Organizing for Neurodivergent Minds: Tips for ADHD and Autism-Friendly Spaces
Organizing is something that benefits everyone, but it is also something that can be challenging for neurodivergent minds. Neurodivergent people can face unique challenges when it comes to organizing. Many organizing tips are designed to work best for neurotypical minds, but neurodivergent minds deal with organization and clutter differently. Organizing is still useful for neurodivergent communities, however, and in many cases managing clutter and staying organizing can be extremely important in preserving mental health and independence. With this in mind, here are some organization and decluttering ideas for neurodivergent minds.
Keep Things visible
One of the biggest ways to stay organized, especially for people with ADHD, is to keep things visible. This can be applied to your fridge, your closet, your drawers, or anything that you typically are trying to keep organized. When things are not visible, they can easily be forgotten about, and you can lose track of what’s where. By keeping items visible, you keep them in mind. Keep perishable fridge items in the door or front of your top shelf of your fridge where you can see them, and anything that you want to use up soon can stay there as well. Hanging up your clothes in your closet – organized by season or color or whatever makes sense to you - can provide a visual of what you own and what might be needed. Using this method of organizing can sometimes require a little bit of investment to prevent the visible storage from becoming overwhelming; you might look into clear plastic drawers, desk organizers, and other organizing tools that can help you keep things in your line of vision but still organized and in an assigned place.
Work with your Sensory Needs, Not Against Them
We always say that there is no wrong way to organize. You have to do what works for you or it simply won’t work. Acknowledging and working with your sensory needs can make all the difference when it comes to keeping your space organized. Many neurodivergent minds struggle with the overwhelming smells, sights, and textures that are involved in cleaning and organizing.
Understanding your sensory needs is important in developing habits to keep you organized that actually work for you. Don’t try and force yourself to do something that is overwhelming. Instead, find ways to work with your needs. For example, if you struggle to do the dishes because you don’t like touching the food or getting your hands wet, invest in gloves you can wear while doing the dishes. There is no shame in needing to accommodate yourself in order to do the tasks you want or need to do. Giving yourself the means to do those tasks allows you to reach your organization goals.
Using Timers and Taking Breaks
It’s easy to get distracted when you’re setting out to organize. You’re suddenly pulling out all these things you forgot existed, and now you’ve remembered that you were going to take out the garbage, and oh, there’s those dishes you forgot to do…
There’s a lot that your brain can latch on to, and it can make it difficult to actually finish something. Giving yourself time to focus on one thing before moving on to the next allows you to not get bored trying to get one task done all at once, while still giving your brain a built-in time to make progress on your task. Even if you have three different things you want to get done, you can set timers and switch between those tasks until they’re finished. Along this same line, building breaks for yourself allows you to take a moment to breathe so you don’t get overwhelmed with the project. You can do something restful and fun; you can do something that helps you regulate and prevent sensory overload. Taking that short time for yourself can give you the necessary fuel to continue pursuing your organizing goals.
The need to stay organized is a universal experience, but the way we get there isn’t. It’s important to recognize that for neurodivergent minds, your path to organization might look a bit different from neurotypical people, and that is okay. Giving yourself the tools to work with your brain and not against it can set you on the path to organizational victory.