Is there anyone out there that is living with Bipolar or ADHD?!
Question:
Is there anyone out there that is living with Bipolar or ADHD?
Do you have trouble cleaning your home? If so what works for you to stay at it well to keep plugging away at it and not get side tracked?
What works for you? What doesn't work for you?
thanks,
L :D
Answers:
Splitting the work into as many tiny pieces as possible helps.
Example: Vacuum rug can be split into: vacuum living room, vacuum hall. Each of those can be split into additional tasks: get out the vacuum cleaner, plug in the vacuum, turn on the vacuum cleaner, vacuum area then turn off vacuum, then put away vacuum. Clean the bathroom can be split into: clean the sink, empty the cat box, clean the toilet, clean the bathtub, sweep the floor, mop the floor.
So does tracking my progress. I usually write on my calendar something every day that I got done in terms of chores.
Sometimes I make checklists of things that need doing, and check them off as they are done.
Having someone else make up the checklists for me does not help me much - their expectations only make me feel worse about myself when I am unable to finish their list, and sometimes I just feel like rebelling. Some days, I feel capable of more, and some days, I am capable of less. As a child I would make efforts to go through my lists of chores, but never managed to finish them all.
When I am living with other people, it really throws me off if they "clean up for company" by throwing out my list or hiding it from plain view. I am a very visual learning style person, so out of sight is out of mind, and it just doesn't work for me to have a list out of sight. When others attempt to organize my clutter for me (not the trash - I am usually good about throwing that out, but things like papers and office supplies) it tends to throw off my efforts to organize my things so that I cannot pick up where I left off last time.
Sometimes visual reminders of mess are enough incentive for me to get going, other times they only discourage me and bring down my self confidence. The more self confidence and energy I have that day, the more likely I am to feel capable of cleaning, and since I am the only one living in my home right now I am obviously the only one who will be doing the cleaning unless I hire a cleaning service.