455 | Is Minimalism Realistic with ADHD? with Robyn Buchanan

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This week, Eric is joined by Robyn Buchanan, a mom of two teenage boys and partner to an ADHD husband. Robyn is also a registered nurse, life and focus coach, and UA-cam creator who is an advocate for people with ADHD and neurodiversity to capitalize on their ADHD strengths and push the mundane aside to live their best lives. She encourages minimalism and self-employment for maximum freedom and joy, is a self-admitted tea-addict, loves gardening, walking with friends around her Vancouver island town, and watching Jane Austen movies.
You’ll hear Eric and Robyn talk about decluttering, how we can add “glitter” to make decluttering fun, and how important our spaces and environments are for getting things done.
Eric and Robyn also discuss how decluttering our own spaces has potential to bring others joy, different ways we can use the concept of minimalism to keep our spaces clean and decluttered, what prompted Eric to hire a professional organizer, what sparked Robyn’s interest into getting her home organized, and more!
Get in touch with Robyn:
Instagram: @minimalisthomeplease Instagram: @hocusfocusrobyn UA-cam: Hocus Focus UA-cam: MinimalistHome - - -
Other Questions/Topics Answered in this Episode:
[00:03:54] Eric admits he “has crap everywhere” and asks Robyn, “Where do we start?” when we want to begin decluttering. [00:06:29] How do we make decluttering fun? [00:10:10] Robyn shares how and why she schedules her anti-procrastination tasks. [00:11:20] What sparked Robyn’s interest to get into organizing? [00:15:38] How does Robyn define minimalism for her? [00:23:29] Robyn takes us into the thinking realm of organizing: What are the questions, leading thoughts, ideas, and the cognition piece behind this to help us make better decisions? [00:29:19] “You mean we have to work to keep our home decluttered?” and a discussion about maintenance. [00:37:16] How do we deal with family giving us things (memorabilia, furniture, etc.) that could lead to more clutter? [00:42:10] How do we deal with our mail? [00:47:10] What are some of the tools or the things that make keeping ourselves organized easier? [00:50:46] Why does it take up to two weeks to put laundry away? Resources & Honorable Mentions:
Website: The Minimalists - Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus UA-cam Channel: Matt D'Avella's UA-cam Website: FlyLady Website: Getting Things Done (GTD) - - -
Check out the Other Podcasts on the ADHD reWired Podcast Network:
adhdessentials.com with Brendan Mahan hackingyouradhd.com with Will Curb adhddiversified.ca with MJ Siemens Get the full ad-free version of this episode when you become a Patron at $5.00 a month or more by going to adhdrewired.com/Patreon!

[@AllThingsConsidered333]

This is great. I’ve struggled with clutter and organization my whole life.. just got dx’d adhd at age 44.. so much makes sense! I’m eager to listen to this again & put some of these tips into practice.
I did just get the Tody app to help with household chores as my daughter also just got diagnosed at age 15.5. It’s more visual, customizable, has reminders, data sync between our devices and has option to set certain chores to rotate between us etc. also includes a bit of a reward system. I’m excited to try it out and maybe start to slowly get caught up on cleaning while I utilize Robyn’s tips to get on top of the clutter.
We have both struggled a lot with many executive functions esp household related stuff but having an understanding of why now gives us a sense of relief and much easier to give ourselves & each other grace..
I am so tired of living like this but it’s so exhausting to even think about all that needs to be done and how the hell do I even make it happen?! I quit allowing most people in my home years ago. It’s not a terrible mess but still way worse than most people I know. It’s embarrassing and I feel the judgement & criticism but I just haven’t been able to do it like they do.. now I know why! (Getting the dx and realizing how it has affected my whole life gives me a sigh of relief to be honest..)

[@AndreiFantastic]

Is the person medicated? I think even with minimalism if you struggle with a high level of executive dysfunction, you’re not going to want to do anything right away
Maybe I’m weird but I walked away from this without any real practical ways to combat this because it seems like it’s from a high functioning person ?

[@keepitmoving777]

Good stuff