Housekeeping is a struggle with ADHD. It is so hard finding a schedule for housework and sticking to it, I buy way too many decor pieces and always want more, and I just overall struggle with keeping my house clean, cozy, child-friendly, and ADHD-friendly.
As always, this is a work in progress. But, here are the five tips I can give for homemaking with ADHD.
1. More than one of certain items. This one is huge. Generally speaking I’m trying to declutter and go more minimalist. One thing minimalists always talk about is only have one of something you can feasibly get away with only having one of. However, as an ADHD mom, this just doesn’t work for me. So, I have multiple inhalers for my asthma. I keep one in my nightstand, and one in my purses. Ideally I’d keep one in each bag I use regularly, however that isn’t possible at the moment. We also have more than one diaper bag and certain items we keep in both bags, such as a thing of wipes and dispenser of bags to put dirty diapers in when we’re out and about and need to change a diaper. We also keep scissors in our kitchen and in our bedroom.
2. Assess your home and what you use most in which areas. We have a hook for keys in our entryway, a basket with hats and gloves on our shoe rack in our entryway, a basket with cloth masks next to the basket with hats and gloves. I also keep a bin I labeled “returns” on that shoe rack so we can keep items we need to return in that bin and we see it every time we leave the house. We have hooks for our diaper bags and my purses on the wall inside our coat closet. We keep a basket of diapers and wipes in our living room on our desk so we don’t have to leave the room to change a dirty or wet diaper.
3. Make a list of your family’s favorite meals, and use that to meal plan. I struggle with coming up with meals for lunch and dinner (breakfast is generally whatever we can find, and we keep a handful of options like bagels, cereal, oatmeal, protein bars, etc on hand at all times). Lunch is our “big” family meal because my husband is gone for work from 4pm-3:30am. So, we have a sit down meal for lunch and then make dinner before he leaves for work and he takes some for work and the rest I heat up for our girls and myself at dinner time. This means making two fairly big meals every day. It’s a struggle. So, early in our marriage we made a list of our favorite meals to make and eat, and I refer to that when we meal plan for the week. We may need to update it now because I believe we have a few new favorites, but I love having something I can refer to when I’m having trouble making decisions.
4. Alarms. For everything. I struggle with remembering to do things, so I try to set alarms to remind me to switch the load of laundry, give the girls a snack, heat up dinner, etc. This doesn’t always work because I’m very good at zoning alarms out, but it annoys my older daughter and if I ignore an alarm she’ll remind me so I turn it off. She’s good like that.
5. Lastly, I’m always willing to make some changes. (Probably a little too willing sometimes, especially when it means shopping). Homemaking with ADHD is tough. And something that I may struggle with now I may not struggle with in the future, and vice versa. I try to be flexible and realize that I’m always learning and growing. Therefore, my space is as well, and my routines and habits. It’s important to be willing to make adjustments as you learn new ways to do things.
I hope these tips help you as you set up your home to work with you. I’ll continue sharing more tips and hacks as I learn them and implement them in my own home. It is my ultimate goal to have an ADHD friendly home for myself and my girls (they’re too young to be diagnosed yet, but we will be having them evaluated as soon as they are old enough).
Love and light always.
The Neurodivergent Homemaker 