Cleaning your home can often feel overwhelming, especially if you have ADHD, anxiety, stressful life. The key is to break the task down into manageable steps, stay focused, and reward yourself for each accomplishment. This guide will walk you through a mindful cleaning plan that’s ADHD-friendly, ensuring you can maintain a tidy home without feeling overwhelmed.
Note: But if you're short on time and need to clear everything immediately, try this:
- Invite someone over: The anticipation of their arrival can boost your dopamine levels, giving you a burst of hyperfocus to clean quickly.
- Call a chatty friend: Clean while you talk to that friend who loves long phone calls, your mother, or anyone who keeps the conversation flowing.
- Open a podcast or music: Listen to something enjoyable but not too distracting, so you can focus on your work while enjoying the background noise.
- Take a deep breath: Remember, your home is valuable even if it's not spotless. The people who love you will still love you, mess and all.
- Ask someone to help: While you're reading this, your partner or a friend can do some dishes or help with another task.
Overcome Clutter with Stylish Storage Solutions
If you have a lot of miscellaneous items, organizing them can make a big difference. These random items—whether clothes, empty packages, or toys scattered on the floor—create clutter and make your space feel chaotic. Here’s a simple solution: use small, decorative boxes to store them.
Choose the Right Boxes: Opt for stylish, small boxes that complement your home decor. These can be found at home goods stores or even online. Look for ones that are sturdy and come with lids to keep everything neatly tucked away. (Check out these stylish storage boxes on Amazon)
Strategic Placement: Store these boxes in convenient locations like under the couch or on top of your nightstand (komidin). This not only keeps your space looking tidy but also makes it easy to access the items when needed. (Consider these under-couch storage bins)
Categorize Your Items: Assign specific boxes for different types of items. For example, one box for toys, another for empty packages, and another for miscellaneous small items. Labeling the boxes can help you quickly find what you need without rummaging through everything. (Use these handy labels for better organization)
By using these small storage solutions, you can transform cluttered areas into organized, stylish spaces. Not only will your home look better, but it will also make cleaning and maintaining order much easier. Remember, a tidy space contributes to a tidy mind, helping you stay focused and less stressed.
How to Start Cleaning?
Before diving into cleaning, start by preparing yourself and your space. This initial step will set the tone for a successful cleaning session.
Please make sure everything will not be perfect immediately; we need to have time to finish things. If you just stay and only think about how much work we have, we can’t start or finish them.
Practice these mindful cleaning techniques, and you will see improvement and do it without worrying.
Collect All Trash
Gather Multiple Trash Bags or Bins: One for bio waste, one for plastic, one for carton, and one for miscellaneous trash. If you don’t need to split, just use one. (Get some eco-friendly trash bags)
Label Each Bag or Bin Clearly: To avoid confusion.
Room-by-Room Collection: Move from room to room with all the bags or bins, throwing away papers, wrappers, and miscellaneous trash into their respective bags.
Immediate Clutter Clearance: This step helps clear up the immediate clutter and gives a sense of accomplishment. Once a room is done, tie up the bags or bins and set them aside in a designated area.
Tips for ADHD:
Use brightly colored bags or labels to make them easily distinguishable. (Try these color-coded trash bags)
Set a timer for each room to keep on track and maintain focus.
Take short breaks between rooms to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Reward yourself with a small treat after completing each room.
Collect Cellar Stuff
Gather Multiple Storage Bins or Boxes: For smaller items. (Consider these stackable storage bins)
Designated Space for Larger Items: Have a designated space or corner in the room for larger items that will be moved to the cellar later.
Room-by-Room Collection: Move from room to room with the storage bins or boxes. Collect small to medium-sized items that need to be stored in the cellar, such as seasonal items, old books, rarely used kitchen appliances, and extra bedding or linens.
Handling Large Items: For larger items (e.g., furniture, large boxes), note them down on your list or take a picture. Gather these items in one designated area or corner of each room.
Transport Planning: Plan a day or specific time to move the large items to the cellar. If the items are too heavy or cumbersome, consider asking for help from a friend, family member, or professional movers.
Storage in the Cellar: Organize them neatly in the cellar, grouping similar items together for easy access later.
Tips for ADHD:
Take short breaks between rooms or after handling a few large items to maintain focus.
Reward yourself with a small treat or break after completing each room or moving a large item.
Collect Items to Give Away
Designate Bags or Boxes: Prepare several bags or boxes: one for items to give away to others, one for government donation boxes, and one for items to repurpose for yourself. (Find donation boxes here)
Room-by-Room Collection: Move from room to room with your designated bags or boxes. Collect clothes, toys, and other usable items that you no longer need but are still in good condition.
Different Donation Methods:
Public Donation Box: Place usable items (clothes, toys, household items) in a box that you will put outside for others to take.
Government Donation Boxes: For better quality clothes and items, place them in a separate bag or box to donate to government collection points.
Repurposing for Yourself: Collect old cloths and rags in a separate bin for repurposing. These can be used for cleaning, sewing projects, or other household tasks.
Collect And Sort Clothes
Room-by-Room Collection: Pick up all clothes lying around, whether they are on the floor, sofa, or any place they don’t belong. Use a laundry basket or bin to gather clothes as you move from room to room. (Get laundry baskets here)
Dirty Clothes: Sort dirty clothes into a laundry basket for washing. Separate them by color or fabric type if needed.
Clean Clothes: Sort clean clothes into piles to be folded and put away. Designate specific piles for different types of clothing.
Clothes to be Donated: Collect clothes that are still in good condition but no longer needed. Place them in a separate bag or box for donation.
Repairable Clothes: Set aside clothes that need minor repairs. Place these in a “to be repaired” bin or bag.
Seasonal Clothes: Separate seasonal clothes. Store them in a designated bin or box for off-season storage.
Final Steps:
Laundry: Take the laundry basket to the washing machine and start a load. Schedule time for additional loads if necessary.
Putting Away Clean Clothes: Fold and put away clean clothes in their designated places. Consider using organizers or dividers to keep things tidy.
Summary of Progress
Trash: Separated and threw away all trash, sorting them into bio, plastic, and carton bins. Took the sorted trash to the appropriate disposal areas.
Clothes: Collected and sorted all clothes from the floor and furniture into dirty, clean, and donation piles. Started a load of laundry, folded clean clothes, and added donation clothes to the give-away box.
Cellar Items: Gathered items to be stored in the cellar, including seasonal items and old books. Made a plan for transporting larger items to the cellar.
Items to Give Away: Collected and sorted items for public donation, government donation, and repurposing for personal use. Placed the public donation box outside for others to take.
Next Steps
Put Everything in Its Place: Put the trash in the bin, store cellar items in the cellar, place the donation bag by the door or in your car.
Change Bed Sheets: Remove dirty sheets and put them in the laundry basket. Replace them with fresh, clean sheets.
Laundry: Start a load of laundry with the dirty clothes you’ve collected. While the machine is running, take a break or move on to the next task.
Future Cleaning Tasks
Floor Cleaning: Sweep and mop all floors. Vacuum carpets and rugs.
Kitchen Organization: Clean and organize kitchen cabinets and drawers. Dispose of expired food items.
Wardrobe Organization: Sort through clothes and accessories. Donate or repurpose items you no longer need.
Pet Areas: Clean and organize pet areas. Place unused pet items in the give-away box.
General Decluttering: Continue identifying and sorting items to donate, repurpose, or dispose of.
Additional Tips for ADHD
Break tasks into small, manageable steps: This helps prevent feeling overwhelmed and makes tasks seem more achievable.
Use visual timers or alarms to keep track of time: This can help maintain focus and ensure you don’t spend too long on one task.
Create a reward system to stay motivated: Reward yourself after completing tasks to maintain motivation.
Enlist help from friends or family if needed: Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you feel overwhelmed.
Cleaning mindfully with ADHD can be challenging, but with a clear plan and practical tips, it can become a manageable and even enjoyable task. Keep focused, take breaks, and reward yourself for your progress.
You've got this!
A Note from the Author
Thank you for following my mindful cleaning guide!
Writing and perfecting these cleaning tips took some time, and while it might not be flawless, I poured my heart into sharing the best advice with you.
In fact, since it takes days to clean my house, this is a post written for a week, and my house is still not perfectly clean. my boyfriend even made fun of me for writing this blog, saying let's clean the house first haha
If you found these tips helpful, you can see my "buy me a coffee" link down there.
But if not, no worries—just send some love and good vibes my way.
I hope these tips help bring a sense of peace and order to your home. If you'd like to stay updated with more cleaning tips and mindful living advice, please subscribe to my newsletter.
I'll be back soon with more helpful tips and inspiration to make your home and life even better.
Warm regards, Naz
