Stuff.

We all deal with way too much of it.

And if you have ADHD, all of our stuff can easily become overwhelming.

How do you deal with it all? Where do you put it?

I’ve recently written some posts about tidying up and putting stuff away, so hopefully you have started reducing the amount of stuff that you own.

If not, let’s start with decluttering and getting rid of stuff you really don’t want or need.

One old adage that really does bear repeating is “a place for everything and everything in it’s place”.

That’s one reason that we have so much trouble organizing our stuff; we don’t have a place to store it.

Presumably you have a place to store your drinking glasses, probably near the sink.

Your toothbrush is most likely in the bathroom, and your clothes should be in your closet.

But what about the other stuff?

Take a look around your house right now and see what’s laying around.

Does it have a place to go and you just haven’t put it there?

Or are you not sure?

Lets say you buy something new; maybe a really nice camera.

Now before you buy the camera, you’re thinking about all the great pictures you’re going to take. But you should also think about where you are going to store it. After all, you won’t be taking pictures 24/7.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when thinking about storage:

• You should store like things together. So your new camera, it’s case, and all of it’s accessories should be stored in the same place.
• The more you use it, the easier it should be to get to it. Storing your blow dryer downstairs in a bin in the basement wouldn’t make any sense, unless you rarely blow dry your hair.
• Never buy storage containers before you sort your stuff. You will need varying sizes of storage containers depending on what you are storing. The bin for storing your Christmas decorations will most likely be bigger than the one you use for storing photos.
• Shop your house for storage containers before you go to the store. And think outside the box (pun intended). Rarely used casserole dishes are used in my kitchen to hold my plastic ware.
• Find a way to label your containers. Do not even consider the label “miscellaneous”.
• Only store what you love and use. Get rid of the rest.
• Make things attractive if you are storing them out in the open. We had a problem with too many magazines and papers accumulating in our living room. I bought one of those wooden storage containers that have little cubbies, added some baskets, and problem solved.
• Store things that you use often near their point of use.
• And if you are storing things that are not used so often, like seasonal stuff, you might want to consider creating a file online listing the contents and location so that you will know where to look for it. Google Docs or Dropbox are some good ideas.

We all fight an ongoing battle with our stuff, whether we have ADHD or not. It’s life.

But if you find that your stuff is taking over too much of your time, you might want to either seriously begin to get rid of it, or hire a professional organizer to help you get started. A therapist might also be a good idea.