Points for Household Chores?

I can appreciate your situation. I don't think I struggle as much as you, and I have never been do the doc about it, or taken meds...but I do think I have some problems in this way. I am very easily distracted. I have a bad memory, a horrible sense of self control...etc.

Are you in therapy? Have you learned how to make goal setting work for your needs? It can be very rewarding. The trick for everyone, esp ADD folks is to break down a task. So instead of setting a goal to "clean the house" you look at one room, then one area. One piece of furniture, one drawer, one shelf, etc. whatever you need to do so the task is not overwhelming. Then when you are done with that tiny thing...move to the next logical thing...the neighboring shelf, drawer, piece of furniture, room. You nibble away at it in tiny well defined bites.

Also I really benefit from routine, and it helps me keep things nice before they are out of control and overwhelming. This is how I work on my self discipline. I do-this-then-that all day long. One task kind of eases its way into the next. That is a great way to insert good habits. For example if you know you want to take a vitamin everyday...you put your vitamins next to your toothbrush then you do-this-then-that. Brush-your-teeth-take-your-vitamin. Pretty soon the new thing is second nature.

Second nature really helps people who have problems like ours because the more we think, the more we stumble. Am I right? The good news is much of our needs are no surprise. So with some routines, we can cut off problems before they happen. Keep your list in mind when you are doing things. Try to do things in the same order, the same way.

One thing might help you is building in some checkpoints during the day so that you can stop and clean up but you don't necessairily have to police your every move if you put something down without thinking. Set an alarm, or watch your clock, and once every couple hours go around and look for things that need to be straightened up and take care of them. Once a day works for me, I do this a half hour before bed, using my tv show as a reward.

Regarding your point system...my concern for an adult using the equivalent of...well...a sticker chart is that you are the grownup and if you don't want to enforce your own rules you don't have to. If deferred gratification doesn't ever work for you then it won't work here, esp if you are cloudy on how to stay focused long enough to make progress. If you can't help it, then there is no point in rewarding yourself for doing well, because honestly...that is just the flipside of punishing yourself for NOT doing well.

As for the decluttering...I am all about it with ADD. Less is more. Less is better. Having too much on hand is exhausting to manage! I would say this is where the nibble it away method works best...just do tiny things at a time. Also you know...sometimes it feels frustrating to start one task and then get distracted by another. This used to happen to me when I was straightening up. I would pick up something that took me to another room but the place I wanted to put it had something on it...so I had to clear that, or saw soemthing else to do. I KNOW that situation!! But if you look back on those days you may notice you did get a lot done, even if it is not what you started out doing. I say that to encourage you...it may not actually be as bad as you think, but yes of course it helps to have a plan and stick to it.

If that happens to you a lot, the thing to do is get a box or basket and keep it RIGHT by your side. As you go around straightening, if you find something out of place, put it in that box but STAY where you are. Clean what you can, then move to the next area or room. Last thing you do before leaving a cleaned room is check your box and put away anything that belongs there, then keep on trucking!

If you are still having trouble, honestly, decluttering might be where you need a buddy. Someone to help you stay on track, and help you stay focused with your tasks. If you can get it under control, you may still need to work on NOT bringing the junk back in the house, but if you build yourself a reasonable cleaning schedule and work on some good solid habits to keep things under control, you may be able to handle it by yourself.

Clock on your 40 5 hours a week at abode. save the abode as clean as available yet clock out while he does. That way while he gets abode, you could the two stare on the range and sweetness which certainly one of the two clocked-out workers is going to cook dinner. i'm a guy and that i'm telling you that maximum men would be as lazy and thoughtless as women folk enable them to be. that's a comedian tale that a guy could be envisioned to do no longer something after he gets abode from artwork yet his spouse is envisioned to be on the clock all day, on a daily basis. do no longer stand for it. i'm at the instant laid off like numerous human beings good now yet for seven years I put in 60 to sixty 5 hours a week and that i nevertheless did chores and each now and then cooked dinner, exceptionally on the weekends. You the two admire your spouse or you do no longer. uncomplicated as that.