Does the possibility of keeping things neat and organized feel like trying to lasso a rainbow unicorn, especially if you struggle with ADHD? Let me tell you my story…

All my life, I loved organizing but couldn't understand why actually starting and maintaining it was so difficult. When it was just my stuff, a little bit of my partner’s, and then my first child’s stuff to organize, things were manageable. Then I had my second child (during the pandemic, oh my!) and everything fell apart—my ability to focus vanished. My work suffered, and my home organization went into a long decline as baby stuff piled up. Thankfully, my partner was good at putting things away so they became “out of sight and out of mind.” But I couldn't understand why this helped intellectually, yet opening a messy drawer would still send my stress through the roof. Finally, I sought professional mental health counseling and received my diagnosis of having borderline ADHD! Suddenly, through this lens, so much of my struggle made sense, and it’s leading my journey to find more joy in my life (and more Joy - like who am I, really?).

Time Travel

Penseive with memories floating above in black and white

Dip your head into my pensieve… My first reading of Marie Kondo's "Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" was soon after it was published in 2014; it spoke to me and was wonderful—I tackled everything just as she instructed, and it felt amazing—but then life moved on. In January 2019, I watched her Netflix special, and it was a great refresher course since I had become a mother in 2017. Again, life moved on. Soon after, we moved into a new house with lots of unknown systems and fresh challenges. As I mentioned, in 2020, the birth of my second child completely tested all my previous organization efforts, but I continued organizing in small ways and consuming organizing content (it's just part of who I am). Even with incredibly limited time, I'm proud that I tackled all my junk drawers and added dividers.

Real talk, the toys and baby clothes were piling up, and it was not staying contained in all the nice, clear containers I kept buying to corral them. During this time, I was still working my full-time job at the family business—a position I hated but felt obligated to keep toiling at. My ADHD had just been diagnosed, and I was trying my best to figure out how to juggle it all. Finally, in the fall of 2024, my brain said, "Girl, enough!" and I quit to pursue a more joyful, authentic lifestyle.

What was the first thing I did when I had loads of free time? You guessed it, I started organizing!

In January 2025, I started a New Years refresh of my garage, during which I listened to a podcast whose title jumped out at me “From Corporate Leader to Professional Organizer.” I re-discovered Marie Kondo and learned about her certification course which I completed in February.

Present Day Struggles

Until just this year I couldn’t understand the paradox: why was organizing and tidying was so damn hard even though I found it so enjoyable when I did get started? I loved to organize and “officially” backed it up by taking a Sparketype assessment, which got me spot on as an “Essentialist”

“As an Essentialist, distilling, organizing and simplifying is your calling. It doesn't matter where you go, whether at work or home or on vacation (or a restaurant, store, experience, etc), you see chaos, mess, complexity and it triggers a near-primal urge to create order and simplicity.” - https://sparketype.com

Nowadays, my home cycles between chaotic disorganization and calm tidiness, with increasing periods of calm as I grow and learn. How did I conquer the overwhelming clutter that multiplied like dust bunnies on steroids? It wasn't easy, but I found my answer in Marie Kondo's book, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up." Her tidying method cuts through the mental static of an ADHD brain that pinballs from thought to thought, struggling to choose what to tackle next. The KonMari method works brilliantly for those of us with ADHD because it boils everything down to one simple question: Does it spark joy?

Wait, back up, let’s ask the hard question first:

Why The Fuck Is It So Fucking Hard?

Why is keeping a tidy house is so challenging for those of us with ADHD? Obviously it’s not as simple as thinking "wouldn't it be nice if my house was tidy?"— then POOF the motivation fairy appears. She sprinkles focus and energy pixie-dust on our heads and makes everything magically fly back to its proper place!

Oh, if only we were witches and wizards with wands... But alas, we muggles with ADHD face some extra spicy challenges in the following areas:

Executive function difficulties—struggling with focus on routine tasks, time management, and working memory
Time blindness—difficulty estimating task duration or tracking time passing by
Decision fatigue—becoming overwhelmed when faced with multiple choices, leading to mental shutdown
Object permanence issues—forgetting about items that aren't visible ("out of sight, out of mind")
ADHD paralysis—feeling frozen and unable to begin tasks, despite recognizing their importance
Emotional regulation challenges—forming strong attachments to items, fearing loss, and experiencing rejection sensitivity
Shame cycle—experiencing deep feelings of shame about home disorganization and inability to maintain order
Unhelpful coping mechanisms—creating "doom piles, leaving items out as reminders, and accumulating unfinished projects

These challenges can make organizing and maintaining a tidy space particularly difficult, but with the right support and systems, it's possible to create sustainable solutions that work with ADHD rather than against it, without magic wands. Let’s open up our minds to the possibilities and dive into why Marie Kondo’s method works.

What Is Marie Kondo’s Methodology?

(I love a flowchart, and AI loves to help me make one.) Marie Kondo’s philosophy is also known as the "KonMari Method”

A simplified flowchart of the KonMari Method

Why Is KonMari Method Effective for the ADHD Brain?

The KonMari method is particularly effective for ADHD brains because it taps into our emotional sense of joy to maintain focus - something crucial for those of us whose brains are naturally low in dopamine, the motivation neurotransmitter. As we know, if something is boring, our brain refuses to focus. Through practicing mindfulness and gratitude, the method cuts through mental noise with straightforward, methodical steps that can be broken down into manageable sub-categories. This systematic approach reduces decision fatigue by focusing on one category at a time, with storage decisions coming only after the initial joy-checking process.

Rather than avoiding our typical ADHD coping mechanisms, the method acknowledges them by gathering everything from a category in one place, including those dreaded "doom piles." The method's emphasis on gathering everything in one place and using vertical organization ensures that nothing gets lost in forgotten corners - everything remains visible and accessible at a glance. Instead of forcing ourselves to discard items “just because we should,” we learn to listen to and understand our emotional connections to objects.

In the end, while the ADHD brain typically struggles to maintain focus on mundane organizational tasks, when we care for the items we genuinely love, it makes the process more engaging.

Need Some Help?

Let's be honest, doing this by yourself is a real drag sometimes! Wouldn't it be great to have someone there to guide and support you?

As a KonMari consultant, I can help you stay on track with time management and provide a supportive, non-judgmental space for your journey. Many consultants, including myself, have personally experienced the transformative power of the KonMari method, going from struggling with clutter to maintaining an organized home. I am trained to guide you through the process using open-ended questions to help you joy-check, and then I will help you set up sustainable systems that prevent your space from reverting to its previous state.

To learn more, contact me with your questions, schedule a free 30-minute discovery call, or check out my FAQs page.

Until Next Time

Sign up for my newsletter to get notified when my next blog post is up! My next post will be all the tricks I have used to get started on the process, from addressing the mental chatter to pressing play on a video.

Tidying Successfully with ADHD