ADD and moving | ADHD Information

I can remember one move I made a couple years ago. I did the same thing -- just started throwing loose things into the truck. My friends who moved me were floored. They still talk about it. I'm just unable, however, to get myself to take the time to neatly organize my stuff into boxes when making a move. I never understood why until recently.

I'm the same way as you -- it takes FOREVER for me to get everything from the living room floor into its place. I roomed with my brother a couple of times, and he would have his things organized and in perfect living order within hours of his move. I think he never understood why I wasn't like that. It would frustrate him. Makes me recall growing up when he'd say, "You're crazy!!!" about my over-reaction to things.

I can't wait to have a heart-to-heart with him once I'm officially diagnosed. Hopefully he, and my parents, will take it seriously and start to understand some of our unresolved issues from my childhood.

Has anyone else ever had difficulty with the process of moving, due to ADD or ADHD?

I've moved several times the last few years, basically whenever my apartment leases run out. I recently moved again, and the stacks and stacks of boxes, etc. just seem like an impossible task to get through. A decade of undiagnosed and untreated ADHD have left me that way, with tons of clutter, junk, unorganized piles of stuff, etc.

Has anyone else every exprienced that phenomenon? And, once you finally forced yourself to get organized and kind of start from square one again, did that help you at all? That's the point I'm trying to get to right now.

Usually, when I move, I just pile everything loose into the truck, as if I was taking it to the dump, then I just dump it into my new place. Then I take my sweet time, months in fact, in getting it somewhat organized and out of the middle of the living room.Movers.

Costwise it works out. I've always moved myself and a couple of years ago (the 10th move in 5 years) I got annoyed doing it so I called the moving crew in.

So now instead of killing myself trying to pack/move/unpack  I call up the movers, they give me a ton of boxes (or I can pay additional for them to actually pack), I go into a room and put everything into the boxes, which are then labled. Moving day arrives and everything goes to the new place. When I get there the furniture is in place and each box is in the place it needs to be for unpacking.

If you use a full service place they'll even pack for you (but throwing stuff in boxes is just as easy). The place I use charges by the box + miles, it cost me around 0 this last time but once I factored in truck rentals, time required, stress involved and the fact that it always means i'm sick the next few days from the change of environment. it was a total no-brainer. Now I'd never move any other way, I just add the movers into my budget first.
Carolina...you ever hear when someone says "Time to buy a new car, the ash tray is full!'" That's how I am with where I live. The only way I've found I can 'organize' at ALL, is to move. I pack up ... tossing things as I go. You can imagine how many times I've moved in my lifetime (I can't even begin to count them).

And Barb...I like your 'theory'...and although I will unpacked the things I really need first...I wish it was that easy to part with things I may not have used in ages. :( And I've been moving like that for over 30 years! So I have lots of 'baggage.' Although each time I move, I do find things to toss that I'd been hanging onto. Each time, I purge more and more.

And of course, for every three things I get rid of, I bring in at least one more new thing! GypsyWomyn38637.5710185185One good thing I have found about not getting everything unpacked is that after a few days, I find I have the things I really need out. The other stuff usually gets put into a storage area so "I can take care of them when its convenient".. Yeah, sure. After several months, I realize I don't need the stuff that is in the boxes so I go through them quickly to make sure there isn't something really important hidden inside, then toss or donate. Less junk in the way and fewer boxes to move around.

i moved in here in late june. still have packed boxes around. piles and piles of stuff. stacks and stacks of papers- bills, important documents, reference mat'ls...

don't have a clue how to get myself to get a handle on it. by the time i turn big piles into categorized piles, i'm toast. it is just overwhelming.

other projects like this get the same results. i know where i want to end up, but then i have to do such and such. to do that, 2 other things need to get done.  to do those 2 things....

before you can say 'holy crap', i'm trying to create the universe by organising at the sub-atomic level.. not really, but it sure feels that way.

by this point, i'm either tempted to break down and cry over what a mess i am, STILL, or just pissed, and i go off to play guitar, or engage in some other comforting activity.

I still got stuff in Costa Rica from when I lived there last year. I guess I should go back and get it.

I got stuff from when I moved here 5 years ago, still in boxes in the garage. I mean every day to go out and sort it, sell it on eBay, or throw it away, and never do. I look at it, then work hard at finding something distracting and impulsive so I can procrastinate and save it for later. I did finally throw out the stuff that got rained on, and the rest is stacked to the ceiling in the garage. When I need something I know I have in there, I'll look for it for two hours until I find it. I coulda had the whole thing done years ago with that effort.

Well, that wasn't very helpful, was it?

My recommendation: move as you wish, but throw away what you don't use. Good intentions are rotting in my garage...

 I had to move 3 times with in a 2 year period. Two of the three times were not by choice because the Apt market that I was living in at the time was crazy. I have been in my current place for just about 3 1/2 years and am moving in the next couple of months.

I still have boxes that were never unpacked from previous moves. My husband and I agreed that since we haven't touched that stuff in at least 3 years it's probably not very important and can be thrown own out. We have already begun throwing out and donating stuff and it actually feels really good.

I have really been considering hiring a professional organizer for this move too. Or maybe if I keep getting rid of stuff I won't have much to organize...lol