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work-arounds

work-arounds2011-05-04T01:36:15+00:00
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  • #89535

    sdwa
    Participant
    Post count: 363

    People might think this is funny, but I finally got so tired of not being able to keep track of my socks, I gave up and now only buy black socks, of the same brand and style. They always match!

    Dirty dishes used to pile up in the sink … until I decided to only own as many as I’d be willing to wash in the space of five minutes. Problem solved!

    Most useful organizing strategy: Not having a lot of stuff. Less is more, for me. Otherwise I keep losing stuff, and replace it, and end up with 8 pairs of scissors or whatever.

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    #103671

    Wgreen
    Participant
    Post count: 445

    I love the sock thing. Brilliant.

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    #103672

    Anonymous
    Inactive
    Post count: 14413

    I’ve been doing the sock thing for a few years now. I love it, works fine for me. Another thing I do is I basically live in jeans and t-shirts, which may not be practical for some but works for me just fine. Easier to keep track of my clothes, and there’s less laundry to do.

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    #103673

    Anonymous
    Inactive
    Post count: 14413

    Ahhh, buy the same kind of socks. That sounds great until you run into someone like me who then obsessses over matching up socks of the same shade of black (or white ones like my son always buys) or black socks that are all equally faded/same amount of wear. You can see where this is going.

    I’ve got a nit-picky side to me for any kind of clothes I wear so that part would drive me crazy. I still do better with socks that are totally different. When I lose one I just put it into a small drawer where it can await its mate. If the mate never shows up, I like to blame my dog for the socks disappearance since he has an inexplicable fondness for the socks of all family members. Socks canNOT be left unguarded. It’s owner beware!

    Another perfect solution to that ‘lost’ sock is to buy a cute little dog!

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    #103674

    Zita
    Member
    Post count: 27

    That makes a lot of sense, we do the sock thing too. Every couple of years we do a huge purge, we actually rent a big garbage bin and just chuck, I love it, there’s no sorting, or septations, just chuck. The guy we rent the garbage been sorts it, he takes it where in needs to go. Love it!! Especially now, we’re only allowed to put 6 bags of garbage out, so if you want to clean a closet or something it’s hard to get rid of.

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    #103675

    wawabyjohnah
    Participant
    Post count: 50

    I do the sock thing too. Now wear black socks most of the time.

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    #103676

    kc5jck
    Participant
    Post count: 845

    I only have black socks too. I keep my socks in a small box and place the freshly washed ones in the bottom to maintain a first in first out usage so they get rotated for wear. I pretty much wear blue jeans and t shirts, and go barefooted a lot. I’ve donated about five or six gallons of blood so I have a lot of shirts from the blood bank.

    We have a second washer and dryer in a garage/house where I wash my clothes. Usually I pile the dirty laundry next to the washer and the clean is either in the dryer or in a separate pile a little further from the dryer.

    I read recently that people with ADD tend to organize in piles.

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    #103677

    Stash
    Participant
    Post count: 59

    Days of the week socks. All seven days. Sometimes I wear Saturday on Wednesday just to give myself a boost! (Saturday socks are happy socks and I work a lot of saturdays!)

    One habit that I can’t explain the origins of, but that I’m so thankful for, is that I always fold or hang my clothes as I pull them out of the dryer. Perhaps it has more to do with the fact that if it needs to be ironed, it’s likely going to sit in my closet until I evenutally throw it out. 😉

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    #103678

    Stash
    Participant
    Post count: 59

    Argh! “eventually”

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    #103679

    Anonymous
    Inactive
    Post count: 14413

    kc5jck said,”I read recently that people with ADD tend to organize in piles.”

    Well, I sure do! But it’s getting ridiculous, so I am beginning to put stuff that I don’t use often into bins and store it in the garage. I tape a paper to the top of the bin that says what’s inside it and I give the bin a number or letter.

    Then I take a file card for each bin and write the number and what is in the bin, and keep that in a file box inside the house. Now, if I can just keep from losing the file box!!

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    #103680

    Anonymous
    Inactive
    Post count: 14413

    Does anyone else get tired of always apologizing for a litany of sins: interrupting, forgetting, not finishing something, being late, not listening, etc, etc, etc. I told my husband tonight that I really get tired of contantly apologizing for how I am, right after I screamed “SORRY!” I really AM tired of apologizing all the time! (sigh)

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    #103681

    Anonymous
    Inactive
    Post count: 14413

    My ADD husband has only black socks. I have mostly black socks, a few gray ones, but my issue is that I have small feet for a female, and the only size they sell in stores here are too big. So I have to buy child-sized socks.

    Stash, I have started doing the same thing with the laundry, because otherwise they just stay in the laundry basket and when we do more laundry there is nowhere to put it. It takes a lot longer to do laundry when you have to deal with the previous week (or month)’s laundry putting-away too.

    Monkeybarb, sounds like you have a good storage system going, my goal is to get rid of stuff so it’s not sitting in bins or boxes unused. Today’s a day off so I am going to cruise the house looking for stuff to take to the dump (like plywood scraps, for example, and empty boxes that can’t be used for storage).

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    #103682

    wolfshades
    Member
    Post count: 211

    MonkeyBarb: Oh yes. I don’t know how you would get around it though. Maybe if it’s spousal thing, there might come a point (for some, not for everyone) when the non-AdHD partner can begin to realize “this is who I am” and go on from there. But when it comes to others? Probably too much to expect them to understand.

    Still though – it’s so embarrassing to have to apologize all the time. But, you have to, don’t you? Can’t tell you how many birthdays I’ve missed, or the times I’ve been late – all because I found something that caught my eye when I was on my way to go to that thing I was supposed to do. (Like now, for example. I have an appointment at 11:30 but here I am, reading all these delightful thoughtful stories and responding, instead of getting ready)

    As for the socks thing: YES! I decided a long time to not only buy the same colour socks (I have an equal number of black socks and an equal number of white socks), but the same brand. And I don’t buy one or two pair at a time. I buy a a whole bunch of them, from the same store every time. Matching problem solved.

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    #103683

    Anonymous
    Inactive
    Post count: 14413

    The socks idea is great. I am so tired of ADH, of my screwups and of how little drugs seem to be doing to

    change/modify my AHD brain… just fed up with it all. Seems pointless to apologise, Behavior Mods sort of help

    but limited .. any ideas on that .. trying breathing exercises but as soon as things go wrong or there is any kind

    of household emergency .. i fold .. freak out … i get to the point where i am fedup with me ..

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    #103684

    wolfshades
    Member
    Post count: 211

    Tea, I remember being at one of Dr. J.’s seminar where he talked about this. I think I remember him saying that the meds won’t actually serve to change our behaviours – they just serve to quieten us enough so that we can think straight. He suggested that the second part of ADHD treatment is to get some counselling or coaching (I think he may have mentioned CBT – cognitive behaviour therapy). The coping mechanisms we’ve used all of our lives often turn into habits which we sort of need to address, so that we can form new habits.

    I haven’t gone for this yet, but definitely see the need for it for myself.

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