Why I Don't Put Everything Away
Minimalism teaches us that everything should have a home, that neatly storing belongings away is the goal: nothing on surfaces, nice clean lines everywhere. Alas, those of us with ADHD tend to forget something exists if it's been put away, but surely there must be a middle ground?
Now, to be clear, we don't forget everything if it's been put away — I don't need items such as food, toiletries, or gaming controllers left out on a surface just to remember their existence. I'm talking more about things we should really use, but need a little reminder to use them. My vitamins being a prime example — if I put them away in a cupboard, I'm forgetting to take those suckers!
Over the years of getting to know my AuDHD brain better, I've discovered plenty of little hacks that make my life that little bit easier. One absolute game changer was figuring that in order to remember to do certain things, I need to leave myself a nice visual reminder to do it. Here are a few personal examples that have genuinely made a difference to my life:
Leaving a little watering can next to my plants, which prompts me to water them (now of course I run the risk of over-watering, but so far, so good!).
Leaving an interdental toothbrush next to my actual toothbrush.
Leaving my vitamins right next to my kitchen door, so I can't help but see them every time I go to make food.
Leaving my Apple Watch on charge in front of my clock, so I don't forget to put it back on (I probably spend 50% of my day looking at a clock, hello ADHD!).
It sounds cluttered, but trust me, it isn't. I store these items neatly — they're not just strewn about the place. They don't get in the way, but they do give me a nudge to use them. It sounds ridiculously simple, but it's helped me massively to remember those niggling important tasks that we can so easily overlook. It all comes back to removing friction from our lives... this system reminds us to do the thing, while also reducing the opportunity for distraction between remembering to do the thing and finding the items we need to complete said thing (also I've typed the word "thing" so much, it's starting to lose all meaning!). Now, my plants are actually healthy, my vitamins are (mostly) being taken when they should be and my dentist is no longer nagging me to clean in between my blooming teeth!
So, you might ask how we go about being a minimalist, when it seems we have to leave a bunch of things on display just so we remember to use them? Well, first of all, you need to abandon this "one size fits all", cookie-cutter style of minimalism. Someone else's heaven of stark rooms, empty surfaces and surgical level neatness is an ADHDer's brand new form of hell.
The trick is to find aesthetically pleasing ways of displaying the things you want to remember to use. Get a nice storage basket and put a neatly written label on it, get visually pleasing items which look good as display items as well as functional ones... you can even just label your cupboards, so — even though your items might be neatly put away — you get that necessary visual nudge, reminding you "hey, I still exist and you should use me!". The most important thing to remember is: only leave things out which you need a visual reminder to use. This is not an excuse to just leave clutter everywhere!
So how do you find your own version of the watering can? Here are a few questions to help you uncover some visual cues that might be useful:
What tasks do you repeatedly remember to do when it's too late to do them?
What items do you regularly need to use, but forget exist once they're out of sight?
Is there anything you remember to do when lying in bed at night, then forget the next day (letters that need action is my kryptonite here, hence my new, easy-to-see "inbox" in my kitchen!)?
You can still be a minimalist, you can still have a neat, tidy home, but you can also make it work with your ADHD brain, rather than against it.
