Below are the results of our survey released in preparation for episode #276 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly. If you haven’t already done so, please take the survey.
We asked our audience members to select from among the following statements any that apply to you:
Note: Hover over any bar in the graph to see the text of the answer and the number of respondents who selected that answer. (Mobile users: Click on the bars for details.)
To view the complete, detailed survey response from any respondent, click on their name (or “Anonymous user”) in the table below. You may also find it easier to read long responses in the detailed view.
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | What useful decluttering or organizing strategies or methods did you take away from the book? | What parts or aspects of the book did you find difficult to grasp or challenging to apply to your home or situation? | Please share your favorite quotations or key ideas and concepts from this book. | How have ADD-friendly organizing strategies worked for you? What are the pros and cons of this approach? | How has applying various levels of support helped your decluttering and organizing? What are the pros and cons of this approach? | Please rate this book on a scale of one to five stars. |
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| Suzanne | Ah, couldn’t get hands on it. Even our city public library didn’t carry it. | N/a | N/a | Did not read book but yes I fully agree. Since understanding I have ADD I know there are workarounds suited to me (which I have to discover) to make things work. | ||
| Essie | I make piles or just put items down randomly. | Losing items is constant for me, but they may be right in front of me blending into a cluttered surface. | I realize I may want larger categories of storage for some items, but more specific categories on other items. | My daughter visited hime from college while my husband and I were on a week long cruise. She cleaned and organized my pile-ridden bedroom. It was beautiful to walk into, but as I tried to maneuver life and could not find items, it was similar emotionally to having been burglarized. I also missed an important online sign-up due to a paper I had left out as a visual cue no longer being there. That paper looked like part of a pile to her, but to me it was mental freedom during my cruise, knowing I had a cue ready for a deadline that loomed soon after the cruise ended. | 4 | |
| Terry | Allocating time to decisions in proportion to the importance of the decision Importance of routines in having ease in my day | Overall, I found it hard to engage with the book, it was a slog to get through it. I've read a lot of decluttering type books and I don't recall this happening with any of them. It was said that this book is written in a way that would work for ADHD folks - I can see that many of the ideas could have value, but I was surprised the book with that focus was so hard for me (non-ADHD) to process. The idea of having an extensive team to work with on these issues might be necessary, but seemed somewhat optimistic to me, especially if people are working during normal business hours. | - The importance of appropriately limiting time spent on decisions, especially decisions with minor impact. - And the corollary - if you make your best decision and there are issues, be confident you can deal with that at that time. - Tools to approach decision making - tune into your own values, paradoxical, prioritize, time limit, categorize small vs. large - Simplify, simplify, simplify - Develop theme for organizing - Complete or kill - Neglected four - exercise, socialize, paperwork, reading Not sure where to put this in the survey, but one thing about folks that enjoy the rush of doing things right before the deadline. That's your choice if it's a solo task, but not for projects that involve others. A true unexpected crisis is one thing. But I've declined working on (volunteer) projects because I couldn't take the crisis/last minute project approach of the person in charge. | I don't have ADHD, but was interested to learn about periods of intense focus and how that could have plusses and minuses It's good to acknowledge ADHD positive attributes. In life in general - sometimes people are willing to take advantage to the upside of a person's personality or way of approaching things, but at the same time will criticize what is basically the other side of that same coin. Ex. people will be happy for someone to take care of all the organizing and planning for everything, then will be critical if they worry about some details. You are dealing with a whole person here. | I'm speaking as someone that doesn't have ADHD. I think the multi-prong approach is a good one for everyone. There are some things friends can help me with, some things the Clutter Fairy group helps with and I think there are definitely aspects of life and organizing that require the professional help of a therapist. That said, in the world today, I think it might be hard to assemble such a team. But very valuable if you can. | 4 |
| Ed | “If the activity is something you truly dread, divide the activity into micro-moments.” “So often our clutter gets the best of us because we think of ‘straightening up’ as a separate, distinct, and dreaded activity that we put off as long as possible instead of one that is integrated into each moment of the day.” “Adults with ADD seem to both underdo it and overdo it, as paradoxical as this seems. Underdoing occurs when we don’t stick to a task we’ve set for ourselves because we’re drawn away by something more interesting. Overdoing can also cause significant problems, and is related to a well-known ADD tendency to ‘get stuck’ and resist moving on to the next task of the day.” “Another ADD-related pattern that may interfere with organizing is to complicate a task. For example, you might decide to install a time management program on your computer—a potentially very useful approach to making better use of your time. However, if you’re like many other adults with ADD, you might find that you’ve spent hours on your computer, customizing calendars, color-coding time blocks, and programming reminders—time that could have been better spent on another task. By making it overly complicated, you don’t get down to the actual organizing.” The section on “Ten Steps to ADD-friendly habit-building” seemed like very sound advice. | Some of the anecdotes or case studies seemed VERY contrived, and some of the strategy suggestions felt pie-in-the-sky impossible to implement, or at least unlikely to be implemented by the average reader. For example, the section on Paradoxical Decision-making more or less implies that every important decision is going to be a simple binary choice, but that’s not real life works. So the advice to think of the worst choice you could make, then make the opposite choice has extremely limited value. Also, many of the anecdotes describe people having success with particular strategies suggested in the book, but the authors didn’t go on to talk about what to do when you try a strategy, then experience back-sliding or regression to old habits. | “Working with your mood often works better for adults with ADD than trying to schedule a task.” “Don’t try to adopt someone else’s organizing values. If being ‘tidy’ or ‘organized’ has negative connotations for you (tedious, boring, uptight, perfectionist), motivate yourself by organizing according to your own values.” | I like the general idea of paying attention to ways in which we’re neurodivergent, then looking for ways to turn those difference into sources of strength. But I’m not sure that if I were a person with ADHD, this book would help me get there. | All of the examples in the book of support from family and friends seem unrealistically optimistic. Also, I found the cutesy names for these enlisted helpers (Time Tutor, Tech Tamer, Clutter Companion, Paper Partner, Habit Helper, etc.) annoyingly alliterative and patronizingly precious. But seriously…the book leaned very heavily on the idea of enlisting a bunch of friends or family as helpers in one capacity or another, advice that many people would probably find hard to implement. The authors also seem to push very hard on the advice to hire professionals, which would make this book frustrating for anyone trying to organize on a tight budget. | 3 |
| Elle from Melbourne | * reduce the number of 'steps' for each process, simplest process will work. let go of what's pretty * remove any barrier to getting things done eg open shelves rather than cabinets and drawers * empty garbage when bins are full, rather than trying to remember bin night (weekly for trash in Australia, less frequently for green waste and recycling) | haven't finished the book but it's all very useful so far | advice from the book: reduce the number of items you have. how I applied it in my fridge - do not buy yet another type of sauce until you finish one jar. I used to have so many types of sauces in the fridge, and get excited by novelty buying more and more ingredients and sauces i've bought so many other organising books and this one was the most useful so far! I have not been diagnosed with ADHD. I borrowed it for my nephew but then reading it, it made so much sense! I laughed when listening to the last two episodes when both Ed and Gale said this book was really hard to read - it made me realise omg, maybe I really need to get diagnosed hahaha! | pros - because I find it hard to manage a large inventory, i need to buy fewer items and remove the decluttering needed in the end. If I apply this principle, reducing consumption is not only good for my budget but environment too. cons - it's REALLY hard not to buy new stuff | I am ok with paper sorting. Hired Gale for a couple of phone consults and it was SOOOO HELPFUL! I've tried asking for help from friends and they say ok but not really follow through. I will stick to myself and professionals. | 5 |
| Sandra | This is really a book for everybody. Loved the idea of taking green breaks. I noted one sentence that seems very true: ADD math - addition without subtraction. | This is A LOT of information in the book so it feels just as overwhelming as the mind of someone with ADD I guess. | Page 222: Don't apologize for this need. Instead, recognize it and arrange your life accordingly. | I will use their approach in my youth mentoring program. | The book made me realize I should have worked with a professional organizer when I started decluterring the house. The book mentions considering the cost of not enlisting support when deciding whether support is affordable. I would have saved a lot of time! | 5 |
| Em | As our strengths can also be our weaknesses, our weaknesses can be turned to strengths. | I listened to the audio book, so there was no way to easily skip the parts about seeing doctors and getting drugs in order to overcome my clutter. Also, I did not enjoy the reader's voice. This is a book that would have been more valuable for me in the physical form. | My closet is beautifully organized by garment type and color. When I read the suggestion of organizing the closet by outfit, it struck me that my most favorite blouse ever, hung neatly by color with other blouses is useless if there or no clothes to go with it or if it has been overlooked as part of the closet landscape. I think going through the closet to create outfits will make it possible to eliminate more clutter clothing as well streamline the process of deciding what to wear. | What surprised me the most was the very high percentage of strategies I figured out for myself and have implemented over the decades, without having read the book. I assumed that the strategies I use were the normal way of coping with life. | So far, I have done all of my decluttering alone, mostly because I don't have family or friends who can help me. Because I already use so many of the strategies presented in the book, reading it made me wonder if, had I been born a few decades more recently, I would have been diagnosed as having ADD! It was disconcerting to hear over and over in the book about hiring mental health professionals or getting prescription drugs as a resolution to my clutter. | 3 |
| Peggy | I did not yet read the book | I don't know what strategies they presented. My ADHD person has learned some strategies from me working with them several times. I have been there as support only at times and "working" to actively declutter at other times. I have continuously offered my help. | What has been helping me in my own decluttering or cleaning is doing a small step then walking away to do something else. When I come back, there has already been this small progress. I do another small step or more if I feel up to it. In this way, I have been able to complete many challenging projects. | |||
| Kit | Think about the most effective level of focus for the task at hand | Home as memory; seems like too much work for the potential benefit & not useful for an entire family | Levels of structure and support. Like Hayley Honeyman of Busy Bee with ADHD and Sarah McGlory of Adaptive Living, the authors of this book acknowledge that issues inherently have multiple potential solutions, depending on one's particular situation and capacity. This concept in itself has been revolutionary in my and my daughter's understanding of how we might work with our brains to accomplish our goals. | It feels like their approach relies on flipping the script – just look at things from this angle, and your entire life can be orderly and smooth. That's not real. The whole thing would feel more credible if at least one of them was ADHD and they acknowledged that life would still be a struggle with lots of ups and downs and times of amazing progress followed by absolute paralysis. That said, I have already figured out quite a few of these tactics on my own, but seeing a more comprehensive outline of things to try is also useful. I will continue to take notes on the rest of the book and keep them in my mental toolbox to try as we move forward. | I've not employed the services of professionals for myself – nor do I plan to – but my daughter does go to a therapist who helps her with some of this. Also, my daughter and I routinely take advantage of the power of doubling with one another, as do my spouse and I. I've also begun regularly helping a friend with ADHD in her garden, and she says that my presence really helps motivate her. The greatest challenge I've noticed is that analyzing and selecting the right logistics for the right level of support is, well, a challenge. But when you're successful at it, the relief of finally making real progress is worth the effort. | 4 |
| Gf | I can't afford support unfortunately. Hence the struggle doing it all by myself | |||||
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | What useful decluttering or organizing strategies or methods did you take away from the book? | What parts or aspects of the book did you find difficult to grasp or challenging to apply to your home or situation? | Please share your favorite quotations or key ideas and concepts from this book. | How have ADD-friendly organizing strategies worked for you? What are the pros and cons of this approach? | How has applying various levels of support helped your decluttering and organizing? What are the pros and cons of this approach? | Please rate this book on a scale of one to five stars. |
Book Club: ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life (Kolberg/Nadeau)
Hmm. Once again, my survey results aren’t included. This happens now and then.
So sorry to hear that! Would you please email me at ed@clutterfairyhouston.com to let me know the name you posted under? I’ll see what I can figure out. Thanks!