I have near crippling ADHD and prior to moving in with my spouse, my kitchen looked like this, as well as my towels, sheets, cleaners, and spice rack. Having everything ordered took away the mental load, 8 identical towels is one load a week on Sunday plus a spare if something interrupts the schedule. I never had to consider a sensory issue because they’re all the exact same towel. Same for dishes, all my cups held the same amount and felt the same in hand. All my plates and bowls were identical so I couldn’t have a preferred one. All of them were dishwashers safe and dishwasher design friendly so I never needed to consider if they needed special treatment.
Taking away that thing to think about made a huge difference in clarity of mind because I could then use that energy for other things.
Yes! Absolutely the same for me. I also have ADHD and when living alone I had only one type of everything. Since my now wife and me live together, this it not the case anymore and, if I’m being honest, it sometimes stresses me out. It leads to so much distraction for me, that it makes cleaning and tidying up even harder for me than it already is.
I want things to be orderly because walking into a chaotic place is mentally stressing for me. I feel overwhelmed by things in the way, I am stressed when trying to find things, and I feel like all the things left out are just more things that need to be done when I already have a lot of things to do. This overstimulation causes my brain to just short circuit and shutdown…
For me I respond to stress with object blindness. If I can’t immediately fix something my mind Will literally redact it away to the point that inconveniently places boxes on the floor will be stepped over for weeks until I eventually trip on it and it becomes relevant again.
Absolutely the same. I grew up in a messy and unregulated environment and the first coping skill I learned was object blindness. If it causes distress and I can’t fix it immediately, my mind simply refuses to acknowledge it from that point on which is a point of contention in the house because it leads to me simply ignoring a lot of things.
While I suggest changing them regularly, I have a different reasoning behind sheets and towels. I shower when I get up and frequently before bed if I feel icky or my spouse invites me. So frequency of sheets goes down because anything it transfers gets washed off in the shower. The towel is used after the shower so anything it transfers lasts all day. That said, after the move in I adopted my spouse’s routine which is much more lax and changes towels every few days. On one hand I now have to track towel wash cycles consciously, on the other hand I’m not doing 3 times the towels so it equals out.
Though now that you have me thinking about it, I would absolutely change sheets daily if it were easier to do so…
I don’t have ADHD (I know enough people who do that I can say that quite confidently) and I still find this extremely helpful. Decision fatigue is real, and eliminating trivial decisions is great.
I have near crippling ADHD and prior to moving in with my spouse, my kitchen looked like this, as well as my towels, sheets, cleaners, and spice rack. Having everything ordered took away the mental load, 8 identical towels is one load a week on Sunday plus a spare if something interrupts the schedule. I never had to consider a sensory issue because they’re all the exact same towel. Same for dishes, all my cups held the same amount and felt the same in hand. All my plates and bowls were identical so I couldn’t have a preferred one. All of them were dishwashers safe and dishwasher design friendly so I never needed to consider if they needed special treatment.
Taking away that thing to think about made a huge difference in clarity of mind because I could then use that energy for other things.
Yes! Absolutely the same for me. I also have ADHD and when living alone I had only one type of everything. Since my now wife and me live together, this it not the case anymore and, if I’m being honest, it sometimes stresses me out. It leads to so much distraction for me, that it makes cleaning and tidying up even harder for me than it already is.
100% this is my struggle.
I want things to be orderly because walking into a chaotic place is mentally stressing for me. I feel overwhelmed by things in the way, I am stressed when trying to find things, and I feel like all the things left out are just more things that need to be done when I already have a lot of things to do. This overstimulation causes my brain to just short circuit and shutdown…
For me I respond to stress with object blindness. If I can’t immediately fix something my mind Will literally redact it away to the point that inconveniently places boxes on the floor will be stepped over for weeks until I eventually trip on it and it becomes relevant again.
Absolutely the same. I grew up in a messy and unregulated environment and the first coping skill I learned was object blindness. If it causes distress and I can’t fix it immediately, my mind simply refuses to acknowledge it from that point on which is a point of contention in the house because it leads to me simply ignoring a lot of things.
I always find it odd that people use a new towel every day but don’t change their bed sheets every day.
While I suggest changing them regularly, I have a different reasoning behind sheets and towels. I shower when I get up and frequently before bed if I feel icky or my spouse invites me. So frequency of sheets goes down because anything it transfers gets washed off in the shower. The towel is used after the shower so anything it transfers lasts all day. That said, after the move in I adopted my spouse’s routine which is much more lax and changes towels every few days. On one hand I now have to track towel wash cycles consciously, on the other hand I’m not doing 3 times the towels so it equals out.
Though now that you have me thinking about it, I would absolutely change sheets daily if it were easier to do so…
You shower twice a day?
Not always, but frequently. Depending on how sticky I get.
I don’t have ADHD (I know enough people who do that I can say that quite confidently) and I still find this extremely helpful. Decision fatigue is real, and eliminating trivial decisions is great.