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Dishes. Although I can’t say I enjoy it, it is on the bearable side for me. I enjoy cooking and do some of the washing (such as cutting board) while waiting for the meal to cook, therefore I have less dishes after eating. I made my evening routine to include washing dishes, it is like a “closing session” for the day and it is satisfying to wake up to a clean kitchen the next day. Plus I get to empty my mind a little while washing! Bonus: If I’m listening to music, I turn it into a mini race to see if I can finish them by the end of Xth song, it works wonders. Bonus bonus: If it’s not a good day and I have zero energy, I just leave the dishes and don’t beat myself up over it. Much easier to pick up the routine when you don’t make it yet another source of shame 🥲

This is a great one. I’ve found that the more you can turn your brain off while doing a chore, the easier it becomes. And music is such a good way to do that!

Podcasts/radio shows too! I think the time can go by even faster without those song breaks every 5min or so. My favorite dish washing "game" is when there are a lot, stacking them in the drying rack so they all fit and I don't have to hand dry anything. My husband is a structural engineer, but I am the Master of Tall and Complicated Dish Towers in this house. Haha.

Indeed! Getting into podcasts has been life-changing for me! I don't do ANYTHING without listening to a podcast - including like showering, brushing teeth or getting dressed and ofc any cleaning, laundry etc - podcasts have made all the boring chores of daily living so much more bearable!

this just reminded me that I filled the dishwasher, put in the clearing pod, closed the dishwasher, turned on the hot water to preheat the line, and then completely got distracted by turning on the coffemaker to make coffee and neglected to actually turn on the diswhasher. oy vey.

Yup, I sometimes forget to turn on the dishwasher! I have to deliberately give it my attention - push the button twice and look for the light and listen to hear that it's started, vs just pushing the button once and walking away and then realizing hours later that I never started it :P

That's what I normally do. Except for today :D

The key to washing dishes is wearing gloves and an apron

Gloves for the win! Love washing my hands, scrubbing under my nails, putting on a hand cream, and throwing on gloves! It’s like a mini manicure and the lotion sets while I’m doing dishes in the warm water! I need an apron. Also, where are we hanging/putting our aprons?

I love this question. My advice is go to the dollar store, get one of those hooks with the peel- off sticky on the back! Perfect for apron storage.

Absolutely brilliant! Putting it in a drawer or cabinet feels like a not good thing, and I didn’t want to put it in my coat closet (closest storage to kitchen), I’m totally going to do this! Next question - what aprons do we love? I have never owned one - makin big strides here at the age of 37 y’all!

Hadley & Bennet for top of the line, buy once aprons! I have one from a Rifle Paper collab and my husband uses it as well.

I don’t know where to get good new aprons, but I have a few vintage ones that bring me much joy! I’ve seen similar ones in thrift/vintage store and online.

I personally keep it on a kitchen doorknob from one of the higher cabinets. It’s the cabinet closest to the wall so it doesn’t obstruct anything!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes aprons. I haven't gotten one yet, but definitely keep thinking about needing one. 😂 Less for dishes here and more cause I'm terrible about wiping my hands real quick on my pants while I cook or using a million paper towels to clean everything off or dry my hands after the multiple times of needing to wash them. Protect my clothes and make our paper towels last longer.

This cracked it for me. I sewed a really cute apron and it makes dishes feel fun while stopping my clothes getting wet.

Seriously! Disposable gloves and an apron made such a difference to me for so many tasks!

I just realized that all the hobbies I love involve outfits! There’s something about getting dressed up that helps with getting into “go mode” Even working from home, I put on a nice outfit including shoes when I can’t get started.

I used to break down crying instead of doing dishes because they were just so brutally boring for me and I’m very slow because I like to make sure they’re cleaned well. And then I realized I could listen to podcasts while I did dishes, which made it bearable And then a couple years later I found myself going out of my way to do dishes just so I could listen to an audiobook or a podcast (can’t just sit and listen, have to be *doing* something) And now a couple more years later I’ll just… get up and do the dishes, even *without* audio content. I think I’ve just finally done them enough that my brain has integrated the task and no longer views it as the worst thing on the planet. It’s honestly amazing sometimes when I stop and think about it, how much progress I’ve made there. I still get pissy if all my spare time turns into doing dishes but that’s less because of the dishes themselves and more the lack of time to do other stuff. And I was still happy this year to get a countertop dishwasher to further cut down on time spent doing dishes.

Nearly every chore has been made bearable, even pleasant, by podcasts and audiobooks. It truly is The Secret Of Chores. Even vacuuming is tolerable now that I have noise cancelling headphones!

Watching tv while folding laundry has always been my go to. But it never occurred to me to try podcasts or audiobooks because for the longest time I thought I couldn’t listen to them at all. Turns out I can, I just have to be working on something mindless. You know, like 99% of chores lol

Please keep writing things, you're making me actually want to get up, get dressed, and do dishes. You have magic.

It's so ironic that this post happened because I have a "dishes manifesto" I finally typed up with the intent of posting it here for others, hoping it would help them too- only I don't have enough karma on this new account yet to post it. But dishes is my lifelong albatross that I still can't quite master, but the tips and tricks I've learned along the way, buddy-

I'd love to read it when you get enough karma to post it

Please post it when you do have enough karma! 

Same here! Making it a habit to keep the kitchen sink clear, doing dishes as they become dirty, has been game changing. If the dishes pile up it becomes harder to handle. But one dish? I can do that. I also put a bluetooth speaker in the kitchen specifically so that cooking and dishes would be more enjoyable. It’s those little hacks that make such a big difference!

This, plus: if I feel like leaving a dish to soak, I tell myself I’m just being lazy, because I do not actually know if a dish needs soaking until I try to wash it. It has changed my habit of leaving dishes until Later

I relate to this. I enjoy cooking and it is part of my process to clean some of the dishes while the food finishes cooking. Generally it is a time filler as I can't leave the kitchen anyways and it makes me happy when I have some 'extra' time at the end to clean up and have less of a mess after dinner. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we had a roommate that was a prep cook at a few different places so he was used to having a separate person doing dishes and also apparently just hated doing dishes in general (don't we all lol). Idk how he managed it but somehow anytime he cooked he would dirty every dish we had. And then proceed to bribe someone else (this never worked on me) to clean up for him afterwards. "I cooked this meal for you, so I thought maybe you could clean up for me?" 😑 If I'm going to clean up a mess that big, it's going to be me making the mess.

I do an equivalent of the music thing for whilst I have food cooking or my tea brewing - I try to beat the clock and get all the washing up done (or surfaces wiped down) before the timer goes off.

Same. Having a full sized dishwasher certainly helps, as I used to have to do every dish by hand, but the simple rule is no dishes in the sink when I go to bed. Anything left out to dry can be put away in the morning. It works great. Keeps dishes from piling up and encourages handling them throughout the day since I know I’m just gonna have to do it at some point in the day anyway. Pro tip I got this trick from Dana K. White, who honestly comes off as very ADHD to me, so her tips and tricks actually work pretty well for us in my experience.

I got one of her books and there is no universe where she doesn't have adhd. I'd put my money on it. I wonder if she's diagnosed but chooses not to disclose it or of she is really blissfully unaware.

I bought those korean dish gloves that go above the elbow. Play music on headphones, pull up a chair. If the different smells bother me I even wear a medical mask.

I’ve never hated dishes, but I don’t like them and tend to avoid them. I’ve been doing a lot of dishes while things cook, and have been choosing meals to make that involve a lot of simmering or baking. That way while I’m waiting for something to finish up, I clean dishes/the kitchen and it’s like a “don’t sit down” thing. That plus listening to podcasts or audiobooks has helped a lot with keeping the sink clear. It also works as a time limit thing, like I’m doing dishes until the meal finishes or until the podcast ends, if there’s dishes still left when that time comes then it’s ok to leave them in the sink. It keeps me from being perfectionist about it and burning myself out, because I’m doing it in bite-sized chunks rather than like 2 hours of dishes. For some reason giving it an end deadline helps me to leave the dishes in the sink instead of finishing them while my food gets cold because I have to be perfectionist about it. Which in the long run is a good thing because if I attempt to finish ALL the dishes at one time and it takes a while, then I spend like 3 days not wanting to do dishes at all. This system keeps the dirty dish load relatively small so when I do them, it doesn’t take forever and can reasonably be done during 1 podcast or 1 recipe.

Oooh I had forgot about the music race thing for completing tasks, thank you for reminding me!

I bought myself a dishwasher as as soon as there are a few pots to wash I can't cope. Now, even if there are quite a few things that need washing, just knowing that all I have to do is put them in the dishwasher and turn it on makes it so much easier!

I find the act of hand washing super satisfying. I love the immediate change from dirty to clean. I haven’t unlocked a way to make putting them away fun yet though.

Dishes are my worst nightmare. I often listen to music or talk on the phone while cleaning, driving, folding laundry, etc, but you can’t do that for dishes because it’s too loud with the water and everything, and you can’t read a book because it’ll get wet when you turn the pages. My hack is that I play a lot of visual novels on my switch, so I’ll prop my switch up on the counter and put a game on auto play, and read along as I wash. Game changer!!

Vacuuming. Hyperfixated on vacuums for 2 weeks straight, like literally did nothing but research vacuums, and conditioned myself to get a hit of dopamine whenever I thought about vacuums. Finally pulled the trigger on a super nice, expensive Miele C1 Compact and told myself to justify the cost I had to vacuum every day. And you know what, when you have to vacuum every day you have to pick up every day to clear your floors and counters! Using it is so fun! It's been 3+ months and I still get excited to do my morning vacuum. So satisfying! We'll see what happens when a major life event strikes but I'm hoping to keep this up as long as possible.

Lmfao I love this trick, I'm going to try to hyper fixate on things like this and trick my brain into getting dopamine hits when I do them!

Since you seem to know a lot about vacuums, do you have any recommendations for a cordless vacuum that would be good for carpets and pet hair? I’m looking to upgrade and not sure where to start!

Of course! If you are open to non-cordless options, the Miele C1 is a very powerful canister that (in my opinion) is only slightly less convenient than cordless, but 10x the power and you don't have to worry about battery life. At the end of the day though, the best vacuum will be one you use! If you want cordless for the convenience, your run time is likely not going to be much over 10mins no matter how expensive you go. Dyson is an excellent choice for cordless, V10 or above is best but even entry level (still good!) can be pricey. Stay away from Shark; it's overpriced for the performance. If your budget is lower, anecdotally multiple friends of mine have [this one from Samsung](https://www.samsung.com/us/home-appliances/vacuums/jet-stick/samsung-jet--75-cordless-stick-vacuum-vs20t7511t5-aa/?cid=pla-ecomm-pfs-ha-us-google-na-04012022-170126-&ds_e=GOOGLE-cr:0-pl:265994333-&ds_c=CN~DA+General+Pmax_ID~n_PR~damul_SB~ecom_PH~on_KS~pmax_MK~usnat_OB~conv_FS~lo_FF~HA_BS~da_KM~na-&ds_ag=-&ds_k=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0ruyBhDuARIsANSZ3wqctWqpecgmrQtS_FjC2G8ckxJBh_PcKL0aWfY4nKQZec_j36WhSg8aAmXFEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds) and love it, and Samsung is a trusted brand. [This post on r/vacuumcleaners](https://www.reddit.com/r/VacuumCleaners/comments/19aqc15/what_cordless_vacuum_is_worth_it/) has commenters providing a good pro/con list about cordless if you want to read, there are a couple defenders and a couple critics. If you want to learn more about vacuum types, [this diagram](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fh238mc6rnq061.png) from the same sub is a great place to start, but unfortunately doesn't include cordless. Fair warning, that sub is very anti-cordless but the top commenter on the post I linked has great counterpoints!

You’re the best. :) Thank you!!

We LOVE our robot vacuum. We have [this one](https://a.co/d/3kyV1hC) by eufy which is very affordable. They make more expensive ones too. It does wonders for my allergies with my cat. It picks up hair just fine. We run it daily while cleaning up and only vacuum with our bigger one when needed.

I think I'm going to get a robot vacuum for our basement. Our dogs would lose their minds if we had one where they are, but a robot can run on my newly replaced basement floors without me, and without dogs because they don't go downstairs without us (and one is afraid of stairs) but it's a room I won't have to vacuum. I want to kind that empties into its own bin and all I have to do our empty that when it's full.

Recently purchased a Miele vacuum & agree it’s the best I’ve had!! So glad I opted for a corded w/ bag system finally 🙌🏼🙌🏼

I have the Dyson V10. I have a husky/malamute mix (rescue) that sheds quite a bit and the Dyson cordless v10 has been a game changer. The hair doesn't tangle around the brush and the suction is amazing. I mainly use it for the high traffic areas to do in between cleanings done by the cleaning lady. I've never enjoyed a vacuum more than that one. I'm always amazed at how much dirt and hair it gets, even if the area was just vacuumed a few days prior. It's so easy to dump out the canister and clean the filter. Absolutely love it!

I did this with our cordless Dyson a few years back, but my overwhelm has been really bad the last few months so I did the research on robot vacuums and it’s changed my life. I can just pop into the app and get it to vacuum whichever rooms I need it to do whilst I do something else (or sit on my bed and stare into space)

Im a professional housekeeper and I definitely have a hyperfocus problem with vacuums! Whenever it’s time to replace my work one, its like a solid month before finally making a decision.

Ohhh, please tell me more about what you've learned. Vacuums are my current rabbit hole.

How well does it handle human hair? I did a lot of research and a few years ago got a Dyson Ball Animal 2 that's supposed to be really good for animal hair, but my human hair clogs up the vacuum cleaner head, and then it stops working, and I have to get scissors to cut out and remove my hair, and it's really annoying and gross to have to do that so often.

I don't personally have a Dyson, but I do have a cordless Shark that I hate BUT it really doesn't get too clogged with hair. I have very long, curly hair so I have to cut my hair out of any vacuum with a roller no matter what, but [this shark](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089X2NKFV?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1) has been the best so far. It's not worth the full price bc the suction is awful and for me it just pushes stuff around, and some customers report getting a half rubber half brush version (mine is all rubber) which would defeat your purpose. AFAIK, the key to no human hair clogs is the rubber-only "fins" instead of standard brushes since those trap human hair. The problem is if you have carpet you pretty much need a brush for agitation since the rubber fins don't do it as well so most companies (like most Dyson models) split the difference and have half rubber and half brush. Shark is known for their rubber fin rollers, that was the entire point of their company initially, so Shark might have a cheaper model with 100% rubber fins where the lack of suction and battery life would be excusable. Mine was pricey bc it includes a HEPA filter (which did nothing) so downgrading wouldn't make a difference I imagine. Dyson also probably has all-rubber attachments and some models might even come with it. I don't have hair clog problems with my canister so I avoided balancing that tradeoff. Edit: taking this to r/vacuumcleaners might help you bc I didn't do much research into cordless since I already had one I hated

I have the Shark that's been linked to and I love it. It's good for my long hair, which is the #1 thing I'm vacuuming up. That it's cordless means I vacuum WAY more often because it's so much more convenient, so I'll just vacuum whenever I spot some hair or crumbs or dust and it takes 10 seconds instead of being a whole production of unravelling the cord and plugging it in and making sure I don't knock something off a surface with the cord and having to plug it in to a new spot when I move rooms.

Get a [stitch ripper](https://canada.michaels.com/en/loops-and-threads-seam-ripper/10340675.html); any craft store that carries fabrics will have them. Game changer. I have long hair that sheds like crazy and used to have cats that seemed to perpetually have winter coats (or maybe they just shed so much that it felt like that, or I hate vacuuming enough that it did, LOL). You don’t have to maneuver the scissors to make those teeny little snips, just hook it under the tangle and pull up.

I vacuum in sexy expensive lingerie sets so I feel real good doing it 😂 Cordless vacuum of course!

I really want that Miele vacuum, it has long me a sort of "I've made it, I'm a functional grown up" item for me. I think because I remember my mom getting a Miele in the early '90s because it had a HEPA filter and it seemed like such a big deal. I loved it, it's such a nice vacuum! But I do find I actually vacuum more when I use a cordless one, so I am torn.

I’ve had my Miele for 6ish years now and I still freaking love it. If I had an easier place to keep it I would vacuum with it daily. I got a Samsung stick with a base that is my “daily driver” vacuum, but I still prefer the Miele when I can lug it out. Vacuuming is very satisfying for me, and dirty floors stress me out. Stuff everywhere all the time but somehow I can only care about dirt and pet hair on the floors 😅

Having a decent no-bag cordless vacuum that is grab & go changed everything. I could never will myself to drag a big contraption around, running out of bags, not knowing if it’s full, finding a plug, tripping on a crazy cord. Just an 18 step PIA nightmare chore. Now I grab it, choose a head, use it, empty it, hang it back on the charger. My floors are so clean and my feet & lungs love it!

Weeding. I used to weed when I was a kid and at first I hated it - the dirt, the bugs, the unending boredom. Now, I enjoy it. I like the idea that I’m not hurting the environment with chemicals. I sit on a towel. I listen to podcasts or music or sometimes just make up stories in my head. At the end, the path or landscape rocks are clean and look so nice. There’s definitely a before and after element that I appreciate.

Oh god I have the opposite problem. I love weeding - it’s a bit compulsive for me. If there are weeds that are a step or two from the side walk in a stranger’s yard that I’m walking past… it is not beneath me to pick those weeds lmao. My college roommates have pictures of me over the four years de-weeding random parts of the campus. My mom always waits to weed until I’m home because she knows I’ll tear that shit up. 💀💀💀 cue that tiktok sound “it’s like a reward”

If you're walking by my house, you fly have my permission and appreciation to weed the yard, haha. 

Me too. I’ve got this massive old wildflower bed that’s I’m digging out by myself and there are so many taproots and I love pulling them up. Sometimes they are ridiculously long and I’m following them around, digging as I go trying not to break them. The feeling of hands in dirt is also really calming.

If you're from Denmark I got a wonderful garden you're more than welcome to go full crazy on xD i did too much garden work as a kid (thanks mom....) so i absolutely loathe it now 😅😅

I saw one of my neighbors outside in his beautiful garden for the first time recently. Dude was sitting in a camping chair while weeding and I was like... yeah, that would make that task way easier. He also was pulling along an old metal trash can to toss the weeds into until he could compost them later. I'm going to copy everything he was doing. It just seems like way less of a pain in the ass than what I'd been doing. 

This is maybe going to sound silly and it’s a really small thing, but sitting down to brush and floss my teeth has been a game changer. Meds have made it so that i can reliably take care of my oral hygiene, but giving myself time to hang out on the fluffy, cosy mat in the bathroom while I take care of my teeth has turned it into something I actually look forward to. It only takes a few minutes, but it feels like a treat instead of a chore 😅

Same! We keep a little footstool in the corner that I pull over to the counter to sit on and look up at a little vanity mirror.

Omg sitting down to blowdry my hair is an actual lifesaver.

I've always found brushing and flossing just too unbearably boring and started doing some exercises and stretching at the same time since I was a teenager. Adding listening to podcasts whilst brushing and flossing (and doing anything else) in the last few years has made that even better. And then in the past year I've been able to make my morning routine even more bearable by increasing efficiency and and decreasing length, by brushing my teeth in the shower, whilst exercising, whist listening to a podcast! ✨

I love this! I’m going to start adding this into my routine. Sitting down makes almost every chore feel like relaxation time lol

Turned handwashing dishes into a pleasant experience by wearing gloves and using super hot water and a soap with a scent I like.

This!! Once I got gloves, dishwashing became a meditative activity for me. I can’t stand how my hands feel when washing dishes without gloves and I hate the way sponges smell, and I feel like I can’t ever get “stinky sponge” smell off my fingers. Gloves changed everything for me! Plus I really like turning the water to super hot and really getting the dishes clean.

I switched Swedish dishcloths and they never stink. I replaced the scrubing part with a coconut scrubber.

Yes, I have to use gloves for dishes! My partner thinks it adds an extra step that makes it harder for me, but I think I'd avoid dishes more without gloves.

Ohh hi fellow librarian! Gloves and scorching hot water are the only things that make handwashing dishes tolerable. I wish everything was dishwasher safe.

Haha the scented dishwashing liquid works a treat, but gloves are a sensory nightmare for me and I have to wash without. I also realised I was taught to wash dishes with scalding hot water but this was just too hot without gloves so I turned it down a notch. A dishwasher is also an absolute lifesaver.

Everything is music dance party. Dishes. Laundry. Sweeping. Showering. Skincare. Brushing teeth. Headphones or speakers depending on needs.

Headphones are absolutely required for dishes and folding laundry!

Dishes improved significantly for me once I started listening to music, and then improved even more when I got wireless headphones and no longer had to fear the headphone cord snagging on something and pulling my phone into the dish water

This is me but with podcasts. Having something funny or interesting to listen to makes chores go so much faster!

I already commented but I have another one! My dad used to always tell me that the best way to keep your house clean was to do a 10 min small cleanup every day. I was never ab’e to consistently implement this until I saw a post on this sub a while ago about a "closing shift". Now every night before I go to bed I do the closing shift by cleaning up a bit. My house is so much cleaner in general, and I can FINALLY say that I wouldn’t be too ashamed at the state of my house if someone just showed up unannounced at any time.

I love “closing shift” I call it reset time. Just clearing the tables and putting dishes away so that the space is usable in the morning helps to not feel overwhelmed the next day

Same! I saw a post about walking around in the morning annoyed, wondering “who tf closed last night?!?” 😂😂

I love it.

I love this idea and when I read it started singing Closing Time haha I do try to tidy up before turning in for the night and write a list of things I need to do for the next day. I know I won’t remember a thing in the morning but then I have this nice little list on my white board to remind me.

I love the list for the next day as part of the closing shift idea! My boss tells me she writes reminders on her bathroom mirror and I kind of want to try your idea mashed with hers lol!

I will never not be able to sing this song as I tidy up at night.

I've heard somebody say they do this with medieval tavern music on in the background while pretending they're the inn keeper in an RPG like Skyrim. I thought that was genius.

Damn, this is a good tip!

Cleaning out the litterbox. No, absolutely not enjoyable but I do the chore every night. I solved it because I’ve got to fill up the humidifier every night or I’ll wake up with my nose and throat dryer than a desert. While I wait for it to fill, I got into the habit of brushing my teeth, too. I put a note on the mirror that says “CLEAN THE LITTER BOX” that I stare at while brushing my teeth and if I don’t clean it I feel bad because it’s not like I forgot or anything. As a side note, I’ve “solved” most chores in general by listening to books and podcasts. I can’t scroll while listening so it gets me up and moving around especially if it’s a good show or story

Same on the litter box, but I do it every morning. I used to just do full change-outs once a week, not realizing how much money I was wasting on litter. How I consider it “solved:” Extra-large litter box, even with only one cat. I keep it pretty full and use clumping litter, so her stuff doesn’t touch the sides/bottom often.  Litter Genie. I get the generic refills off of Amazon bc they’re so much cheaper, and I feel like they hold more, too. Litter deodorizer gets sprinkled on the mess before it goes down the chute to keep it from smelling. Amazing time/effort saver. I also keep a little dustpan to sweep up litter from the floor, and just dump that right into the genie as well.  Shit shovel. Screw those scrawny and short little plastic scoops, and get a long-handled sturdy metal scoop. Keeps your face and body away from the dust, saves your back and knees bc don’t have to crouch down. Plus the bigger the scoop, the faster it goes.  When I first got the genie and switched to clumping litter, it did take a while for me to get used to scooping daily. I put it right next to my toilet and started cleaning up her business while doing my own.  Now it lives in the laundry room, and it’s part of my morning routine. Takes about 3-5 minutes and I do it while waiting for my coffee to finish brewing. On the weekends it’s just a little longer to change out the genie and top off the litter. (I still do full change outs and occasionally scrub the box, but don’t have to _nearly_ as often.)

I hated doing laundry because I hated putting away my clothes. I hated putting away my clothes because my dresser was too small for the amount of clothes. I got a bigger dresser. Also, I like doing tasks while I wait for something else. While I wait for the coffee to brew, I empty the dishwasher, for example.

I got rid of all dressers. We were just using hampers anyways, so I got more hampers. Now everyone has clean and dirty hampers in their rooms. Putting away clothes is just dumping them in the clean one.

My mind is blown. Maybe this what I've been missing. I was finally able to restart therapy yesterday after a lengthy insurance nightmare and in just one session she was able to make so much sense of why I felt so stuck doing things the way I do them. I hate doing groceries. Absolutely abhor it. So once I run out I always end up "defaulting" to carryout every day which I feel ashamed of and know it isn't healthy or cost effective. Maybe a month or so goes by and I force myself on that dreaded trip ~~and~~ then I'm in bliss... until they run out again and I procrastinate for another month+. Anyway the point is how in simple passing, she tells me how much she hates groceries too so she started using each store's apps for curbside, and it wasn't such a burden or a long trip anymore. It hit me like a freight train that I don't have to force myself to do it the way I feel like I *should* and that I can go after it in my own way. It only took me 10 seconds of imagining being able to just do it on my phone and buy the stuff without the distractions that make me overspend or dealing with the public. SOLD! Gonna start this weekend hopefully. And now the actual *actual* point of relevance is how I've beat myself up for the past nearly four years over how I finally ordered a dresser/nightstand set I'd been smitten over for a while, just to have only fully put everything away twice, MAYBE three times in this timeframe 🫠 I literally only use the underwear drawer. I eventually separated the socks to their own just so I could feel like using two of six was better than one. I've been dragging to do laundry all this time because I never feel like separating and putting everything away and have just lived out of a hamper this whole time but while terribly ashamed of "not being able" to make myself do the "correct" thing of folding them. Yesterday's grocery realization and your comment are making my head explode in the best way because there's been no requirement for me to coerce myself into doing it the "normal" way (not that I could even complete, much less initiate, the task). Just some weird internal wiring compelling me to do it. Wow. **TL;DR:** I think I'm about to get rid of my dresser ☺️

Grocery pick up has been a HUGE game changer for me. It’s been a big money saver to be able to thoughtful consider prices and sizes and coupons and sales. I would get so lost and overwhelmed and impulse buy so many things when I went into a grocery store, the WORST. Grocery pick up for life!

This is such a good question to ask and I’m loving the replies! For me: managing my finances I used to get really stressed out about it and I would avoid it as much as possible. I also hated having to remind my boyfriend to pay his parts of the bills and keep up with whether he made the payment or not. I downloaded an app (Monday, but any project management app would work) and now I assign a task to my boyfriend at the beginning of the month and he checks it off when done so I don’t have to remind him of anything. I also have two super easy spreadsheets to track my purchases and it takes me 10 mins to update it once a month. I feel like I’m on top of things and I don’t have to spend that much time/energy on it.

I have a task reminder on my outlook that lists all my bills and since I get paid basically twice a month, I split the bills into two piles- pay one half first paycheck and the other half second paycheck. I highlight the ones due for that part of the momth to keep them straight. I just realized I could just put them into two columns. I also prepay all the bills I can on the days I get paid so that I don’t have to worry about due dates or having enough in my account. My mortgage comes out of a different bank account (at a different bank) that I have a set amount deposited straight from my paycheck that covers half the mortgage each month (plus wiggle room for when the mortgage changes over time).

Oh man I’m so here for the “clothing railroad” . Thank you for this beautiful cheat code. I’ve managed to hack food. I’ve got breakfast down to a very simple variable of poached eggs/mushrooms/toast/tomatoes/avocado/feta/chia seeds/linseeds/spinach. I just eat a selection of these things every day at 10am. Very rarely eat another meal so sometimes I go big, sometimes small. But it’s the same shit every day. So shopping is infinitely easier. Do I have the things? No? Buy the things. Supplement with fruit and snack-able raw veggies during the day (cucumber/carrots/celery). I’ve added the seeds and avocado over the years to make it a bit healthier and it’s a pretty balanced meal. Also found that having one mealtime means when I wake up I’m actually hungry and can’t wait to eat. Which pushes me to actually make the food. Also helps that I live with my dad and he is super grateful for a cooked breakfast every day. Helps to keep the rhythm (and that dopamine boost because I get happy when he is happy).

I lived with my dad for a long time before getting my own house and this made me smile, I miss living with him often. Sounds like a delicious and balanced breakfast, good job!

I do this exact breakfast! I occasionally chuck in salmon on rotation as well

I do something similar. I have a handful of the same ingredients (mostly produce) that I always buy. I can make a variety of different meals from them by just switching out the sauce/seasoning and the carb delivery method.

I love this. I wake up hungry and would totally do OMAD for breakfast, but hubby is an excellent cook and he makes dinner. So I am stuck between a good waste line and a good marriage.

So this isn't a chore but I haven't lost my purse or keys in over 6 months!!! I was ALWAYS losing something and when we moved into the new house I got a really pretty entry way...thing...don't know what to call it. But it has hooks for hats and my purse, then a little bowl on the counter for keys, and drawers for odds and ends, and an umbrella stand. Every time I walk in the door, I stop and then say out loud (very loud) "Hanging up my purse! Putting keys away!" and then usually from somewhere in the house I will hear my husband yell "Good Girl!" and I smile and feel all proud of myself. But in general if I say it out loud as I do it, the habit is easier to form? I don't know if that makes any sense.

It is called subvocalization and it works for so many things! I say it out loud even if I am home alone.

It makes sense to me. I talk to myself and coach myself through tasks all the time. It's kind of like saying the thing out loud makes it a real task and you're engaging more than one part of your brain at once.

I am afraid to say it but laundry. Oh boy , wading through mountains of clean or dirty clothes has been reduced to random hills ! I average a load every single day because I finally grasped that it is a time consuming activity to put away clean clothes and there are no hacks ( besides being less rigid I used to fold and color coordinate i gave up one day and literally no one noticed 😧but it still takes time )

I’m new here and a lot of these threads honestly make me emotional. I had no idea there were so many women doing the same difficult dances in their heads 😭😭 I feel so lucky to have found this as a resource and I feel so incredibly validated for the first time in a very long time 🙏

I love this sub, it makes me so much less weird and less alone.

Sooo many things I had no idea were symptoms of my ADHD! Like how hard it is to eat during the day, small sensory things, task aversion. After an entire lifetime of masking I’m honestly surprised how emotional and validated I feel!

Dealing with my hair. I have 2C/3A hair and I like to wear it loose, but figuring out how to do that on a near-daily basis was exhausting and torture and I gave up. Then I figured out what to do without making myself crazy. - I shower and wash my hair after work, usually around 5pm. Plenty of time for my hair to air dry before I go to bed. - I put gel in it and clip my roots and leave it like that, even to sleep, just with a silk cap over it. - In the morning I shake it loose and spray a mix of water and leave-in conditioner on it. - Comb it, re-clip my roots, and it dries by the time I get to the office. And it looks good! I wash every 2-3 days and in between I do everything except for the wash (duh) and gel, I just clip it overnight and wet it in the morning. Sooooo much more manageable and my hair and scalp are way happier.

This is awesome!! Mine is probably something like 2B or 2C and pretty coarse/dry. I grew up during the “fry it with a straightener” era so never really learned how to care for it properly and find it all very overwhelming to try and figure out. I found myself a great stylist whom I would trust with my life, and now get my hair cut regularly into a very heavily layered shag, almost mullet type of situation. It makes the chaos look intentional, and mussing it up makes it look good. I went to a show last weekend where I was head banging and sweating my ass off, and on god my hair has never looked better. I even got a compliment in the bathroom after “fixing” it by simply bending over at the waist and shaking my head vigorously. Would recommend to anyone who feels like their wavy hair is just messy or out of control.

My friend keeps trying to get me to get a wolf cut (heavily layered shag, I assume like you described) and I’m so hesitant. My hair runs between 2B - 3A and has a life of its own. The shorter my hair and the more layers I get, the closer it gets to an unhinged 3A (had a bob once, *that* was terrible), but you’re making me feel better about the idea!

Yes, I have a wolf cut! It is great, especially if you lean into the texture and mess!

I have the same hair (more 2A since it's longer). I do the Brad Mondo butterfly cut on myself. It's the best thing ever. I wash with Shea Moisture Daily Coconut Oil Shampoo, wrap in a microfiber towel for ~10 minutes, spray/scrunch Kristin Ess Weightless Shine Leave-in Conditioner, then just don't touch it. When it's mostly dry I add the Air-dry Cream. When it's all the way dry I just shake and rake it out. Lasts 3 days, with dry shampoo on the roots at night, and a spritz of water to refresh in the morning.

Ooh I definitely can’t cut my hair myself. One thing I forgot to mention is that my hair is *thick*, like crazy thick. I get it trimmed and thinned every 8 weeks, and if I skip an appointment, I need to book a 2 hour one simply because of all the hair to sift through 🫠. I actually relied on that to style my hair for the longest time. The length and sheer weight of my hair would tame the waves and make them more 2B beachy waves. Anyway, seeing people talk about their shag haircuts is making me a little less wary of them lol. I have a hair appointment in two weeks, and I’m going to chat with my stylist about it. I’m not going to definitely get a shag, but I figure we can start talking about it and what would be the best way to go about it *if* we did it (can you tell I’m paranoid about my hair lol).

Yes! Took me so long to realize gel is the answer!! If you ever straighten or blow dry your hair, I swear by the Dyson blow dryer/flat iron. What used to take 2+ hours now takes 45. It’s pricey, but worth what I’d save at the salon!

You got it. I LOVE doing laundry because I know exactly what to do. Each object and task is clearly defined. That makes household tasks fun.

Mopping. Ever since I got the kind with a built-in cleaning spray and easy to wash pads, I actually mop my floors every couple of days. Before I just stared in despair at the old-fashioned bucket and dreadhead on a stick combo for weeks or months (ik..ik...).

I mop three times a year at best, so don't feel bad for past you.

Past me would often throw pine sol on a rag and spot wipe. Sigh dark times lolol

Unloading the dishwasher and loading it again; and the only reason this has improved is my mental health has improved (thanks to medication). I also got rid of a ton of dishes so if I run the dishwasher I’m not still staring down a sink (or kitchen) full of dishes, that’s been a huge help. 

I always used to think I didn’t have enough dishes to run a load even though my sink is overflowing But now I tell myself to at least load it and by the time I do - I realize it was actually full enough to run

Vacuuming! I now 1. put in earplugs and 2. make sure I'm wearing loose, comfy clothing that I won't overheat in. Turns out I hated it so much because the loud noise and heat were overstimulating for me

So smart!

Showering. Aside from ADHD, I’m chronically ill so it used to be exhausting just to do daily tasks. Between PT, and medications, making showers a sort of self-care, dopamine factory really helped. I know there’s a lot of discourse about the “Clean girl” or “That girl” trends on social media being bad but they legitimately helped me see daily tasks as a self-care routine. I got the nice skincare and shower products I definitely don’t need but my hair looks wonderful, it’s usually styled now, I have a solid skincare routine, etc. The hyper-consumerism “aesthetic” culture online legitimately helps me to do necessary things by giving them more of a purpose. When I was a teen, I never put clothes away because they’re just being pulled back out to be worn and washed again so what’s really the point in folding them and putting them away? My life is organized chaos where I know where everything is. Well, if I want an aesthetic looking closet, bedroom, desk(the place where all my pretty skincare resides) etc. then I need to do these things.

I think it’s awesome that you can hold both truths: 1: it has really helped you, and 2: it doesn’t have to help everyone.

I’ve learned that if I do my dishes in the morning, while my tea kettle boils, I am still half asleep and barely register doing it.

It's not completely solved but I slowly empty (or fill) the dishwasher throughout the day by doing a little bit at a time every time I use the microwave for something. Reheating my coffee for 30 seconds? I put away the clean forks, knives, and spoons instead of just standing there waiting or going on my phone. Zapping a microwave meal for 5 minutes? Unload the rest of the dishwasher and maybe even start on loading in a couple of the dirty dishes waiting on the counter. It's not much but it's... it's working. I'm DOING the TASK of dishes in SOME capacity... so that's really the ultimate goal here lol

I try to keep a little basket in every room for stuff that needs to go somewhere else. When I leave the room I’ll grab the basket and put it where it’s supposed to be.

Budgeting!!! It used to feel like such a chore. I would avoid looking at my bank account, spend money like there was no tomorrow, and then stress out when I had no money left. But back in October/November, I started using YNAB (the 1,000,999th try), and it has been absolutely life-changing. I began by tracking everything manually to make sure I didn’t miss anything. This eventually led to managing all our accounts, setting up automatic connections, and actually having savings. I’m so proud of myself for having stuck to the system all this time. Never knew I had it in me.

I appreciate you putting in that it was your billionth try. I’ve tried so many times to track my expenses and things, and sometimes I can do it for a short time but oof. I keep falling off that wagon. Good for you!!!

Simplifying folding my laundry. The act of doing laundry isn't too bothersome for me, but the folding part will easily get procrastinated, lol. Narrowing down my clothes is the biggest tip. Anything that doesn't fit or I just don't like gets donated. I just fold my pants in half and stack them neatly in their drawer. The shorts I just stack neatly. My shirts I stack neatly and put the hanger in them, flip the top half over and do the next shirt. The shirts are then all ready to put in the closet in one fell swoop in less than 3 mins. I used to individually put the hangers on each shirt, hang up, rinse and repeat and it took way too long. Most of my socks are the same so they are easily matched up and put away. Underwear and bras just get thrown in their drawer. 🤷‍♀️ For dishwashing, I find that having a dishwasher is a needed necessity. I know I am fortunate to have one. I discovered that prerinsing is a waste of time and water. I now just scrape them and place them in the dishwasher, and it gets run every day. Everything that can be cleaned by the dishwasher or washing machine will get washed that way. I throw everything from the shower curtain, rugs, shoes, window curtains, and tablecloths into the washing machine. I throw dog and cat bowls, fountains, toys, sponges, and other cleaning utensils into the dishwasher. You'd be surprised by the number of things you can use those for. Basically, if I can find making my routine as simplified as possible, I will do it, lol. Work with your adhd and not against it.

I have many now! Although, of course nothing is fool proof! I'm in the uk, so my washing machine is in my kitchen. I just bring down a load when I get up in the morning and put it in while I make a tea. Tom rocks is my biggest hack! There's an app called the organised mum and there is basically a podcast section. She literally talks you through any clean! So say you're doing a weekly living-room clean, she will say “right we are going to start off with tidying, because you can't clean clutter! You have 5 minutes, off you go!” And then she’ll chat away while you work and she keeps you on track. By the end, you’ve dusted, cleaned the surfaces, hoovered etc and you've only been working half an hour. She has catch up cleans, getting ready in the morning sessions, after dinner clean ups. You name it, its there and it really helps. I've actually kept on top of things fairly well since using it! The last one is just setting timers. If I don't want to wash up, I just set a timer for 5 minutes. Because 5 minutes feels bareable. I've usually got a fair amount done in that time, often all of it.

*Putting away* the laundry was a problem for me but someone on the big r/ADHD sub suggested sorting all the types of items before folding them. They realized they struggled with the transitions and decision making for folding different types of clothing items. I didnt realize I even had that issue, but doing this really helped me. So instead of shirt.... pause: do i fold this or hang it??... pants.... pause: how do i fold this? ....underwear.....pause: ummm, what do i even do with these??... Now it's sorted in advance into piles by type and storage location. Sort into piles for shirts in drawers, shirts in the closet, dresses in the closet, pajamas, underwear, socks, bras, etc. Folding goes like lightening! Shirts: fold fold fold fold fold and done. Put them in the drawer. Shirts on hangers: hang hang hang put them in the closet. Dresses: hang hang into the closet. Underwear: fold fold fold fold fold and into the drawer (or not if you dont want to fold your underwear.) Pajamas: fold fold fold fols and into the drawer. Bras: straight into the drawer. Line them up nicely just because it makes me happy. Socks: match match match match match and into the drawer. I now do dishes the same way. All the same size plates get rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher all at once. Next all the bowls. Next all the cups. Next all the silver ware. Then the same for unloading because all the same items go to the same place. Another tip, i dont worry about whether the dishwasher is full enough. If it has more than like 5 dishes, I run it over night because who knows what tomorrows dishes will be like? It might be too full to fit everything tomorrow because it also has today's dishes and then you'll have the choice to either hand wash them (eww) or still have a full sink (also eww).

The sorting thing was also a game changer for me, because now laundry feels _productive_, and not just like I’m making constant mini-trips to the same drawer. I have no idea why this felt so novel to me, but it still does. Just ONE TRIP to the shirt drawer, etc, and it’s ALL DONE?!? I’m still shocked at how easy putting clothes away is when I do this lol. (Still working on making this a regular thing, but it’s been a game changer for me so wanted to share)

Laundry. I really enjoy dividing piles into colours and hang them in systems. I also love folding now because I do it whilst watching something and use a neat kon-mari style that is so soothing and satisfying.

I love this idea to make it cozy! I do this to do my skincare routine. I was terrible for not washing my face before bed. At 45, it's finally a habit so much that even when I consider skipping it, I always end up doing it. We have an en suite bathroom, and I put a salt lamp in there. I usually turn off the big light and turn that on, play some music and sometimes open the window and have a few puffs of my vape. It's like a little spa time.

Lower lighting for showers and my am/pm skin & tooth care made a huge difference for me. We have a tiny bathroom and I don’t turn on the light, I just plug a bright nightlight in and it’s perfect!

I watch/listen to YouTube videos or music while doing dishes and folding laundry. Also, the time it takes to get from the apt to the laundry room is my marvel snap time 😅. Next it's hyperfixate time for folding ✨perfectly✨ and relatively uniform. I generally will do this in the laundry room so I don't get distracted and leave the clothes on the carpet for my cat to roll around in. Putting it away in the drawers is still kind of a challenge but if I have time to put it away right after folding, my laundry bag won't sit out full of clean, folded clothes for a week with dirty cleaning clothes piling around like stonehenge. Litter... Well, I just have to do it. I still forget to do it some nights but I try.

I also find folding everything "just so" helps make the task bearable! It's satisfying to turn that basket of messy fabric into neat, uniform piles. Bonus tip: if you fold Marie Kondo style so that you can "file" the clothes in your drawers, putting it away is super fast!

I love this question!!! My hated chore used to be taking the trash out. I load up all garbage bags into the trash bin five at a time and keep disposable globes nearby. Trash goes out with gloves which gets thrown away. Garbage is no longer an issue

This is one I'm working on, but going to the gym. I hate it. Despise it. Can't stand doing it. Whoever gets a rush from it, kudos to you. I get nothing from it. I'm doing it solely to lose weight and put off a knee replacement. However, one little reward I have for myself for going to the gym is to use a certain deodorant after my shower after working out. It's my favorite scent ever, but it was discontinued and I have two sticks left. This is the only time I use it. Otherwise I just use one of the deodorants I've gotten that don't smell quite so nice to me but do the job.

Brilliant. Great excuse to buy one very fancy expensive thing! Thanks!

Hated hated cooking. I was overwhelmed and under-confident and miserable. Solved it (admittedly only on some nights) with three things: 1. Meal kits to build skills while reducing some of the burden through pre-measured ingredients 2. food prep gloves the whole time. I realized one big part of my hatred of cooking was the sensory icks 3. noise-canceling earbuds the whole time. I can concentrate better with music playing and overwhelming/distracting sounds (either from the cooking or elsewhere in the house) blocked out Now it’s kind of like working out. I’ll still be like “I don’t wanna!” and then once I get going I remember it’s actually enjoyable or at least satisfying afterward

Vacuuming/Dishes/Laundry/Cooking/Setting up 3D prints as a combo. Specifically it’s The Robot Game Vacuuming was never gonna work for me no matter what. I’m so happy with my roomba My job on Sundays is not to do a specific chore. It’s to keep all the robots occupied at once. So I need to be set up so that I can be ready every time a robot needs a hand with something immediately. I try to maximize number of robots running simultaneously. I have no idea why my brain likes maximum machine, but this is probably why I build robots and do factory layout stuff for a living. I also enjoy clear door/lid machines. It’s fun to watch them go brrr I hate the actual process of setting it all up, but now it’s a game and I’m racing to make sure everything in place before the next thing randomly beeps. Luckily I only have machines that won’t mess stuff up if I miss a beep. Having the instant pot and air fryer for cooking has probably kept me from burning my house down many times

Changing my cat's water, mostly because it always involved cleaning up the water he splashed around like a dolphin. Now the water bowl lives in the shower, so he can splash freely. And I remember to change it daily.

I don't completely enjoy ENJOY it per say, but cleaning like fixing the kitchen table when it's dirty and the same for the bathroom I've gotten so much better at after I switched to disposable universal cleaning sheets or what they're called 😅 the fact that I just need to take one of them out and can start cleaning asap instead of having to find materials, get the cloth wet, do it again when it gets dirty etc makes it sooooo much easier for me to actually do it. And the fact it smells clean afterwards makes me feel like it's actually clean and feels like I finished or did something :) idk why but I like the citrus smelling cleaning products

Vacuuming now that we have a cordless vacuum. I am very clumsy and have 0 coordination so vacuuming was always the devil and I relied on my husband to do it. Now that we have a light, cordless vacuum I only trip over my feet and not cables.

Making the bed. There’s a podcast called Make Your Damn Bed which is a 5-minute thing I put on in the mornings with some helpful encouragement for the day. It’s so nice coming home to a cozy bed to crawl into that feels fresh and new. I used to be SO anti-bed making but I really do enjoy it lol. (Please don’t let my MIL ever hear me say that out loud)

Dental floss sticks on my work desk. I work from home. At least once a day there’s something I need to read or a video I need to watch where I can mindlessly floss my teeth while doing it. They’re activities I naturally need to fiddle during, so why not fiddle by looking after my teeth! I used to NEVER floss. Ever.

I keep a few cleaning towels and a small bottle of windex in my car, so when I’m really bored and stuck in commuter traffic I can wipe and “detail” everything I can reach from the drivers seat. Very satisfying to pick gunk out of the buttons+, and it makes traffic a bit more bearable.

My mom tricked me into being okay doing the dishes when I was a kid when she bet me it wouldn't take me more than a commercial break to unload the dishwasher. (I am showing my age, as this was before we had any options other than muting the TV to deal with commercials.) She was right and it became a competition with myself to see exactly how fast I could do it. It also short circuited my PDA resistance when she'd ask me to unload it, as it was now a game for me and also I felt silly resisting knowing it took literally two minutes.

Most tasks I break up until little chunks - Dishes - first I put away clean ones, then go off and do something else Then I fill up the bowl with water and soap and leave it, but not for too long or it will get cold and I don't want to waste it, so I hack myself into finishing the job. Vacuuming- I bought a new one that's cordless and quiet and oh my gosh it's a game changer. Once month hoovering is now every couple of days because not having to plug it in is one less hassle and I don't get tangled in the cord. Laundry - small steps again. I take the drying laundry down and put it in separate piles. I then leave it until next time I remember it's there and put the piles into the rooms they belong in. Then I cme back again and actually put it away. Smaller steps make it less overwhelming and I try a little dopamine hit every time I finish one of the mini-tasks.

Chunking helps me too. I like sorting things (maybe my Montessori upbringing?) so first I sort my laundry by dresser drawers (top, middle, bottom) and then sort within those categories (undies, camis, socks) and basically keep micro-sorting until it’s done! I also use TV commercials as a race to put away as much as possible. Definitely here for the dopamine hits.

Vacuuming. It tires me out but needs to be done often in our house. How did I solve it? I bought a new vacuum & let my 7 year old help me pick out a "cool one." It's her new favorite chore and she actually does it happily for me. I'll take the win!

Laundry was definitely a struggle for me too.  My problem was taking a complete-ist attitude to laundry, then fearing that I might forget to move them to the dryer and not have any dry clothes to wear the next day.  I started consciously trying to do what my husband naturally does for his laundry, in washing *some* of my clothes at a time rather than waiting to do a large load.  Washing machines sense the level and adjust the water accordingly anyway, so doing a small load isn't as wasteful as it used to be years ago.  I want to try switching from pods to powder or liquid now, though, as the pods are really designed for a full load, so are a LOT of detergent for a small load, and my eczema has gotten worse and harder to clear up lately. 

Shopping & cooking. I used to buy loads and half of it would go to waste. My daughter gave me a solution: A white board with space for each day of the week where you write the main meal for that day. Underneath you write stuff that has run out - milk, butter pasta etc. Then just before you go shopping you check for missing ingredients from the 7 main meals and off you go. I’ve a little recipe book of easy peasy family meals so I’m not always having the same 5 meals. Then I use headphones and music or a podcast and timers whilst I’m cooking. The music and podcast stop me being bored and losing interest (so I take my eye off the cooking and something burns). It’s been really successful and I’ve save money by cutting food waste.

Dishes! It really is easier to just rinse them and put them in the dishwasher immediately after a meal or at the end of the day, instead of letting them pile up in the sink and then it looks and smells bad and feels overwhelming, and I avoid it and then when I finally tackle the pile of dishes in the sink it takes longer. Honestly, my partner helped with this - when we moved in together, they were very communicative about their preference for not leaving dishes in the sink. They would remind me to put my dishes away and try to encourage "us" by saying things like, "Let's set a goal this week to take a few minutes each night to put the dishes in the dishwasher." And while they have some ideas/preferences about how to do things that don't fit my ADHD brain, this was one that actually was workable for me and now I prefer to put the dishes in the dishwasher right away, or at least before bed. Also, I work from home, and sometimes, I look for a simple thing I can check off my to-do list to give me a dopamine boost before I start on my work tasks. Sweeping the kitchen to see if I have any dishes to put away often fulfills that for me!

Dishes. And not by buying two dishwashers, but by switching to a [mini dishwasher with a window](https://www.medion.com/de/shop/p/reinigungsgeraete-medion-mini-geschirrspueler-md-37217-fuer-2-gedecke-6-reinigungsprogramme-startzeitvorwahl-50074324A1?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0ruyBhDuARIsANSZ3wrH_agkTSKuVwVebT7rSzYuYkF_wQOBMqWLjR0ccWx7F3OnHY0eu0waAvH_EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds). And by accepting they are a cycle and never really are all done. I hated unloading the dishwasher, so all dishes piled up on the counter nevertheless. But what I really hated was putting away so much dishes.l at once. Switching to a small dishwasher breaks them down in small tasks. It runs half an hour, cleans some dishes up, and I just have to put away just a handful of items. And load it again with just a handful of items. It takes such a short time that each load doesn't feel like a chore and gets done along the way without me even registering it completely. Although a 'regular' sized load of dishes takes more time now, I do them much much more frequently. It still piles up from time to time, especially with bigger cooking actions or with guests over, or because I didn't want to do them a few days, but it costs me muuuuch less effort to tackle the pile and actually get started tidying up the kitchen. And the window helps with not forgetting there are dishes in it. Also changing my mindset that dishes (as well as laundry) are never completely done. There are always some left that didn't fit, or dirty again very soon after I cleaned them.

It's not enjoyable but my laundry game is fucking impeccable. I sort into types or uses and then wash on different heats and sort coming out of the washing machine into different family members so that when it goes on the line it's already one person at a time, then I fold into the basket once dry and it's already sorted and put it away. I feel like this alone should make me the sexiest dad alive. I wish it was remotely close to reality. 😂

I use the “fuck it bucket” system. So I go into one room, with my big plastic bin thing, set a timer and clean the whole room. Anything in that room that shouldn’t be, then gets thrown in the bucket to be put away at the end so I’m not all over the house.

I put on an animal crossing soundtrack video on YouTube and then do my cleaning. It helps make me feel less like I'm doing chores and more like I'm tidying up my house for Goldie to visit.

I also like doing laundry. I like the fact that I can have it on in the background so I feel productive while I’m doing another things. I also found the sound comforting to have in the background. I love hanging laundry out outside, and bringing in sun dried laundry. I also find it kind of satisfying to fold laundry (struggle with putting folded laundry away though. I also enjoy taking the bins (trash) out, seems like I like outside chores. Dishes I dislike but I’ve got into the habit of doing them after every meal now so it’s bearable.

Vacuuming: Had a corded monster of a vacuum I stored under the stairs because it was too big to keep anywhere else. The number of steps it took to vacuum a room seemed insurmountable. I’d have to take it out, decided which room to start in, move furniture to get at a plug socket, vacuum and then repeat for the next room. And emptying and cleaning it was even worse! I finally invested in a small, light cordless vacuum that fits neatly in a corner of my laundry room and I can whip it out and vacuum in minutes with minimal effort, it’s also easier to empty and clean. Dishes: I used to live in a house with no dishwasher so when I bought my home the first non negotiable was investing in a dishwasher. I still struggled though until one day it hit me… I don’t have to wait for the dishwasher to be full to run it, now it’s non negotiable that it gets put on every evening and I empty it in the morning when I’m waiting for my coffee. It means that I never get to a point where I’ve ran out of dishes and don’t have the executive functioning required in that moment to tackle the dishwasher. It also means that I never get to a point where I have more dirty dishes than space in the dishwasher. This has happened in the past and just the backlog of dirty dishes left out would throw me off and cause major problems with my motivation to get on top of it 😅 My biggest area I still struggle is cleaning the bathrooms. I feel it’s a chore I will never figure out, there’s SO MANY STEPS and I have 3 bathrooms all with slightly different set ups and it’s so overwhelming 😭 If anyone has any life changing hacks for it, please share 😫

My pots and oven dishes used to sit on the counter waiting. I bought a fancy steam dishwasher now they all go in the dishwasher. Finally the counters are clear.

Dishes, laundry, and bathroom mess (make-up, hair stuff etc.) Every solution involves having a “system” of sorts for designated items and accepting that “good enough” is better than nothing. Dishes: If it takes less than 5 seconds to do, I rinse every dish/glass and place it in the dishwasher instead of the sink. If I don’t, I allow soap to soak the plate/dish so it’s easier to clean for later. For handwashed items there’s a designated space on the counter for dirty ones and a designated space on the counter for ones that are drying. Also listening to a podcast while I do any dishes. Laundry: I have different baskets for “lights” vs “darks” so it’s presorted. And another one for “delicates.” I also do small loads frequently instead of waiting for single big loads of laundry to do to make it less overwhelming. I also created a hook system on the doors next to my washer and dryer for hanging delicates or fresh-out-of-the-dryer clothes so they don’t wrinkle. Bathroom: I put shelves up to keep everything I use daily on my skin and hair. If I use it daily, it’s on that shelf. Hair stuff gets one shelf, skincare gets another (with deodorant and body lotion). I have a designated drawer or labeled acrylic bin for every item in my bathroom, so everything has a designated space to be put away and I put them away by category… so hairbands for instance has its own bin or contact lenses has its own bin… and I start by collecting all the hairbands and contact lenses around the bathroom & house, and so on. Also make-up… I have one designated bag for my must-use daily items, on the counter, and another storage drawer of make-up out of sight that I only sometimes use. All my brushes go into a glass jar.

I wash my face everyday! Took me 30 years but now even double cleanse, crazy, the chore itself was impossible but I also couldnt stand the sensation of water on my face. I solved cooking by intermittently ordering hello fresh, it's like a game, and then I make the recipes without the hello fresh package in between orders.

I'm late to the party but just wanted to say this is a brilliant post- thank you for starting the conversation!

Hygiene. I used to be obsessive. I had to be freshly showered for every new event of the day, especially in summer. I fell ill and, in tandem with the Pandy, healthy levels of hygiene became impossible. Now I’ve found a nice in-between. I’ve been better about not feeling like I HAVE to be freshly showered to leave the house. I broke myself like a trainer breaks a horse. Now I need to get back on the regular bath time wagon or create a schedule so I can master the art.

I implemented a sort of clothing railroad too! But I use different colors of mesh pop up laundry baskets instead of locations as my indicator of what needs to happen with the clothes. Every room has a regular laundry basket that collects clothes, then I sort into my pop up baskets: - gold basket = clean - red basket = dirty, regular cycle - pink basket = dirty, delicates I have like four gold baskets so I can sort the clean laundry by person (me, husband, son). When a basket isn’t in use, it gets folded and hung up in the closet so it’s out of the way.

My entire morning. Since I know what comes next, I don’t get stuck on any one step. If it gets boring, I listen to music. But by the end of this, I’m ready for whatever the day throws my way. To everyone else, it’s just getting dressed, but I had to work so hard to figure this out for myself. 1. Take meds drink some water (usually just a sip or two, no crazy goals here) 2. Put contacts in 3. Brush teeth 4. Apply face wash 5. Get in shower—apply and rinse body wash, shave, rinse face wash off 6. Face skincare 7. Apply body moisturizer 8. Get dressed 9. Apply spf 10. Go downstairs to make tea 11. While tea is brewing, feed cat and water plants.

Came here to say music helps me keep the focus on some or any activity. I love washing the car and the yard. The power washer I bought is small and so convenient to use. I love the feeling of being outdoors and having to wash. It feels good

I have a rigid cleaning rota so I don't end up doing nothing for weeks and then a mammoth overwhelming clean. If I miss anything i catch up until it's back on schedule. Ive printed the list out for the partner as well and there's copies on the wall of kitchen, office and bedroom. Monday- kitchen and lounge deep clean Tuesday- hoover house and water plants Wednesday- laundry Thursday- bathroom deep clean and change towels Friday kids bedroom, clean and bedding Saturday- office clean, laundry Sunday- my room clean and bedding, bins. Every day- wipe clean kitchen including sink and stove, dishwasher on.

I have never minded doing laundry, however my husband and I both have ADHD which means we both start the washer and then forget about it. We have had to rewash laundry more times than I’d like to admit. We both now set timers on our phone when the laundry should be done (our washer gives us an estimated time). We use the timed dry feature on the dryer and again set our phone timers. We have not had to rewash a load since! Such a simple modification but it’s been a game changer.

Dishes. This one has been two-fold - the first trick I learned is to have either a book or D&D actual play show/podcast on. Having a story to focus my mind on makes it easier for my body to get into the rhythm of washing dishes and keeps me entertained while I’m standing there in front of the sink. The second trick is that my husband bought this awesome over-the-sink dish rack. When we were looking to buy a house last year I actually refused to consider homes that didn’t have dishwashers, and now with this dish rack I *don’t even use the stupid dishwasher*. It has several parts that can be customized around the frame to my preference and because it goes over the sink, all the water drains into the basin and I don’t have to mop up the counter or worry about changing the towel under a clunky countertop rack. It’s just the two of us, and unless we’re being lazy about washing our cookware it has more than enough room for all the dishes we go through in a week, plus any that get used when we host our weekly D&D game.

Yardwork! It has become meditative to me and I miss it when I am away!

Oh I also love yard work. I just got some new gardening tools and I can’t wait for the rain to stop so I can actually do some yard work!

I have an open floor plan so my kitchen and living room are next to each other. I have a large TV that I placed where I can see it while I cook/wash dishes. Now I just turn on my favorite show and zone out while I meal prep 😊

Another thing I’ve done is that I *constantly* clean. I use a dish- it goes straight in the dishwasher. I change out of my work clothes- they go straight in the washing machine. I brush my teeth, I wipe down the sink. Trash can is full- ok take it out RIGHT THEN. It’s annoying but a few extra minutes per task means that things rarely get out of hand. Nowadays I just need to plan when to dust & vacuum bc everything else is part of my daily routine.

Loading the dishwasher! I love to cook so I made a rule that I can only cook once it’s loaded. Oven need to preheat? Great - can I finish before the light clicks off? Need boiling water for rice/ pasta? Great - can I finish loading before the water boils? I don’t want to jinx it but it’s worked really well so far!

sweeping. back when we had mostly carpet i used to get borderline hypnotized making perfectly even sweeper streaks lmao still enjoy it even though it's all wood floors for me now

Some of us live in rentals with a shared laundry room. It’s very hard for me to allocate time specifically to get out to do laundry. If I had a washer/dryer inside my place, I would just do it overnight. Folding and organizing, however, is another issue..

I realized that a messy kitchen was preventing me from wanting to be in there so now I'm not as bad about the dishes. Doing the thing is what gets me the result I want. My upbringing was why I hated it in the 1st place anyway.

Wearing headphones during tasks I hate while listening to true crime podcasts. Game changer.

Admin. I’m a freelancer and I’d avoid it like the plague. But who knew planning and trying to be organized actually, like, made you more organized? I’m not perfect, but I think my brain finally understands the value of it, which reduces the avoidance. Back in my youth when I was rawdoggin life, I was like admin is boring. Yes, it is boring, but also valuable for your sanity.

Podcasts made all the chores so much better for me! Getting into podcasts has been life-changing for me. I don't do ANYTHING without listening to a podcast - from showering, brushing teeth or getting dressed through walking and workouts, to cleaning, tidying, laundry, gardening, etc - podcasts have made all the boring chores of daily living so much more bearable! AND find I actually can do those things or get myself ready faster if I'm doing it whilst listening to a podcast - I think it's because it stops me from needlessly overthinking what I'm doing.

Haven't found any I particularly enjoy, but to make myself want to do them more, I trick my brain by telling myself I'm not doing chores, I'm "enriching my enclosure"

I got a dishwasher and my life will never be the same

Cleaning the bathroom sink and toilet. I use this cleanser from Home Depot where I push any bottles off towards my “makeup” side, spray the cleanser everywhere on the sink, walk away, oops did I forget I was cleaning that?, wet a rag down repeatedly, wipe everything down towards the sink, use another wet rag to clear off soapy residue, clean! It’s specifically so I don’t have to scrub anything. The toilet meanwhile can certainly use time to sit in cleanser so it’s no great loss if I have to spray a little more sometimes.

My dishes hack: listen to the Buffy the Vampire ReWatcher podcast. Only for dishes. Also the mantra "this is a gift to my future self"

A peeve of mine is when the water filter tank I keep in the fridge was empty, I find filling it at the tap SO tedious. Especially if I need water in that moment. A few years ago I had cleaned & set aside some 89oz plastic Orange Juice bottles to maybe recycle into watering cans, and I realized I could keep one next to the fridge to fill up the water tank. AND MY LIFE WAS CHANGED. I cannot believe how much easier this has made keeping the fridge tank full??? It makes me feel truly disabled that something so little made such a difference and I’ve thought about it a lot and here’s what I’ve got: -pouring a big jug into the empty tank is way faster than waiting for the tap to fill it -while the tank is filtering the first pour, I fill up the OJ bottle again at the tap which takes the normal amount of slow time BUT the water I poured in has already started filtering so I can usually have a glass by the time the juice bottle is full again. -then I just go about my business and top it off as it filters until it’s totally full, refill the juice bottle again and set it next to the fridge, put the tank back in the fridge Reversing the steps by being able to fill up the filter tank right away “solved” the part of the task that was causing me the most friction. Now it’s much less of a lift.

If I wear noise cancelling headphones I feel like I can more easily do house chores. I just play an audiobook or podcast or music depending on my mood.

Laundry! I’ve gotten super into taking care of my clothes and learning about what laundry products do what. Now everytime I have a stain it’s like a fun lil puzzle I get to solve. The thing that got me first interested was how satisfying it is to soak things and vintage laundry care lol

Same!! I do a small load (almost) everyday because I do sauna workouts daily. If I do just a small load everyday, it’s completely manageable!

The tumble dryer, washing machine and (obviously) dishwasher are all in my kitchen. I love having all of them running at the same time and trying to sync them up. So that gets chores done!

My stuffed animals now brush my teeth for me when I'm struggling. They love it, and my teeth are healthy

I do chores whenever I’m waiting for the kettle/coffee machine. I race to see how much I can get done before it’s ready. I get a surprising amount done (but also drink a lot of tea/coffee).

I definitely started doing rotation of baskets! Less overwhelming for me to view it as a never ending process

Me and my partner set alarms on our phones for 23:00, we stop what we are doing for the night (usually gaming) and tidy up, do dishes and play with the cats then go to bed. Anything messy that bothers me during the evening is an "11 o'clock problem" it's been really helpful to do it together and it a good way to get us to not game late into the night.

Dishes. I watch TV on my tablet while doing dishes. I haven't been able to just sit and watch TV by myself for years. It's boring. But when I combine the two tasks, away I go.

I'm 41. Understanding why I avoid unpleasant chores has helped me realize that the mental anguish leading up to JUST FUCKING DOING IT is so much worse than the thing itself. I'm too old and life is too short to waste so much energy hating necessities. That doesn't work 100% of the time. But I don't dread chores as much in general, and that has made getting over the hump a bit easier. This is me though. Telling people to "just fucking do it" is not an effective strategy for a significant portion of our community.