Please give me your best organisation tips!

[RareDeer]

I have AuDHD and I’m so disorganised, easily distracted and forgetful. For example, today I put the oven on to cook then when to the freezer to get something frozen peas and saw the freezer was dirty so pulled everything out, cleaned and reorganised it. Went back to the oven like ‘why are you on?’ until a child asked how long dinner would be 🙄

I want to be better organised. I hear about people who have things in their cars or handbags or fully stocked medicine cabinets for all the things so that we don’t constantly run into silly emergencies and mum (me) can cope better because she spent some time and money getting things sorted. I do always have emergency water in my car so that’s a start. And I remembered to finally put some plasters in my purse recently.

So what are your best organisational tips to help you navigate life a bit more easily? Help an idiot out!

Don't file paperwork (statements, bills etc) by type. Just do it be year. The time it takes you to riffle through in the unlikely event you need something is far smaller than organising in category in the first place.

A schedule for watering plants, changing beds, washing towels.

Enough school uniform to last a week. 5 shirt, 3 bottoms.

Never leave a room empty handed. And get every family member to embrace that.

Of you have a dishwasher do all messy work over it (slicing bread etc) then swipe the fine dumbs straight into the dishwasher.

ROBOT HOOVER

Lists!

To do lists
Shopping lists
Dinner lists

I’ve got 3 magnetic notebooks stuck to the fridge. At the end of the day I can carry over anything not achieved to the next days page on my to do list!

Another one…

Have regular days for things:

Always Clean bathroom and cut grass on Monday
Paperwork and finance Tuesday, etc.

watching for tips.

The only thing I picked up from flylady was when you get to half a tank of fuel look out for opportunities to fill up and throw your car trash in the petrol station bin. And I still do that.

Who is flylady?

http://flylady.net/

There’s a long running thread following her system.

she sends daily/ weekly emails linked to the zone of your house you’re working on.

Also stuff like menu prep/ holiday planning.

I remember Friday is sort your far out day and Wednesday is procrastination day (as in do the stuff you’ve been putting off)

it’s actually a great system when you follow it. I remember one email said we are cleaning cupboard doors today in the kitchen. I decided I’m cba doing that. Then found myself cleaning them a day later!

Have a family organiser calendar up on the kitchen wall and write things on it when you first get told/informed of them. In fact always aim to “do it now” (you sound like me & if I don’t do things straight away, I tend to forget).

I always recommend the Smart But Scattered Guide To Success - helped me a lot with ADHD.

Also check out Clutter Bug.

Declutter, label everything with a Dynamo, have boxes and baskets for everything.

Lists, writing everything down, for home I use a paper planner for appointments and to dos, and spreadsheets for breaking down and tracking bigger projects. I use One Note (for work) as it has different tabs like a physical notebook.

Haaving a very large clock in visual eyeline and an Alexa in three of my rooms

Do not schedule complicated tasks after 4pm, create and save a checklist that can be used for the next time, colour coded weekly schedule with time blocking.

Take the length of time a task takes, then triple it.

Check out Clutterbug to find out what type of organisation suits you. I think I did a questionnaire and it was spot on, stops you trying and failing to copy someone else's style.

Routines! They need to be triggered by things you already do eg put kettle on in morning triggers empty dishwasher, put clothes in laundry basket triggers check whether a load needs doing and do it, brush teeth before bed triggers lift out clothes for morning. I think it's called habit stacking, it's very useful once you embrace it.

That quiz was very useful
and accurate. Im
a butterfly and it makes a lot of sense why I do what I do.

I use Alexa for lists and reminders.

So in your OP when I put the oven on I tell Alexa to set a timer. OK you might still have started to clean the freezer but you would then think, "What's that noise?"

So if I'm in the kitchen and I use the last of something I tell Alexa to put it on the shopping list.

I use alarms on my phone. I have a lot of recurring ones and because I can label them I know what I'm meant to be doing and when.

I use a calendar app on my phone that is shared with husband and teens. We use Family Wall but others are available. I set up reminders a week before, a day before, two hours before so stuff is reminded about frequently. That way instead of seeing a reminder for the dentist an hour before I have time to make plans and organise.

I keep a jar of pound coins in a drawer for those things for school, bring a pound to wear your normal clothes, bring a pound for swimming etc.

I take medication in the morning and it's best on an empty stomach. I leave a glass and the pill organiser by my sink so I take them when I clean my teeth. If I do forget I have a chance to remember again at bedtime. Im happy to take a mouthful of bathroom tap water for this but you could leave a bottle of water up there.

I also bought four of the weekly pill boxes and fill them once a month. Saves faffing each week.

I have a present drawer stocked with blank & birthday cards, chocolates, a few generic gifts & gift bags/wrap. Handy for last minute occasions.

Put all apts on calendars on phone, email & all devices with notifications set for day & a few hours & 1 hour before. So you're not caught out.

Save all passwords on your devices and in hard copy stored safely.

Batch cook so you when you eat one meal, you save another portion for another day when time is short to cook.

I have the same profile as you OP (ADHD + autism). I think that some of the well-meaning advice above may be less suited to you, because it relies on intrinsic motivation/focus.

I still am quite chaotic but:

• keys and similar live in a dump spot by the door
• bulk buy things like (identical!) socks, school shirts, beanie hats etc
• dump box at top and bottom of stairs
• shopping delivered, same food most weeks to facilitate routine
• if you are writing a to do list, start with 3-4 things, not everything you feel you need to accomplish that month, so you don’t feel like a failure
• neurotypical people aren’t all whizzing around like fairies with sparkling homes and finished task lists! You have a busy home and family, a little bit every day is good enough
• Get the kids involved.

I’d add -

• use alarms on phone liberally
• buy more “easy” food - tins of sweetcorn, cucumber
• for any given task, imagine three levels - eg a meal can be scrambled egg with cucumber alongside OR something slightly more sophisticated with 5-10 ingredients OR a full-on roast type affair. If you are having a day where you can only stretch to scrambled egg and cucumber, that’s what you serve. Check in with yourself. If it has been a hard day for whatever reason don’t push yourself harder. You’ll find paradoxically that easing off a bit will give you more energy for the next thing.

Oh the pill box has reminded me, I get my pills delivered in Dossett boxes, if you are on regular medication this is worth exploring.

I take pills morning and night so I have a reminders on Alexa and when I take my morning pills I leave the Dossett box on my bed so I remember to take them.

If I have to take something with me it either is put at the front door so I physically have to step over it to forget.

If it is something that has to be kept in the fridge (work colleagues like my cheesecake) then there is a post it note on the front door to remind me.

When I was doing my PGCE another student said, "I wish we had a uniform, it would make life much easier", I pointed out that you can make your own uniform and that I had done that. Black linen trousers and the same blouse in 6 different colours.

I was a bee. Definitely not accurate. The problem with these quizes is that they want to separate traits in to Black and white and there is no room for nuances.

Washing: always fold and put away what doesn't need ironing (95% of the stuff!!) I put out socks in pairs & fold them when picking off the line. Ours are colour coded, DC grey & black, DH blue and me white.

My very forgetful husband has a to do list pinned to his phone home screen, so he sees it all the time and doesn't forget about it or lose the list

Hey! First off, you’re definitely not an idiot—AuDHD brains just like to multitask in… creative ways 😅. A few tips that help me stay a bit more organised:1. Lists & reminders everywhere – phone reminders, sticky notes, or a small notebook in your bag. Even a “brain dump” list each morning helps.2. Zones for tasks – like kitchen, car, purse, medicine cabinet. Keep essential items in each zone so you don’t have to scramble.3. Mini kits – e.g., a tiny emergency kit in your bag: plasters, painkillers, hand sanitizer, snacks. Same for the car: water, snacks, small first aid kit.4. Timers & alarms – set the oven timer AND a phone alarm; if you get distracted, it’ll bring you back.5. Batch tasks – clean one area at a time or do similar tasks together, instead of letting them pull you all over the house.6. Visual reminders – clear containers, labels, and colour-coding help you know where things belong without thinking too hard.Little steps add up! Celebrate the wins, like remembering plasters—those small victories count 💪. You’re already on the right track!