How Do Thing?

A collection of steps for a variety of tasks, particularly housework.If you need help figuring out how to do something, please send an ask and we will give you some steps to follow.If you have a tried-and-true method for completing a task, please submit...

[taskbreakdowns]

Long-Term Planning with Executive Dysfunction

1. Brainstorm. What would make your life better? What would help you feel happy and content?

2. Categorize. Group your ideas by what part of your life they affect the most. For example, Work, School, Family, Spirituality, Household, Finances.

3. Write. 1-3 goals per category, using the 4 A’s:

Accurate. Describe your goal clearly, so you know what you want to achieve.

Assessable. Your goal should be something you can measure, such as cleaning a room. Try to find a way to make it a positive expectation—you are increasing, not decreasing.

Attainable. Make sure that your goal is something you are capable of achieving.

Applicable. Does your goal make sense, given your desires, skills, and preferences?

4. Save. Keep your goals easily accessible, so you can remind yourself of what you're working towards. (Also, we'll be using them in next week's post!)

[taskbreakdowns]

Overwhelmed? Try Goals & gravy!

Bonus: Triplets

Executive dysfunction tends to result in long lists of stuff we need or want to do. Sometimes they’re prioritized, sometimes they’re categorized, sometimes they’re broken down into smaller steps. The common trait is that they’re ridiculously long and overwhelming.

Here’s one way to manage that overwhelming list when your “can” has fled the premises but stuff still needs to happen. (I call these “Bad Brain Days.”)

Goals & gravy

Goals & gravy is a deceptively simple way to help yourself feel like you’ve accomplished something in spite of your brain giving up.

Goals

Choose three tasks that need to get done in the next three days.

gravy

Choose three tasks that you want to do.

Do a Goal, then do a gravy. The gravy tasks are fun rewards for getting Goals done.

Don’t forget to celebrate every task you complete—that helps with more than just habits!

If you do other tasks on your list, they are bonuses and that’s even more awesomesauce!

Bonus: Triplets

Triplets are sets of three tasks that you follow with a break. This gives you a much smaller focus to look at when you have a long list of tasks, and that keeps it from being quite so overwhelming.

Try to keep the tasks you use for triplets smaller.

A triplet consisting of two or three large jobs that will each take longer than 20 minutes to complete isn’t going to work as well.

If that’s what you’re looking at, take one of those big jobs and break it down into three segments for your triplet.

No, it isn’t cheating. The whole point is that you’re trying to trick your brain into letting you do stuff. If you have to make it think that you’re doing less than you are, so be it.

Sometimes we have to use weird analogies to get us through things. You probably aren’t really tricking your brain, you’re actually reminding it that things aren’t as hard as it thinks they are.

It’s still not cheating, though. You have executive dysfunction, and that makes it hard to do stuff. Which means that if something makes it easier for you to do the thing, it’s an accommodation and you’re fine.

Our lives aren’t a game or a test. Making lives easier is what people do every day, and doing something differently from other people isn’t wrong if the result is that it gets done.

(Caveat: if your alternative method causes harm to someone else, you probably need to find a new one.)

[taskbreakdowns]

Forming habits when you have executive dysfunction

Believe it or not, we can actually form habits that we want in our lives, not just the kind we wish we could quit! It requires effort and a refusal to give up, but it is definitely possible.

Here’s what to do:

Figure out what things you do every day.

Decide what you want to add, and choose one of the things from step 1 to go right before the new habit.

Figure out the smallest part of the new habit. For example, if you want to start brushing your teeth before bed, you might choose “get out toothbrush and toothpaste.”

Decide how you’re going to celebrate after you do that tiny step. You could smile at yourself in the mirror, jump up and down, clap your hands, or any number of other things.

Start doing your new habit and celebration.

If you miss a day, do your best to do it the next day. Missing once in a while isn’t a big deal, as long as you get back to it as soon as you can.

[taskbreakdowns]

Breaking down goals when you have executive dysfunction

One of the hardest parts of executive dysfunction is planning. There are a lot of different parts, and all of them require skills we do not have!

This Tumblr is here to help with breaking tasks and projects down into steps, but even once you have that, there’s figuring out how long stuff is going to take and scheduling each step so you get things done on time. And then you have to battle inertia to actually do the things!

But let’s go back to the beginning. Sure, if you need the steps for a task you can look here or send an ask. But what if that’s not an option, or the steps we have aren’t going to work for you?

Here is how you break down a task into its steps. I will use brushing your teeth as my example. Yes, you are going to find out exactly how I brush my teeth

1. Write down the task.

Brushing my teeth.

2. Write down all of the things you can think of that need to happen to do the task, including fetching materials. Don’t worry about the order yet.

Put toothpaste on toothbrush

Put toothbrush on outside of back upper molars

Scrub outside of upper teeth

Scrub outside of bottom teeth

Scrub top of bottom teeth

Scrub bottom of upper teeth

Scrub inside of upper teeth

Scrub inside of bottom teeth

Get toothbrush

Get toothpaste

Brush top of tongue

Rinse mouth with lukewarm water

Get cup

Rinse toothbrush

Put away toothbrush

Put cap on toothpaste

Put toothpaste away

Rinse rim of cup

Put cup away

Remember you should brush your teeth

Go to bathroom sink

3. Figure out what order the steps actually go in. Think about whether you can do the next step in your list after the first one, and also think about the order you usually do the steps in. If you realize you forgot something, add it now!

Remember you should brush your teeth

Go to bathroom sink

Get toothbrush

Get toothpaste

Get cup

Put toothpaste on toothbrush

Put cap on toothpaste

Put toothpaste away

Put toothbrush on outside of back upper molars

Scrub outside of upper teeth

Scrub outside of bottom teeth

Scrub top of bottom teeth

Scrub bottom of upper teeth

Scrub inside of upper teeth

Scrub inside of bottom teeth

Brush top of tongue

Rinse mouth with lukewarm water

Rinse rim of cup

Put cup away

Rinse toothbrush

Put away toothbrush

Smile big on the mirror and celebrate!

4. Test your steps and tweak as needed. Don’t forget to celebrate when you’re done!

[taskbreakdowns]

SMART Goals for people with executive dysfunction

People all over are talking about setting goals right now, because it’s the beginning of a new year. The big buzz word for goals has been to make them SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. I’m not a fan of SMART goals myself, but I know they’re great for some people. So if you want to give them a try, here are the steps to follow.

Specific

Decide what you want to achieve. Really drill down to what it is and why.

For example, if you want to read more books, put a number on that and decide what types of books you want to read. One book a week? That’s 52 books in a year. Do you want them to be fiction or non-fiction or does it matter? Is it that you want to read more or that you want to read more women authors, or authors of a particular race, or maybe more books about a type of person? This is helpful because it gives you the criteria you’ll need for choosing your books, which lessens decision fatigue.

It also helps you know when you’ve achieved the goal.

Measurable

It’s way easier to measure something positive than negative (depending on what you’re talking about).

For example, if I want to skin-pick less often, I would need to have a baseline of how much I actually do it in order to measure whether I’m doing it less often.

Instead, I would figure out what I want to do instead of skin-picking, and then measure how many times I do the replacement behaviour vs how many times I just keep picking.

Achievable

Make sure you choose something you’re going to be able to do. You can make it something that might be difficult, but don’t make it impossible.

For example, I see social media people talk about setting goals for how many followers you’re going to have. I dislike that because it’s dependent on other people’s behaviour, and I have zero control over that.

Instead, I would set goals around how many times per week I will post to social media. That’s my behaviour, and while ADHD makes it difficult to control sometimes, I have way more control over what I do than what someone else does.

Relevant

Your goals need to make sense for your life.

It would be ridiculous for me to set a goal to go to the gym three times a week since I live in the country and there’s a pandemic going on.

What I can do, however, is set a goal to go for a walk every day and to do at-home strength training three times a week.

Time-based

Goals need end dates to be effective, especially for those of us with crappy executive functioning. That deadline gives us the needed push to get stuff done.

So a goal to write a novel is great, but it’ll be better if you have a date by which you want to have it finished.

Examples in full (not my actual goals):

I will read 52 science fiction novels by December 31, 2022.

When I notice that I am skin-picking, I will pick up my knitting instead and finish two shawls this way by December 31, 2022.

I will post on Instagram three times a week, for a total of 156 posts by December 31, 2022.

I will prepare to walk a 5k in September 2022 by walking outside for at least 30 minutes a day, six days a week, once the weather is warm enough to do so.

I will finish the final draft of my in-progress novel by June 30, 2022.

Breaking it down

The biggest problem for us is that all of these goals need to be broken down further before we can really begin working on them.

We need to know all of the steps that will get us to that deadline, and we need to schedule them appropriately so we aren’t scrambling too much to get there.

If you need help breaking things down, that’s what this blog is for—please send an ask! If you, like me, think SMART goals aren’t all that smart for us, make sure you watch the Actually ADHD web site (http://actuallyadhd.org) this month, because I’ll be writing about some other ways to tackle our goals.

[taskbreakdowns]

New Year’s Resolutions, Executive Dysfunction Style

It’s 2022 now, and of course everyone around us is talking about goals and vision boards and words for the year. This post is meant to be a humorous look at how such things typically go for those of us with executive dysfunction.

(I was going to do a flowchart infographic but I ran out of time. Of course.)

Realize it’s New Year’s Eve and you haven’t made your resolutions yet.

Look for your resolutions from last January. Find, instead, a short story you wrote and your resolutions from three years ago. Set the story aside so you can read it later.

Read over your three-year-old resolutions. Note that some of them are still things you want to accomplish, and the rest are completely unrelated to anything about your life now. Recycle them.

Research goal-setting and resolutions by watching YouTube videos and reading blog posts.

Follow the steps from everything you watched and read. End up with ten different sets of resolutions.

Compare the resolutions to each other and decide to combine some, so you have just one set.

Try to break down each resolution into smaller steps. Realize that you have no idea what’s involved in some of these things.

Start researching the areas you don’t know enough about. Follow All The Rabbit Trails. Become an expert on repairing toilets, something you will probably never need to do in your life.

Start scheduling the steps for your resolutions in your new planner. Realize that it has a goal-setting section, which was one of the reasons you got it.

Re-do all of your resolutions using your planner’s goal-setting section.

Lose your planner two weeks into the new year, prompting you to purchase a new one. This one hasn’t got a goal-planning section, but you’re over that. As long as you know when your appointments are, it’s fine.

[This was supposed to be funny, as I said, but if you’re interested in my thoughts on setting goals when you have ADHD, keep an eye on http://actuallyadhd.org this month. I have plans.)

[taskbreakdowns]

Filing Using Cubbies

Okay, so if you don’t like folders and binders aren’t for you, you could try cubbies. Now, what I’m thinking of is something like this (store link, easiest way to describe it, not affiliated etc. etc.) so that’s what I’ll be speaking to here.

What you need:

a pencil

a filing cubby structure

recycling bin

shredder

some Bankers boxes (put together)

coloured paper or labels

scissors

clear tape (Scotch or packing)

a black marker

Post-Its

What you do:

Pick up the first piece of paper in your box of papers to file. Decide if you need to keep it.

If you do not need to keep this paper, put it in your recycling bin.

If you do need to keep this paper, put it in a Bankers box. Use your pencil to write what it is on a Post-It and stick it to the box. Think big categories for now: money, writing, vehicles, etc.

Repeat steps 1-3, grouping your papers by type.

Once you’re finished with this pre-sorting, you have some decisions to make.

Start by deciding a time frame for what you will keep accessible. For example, the current year’s financial papers could be kept accessible until you’ve done your taxes.

Take a box and begin sorting the contents by where they’re from or what they’re about. You might have a pile of documentation bout your vacuum cleaner, another for the washing machine, etc.

Sort each pile into chronological order, if applicable.

Divide the piles into what you need to keep accessible vs what can be put away.

Put the papers you want to archive back into your Bankers box.

Set your “accessible” piles on top of your Bankers box.

Note how many categories you have on the Post-It.

Repeat steps 1-7 for each Bankers box.

Total how many categories you have all together.

Decide how you are going to set up your cubbies. You might want to group all financial things together but use more than one cubby for it.

Decide if you want to hand write your labels or print them off the computer or using a typewriter.

See what colours you have available in your pens or labels/dots and assign a colour to each Bankers box category.

Create your labels and stick them onto the edges of your cubbies (bottom or top edge).

Place your papers into the applicable cubbies.

And you’re done!

[neurodiversitysci]

Slow cookers/crockpots are a great low-spoons way of cooking. Lots of recipes not intended for crockpots can be adapted for them; here’s how.

[taskbreakdowns]

Image Description below the cut:

3 pink squares with words in them as follows:

Oven or stovetop cooking time 15 - 30 minutes = LOW cooking time 4 - 6 hrs OR HIGH cooking time 1.5 - 2.5 hrs

3 blue squares with words in them as follows:

Oven or stovetop cooking time 35 - 40 minutes = LOW cooking time 6-8 hrs OR HIGH cooking time 3 - 4 hrs

2 yellow squares and 1 white square with words in them as follows:

Oven or stovetop cooking time 50 min - 3 hrs = LOW cooking time 8 - 10 hrs OR HIGH cooking time 4 - 6 hrs

[fairypsychicarchive]

Ok so I rly fucking need to clean my house. Do any other People With Depression™ have any tips or ways you motivate urself to clean? Because this feels like the hardest goddamn thing in the world even tho I know it’s not and I’m just continually frustrated with myself and have been for the past two weeks.

[mossman-making-stars]

HOO BOY DO I HAVE DEPRESSION/EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION CLEANING TIPS

in no particular order (because I have depression and executive dysfunction):

1. If something sensory about cleaning bothers you, eliminate that before you start. For example, I wear gloves to do the dishes. If the sound of the vacuum bothers you, wear headphones and turn up the music. etc.

2. If you can, make a list of everything that needs to be done. Then acknowledge that you probably can’t do it all, and circle all the things that absolutely, no matter what, have to be done. Pick one (ONE! ONLY ONE! START WITH ONE!) of those things and break it down into smaller steps. Then even smaller steps. Seriously, if step one is “stand up” and step two is “walk to closet” and step 3 is “get mop”, that’s fine. It can be that small.

3. Take a break. “But I literally only started five minutes ago!” Don’t care. If you want a break, take a break. “At this point I’ve spent more time on breaks than I’ve spent on cleaning.” Ok, but you’ve spent more than zero time on cleaning, so you’ve accomplished more than you had at the beginning. “If I take a break it won’t get done!” If you burn out it won’t get done either. Take a break.

4. If nothing is working, try what I call bin cleaning/box cleaning. Take a big trash bag and a box. Pick up the first object you see. Step 1: Is it trash? Put it in the trash bag. Step 2: Will you use it in the next 2 days? No? Put it in the box. It’s a problem for Future You. If you’ll use it in the next 2 days, take time to put it away. Rinse and repeat.

5. Did you get distracted and forget what you were doing? Don’t worry about it. Just clean a thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s the thing you were cleaning before. You have to clean lots of things, so just pick a thing and clean it. Eventually you’ll get around to the thing you forgot.

6. If you have to do a thing you really hate, do a thing you like afterwards. I hate doing dishes, but folding laundry soothes me, so that’s a nice one to do afterwards. YMMV. If there are no cleaning things you like that you can do afterwards, see number 3.

7. Make it fun. Play loud music and dance while you’re cleaning. Wear something that makes you feel cute, or if you prefer, something comfy. Light your favorite candle. Whatever.

8. If it’s nice out, open a window. Seriously, it helps.

[fairypsychicarchive]

This is seriously so helpful, thank you.

[andreashettle]

Pretty sure I’ve reblogged this before, but worth doing again. Number three, about giving yourself permission to take breaks as often as you need them even if it means spending more time on breaks than working. This one was an especially hard message for me to internalize after I was finally diagnosed with ADD at about age 26. First I had to unlearn the idea that breaks were something I should always first “earn” by first having success in getting myself focused enough to start a task and then complete a certain substantive level of productivity (say, a certain number of pages of writing). I had to learn that people with executive dysfunction do, in fact, actually NEED more frequent breaks because our brains have to work a lot harder than other people, and drain more energy more quickly. And what that means is, don’t compare the frequency and duration of your breaks and what other people are doing. You may be taking many more longer breaks than your family, friends, neighbors, whomever. But you also NEED the breaks more.

[crusticroc]

Struggling with ADHD (and other mental illnesses) organizing things and keeping them organized is not one of my talents. At all. No.

The first two pictures are in fact good days I’ve had much worse. (much. worse.)

So while I actually consider the before to be just a small mess it still took me 3 days to clean.

I’d rather not do something at all than not do it properly. It has to be perfect.

I get distracted easily :))))

I only have super short time periods in which I can force myself to stay motivated.

executive dysfunction strikes again….

But now I am more than just satisfied with the outcome, because I was able to do it myself and it reached the level of perfect I am comfortable with. I didn’t only clean up my room but I also bought some plants and fairy lights to make my room look cuter.

In general I just think my room now looks like it popped right out of an Ikea catalogue. And everything has its place even though my space is so limited.

side note: I used to passionately hate pink.. now look at me ^.^

[adhd-community]

I find having everything in order really helps me clear my mind and relax. My room is messy most of the time but I hate having it that way.

When you can work up the energy to clean it can be so wonderful.

Something that has helped for me is listening to music while cleaning and sometimes setting an alarm of 5-15 minutes so I know I don’t have to do it for too long (trying to stop myself from the all or nothing scenario!).

I’m so proud of adhders when they do something like clean their rooms or cook. It can be so hard and you are all amazing for getting things done.

Anyone have any tips or tricks for cleaning?

[adhdandcats]

Setting a timer for a short burst of cleaning is SUCH a good idea. Why have I never thought of that?!

My tip is to hire a cleaning service because that is how much I suck. Someone comes every other week while I’m at work and cleans up all my junk. So my credit cards won’t be paid off as soon as they would have been had I not hired the cleaning service … but at least I can find things sometimes!

[taskbreakdowns]

This whole blog (@taskbreakdowns) is tips for getting stuff done, mostly cleaning and organizing! Check it out and see if you have something you can contribute!

[taskbreakdowns]

The next organizing post is done up as cards, and I’ve done full-page versions as well! The new post has a thick blue border on the pages/cards so that you can locate them quickly and know they go together. I’ll be using different colours for the borders for each set of cards. Hooray for free printables!

[taskbreakdowns]

Filing using binders

In my last post, I explained how to file using file folders. Today I’m going to discuss using binders for filing.

What you need:

a pencil

a three-hold punch

a bunch of binders, some 1″ and some 2 or 3″

a bunch of dividers plus some pocket dividers

manila envelopes about 5″ tall

recycling bin

shredder

some Bankers boxes (put together)

a book case

coloured paper (more than one colour)

scissors

clear tape (Scotch or packing)

a black marker

Post-Its

What you do:

Pick up the first piece of paper in your box of papers to file. Decide if you need to keep it.

If you do not need to keep this paper, put it in your recycling bin.

If you do need to keep this paper, put it in a Bankers box. Use your pencil to write what it is on a Post-It and stick it to the box. Think big categories for now: money, writing, vehicles, etc.

Repeat steps 1-3, grouping your papers by type.

Once you’re finished with this pre-sorting, you have some decisions to make.

Start by deciding a time frame for what you will keep accessible. For example, the current year’s financial papers could be kept accessible until you’ve done your taxes.

Take a box and begin sorting the contents by where they’re from or what they’re about. You might have a pile of documentation bout your vacuum cleaner, another for the washing machine, etc.

Sort each pile into chronological order, if applicable.

Divide the piles into what you need to keep accessible vs what can be put away.

Take a 1″ binder and put your first “accessible” pile into it. Put manuals in pocket dividers and receipts into envelopes (hole punch the envelopes first).

If there is enough room, you can put more than one “accessible” pile into the 1″ binder. Use dividers to keep them separated.

Label the spine of the binder using coloured paper, a marker, and tape. Use the same colour of paper for each binder in the category you’re sorting.

Put the 1″ binders on the book case.

Put the remaining papers into your 2 or 3″ binders in the same fashion. These will be your long-term storage files.

Put the 2 or 3″ binders into the Bankers boxes and use your marker to label the boxes.

Repeat steps 1-10 for each Bankers box.

And you’re done!

[actuallyadhd]

Hi so I just wanted to share something I recently started doing to help get my room cleaned and organized and avoid that, “ohmygod there’s so much to do” crisis which leads to nothing getting done because you’re too overwhelmed. To break it down I drew my room, basically like a blueprint. Then you make a simple (I stress SIMPLE) checklist for the things you have to do in each section. Then, I went through and coded it with four colors. Green= simplest/fastest/least effort Yellow= slightly more effort/slightly more time needed Orange= medium time required/ medium-a lot of effort needed Red(I used pink because it’s highlighter)= lots of energy/ maybe requires tools/ lots of time

Then to the left I have a sort of key with four check boxes for each of the colors so when I completely finish, for example all the green ones, then I can check that off.

This gives you a clear visual of the things you can do right away, like pick up dishes, that takes maybe thirty seconds to collect them and bring them to the kitchen(green). And the things that should get done absolute LAST, like for me, replacing the light fixture.

And lastly I’d just like to explain some of the points on my own personal one pictured above which could be confusing. I have a loft bed so my bed is on top of my desk (like bunk beds) so I just split that area in two to account for the two separate areas that needed cleaned. Then up towards the top I have a list point named “colleges”, that’s because I’m a junior in high school and have received multitudes of college info pamphlets which I need to go through and sort. Then the area at the bottom with “trim pillows” and “wash windows is my windowsill. And finally, I have two points for “trash” because one is picking up trash around the room, and the second is taking out the trash when it is full. :) So you can see that it is very easy to personalize. And easier to look at then just a written list of the things you need to do.

I love this! What a great way to do it if you’re a really visual thinker!

[Image is a picture of the diagram described in the text.]

-J

[taskbreakdowns]

Filing using folders

Filing seems daunting at first, but once you get started it’s actually pretty easy and kind of fun!

So there are a few ways to store your papers, and we’re going to look at a couple in this series of posts.

First up: tried and true classic file folders.

What you need:

a pencil

a ton of empty file folders (I recommend the white or beige ones, they’re cheaper and you can colour-code using pens and stickers instead)

recycling bin

shredder

a nice pen or set of coloured pens (they need to write clearly and the colour needs to stand out on white)

stick-on labels with colour stripes or white labels and coloured dots

a filing cabinet or some Bankers boxes

What you do:

Pick up the first piece of paper in your box of papers to file. Decide if you need to keep it.

If you do not need to keep this paper, put it in your recycling bin.

If you do need to keep this paper, write what it is in pencil on the tab of a folder and put it in the folder.

Repeat steps 1-3, except check to see if you already have a folder for the thing so you don’t end up with more than one for something.

Tips:

For bills and correspondence, make a folder for each place or person so that you have a folder for your phone and one for gas and one for your Aunt Edna and one for your grandpa.

Sort your folders alphabetically from the start so it’s easy to look up specific folders.

Once you’re finished with this pre-sorting, you have some decisions to make.

Start by sorting your folders by type. Make a pile for financial stuff, one for work, one for school, one for correspondence, etc.

Decide if you want to hand write your labels or print them off the computer or using a typewriter.

See what colours you have available in your pens or labels/dots and assign a colour to each category of folder.

Create your labels and stick them onto the tabs of your folders.

Keep your categories together but alphabetize within that (e.g., ACME invoices will go before SPCA donation receipts).

Put your folders into your filing cabinet or Bankers boxes in order.

Label the drawers/boxes with the category that’s inside.

You’re done!

[taskbreakdowns]

Free printable PDF's of our original posts!

The idea here is that you can just print, cut out, laminate, and use as a check list (dry erase marker needed). See photos for example:

So far just the Crash-Cleaning is done (because I wanted them for myself today), but the related posts (for sorting) will get added to the folder as I get them formatted.

If you submitted steps to us in the past and are willing to have your steps turned into handy-dandy check list cards, please let me know so I can get your post(s) on the list of things to format!

[the-guacamole-demon]

my mother used to do something like this for me as a kid! if you don’t want to/don’t have the means to laminate them, sheet protectors work just as well and they’re a lot cheaper! plus that way you can change out or alter lists as your routines change

[taskbreakdowns]

That’s a good point; would people also like full-page copies that they can stick into page protectors? Because that’s also a thing I could provide. (Make sure the page protectors are the smooth kind, the bumpy matte ones don’t work like lamination does.)

[taskbreakdowns]

Free printable PDF's of our original posts!

The idea here is that you can just print, cut out, laminate, and use as a check list (dry erase marker needed). See photos for example:

So far just the Crash-Cleaning is done (because I wanted them for myself today), but the related posts (for sorting) will get added to the folder as I get them formatted.

If you submitted steps to us in the past and are willing to have your steps turned into handy-dandy check list cards, please let me know so I can get your post(s) on the list of things to format!

[taskbreakdowns]

Sorting your stuff: Step Three.

This comes after this post.

So far you have done a Crash Cleaning and you did your pre-sorting, and then you did your major sort (see first link).

In my last post we talked about getting your things sorted out according to type of activity. Which means you have a bunch of boxes of stuff with sticky notes on them, and of course that’s not ideal.

Choose a category to start with. Once you’ve done this process once it will be a lot easier to do with the rest of your stuff.

So take your box(es) of stuff. This should all be stuff you use for similar things. I’m going to use art sutff as an example because artists tend to have a lot of different but related items. I kno I do!

In my collection of art supplies, I have:

a variety of pencils, graphite, and charcoal;

many crayons, markers, and pencil crayons (coloured pencils);

plasticene (modeling clay), Play-Doh, and actual clay (the kind that dries out);

sketch books of different types and sizes;

coloured cellophane;

various cutting implements;

acrylic paints, oil paints, and watercolour paints;

one set of brushes for each type of paint; and

other painting implements (like palettes, painting paper, and so on).

I have other stuff do; I’m pretty well-stocked, and then I also have crafting supplies and sewing and stuff

Anyway. Here’s how to give your stuff a permanent home.

Take the box(es) of stuff and divide it all up a little more. For example, I don’t keep full sketchbooks with empty ones, and I do keep my watercolour brushes with those paints and my acrylic brushes with those paints.

See how big a pile you have for each smaller grouping. For example, my tubes of acrylic paint are larger (by a lot) than my watercolour tubes, which means I need a larger container for my acrylics.

Decide how you are going to store the things. I personally love Rubbermaid Roughneck totes, but for certain types of things I prefer clear Sterilite bins. The idea here is permanence, but you need functional as well. I label my bins with a black Sharpie --- writing on the ends and the sides --- if they’re opaque. The other thing I love about totes and bins is that if you get a lot of the same type, they will stack nicely. This keeps your space organized and looking good.

Get the bins and/or shelving you will need to store the things. I recommend still using bins of some type on shelves since they keep your activity groupings organized better. This way when you need to choose a card for a special occasion, you can just pull down your bin of cards and go through them, and if you acquire new blank cards you can drop them into that same bin.

Put your grouped items into your storage implements and label your bins as needed. Stack your bins or set them on shelves.

Repeat steps 1-5 for each activity grouping in the room.

How do you keep this organized?

When you are going to do an activity, get the applicable bin and bring it to your work space.

When you are finished for the day, put everything back and return the bin to its home.

Important: Never fall for “I’ll come back to this later today/tomorrow.” You won’t. And it’s easy enough to retrieve the bin when you do want to work on it next. (If you’re painting or working on something that needs to dry, set the painting on an easel to dry and put away your paints, or have a specific place or empty, lidless bin to put things in to dry.)