I realised this is an issue with so many people, including me. And it seems to be common in the autism & ADHD community.

Things need doing around the house, and we just don’t notice.

We don’t see the dirty socks that need to be put in the washing basket.

We don’t see the bins that need to be emptied.

We don’t notice the dirty mugs on the coffee table that need to be put in the kitchen sink.

We simply don’t notice.

This is where lists help adults as well as children as they remind us what we need to notice, however if something isn’t on that list, we may not notice.

This is also where having a cleaner helps so much, as the cleaner is able to notice things that I don’t, because it’s their job to notice.

As a mum, I used to get really annoyed when my adult children didn’t notice things, same when I was married to their dad, he didn’t notice things that needed doing. I would put things in place to make it easier for them to notice things… like putting a dirty washing basket in their bedroom so they could put those dirty clothes in a tub rather than the one in the laundry… but it was me that noticed that they weren’t noticing!

I know that I struggle to notice things, even as an adult. And when I do notice them, I don’t always have the energy or the executive functioning to do them, so it may seem they go unnoticed…

For example, right now, I notice the sheets that need folding and putting away, I notice the dishes in the sink that need washing, but I know I need to go and have a shower and get dressed first…

The first step to getting anything done is to notice it needs doing.

The next step is the doing, and there are times when the transition from the first to second step is harder than it may appear…

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I didn’t know about executive dysfunction at that time.

When we moved into this house, we didn’t have an outside washing line for over a year, so had to come up with another option to hang out the washing.

Thankfully, we have space in our laundry for a clothes rack and a hanging rack, so I hang any tops and dresses on clothes hangers and anything else on the clothes rack. I put sheets and towels in the dryer.

One thing I noticed with this process is that hanging the clothes directly from the washing machine has meant that things are put up right away. Removing the step of putting the wet clothes in the washing basket then taking them outside to hang has made the whole process so much easier! Not to mention that it doesn’t matter if the clothes are left there for days as they won’t get rained on.

Even after the landlord installed an outside washing line, I continue to hang the washing in the laundry. The process works much better for me and my brain, not to mention days when I am in pain, I don’t have to lift my arms above my head, causing more pain.

Currently, the only washing that tends to go on the line is when I wash things like the mattress protectors and dry them in the sun, partly because they don’t fit on the lines inside, also because they need airing outside.

As this is working so well, next time I move, I want somewhere that has a decent sized laundry so I can continue to hang clothes like this.

An added bonus is that I fold clothes directly from the rack and put it away in stages as I get around to it, so I rarely have baskets of clean washing that needs to be folded and put away!

Honestly, I wish I had thought of this sooner.

This is one of the little things I’ve been doing to change the way things happen so it suits me, not some notion of how things ‘should’ be done.

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