My ADHD-Friendly Laundry System
Less is More
As I wrote here yesterday, for people with ADHD, having constraints make things easier.
First of all, I have a capsule wardrobe to limit my options and not ever feel too overwhelmed. A capsule wardrobe, in a nutshell, is just a set of basics that you can mix and match for almost any occasion. You can swap clothes in and out by season. I made sure that most of the clothes I own don’t ever need to be ironed.
Second, this is still a work in progress, but for undergarments, I like just having a lot of the same, and this is especially useful for socks, so that I don’t have to spend time trying to match them.
I don’t ever do laundry until I’m out of something. By having a limited amount of clothes, that guarantees I will not have a mountain of dirty laundry piled up for extended periods of time.
Sorting before Wash
I’ve found it’s easier to sort as I go rather than at the end, so I have a bunch of really narrow laundry hampers for me to throw clothes in (lights, darks, delicates, towels, etc.)
After Wash
This is the most time intensive so obviously, it’s also the hardest part of the process. I have three levels of “done” depending on how I feel that day. I can always advance another level at a future time as well.
Level 1 Done
After the dry cycle, I just leave the clothes in the dryer until I’m ready to hang everything. My dryer has an anti-wrinkle feature, which just means it spins every once in awhile. I don’t usually procrastinate on this for more than a couple hours.
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For stuff I care less about (undergarments, for example), everything just gets dumped into a clean laundry hamper and I fish for what I need when I need it.
Level 2 Done
I have a rolling rack that goes in between the laundry and closet. I’ll hang everything nicer and wheel it into my closet and call it done.
Everything that goes into drawers gets thrown in, sorted in the right categories but either not folded at all or very roughly folded.
Level 3 Done
This is basically what’s expected. Everything is back in their rightful place, hung or folded nicely. My closet never gets out of order because I don’t put stuff back unless I am willing to put them in the right place. Otherwise, I just fish for stuff I need, which is a pain, so I eventually get around to sorting everything.
Of all the organizational systems I have in the house, my laundry/wardrobe system is one of the best. It’s not always the most organized because sometimes I can’t get myself to actually put stuff away properly, but at least I generally know where everything is and it’s not too overwhelming. As long as I put in a tiny bit more effort, everything can go back into its rightful place within an hour.
