Decluttering with ADHD: Step-By-Step Support for Best Results

Why decluttering with ADHD can be such a challenge.

As a professional organizer with ADHD, I learned early on that there is a dilemma that exists between clutter and the ADHD brain. When it comes to decluttering with ADHD, we often are more indecisive about how to deal with it than those with neurotypical brains.

Clutter can be doubly challenging for us because not only might we be more prone to collecting it, but we are also more distracted by having to look at it. 

Why decluttering is so important if you have ADHD.

Those with ADHD become overwhelmed with visual clutter faster than those who don’t. Every single item we see is a reminder of a task that needs to get done and a decision that needs to be made.

As a result, we can have too many thoughts going on at once, and difficulty processing those thoughts.  

12 Steps for decluttering with ADHD:

Step1. Develop a well-thought-out plan of action.  

If you have a large decluttering project to do, sit down and create a plan for the project. Ask yourself these questions before you get started:

1. What is your intention for this space?
2. What’s not working in this room? 
3. What is working?

Visualize your desired outcome for the room.  Visualizing your room, successfully organized and decluttered will help you materialize your goals. This will help steady you if you get overwhelmed or flustered. 

Step 2. Gather supplies and set up your workspace.

Gather the following:

1. Trash bags
2. Some empty boxes
3. Sticky notes
4. A black marker

Label an empty box DONATE and use it to donate items that you no longer need or use. Also, set up and label a box RETURN for things that go into a different room. 

ADHD can make it challenging to stay focused during the work process. Place anything that goes into a different room into this RETURN box as you work.  Don’t leave the room. Instead, put these items away at the end of your work session.

Step 3. Push yourself to just get started. 

Several executive functions are often affected by ADHD, and task initiation is one of them. The term “an object in motion stays in motion” applies to decluttering as well.

If you are struggling with putting a decluttering project off, keep in mind that getting started is often the hardest part. If you can push past this inertia, you will build up the momentum to keep going and get the job done.

If you tend to be perfectionistic, this can get in the way of getting started as well. Let go of thinking your space needs to be perfect because having the project done but not perfect is better than feeling stuck because you can’t come up with the perfect plan. 

Step 4. Move on to clearing the clutter from your space breaking the job into manageable chunks.

By doing this, you will start to make progress without getting overwhelmed. This will also help you clearly see your progress and build the momentum to continue.

Attempting to declutter with ADHD can feel like an overwhelming task. What you don’t want to do is take everything out of your walk-in closet all at once. Instead, break projects into small chunks.   

This will help you side-step getting overwhelmed.  It will also allow you to clearly see your progress. 

Work in this order:

Using a kitchen as an example, declutter in this order.

1. Center Island, this will give you workspace to do your sorting.
2. Cabinets – one cabinet at a time.
3. Drawers – one drawer at a time.
4. Countertops and other flat surfaces.

Step 5. Use my 5-step system for making decluttering with ADHD simpler and less stressful: P-E-A-C-E

P – PULL OUT AND SORT. Sort everything from one SMALL space at a time. Make only no-brainer decisions right away by tossing or donating the obvious. Sort everything else into piles of items from the same category.

E – EVALUATE AND ELIMINATE. Once everything has been sorted into piles, evaluate each pile. Now that you can see exactly how much of everything you have, decide what to keep and what to eliminate.

A – ASSIGN A HOME. Assign a permanent home what you are keeping and remember to store things where you use them.

C – CONTAINERIZE. Use containers to keep sorted items together and label them. 

E – ESTABLISH THE HABIT. Now that everything is organized, put items back into their assigned homes each time you finish using them.

Step 6. Push yourself to let things go.

If you have ADHD, letting go of everything you are no longer using is key. I know this is hard, because you may have to step our of your comfort zone to do it. But if you truly want to declutter your home successfully and be more organized as a result, you may have to push past the pain and just do it.

The best way to stay organized if you have ADHD is to have less stuff. I can’t stress this statement enough. The more stuff you have, the harder it will be to keep it all organized.

Also, the more things you have stored in a given space, the less user-friendly that storage space becomes. Keeping your storage spaces less full will ensure that you can find, and retrieve things quickly with minimal effort. 

7. Get past common excuses for not letting go of things.

I often hear the same excuses for not letting go of things, such as “I might use this thing someday” or “I should sell this thing” or, “I don’t use this thing, but I paid a lot for it, so I should keep it.”

These excuses become the barriers that get in the way of freeing yourself from this kind of clutter. Try to let go of making excuses that keep you bound to the things that you don’t really use. To get more support with pushing past excuses for not getting rid of things read my other post : Get Rid of Clutter By Getting Past These Excuses

8. Finish what you start.

Another common decluttering mistake I see is trying to organize more than one space at a time. Avoid jumping from room to room tidying a little here and a little there. At the end of the day, you’ll be exhausted and may not feel like you’re making progress.

Stay focused on the project your working in until it is completely finished. This will give you the encouragement you need to keep going because you will be able to see your progress.

9. Assign permanent homes to every single thing you own. 

Since every decluttering project includes figuring out what to do with the things you are going to keep, you will want to be sure to assign homes to everything.

Everything in your life should have a place to call home. Where do your car keys go? Do you have one designated spot for your fingernail clippers? Having homes for everything ensures that you don’t end up with homeless items sitting around, cluttering up surfaces and spaces.

10. If you have a lot of decluttering to do – do it in this order. 

Avoid starting your decluttering journey with a challenging category. Generally, keepsakes, photos, and paperwork are more difficult categories of clutter to tackle. Going through paperwork is a much slower process than decluttering say… your pantry. And keepsakes and photos usually have many emotions tied to them.

To make more rapid progress, start with a more manageable category like bathroom toiletries, or the food in your pantry. Most of us don’t get teary eyed over a nearly empty bottle of shampoo.

11. Use the power of urgency to make decluttering more interesting.

For some of us, getting started on a project is easier if we have some sense of urgency to get us going. Deadlines are often effective for those with ADHD. You can create a deadline for yourself by telling a friend or family member that you are decluttering a space in your home.

Let them know you are planning to show it to them on a given date. This will be your deadline. Now you have to get it done before then. In this way, they also become an accountability partner for you.   

12. Avoid bringing too much stuff into your home

in the first place. 

Individuals who have ADHD can be more likely to shop impulsively, thereby bringing home more than they intend to. Today, with online purchases being just a click away, shopping and collecting stuff is dangerously simple.

Shop mindfully and selectively and make quick online purchasing more difficult for yourself. Remove your credit card number from your computer’s memory so that you have to type the number in each time you make a purchase.