Everything Has a Home: Making Your Space ADHD-Friendly

If you or someone you live with has ADHD, it may seem like clutter always finds a way into your home. Even if you’re not neurodivergent, you may experience difficulty with organizing your items. Oftentimes, this isn’t because folks are “messy.” Really, they may have difficulty with task execution, object permanence, and other barriers to keeping items tidy.

This is where “Everything Has a Home,” a philosophy developed by Dave Crenshaw, comes into play. This concept believes that having a designated space for each item in your house allows for improvement in organization and tidiness. This means that there’s a home for scrap paper, receipts, paper clips, your keys, throw pillows, and everything else.

Here are some tips for making a home for everything:

• Notice where things seem to be left, and consider creating homes in those areas. For example, if you notice that you always leave towels on the bathroom floor, consider placing a basket there specifically for towels. Similarly, if you find yourself reaching for the first aid kit often, consider placing it in an easy-to-find area.

• Choose one high-traffic area to start, like your bathroom or front door area.

• Make it make sense, whatever this means for you. Place highlighters near pens, put your keys with your wallet, etc..

• If you’re not using clear containers, label the organizers so you know what’s inside. This is particularly helpful for the ADHD brain!

Here are some benefits of this philosophy:

• It helps you remember where things are, because they only have one designated place they can be.

• Tidying is faster and less mentally draining because there’s less decision-making about where to place an object

• Every person in your household can find everything they need once “homes” for objects are established

You probably have homes for objects that you have unintentionally already created in your home. Try spending five minutes (or whatever amount of time is realistic for you) “sending things home” and seeing how you can make your home accessible for your brain!