Organized... With an Asterisk

Today my husband was looking for a hammer.

Now, apparently, he owns three hammers. Why a person needs three hammers is a question for another day, but that's not the point.

As he wandered around the house searching, I proudly asked, "Well, is it in the tote I organized with all the tools that I picked up and put in one place?"

I was feeling pretty good about myself for a moment. Look at me, being responsible and organized.

Turns out it wasn't in that tote.

Which is when I started laughing.

Because then I remembered I think I have three different totes of tools scattered throughout the house.

In my defense, every tote was organized when I created it.

The problem is that apparently every time I found a screwdriver, measuring tape, hammer, random Allen wrench, or mystery tool that came with furniture in 2017, I decided the solution was to create another organized tool tote.

This is one of those moments where I realize I love organization, but my ADHD occasionally puts its own unique spin on it.

Normal organization says, "Let's put all the tools in one place."

ADHD organization says, "Let's put all the tools in one place."

Then six months later:

"Let's put all the tools in one place."

And then again.

And again.

So technically everything is organized. It's just organized into multiple locations that made perfect sense at the time.

The older I get, the more I realize ADHD isn't always chaos. Sometimes it's creating incredibly detailed systems... and then accidentally creating three more systems to manage the first one.

At least if we can't find a hammer, we know where to look.

Eventually.