Spring Cleaning A.D.D. Style

Yes, it’s that time of year again – the time for Spring Cleaning.  And what better time to get it done than over the Spring Break holiday week?    I personally dread Spring Cleaning because I have A.D.D.  For those of you who are not familiar with the term A.D.D it stands for Attention Deficit Disorder, and the best way to explain what it’s like to have A.D.D is to share this quick story written by someone else who has it:

I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.  I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.  But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.  I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye–they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning.  I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers.  I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.  At the end of the day:  The driveway is flooded, the car isn’t washed, the bills aren’t paid, there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, there is still only 1 check in my check book, I can’t find the remote, I can’t find my glasses, and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.  Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I’m really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I’ll try to get some help for it, but first I’ll check my e-mail….

That my friends, illustrates perfectly why I am terrible at doing spring cleaning! I start with one room and before you know it I am completely distracted, going in twenty different directions, and things end up even more scattered around the house then they were when I started!  And the A.D.D. is just one of my problems.  I may also have a very slight, teeny weeny hoarding problem – Now before you start judging me I will say that it is nothing even close to those people on the TV show Buried Alive, but I do have a little bitty issue throwing anything away.  Every time I come across something that I don’t ever use I end up making a million excuses as to why I can’t throw it away.

    • I paid way too much money for this to get rid of it!
    • Someone gave this to me and it would hurt their feelings if I gave it away!
    • But, what if I need it later?
    • No way, I bought this on our trip to ____, and its preserving the memories!
    • Hey, I will too fit back into those size 4 pants someday, and if we throw them away I would lose my motivation!

So there, I have admitted it, I am a terrible spring cleaner.  Nonetheless, I have decided that tomorrow will be my official spring cleaning day.  Tomorrow I am going to try and stay focused completely on cleaning and organizing my home, and I am going to try and be liberal in getting rid of things that I don’t really need…Of course I will need to put on really fun music to help keep my spirits up while I clean…which of course will cause me to dance around the room…which will remind me that I have a pair of super cute dancing shoes in my closet that I haven’t worn in years but I can’t get rid of them because they are the shoes I wore at my first and only ballroom dance class with Rollin, and the memories of that class always make me laugh…speaking of laughing I should watch that episode of the comedy show I Tivo’d yesterday right after dinner…oh and I had better check the dishwasher to see if I started it after dinner and before I went to the store…oh I forget that I still need to unpack the Easter presents I bought at the store…speaking of Easter, I should really color some eggs tomorrow…maybe I can do that right before I start the spring cleaning tomorrow…hey, did someone make pie?? 🙂

~Amy

 

5 Comments

  • Leta says:

    Good to know it’s not just me that has this issue, not just with cleaning, but just getting distracted at times…and especially when I have a lot going on 🙂

    Happy Easter

  • Vibha says:

    Happy Easter Amy!:-)

  • Brennan says:

    Lol. That is how I feel. Have a happy Easter and a great Spring cleaning holiday.

  • Jenney says:

    If you ever need help getting rid of stuff in your closet you know my number. 😉

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