Organizing Made Easy: Practical Tips for ADHD-Friendly Spaces
Since starting my business in 2021, I’ve tackled various organizing projects and helped many clients. A large portion of my clients disclose to me either upfront or while working together that they have ADHD. Getting organized can be overwhelming, and my clients with ADHD have found benefits in having professional help with the upfront legwork of sorting items, helping them stay focused, and creating a plan for how everything will come together. To be upfront, I don’t have a special certification in working with people with ADHD; however, I’ve learned & implemented many strategies that have helped ADHD clients get organized. Here are my top ADHD-friendly organizing tips:
Efficiency is the top priority
For someone with ADHD, the organizational system in any space must be simple, convenient, and easy to maintain, requiring minimal steps to access and put away an item. Often, the most manageable organizational systems are different than what social media sells as the “right” way to get organized, with rainbow-filed books and shelves of bins stacked high. Function over beauty is vital for an ADHD client to stay organized!
Ensure everything has a “spot”
The common thread I see when working with someone with ADHD is that we need to assign a final “home” for all items so there is no indecision about where things go. Small items like batteries, little mementos, office clips, business cards, and tissues often trip someone up. The “junk drawer” becomes a catch quickly, and piles form. Making decisions about these small items can be overwhelming, so working with an organizer is helpful. It is essential to get granular when working with someone with ADHD, creating dedicated spots & bins for frequently used items. I’ll expand on this in the next paragraph, but it is a fine line between making “spots” for these things without overcomplicating the system. However, if the category is too broad and the bin too large, items can quickly get buried, and it’s hard for someone with ADHD to know what they have.
Choose the right bin
Here are some common “criteria” I’ve found to be helpful when choosing a bin for an ADHD client. Ensuring the bin fits properly in the space is also important, of course. Working with a professional here is helpful because, as organizers, we do this planning and bin selection for you!
The ideal bin should be clear without a lid. Need to see contents and remove the extra step of removing a lid to retrieve items
Bins shouldn’t stack (unless the front of the bin is open), and bins shouldn’t be behind other bins
Bin should be easy to handle/retrieve
Bin can’t be too big that things get lost, not too small that you quickly run out of room
A bin with dividers can help create dedicated spots for things under one common umbrella/category
Turntables and tiered stands where everything is visible works great
Label
Labeling is critical for remembering what is in each bin. I like to use a more prominent label tape with bold font so it is obvious what’s inside the bin. I’ve also temporarily labeled the outside of dressers or kitchen drawers (using clear label tape) so an ADHD client can remember what’s inside the drawer until things become more familiar.
My last ADHD-friendly organizational tip is to hire a professional organizer! We can help you stay on track, reduce the overwhelm by doing a lot of the sorting for you upfront and then bringing you in for decisions, and take care of all the end details so the job gets finished.