Are aspies generally organized in their room, thoughts?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm not sure if it's an AS thing, of course, but my room always seem to revert back to being war-torn soon after it's cleaned and organized, and I think it may be due to being psychologically disorganized. Any ideas on how to rectify that?

^^ Yaye greetings Mootoo. I believe that I may be considered as very messy also. ^^ However, I believe that I enjoy this very much as I often become very confused when I tidy my happy bedroom as often I may not remember in which locations I placed many objects and also when my bedroom is considered as messy, many of my items including my studying books, reading books and also other items are sleeping on places where I may use them very quickly and this is useful for me.

^^ Perhaps this may be very nice to create a little routine for tidying and perhaps write this routine upon a little notice for yourself. I am very sorry if this is not very helpful however.

I generally susbscribe to the "date last used" method of filing, i.e. stuff nearest to the top has been used recently, things near the bottom of the stack have been there a while.

Day to day I find this works really well, however eventually the accumulated mass becomes overwhelming. So then I have to spend a day or two sorting everything out, putting things away if needed or throwing them out if irrelevant, and then I start again with a spotless room.

I don't think it's a symptom of a disorganised mind, more a mind that is very focussed on one particular project at a time. Each little pile of stuff represents a different project, interest or workstream - possibly further broken down into stages or days. At the time they are essential and make perfect sense, but a fortnight later when I've moved onto something else they're suddenly an anachronism and I've forgotten what's in each heap, why I needed it, or which bits were important. Plus it all mounts up and what was previously familiar and comforting starts to become claustrophobic and messy. In particular I'm always scared of losing things, or forgetting something important, and I think it's mainly that anxiety that forces me to tidy up.

It's often a sign of impaired executive function, whether due to autism, ADHD, depression, schizophrenia, etc.

My thoughts are disorganized with respect to normal thinking patterns. Though it is difficult to say exactly how I think, if put on a screen, it would look sort of like a terminator's memory sequence from TSCC. Sort of like this.

Interesting.... do you have any more information about that?

I'm a bit taken aback by the term "impaired". Is it really a problem, or just a difference?

I always thought I was pretty normal like that, but maybe not.

I'd like more info too because try as I may I am victim to that cleaning thing too. Weekend I clean, organize, straighten, then over the course of the week it goes back to being messy as things get used then I don't want to put it away for good so I leave it out to remind me to do it again... and those piles grow around my desk until I realize the oldest thing is like a month old.

Any info on the executive dysfunction part to this? If I get help with that will it get better? My hubby is also Aspie and cleans when I tell him to when I can't stand it anymore lol otherwise it's YEARS for things to get moved/cleaned.

http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/challeng ... ily_living

http://www.geocities.com/growingjoel/ef.html

I would say it's really a problem. For me, the same difficulties that make it hard for me to clean also makes it hard for me to cook, to do laundry, to pay bills, to essentially function as an independent adult. I think some level of untidyness is probably a difference and not truly an impairment, but messes can cause problems such as vermin, fire hazards, hoarding, etc, and that goes beyond "just a difference."

I'm horrifically untidy when left to my own devices. My wife keeps me tidy now. At work my desk is almost legendary, but I do tidy it up completely once a month.

It used to be a real problem, but it is under control now. It is not cured though, I fall back into it the minute my wife is away for a night.

Jason

Aside from my bookshelf, very disorganized, and even the bookshelf is in question since I was a weird "order" that everything goes in.

My room is always terribly messy. My mom helps me clean it on her days off, but by the time the next week rolls around, it's trashed again. To make matters worse, I also have hoarding tendencies since I hate throwing things away that could have sentimental value or use in the future, even though in most people's eyes those things are trash.

I am naturally very very untidy. When I was growing up my room was a complete tip. When I was a student my room was a complete tip. When my husband and I moved in together ... the house was a complete tip (much to my husband's dismay, as he is naturally very tidy but that didn't balance it out). But I never liked being untidy. It was my natural state, but I didn't enjoy not being able to find things when I wanted them, or tripping over things, and it was an endless source of contention between my husband & I.

Then I realised that the key to being tidy was to have less stuff. And for all your stuff to have a home - a specific place where it lives. And to have a routine that means you pick up and put away at least once a week (but preferably a little every day). So with all that in place, my home is much tidier. And at work, I am held up by my colleagues as being a good example of organisation. Which I find amusing given how naturally untidy I am. But the reality is I am much calmer when my surroundings are not a mess, so this is why I continue to work hard on this. And it is work - it doesn't come naturally and when I don't follow my routines, or start buying things that don't have a place to live in our home, it all falls apart.

Last edited by YellowBanana on 01 Apr 2012, 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have a problem with Executive Function also. And for most my life, had problems hoarding/being chronically disorganized. Today I live in a clean, clutter-free home.

This book started it all: Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern. It was the best, practical advice, although I'd read other organizing books. Here's an article by her: http://www.oprah.com/home/Discover-Your-Clutter-Problem

There was probably 10 years between when I first read the book, and became this organized, but it's a process. Each step I took along the way lightened my load. Life is so much simpler now that I can actually find things!

Not per se for, but I always leave things the way they are, rather than rearrange them 'spontaneously'.