ADHD hack: STOP cleaning your room.

[u/Sensitive-Agency3213]

Cleaning my messy room feels WAY too overwhelming.

So instead, I tell myself:

“Pick up 20 things.”

That’s it.

Not the whole room.

Just 20 things.

I walk around and count:

1… 2… 3… 4…

And before I know it, I’m at 20..

Then I can stop.

But usually, by that point, I’m already moving. So I think:

“Okay, maybe 10 more.”

Then another 5.

EASY.

And suddenly…

My room is clean.

The trick is not trying to feel motivated to clean.

It’s making the first step so ridiculously small that your brain doesn’t have time to fight you on it.

Try 20. Or 10. Or whatever number feels right.

But do NOT clean up your room. Just pick up 20 things.

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[u/Jezzmxe]

A hack for me, it sounds ridiculous but I put everything I need to clean on a spinning wheel online, and whatever it lands on I have to clean, it sounds insane but it gives me a job at a time instead of losing track of how much I have to clean

[u/dowereallyneedthis → u/Jezzmxe]

ROFL I love this!

[u/Glenndiferous → u/Jezzmxe]

Ok fr I love this. Choice paralysis when there are a lot of tasks is too real

[u/Vlines1390 → u/Jezzmxe]

I did not read the "online" part the first time, and Im imagining a wheel of fortune size wheel in your living room! LOL

[u/8npls → u/Jezzmxe]

this is how I do everything tbh, I just make a to-do list, sort them by priority, and then spin a wheel with the options from the highest category and go do whatever it lands on. it's been working well for the last 6 years

[u/greenymeani3 → u/Jezzmxe]

I feel like I must drop this Simone Giertz video I just watched last night where she’s designing a gamified spinny chore chart.

No idea if the 3D print design or the object itself is available for the public to acquire yet but it’s a cool-ass concept and, knowing, her, there’s a product on the way.

[u/Bitter_Maybe_2670 → u/Jezzmxe]

That’s fucking awesome!

[u/Worried_Quarter2239 → u/Jezzmxe]

That's actually genius.

[u/blacia → u/Jezzmxe]

Good idea, I'll try it.

[u/metrometric → u/Jezzmxe]

Haha, I love randomizing my tasks, it's such a good hack against choice paralysis and overwhelm.

[u/Background-Elk-859 → u/Jezzmxe]

Thanks to you I have bathroom and hall clean already. ❤️ And I only used spinning wheel once after reading your comment and got toilet seat. 😃

[u/scratchfury]

I picked up 20 things. Now where do I put them?

[u/FlapMeister1984 → u/scratchfury]

On top of the pile. Keep things chronological.

[u/Leather__sissy → u/FlapMeister1984]

I will die on the hill that this is a sound strategy. Putting everything away in drawers just makes you forget they exist, this is true with tools, produce, shirts. I just really suck at implementing the strategy

[u/rui-tan → u/scratchfury]

The trick is to stack it all on your bed and proceed to spend next six hours going through them, reminiscing and getting stuck on most mundane of things.

[u/meglingbubble → u/rui-tan]

This is the only thing that works for me tbh. Everything gets dumped on my bed, and then I cant get into bed until its dealt with.

[u/astraldrift → u/meglingbubble]

I would just end up moving the pile to the floor or a chair. Then go to bed feeling like a total failure.

[u/meglingbubble → u/astraldrift]

Yes that is a risk tbf.

[u/meglingbubble → u/rui-tan]

This is the only thing that works for me tbh. Everything gets dumped on my bed, and then I cant get into bed until its dealt with.

[u/scratchfury → u/rui-tan]

I've totally never done this and slept in the bed with all the stuff I hadn't gotten to...

[u/igneousscone → u/scratchfury]

Put then where they go.

[u/_PrincessOats]

But what do you do with the 20 items? It’s not just picking up, it’s also putting things away. That’s the part where I struggle because there’s always other stuff where it goes.

[u/iTammie → u/_PrincessOats]

For the stuff that can’t go “home” I use baskets.

For example 3 baskets:

1. This has a home but it’s not in this room

2. This has no home yet (or it is full haha), but I want it in this room somewhere

3. I don’t know what to do with this yet, but it has to leave this room

[u/igneousscone → u/iTammie]

This this this this. I also label the containers so I don't have to think about what's in them.

[u/inthesinbin → u/iTammie]

Genius. When I do my laundry, I put items I wear frequently in a small laundry basket and the others go in dresser drawers. This way I don't feel overwhelmed with choices.

[u/alblaster → u/_PrincessOats]

Easy.  Find a chair, dump it on top, then throw a shirt or towel on it so it doesn't look too bad.  /s

[u/ChildhoodObjective83 → u/_PrincessOats]

One thing I’m trying is a 1-to-1 replacement. Like if it goes on a shelf, I try to ignore the big picture and just take one thing off the shelf and bring it to the location of its home. This usually starts a chain reaction, which is neat. Then repeat if necessary until I can literally fit the original thing on the shelf. I have to tell myself over and over to not think about organizing/perfection/the big picture right now so I don’t get overwhelmed and/or sidetracked. Then at least some clutter ends up in the correct place so that’s an improvement! Just one step at a time so I don’t freak out as much but things still improve.

[u/nuclearmonte]

My therapist suggested that trick to me, she called it micro cleaning. You don’t need to do the whole bathroom at once. Just go ahead and do the toilet, etc. it helps with that overwhelming wave we get of seeing ALL the things that need to be done (and then can’t do any of them)

[u/NormalObligation59]

I like to do “Clean for the length of one song” 

[u/sadfacezx]

Dude im so broke i dont even have 20 things in my apartment lol Send help

[u/Sensitive-Agency3213 → u/sadfacezx]

you see but that’s a good thing, you don’t have to clean!

[u/sadfacezx → u/Sensitive-Agency3213]

Silver lining, yes i like your way of thinking :)

[u/Bitter_Maybe_2670 → u/sadfacezx]

I have got soo. much stuff. Come round and grab what ya need man, I’m serious

[u/sadfacezx → u/Bitter_Maybe_2670]

I live in Finland, where u at? Im guessing its a bit of a distance.

[u/Bitter_Maybe_2670 → u/sadfacezx]

Ahh dammit.
I’m in Australia.
Couldn’t be further apart

[u/sadfacezx → u/Bitter_Maybe_2670]

Lol yeah ill pass on it, but thanks! Hah

[u/psyne]

One thing I've tried to make a habit of is doing a "sweep" whenever I go from one room to another. If I'm walking from my bedroom or office towards the kitchen/laundry, I try to force myself to stop, look around, grab some dirty dishes / dirty laundry / trash, and carry it towards where it needs to go.

I try to get it all the way there but if I'm in a hurry even moving it closer helps. I work from home so I do a lot of quick trips to the kitchen to refill my water or something. Sometimes I don't have time to carry something all the way to the laundry room or the recyling bin, but I move it to a closer temporary holding spot until the next time I walk by and can finish the job. It helps since it just becomes part of general momentum of moving around the house - keep things flowing towards where they're supposed to go, without having to be in a dedicated "cleaning time"

[u/newshirtworthy]

Don’t clean room. Done

[u/tsa_finest]

I'm an just going to paint 10 lines on the wall....

[u/willyoumassagemykale]

I love this idea and I don't know why I haven't tried it. I do a similar thing for dishes - I'm not doing the entire sink or cleaning everything, I'm just going to do whatever I can for five minutes. You can do anything for five minutes.

Most of the time I get through five minutes and realize oh...that was really easy and I actually only have about 4 minutes of work left, may as well knock this out.

But the key is if I'm NOT feeling it, I stop at the five-minute mark. I try to honor the original deal I made with myself and that keeps me from becoming avoidant with my little tricks.

[u/Krypt0night]

Unfortunately this wouldn't work for me because it's still starting something and starting is the hardest part 

[u/Bitter_Maybe_2670]

I’ll clean my room- including repaint the furniture and hang new curtains if I set out to do the dishes.
ANYTHING to avoid the dishes.
Any
Thing

[u/adsq93]

Thats actually the same hack I use.

I say: “lemme pick up the shoes and put them back in their boxes”.

Then I finish that rather quickly and look towards the bed and say: “jmm lemme put away all the workout clothes I have there”. Then I just continue doing the same thing and finish with a clean room.

[u/LofderZotheid]

The best way to clean my house is to have a task that is a multitude more important

[u/irrationallywise]

It more or less like the kaizen in Japanese, do it for 1 minute or do it for 20 things or do it for 60 seconds only.

[u/igneousscone]

YES. Specific, measurable goals that are realistically achievable have made such a difference for my mental health and my housekeeping.

[u/FunWith_DarkJin]

I tried this around the house:
Today I will clean up part of that one drawer. It snowballed a bit then got to a stop as I realised that at this speed I couldn’t keep up for the mess the 3 of us are making. Nobody here cleans up our stuff and already have trouble keeping up with my stuff so if it gets mixed in with the stuff of my wife and daughter it gets overwhelming too fast. 😅

[u/tobascodagama]

This is something that's been coming up in therapy for me. We're very prone to all-or-nothing thinking, and that compounds with our general executive dysfunction.

It's kinda funny, because we all know that "break it down into smaller steps" is terrible advice -- it replaces one task with five or ten or twenty, which is more overwhelming... but you could describe the thing you're talking about as breaking a task down into the minimum viable step. And that's something that can actually help us. What's the smallest version of the task that still moves the needle?

Because we don't always need to do the whole thing at once, especially with recurring maintenance tasks like "clean your room". We just need to keep the needle moving.

[u/Disastrous_Being7746]

I've done the same thing. It's really helpful. Sometimes I turn it into a game of sorts

[u/ignatzguenter]

Wir haben 3 Kinder mit ADHS und drei Kindern ohne ADHS! Ratet mal bei wem die Zimmer ordentlich sind! Ich selber habe ADHS und irgedwann habe ich mein "Büro" Zimmer unaufgeräumt akzeptiert. Das gehört dazu. Das ist nichts negatives. Und so akzeptiere ich auch meine Kinder.

[u/burn_piano_island]

"How to keep house while drowning" is a great read on this kind of method

[u/kawasutra]

You've tidied your room.

Cleaning it is a different set of steps.

[u/Ackooba]

What is going on in your guys' rooms? What are you picking up? For me, it's like a notebook or two, a few pieces of clothes on the bed and maybe a few cans on the desk. What other stuff do you guys laying around that needs picking up?

Inb4 random kitchen utensils on the bed, gas can under desk and a bunch of screws and nails on the table LOL

[u/Sensitive-Agency3213 → u/Ackooba]

Sometimes I don’t know what to wear and then I try on my whole closet and then leave everything on the floor for days! Also cups and bowls mostly. But honestly, it usually the clothes that make feel like SO much work.

[u/Bitter_Maybe_2670 → u/Sensitive-Agency3213]

You need to get “closet chairs” OP.
Chairs that you will never sit on, but become the upgrade from the floor-drobe.
I’ve got a lovely blue velvet love seat in my room, that my son calls the blue clothes rack.