Clear Up Clutter

There absolutely is truth to the fact that we all need order OUTSIDE to create order INSIDE. Without internal mind-space, there isn’t much room to learn new things, complete tasks, or even think clearly. To complicate issues, children with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or Executive Functioning difficulties are just, well, really GOOD at creating clutter!

Below are some simple solutions to organize your living space and eliminate clutter—both in and out of your head:

  1. Stop, turn around, and look – When you leave a room, stop, turn around, and look. Notice what is out of place. Return to the room and put everything back where it belongs.

  2. Choose alternatives – If you (or your child) can’t stand hanging up clothes, buy some really cool hooks. Take the hangers out of the equation, but provide a novel way to get those duds off the floor.

  3. Create a vision of how your room should look – Use Pinterest. Cut photos out of magazines. Create a concept for your space.

  4. Phone a friend – Enlist some help in the decluttering process. My husband is an expert at organization! A few times a year he helps me pare down my closet.

  5. Live in the now – In other words: ditch the Costco card! Ask yourself: do you really need the eight bottles of rubbing alcohol that you bought in bulk? Perhaps one day you’ll need to disinfect a whole lot of earlobes, but for now they’re just making your bathroom cabinets a messy disaster area.

  6. “No excuses” items – There are obviously hundreds of objects that need to be put away in our households. Ground rules for kids about the “no excuses” items—i.e., cap on the toothpaste, clothes in the hamper—can be a great help.

Some great organizational resources include:

  • The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo

  • The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload by Daniel J. Levitin

stefanie greenberg