Autism & house keeping

I am tidying up slowly after many years of mess.

There are problems with autism, tidying, and possessions.  I become attached to things and hate to get rid of them.  Especially I hate to throw them away.  So even if clothes get holes in them, I think they can be used as rags for cleaning things!  Bits of wood, old screws, all can be used.  Or so I think.  Clothes I have grown out of, being far more portly now than I was thirty years ago.  Books which overflow bookshelves.  Boxes, many of them empty.  And crockery and cutlery, many odd bits of crockery that are parts of sets that the other pieces have long since broken.  And broken crockery that I could glue together.  But haven't.

Then it comes to the point that things can't be found.  Where is the screwdriver?  Buy another as I need it now and can't spend a couple of days looking for it.  Or a best shirt or pair of trousers.  Have to buy another because I have to go somewhere that more formal attire is needed and can't find them.  And so it goes on, accumulating things.  The floor disappears under the mess, then trouble getting around the rooms and doors that cannot be opened or closed.  Entrances blocked.  And it gets worse and worse.

Tidying and cleaning is a long, long job.  There is the sheer demoralising effect of seeing the mess and wondering where to start.  And nowhere to sort stuff to.  But I am making some progress.  I am now at the stage where things are extremely untidy, which seems a lot tidier than they were.  My next stage is to get it looking very untidy, which compared to extremely untidy will appear quite tidy to me!  But things have to be disposed of.  Old time of food have been emptied to the compost heap, some of them nearly twenty years past their best before date, some discovered rising through and leaked onto the pantry shelves.  So the food cupboard at least is now clear and none of the time out of date.  Next will be disposing of excess food to the food bank.  

Clothes have now all been washed and in a large number of bags, being sorted into type - underwear, trousers, shirts, etc.  But still in bags with zips as cannot yet get to the drawers and cupboards to wind what wonders are there.  And want to only have two sets of smart clothes, two of casual, and two of clothes for dirty jobs.  I have a dishwasher which is both a curse and a help, but need to sort the crockery and cutlery to remove the stuff that is in excess.

I hope to get a lot more done by the end of April.  Once the warmer months are here I need to get outside, I enjoy the outside so much.  And winter is too cold and dark to be motivated.

Others find it difficult to understand, although no one see the full extentmess as I don't have visitors inside.  I fully understand that people can become incapable of keeping a tidy home.  And the sort of thing that is least help of anything is the judgement of others on programmes that show people in a similar situation.  They do not need threats of eviction or to be told they are living in a mess.  They know that.  They need proper sympathetic help, and a realisation that for some people keeping a tidy home is well nigh impossible.  

I am tidying up slowly after many years of mess.

There are problems with autism, tidying, and possessions.  I become attached to things and hate to get rid of them.  Especially I hate to throw them away.  So even if clothes get holes in them, I think they can be used as rags for cleaning things!  Bits of wood, old screws, all can be used.  Or so I think.  Clothes I have grown out of, being far more portly now than I was thirty years ago.  Books which overflow bookshelves.  Boxes, many of them empty.  And crockery and cutlery, many odd bits of crockery that are parts of sets that the other pieces have long since broken.  And broken crockery that I could glue together.  But haven't.

Then it comes to the point that things can't be found.  Where is the screwdriver?  Buy another as I need it now and can't spend a couple of days looking for it.  Or a best shirt or pair of trousers.  Have to buy another because I have to go somewhere that more formal attire is needed and can't find them.  And so it goes on, accumulating things.  The floor disappears under the mess, then trouble getting around the rooms and doors that cannot be opened or closed.  Entrances blocked.  And it gets worse and worse.

Tidying and cleaning is a long, long job.  There is the sheer demoralising effect of seeing the mess and wondering where to start.  And nowhere to sort stuff to.  But I am making some progress.  I am now at the stage where things are extremely untidy, which seems a lot tidier than they were.  My next stage is to get it looking very untidy, which compared to extremely untidy will appear quite tidy to me!  But things have to be disposed of.  Old time of food have been emptied to the compost heap, some of them nearly twenty years past their best before date, some discovered rising through and leaked onto the pantry shelves.  So the food cupboard at least is now clear and none of the time out of date.  Next will be disposing of excess food to the food bank.  

Clothes have now all been washed and in a large number of bags, being sorted into type - underwear, trousers, shirts, etc.  But still in bags with zips as cannot yet get to the drawers and cupboards to wind what wonders are there.  And want to only have two sets of smart clothes, two of casual, and two of clothes for dirty jobs.  I have a dishwasher which is both a curse and a help, but need to sort the crockery and cutlery to remove the stuff that is in excess.

I hope to get a lot more done by the end of April.  Once the warmer months are here I need to get outside, I enjoy the outside so much.  And winter is too cold and dark to be motivated.

Others find it difficult to understand, although no one see the full extentmess as I don't have visitors inside.  I fully understand that people can become incapable of keeping a tidy home.  And the sort of thing that is least help of anything is the judgement of others on programmes that show people in a similar situation.  They do not need threats of eviction or to be told they are living in a mess.  They know that.  They need proper sympathetic help, and a realisation that for some people keeping a tidy home is well nigh impossible.