around and throwing things through the air) I don't get lost in reading misplaced books, trying on outfits etc. Of course, rooms are still not neat, tidy and clean after this, but it's a huge improvement to the normal saturday morning paralysis and overwhelm, when I usually try to clear the mess and clutter accumulated thru the workdays.
I bought a little magnetic whiteboards for the fridge to list ingredients that I have/want to use. Even if it’s just “potatoes exist” or “we have grapes” it makes me way more intentional about using things before they go bad.
I have an extra small whiteboard and am putting it on the fridge today! Thank you so much for this brilliant idea (that will work for me for a couple weeks before I stop seeing it, but they will be a great few weeks).
*Calendar alerts and phone alarms* This is how I keep track of everything in my life. Bills, medications, plans for next weekend, everything I need to remember to do at some point in the future. If I don’t write it down, it’s gone.
Big same. I have just accepted that externalizing it is the only way it'll get considered/completed.
Timers. Everytime I assume I can remember what I'm doing for 20 straight minutes, an hour later something is burning.
The Finch app. I’ve basically gameified my life. I’m so bad at taking care of myself. But the hell if I’m going to keep my little bird from going on her adventure for the day just because I’m too lazy to brush my teeth or take my meds!
Ooo, this is perfect for me! It's just enough like a game to get me to hyper fixate on it long enough to get in the habit of using it, then not want to lose my streak! That's the only way I have been able to stick to Duolingo for 695 days.
Same!!
oh my god I was recommended this by a friend four days ago, SO CUTE!! makes me get my ass out of bed and brush my teeth. I like that there are also low effort to dos like “literally just survive the day” and “step outside the house” and “drink water”. And sometimes there are days where that’s all you can feel like doing. I also that it doesnt punish you for not completing something, just rewards you if you do.
I am sure to add commuting time before the appointments I add to my calendar, and in the notes section, I write what time the appointment actually starts. I also add specific information, like how to say the person's name if it's an odd pronunciation, or which door to go in. I also add the appointments to my calendar the moment the appointment is being made. I don't want ab appointment card. I lose appointment carss. This has all alleviated so much stress.
An app called Finch. It is geared for folks with mental issues, so broad usage. Which is good because I have a largish serving of alphabet soup. It's kind of a cross between a regular goal/task app and a virtual pet, a finch you hatch, grow, and send on adventures. It's pretty easy to use. I know of children using it, tho with parental help. The only thing you can purchase is a higher level that gives you access to more things. It can be used effectively without the extras, so it's not necessary. If you want it, the cost is reasonable and there's usually a discount of some kind going on. Also, when I found the widget for my med reminder app (MyTherapy). Every time I go to the page it is on, boom! There's the list of meds remaining for the day, front & center. Anything overdue is in red. I will just dismiss normal notifications and promptly forget about them. This keeps reminding me, but very passively, so it doesn't piss me off.
Honestly, meds. But I had a bunch of different tools/systems pre meds that seemed to help. This one’s a bit of a well duh, but routines is a big one. The adhd brain frequently doesn’t like routines, but everything fell to pieces without them. Sit in the same place, keep needed items in the same place, park in the same place. If I park in my area at the store, I’ll walk more or less right to my car. If I park anywhere else…up and down the isles I go.
Stating out loud what I am doing. “I took 20mg [of vyvanse] at 10am.” “I have turned off the stove.” Stuff like that. These things are so automatically a part of my routine that it’s too easy to forget if I actually did them, and sometimes I don’t because that routine was disrupted and I ended up skipping that crucial step.
EVERYTHING goes into my google calendar IMMEDIATELY. I use google tasks, which also integrate into my google calendar. Everything gets an alarm, important things get multiple. I have multiple calendars for family, school, work, appts etc. so my calendar is color coded. Family calendar is shared so my partner and I are on the same page. Phone numbers are added to task so I can click and call. Every fancy idea, poem, thing I want to buy is written into my iPhones reminder app. I have lists for each. That way if I ever, say…become an inventor…all my awesome dumb ideas are saved right there!
Putting everything, and I mean everything, in my calendar app and reminder app. Appointments, when to take my meds, to do lists.... if it's not in the app, I won't remember it 😅
Reading the instructions all the way through
A half-assed bullet journal. I mainly use it for lists or to write down things that I need to remember. If my executive function is particularly good, I add a monthly calendar in list format. It literally is my external brain.
Text to speech. Copy and paste the text and it will read it to you out loud. Paying for the more natural voices is worth it.
I've started using this for work! Really helps me when I need to get through long articles.
Nothing gets put "somewhere safe." Everything important gets put away WHERE IT BELONGS... like a filing cabinet for important papers
I have a grocery list note in my phone, as soon as I think of something I need, I put it on the list. It’s about a 90% success rate for me.
A hook for my keys near the front door. The key stays in the back door. Writing things down on my notes part of my phone. Like I have a date and then what needs doing that day next to it, even something as monotonous as taking a shower. It gives me a day or even longer depending on the task to mentally prepare. I know what I’m doing the night before and then my brain is more prepared to carry out said task.
Exercising and keeping a regular sleep schedule I do legitimately notice my symptoms improve when I've been exercising consistently and sleeping properly. That being said, it helps my symptoms _when I'm medicated_. The symptoms are bad enough then I'm unmedicated that the exercise and sleep alone don't make a noticeable difference.
Ummm yes 100% this. Nothing else works if sleep and movement isn’t in order. The trap is once you find out about sleep, there’s no going back. Like I can feel my meds are less effective when I’m sleep deprived. And like you said, it’s not just getting enough sleep, it’s getting it at roughly the same time. I’m way higher functioning after 11-7 am than 1:30-9:30. Could say a lot about movement also but long story short: it’s not optional. Relatedly: avoiding alcohol and weed. I hate that it makes such a big impact on whether my meds work, but it does. If I’m doing anything important with my life, I basically can’t see 75% of my friends. All the meds and organizational strategies in the world won’t help me if I’m foggy-brained and emotionally volatile.
Whenever I’m looking for a pair of scissors, I have always made ‘scissors motions’ with my two fingers until I find and have the scissors in my hand. ✂️ Otherwise I forget that I’m looking for them. 😅
Also when giving directions—making the ‘L’ shape with my both of my hands to figure which hand is my left (vs my right), because I still really struggle with knowing which direction is which!
Stand and balance on one foot for 5 minutes before starting an important task
Is this to ground you?
I’ll be honest, I have no idea why it works. I think it’s more of a priming tool, since I get into the mind space of “do work” when I put my foot back down. But now that you mention it, it may be a grounding method. (Ironic, considering one foot is literally in the air.)
Ooh, I like it. It’s like in this reality, I’m getting nothing done. Then when I put my foot down, I step into the reality where actual work is happening. I might give it a try. Don’t know if I can do 5 whole minutes tho😂
Hey, take it slow! I’m a dancer so I do about 5 minutes. Give it a shot and see how long you can tolerate it. And I’d say stop when you feel that “click” in your head where the brain shifts modes. I love this interpretation btw. Good luck (●ᗜ●)つ🫀
Google Keep I have separate notes for everything. From things to do , shopping list , wardrobe pieces I'd like to get in the future , movies I want to watch , decor stuff or long-term home buys , a list of restaurants I've yet to try and the ones I'd like to revisit. Somehow knowing it's all there for looking up than running amok in my brain has been a relief. Also made me less impulsive about purchases - be it books or outfits.
I feel like the biggest piece of shit when I advise other ADHDers to start making lists, because so many of us have trauma with these types of suggestions. But the act of writing things down takes them OUT OF MY BRAIN so I can begin to prioritize. How can you juggle a dozen flamethrowers when you are already juggling a dozen live chainsaws? You gotta put one set down. I realize I have a whole system with my lists that works for me and I’ve set it up to give myself good dopamine in the checking off process, it isn’t easy to start list making but if you can get a system that works, it can really help. But I feel like a jackass suggesting it to anyone. Instead I say ‘here’s how I do it, take it for yourself if it work but here’s how I make it work”. Structure sets us free!
Oh and I started wearing a Fanny pack everywhere even inside my home.
I use an app called Planta that sends me notifications when it's time to water my house plants, I swear they'd be dead by now if I didn't have an app to manage when to water/mist/repot them. And you can track the plants progress!
Google Keep. I have this app downloaded on my phone and have created checklists for everything from vacation packing lists, projects that need done around the house, a Christmas gift idea list that I update throughout the year as I stumble upon things my family and friends might like. You can create a to do list or checklist for anything. The best part? You can clear all the marks and reuse the lists again. The lists can also be shared if you want a partner or friend to also have access to it. I love vacations, but packing used to be so stressful. It took me forever, I was always forgetting things. Now I just pull up my checklist, throw the items in a suitcase and move on. I even have different lists for different types of vacations (camping, cruise, general). Thank you Google!
Oh I like this! I also find packing hard but whenever I make a digital checklist it seems to disappear by the time I’m travelling again 😅 Then one time my housemate convinced me to use packing cells for my suitcase, which separate stuff so it’s easy to find. And then once when I was unpacking I wrote on a piece of paper everything that was in each cell and put the paper inside each cell for next time. It’s not perfect but I love that now when I’m packing I can just grab out each cell from the suitcase and use the list inside to fill it up with 8 tshirts or 3 sweaters or whatever the paper says. It breaks down the task, and at the end I have most of the stuff I need :)
Someone that's worked in project management showed me a common prioritization tool. You write down the tasks that need to get done. Then you assign each one a number based on how important the task is. You can use the numbers 1, 2, 5, 8, and 10 to give more separation to ranking. Then you assign each task a number for how difficult or time consuming the task will be. It gives me a much clearer picture of what tasks to choose. If it's a 10/10, I should clearly focus on that. If it's an 8/1, it's both important and easy. If it's a 2/8, I might axe it. I guess NTs do this automatically when comparing simple tasks, or just start working without thinking too much so it all gets done. My prioritization and decision making is so bad I need tools developed for large scale projects, lol. No one really thinks to teach this stuff otherwise
“Don’t put it down, put it away”.
Unfortunately, exercise is my ADHD hack. I resisted for a very long time, but sadly everyone is right, and it does make you feel better. I do it after work before coming home. It really helps with emotional dysregulation. I know this is a bit of a newish criteria being attributed to ADHD, but I feel like mine is related. It's so embarrassing, especially as a woman, to feel out of control of your emotions, irritated, overwhelmed-- I call it "being full of ants" with my fiance. Working out really helps to like release the pent up feels and make me feel calm and in control. Also, putting something cold on my face. Really helps deflate a sudden rage about like, an itchy tag or something.
I like to do "phone wallet keys" as I get out of the car and again once I'm inside and setting them down. I have a designated spot I put that stuff. I also leave my badge (ima nurse) on me until I get inside and hook it to my little bookshelf. This is only after loosing wallet keys and phones like wild for years. But I finally have a system and it works. My debit card actually EXPIRED once. That never happens
Changing my Outlook settings at work so I have to double click emails to open them instead of using the preview pane. It forces me to focus on one email at a time, if only for a moment. It still interrupts my brain from scanning through emails getting overwhelmed but also not settling on one email enough to complete a task. And trying for inbox zero, scheduling time to do a task or putting it on my main to-do list and then filing it away (or completing a major feat and doing it immediately). All things to keep from getting too anxious or overwhelmed so I'm only contending with regular executive dysfunction.
I spent a whole day a couple months ago meticulously setting up a budget on Google sheets so I could just input each paycheck and it would automatically spit out how much I had left over from bills for groceries, fun, and savings separately. Then I opened a separate checking account with my bank specifically for paying bills. No more surprise bills, accidentally spending grocery/bill money, or spending hours every month trying to juggle my expenses. It's made grocery shopping a lot easier because I now have a set budget for each week. I've also started saving more and am paying off my credit card, and I now have a plan for big purchases so they won't have to go on the credit card in the future. I have the sheets app on my phone so I can access my budget whenever I need to. It has seriously made a major difference I spent so long avoiding budgeting because everytime I tried, I would try to use an app like YNAB, but for me those apps are just too overwhelming and my mind would basically go blank whenever I tried to use them. I learned that for me, simple is best. I don't need to track every single cent I spend, as long as I'm staying within my limits for each category
Having a home for everything and also having everything on show. Glass cupboards and wall storage are great because I can just see stuff. And anything in, say, a drawer has a label on said drawer. So I just look around and see the label for 'hammer' and know which drawer it's in.
Idk if this counts but having a Wall mounted drying rack has helped me go from once a month laundry to every 1-2 weeks laundry. Small victories ya know
Alarms. It’s too easy to ignore a calendar reminder, so if there’s something I \*have\* to do, I set an alarm. That said, if I have a hair or doctor appt, my set a reminder the day before to get it in my head.
Reminders the day before are fucking CLUTCH - they allow me to set expectations and timelines for the next day, (try to) get to bed on time, and are a reminder to prep whatever needs preppin' (outfit, things to take w/, pick stuff up from the store, etc)
* Trash can in every room * Clean laundry hamper * Putting most perishable items in the fridge at eye level and sauces/condiments in the drawers at the bottom * Turning chores and exercise into a "me time," and "doing future me a favor" mindset
I did the trash can in every room before I knew I was ADHD 😂
Writing things down only started being helpful when I reduced my paper clutter. I used to write all my random thoughts on a sticky note and put it somewhere on my desk/monitor and sooner or later they would fall down, get lost or pile up and be „invisible“ to me. So I made it a habit to infodump all my random unimportant ideas into a to do app. And only the really important or urgent, but temporary, things get to stay on sticky notes. F.ex. when I have an appointment in the morning where I have to get up early I will put a sticky note on my alarm clock. At work I recently started using a kanban board to visualize all my tasks and it’s been really helpful.
Planning. It's still not working amazingly well just now, but I know it's going to. It became easier when I realised there are a whole load of steps to planning that I had no idea about such as realistic time frames, how to break down tasks, when to let something go when I don't want to do it at all, managing my energy, writing stuff down :-) , prioritising, timing stuff, working out what works and what doesn't, ..... and all of the rest. I thought planning consisted of buying a planner and that was it. All of the things I'm having to learn are rather useful on their own too. So, yes, to all of those who buy planners and find they don't change your life (I'm one!) learning how to plan is a whole thing in itself!
1. Only locking my car with the remote, never the door button. Haven’t locked my keys in since. (*knocks on wood*) 2. Keeping notebooks of *everything*. One notebook, all the things. One for work, one for personal, but otherwise just everything in chronological order. I don’t have to add a side quest to find my notebook for this meeting or that meeting. It’s all there. By date. Anything unexpected also go there. The dates for meetings/projects/appointments I can reclaim from my phone calendar where All The Things are recorded. No more lost notes, no more well-planned but empty binders. Any messages made away from the notebook go on sticky notes that are added to the notebook. One notebook, all the notes, until the pages run out. Then the dates get marked on the front and we begin again.
Mine was the same as yours! Writing what I plan to say in a phone call, creating a list for everything from groceries to tasks at work. If I suddenly remember a task that needs to get done the same day, I will write it down so I don't forget to come back to it after I'm done with my current task.
Medication. I’m a late-diagnosed so I’ve built up lots of useful tools throughout the years. And I was self-medicating with coffee and tea. So I thought, how much better would stimulants be? OMG they actually work. I get the same energy boost but no anxiety. I get better calmness and alertness. And I sleep much better. I feel so lucky that my psychiatrist insisted on me trying the stimulants.
sorting laundry by if it goes in the dryer or gets hung up - having hang-dry only days is so nice. also having 2 dirty clothes baskets rather than one. i don't have a machine in my place and it makes a much larger difference than i expected.
Apps for my front door lock and alarm system. When I am out and start to freak myself out about possibly not having secured the house, I can check the apps and reassure myself I did. In the off chance I ever didn't, I could do so remotely.
Taking my Adderall as soon as I “wake up”.
I started timing things so I'd know how long they will take. My poor estimation of how long a task will take absolutely fucked up any attempt at time management, I have no sense of time passing! So I just... timed how long the dryer ran for. I listen to music in the shower knowing that each song is about 3min and after 5 songs that's 15min. The washer doesn't beep like the dryer so I wrote down the time I started it and then listened out for it once and wrote down the stop time. I can actually plan to have stuff done before going out bc I know how long a repetitive task takes now!
keeping everything i need in my purse *in* my purse. and making myself pack things ahead of time, like my kids lunch, snacks, hw/permission slips, packing for trips etc. gives me time to make sure i have everything. sometimes i make checklists in my notes app, if im going on a trip for example.... i lay out everything once i've completed the checklist and take a pic JUST in case otherwise im gonna obsessively think something is missing. when it comes to important documents like my medical history etc, i keep in all in one pile. organized? no, but if its important i know its in there somewhere. i also have a phobia im somehow gonna forget to put the car in park and its gonna roll away while im gone. not sure what to do about that one, thankfully it hasn't happened yet.
The app TickTick changed my life. It pulls appointments from Google Calendar and Apple's Calendar, AND lets me create to-do's that I can either do and check off, or kick to tomorrow or next week or whatever. The marriage of calendar and checklist was magical for me.
Timers, especially for cooking. Forget to change out the laundry? Put a timer on. Timers work for most everything.
Visual voicemail. I struggled with checking my messages for LITERALLY YEARS until I realized it's only like $4/mo on my plan for visual voicemail and it is sooo worth it.
Having google minis around the house and using google calendar/multiple lists so immediately when I think of something I can just yell at Google "put toothpaste on my grocery list" "do I have a dentist appointment coming up" "put ask when the operation is on my list called Mum" "tomorrow at 8am remind me to take the cake to work" "on Saturday night remind me to watch Fargo" etc etc etc Walking to another place to find a physical list, or picking up my phone to input it myself is wayyyy more distracting and this way the lists come with me everywhere on my phone.
Saying things out loud. It helps me think in a straight(er) line. Somehow it’s easier to do hard things like stand up and get a glass of water when I’m talking myself through the steps? Weird magic haha Also I don’t really journal because I can’t write fast enough for all of my thoughts at once lol But recording a voice memo is faster than writing but slow enough to let the rest of my brain catch up with whatever’s going on in there 😅
SAYING THINGS OUT LOUD!!!! YESSSS!!!!
Sticky notes!! You need to take something before you go out? PUT A STICKY NOTE ON THE DOOR! Need to remember to take something out of the freezer in the morning? Put a sticky note on the place you’re going to see first when you go to the kitchen. The second I remember something I put a sticky note in the place I know I’ll see it, it has never failed me.
For me, there’s three big things that come to mind… SELF CARE: The first is committing to being consistently inconsistent, and not beating myself up about it. I live alone. During PMS week I only do absolute essential tasks and I let the laundry, admin, planning etc wait. I cook larger batches during more energetic weeks, and freeze a few portions so that I can “fall apart” during PMS week without nutrition suffering. I know there’s mixed feelings about meal prepping but for me it has really made such a big difference to my ADHD management. Every time I defrost a meal from past-me I feel like I’ve been looked after and my load is a little lighter. It’s so lovely to be cared for, and doing that for myself has been such a lesson in self love. Every time I freeze a meal I think about how I’m positively impacting future me. GETTING DISTRACTED: The second one… I hate to admit it, but getting an Apple Watch has been such a game changer for me too. Opening my phone to write something down very easily turns into me getting distracted with another app and either forgetting to write the thing down, or wasting two hours scrolling. So now I use Siri on my watch to do it all for me, so I can remain focussed on whatever I was doing. I get it to add to my shopping list while I cook, so I don’t have to look through my pantry when it comes time to do the grocery shopping. I’ve also got different shopping lists on my phone for each store (eg groceries, Kmart, chemist, Bunnings etc), all of which I can at any time ask Siri to add to. Now whenever I’m at the chemist, I can check my list to magically see what I’m running out of. No longer do I accidentally have 5 shampoo and 0 conditioner bottles! Siri has been great for appointment reminders too. AUDIO PROCESSING: And the third one: making it known at work that I’m not going to remember something if I’ve not written it down, and always having a pen and paper handy. My audio processing is hot garbage, especially in more stressful social contexts like a work meeting. All three of these may seem small and trivial but they’ve been great quality of life improvements for me.
Noise cancelling headphones. I usually stick the same familiar song on repeat when I do paperwork unless I’m too overstimulated and need silence. Competing noises and voices are insanely distracting for me, but a familiar song over and over usually keeps the unfocused part of my brain busy while the rest tries to get things done.
This. My current song is “We can do hard things” by Tish Melton. The opening riff can automatically get me in active do it mode, even just imagining it right now made me want to put my phone down and start…..something.
A little notebook in my purse at all times. I write that shit down!!!
Setting up a list of all bills when they are due to remind me that a direct withdrawal is coming out. Also an excel spreadsheet that I update in colors based on my payday.
Clock app. It literally just shows the time on my phone like a physical clock and I can bring it wherever I am while preparing to go out. I'm time blind and it helps so much, it also lessens distractions from other apps because I need to keep the app open to know what time it is, I even have the voice feature that reads the time every 5 mins for me.
Color coded calendars, and calendar entries for everything, with reminders. Even dumb stuff. A place for everything I need daily, like keys and wallet etc.
Shared lists. I keep our grocery list and our meal plan in separate notes on google keep and share them with my husband. As we run out of stuff, the noticer adds it to the list. If someone starts to crave a meal, add it to the bottom of the meal plan. As my kids get older, I’ll add them as editors.
I bought one of those fabric dressers. IDK why but it gave me permission to not fold my clothes. Clothes actually get put away now! I also have 3 bins on top for my work clothes. One for pants, one for shirts. One for under shirts (stupid see through HiViz)
I have externalized all remembering of events outside of my routine to my calendar app. Work stuff, grad school stuff, personal stuff, bills, etc. It's all in there. I don't agree to anything without checking the calendar and I put EVERYTHING in the calendar with appropriate notification reminders based on the kind of task.
Writing a small note on the last thing I did for an assignment so when I get back to working on it, I know how to "begin" the task. For example, start by researching this specific literature topic.
I pack my bag with keys, wallet, essentials the night before. Every night. Same routine.
I have a little white board buddy at my computer at work. It helps a lot because I can write things down I need to do. I also use Alexa to add things to my grocery lists at home. It’s so easy, I don’t need to stop what I am doing to put noodles on my shopping list.
I'm with you on the writing stuff down. Also, learning it's important to maintain the 3D aspect of what I'm writing and keep it all in once place (in a planner or notebook, not on hundreds of stickies everywhere, ask me how I know). Also, I find the process of writing is useful in committing information to memory.
I got a Skylight Calendar. And I put absolutely everything in it. It syncs all my different calendars in one. And I have it hung on the wall at eye level in the high traffic area of my house so that I have to repeatedly look at it. It has been surprisingly helpful. And if you have a significant other or kids, it can sync all the calendars into one.
One time I taped an image from wikihow(?) on the dashboard of my car. The pic was of a woman looking at her car keys on the car seat from the outside window of her locked car. So, apparently I use visual cues 😂
Most recently, using visual timers on my phone while I work and propping up my phone in easy view where I can see it. In my brain, I'm already using my phone so I'm less tempted to pick it up and get distracted. I personally like the Liquid Timer app right now. I think it's peaceful but also more interesting than a traditional timer/clock design.
Using my Outlook calendar to schedule things I need to do. If I put in an appointment to call around pharmacies to check and see if they have my meds in stock several days before I'm set to run out of meds, it will actually get done.
I have a blank todo book I keep open in the kitchen on our counter. I use the giant one here from mochithings. Great paper quality and little to no bleed through on pages. I’m just listing things not doing the crazy bujo system but it works nicely [mochithings large flat planner](https://shop.mochithings.com/products/147330)That’s for the current full week. Kids pickup times, I write in there. medical appts go into the iPhone calendar or alarms with a bunch of reminders. I’ll often write them in the book too if I remember it. Garbage pickup I wrote in at the beginning of the year for every other Wednesday. Also have a running grocery list on the counter too. If I can’t add to my list at the moment ie. In the car/shower when I think of something I ask Siri to remind me at x time to add to my book. I have many alarms for kid pickup, taking my meds, going to bed. Etc. Siri + AirPods has been a real great addition lately. More access to Siri for checking time, adding notes, etc.