2024-01-25
Ok, Some time ago I ran into a quip, I'm pretty sure on fedi somewhere, about how they clean their space as a person with ADHD. I'd credit them here if I remembered who'd posted it.
They called it "Roomba Cleaning" and had a snarky statement something to the effect of "bouncing from place to place at random, never actually getting anything completely clean, but at least improving the space."
I'll admit I felt seen in a way that made me a bit uncomfortable. I try really hard to keep spaces that I'm responsible for clean and reasonably tidy. I kon-marie'd the hell out of my possessions, and ..when I finally get moved into this building, rather than camping (fancy camping, but still camping) in it while doing construction, I intend to have "A place for everything and everything in it's place" but it's been a big struggle for me to get anywhere near that point. Growing up my room was never tidy, so who knows if it was ever really clean. I can't even explain how frequently I wasn't allowed to go out with friends because of the condition of my room. I'd spend a full day on it, but at the end of it, a tiny piece of the room would have cleared, or I'd have brand new piles of things, but nothing would actually have managed to get to where it "belonged". In no small part, that's because I didn't have designated spaces for much of my stuff. I'd avoid 'cleaning' because every time I did it, it felt like an overwhelming and impossible task. Which in turn lead it to be bigger and more difficult to complete. While it's not the method I typically use, embracing "Roomba Cleaning" is actually a really helpful approach. Getting some things cleared away is better than getting nothing cleared away and establishing habits of clearing things up regularly makes the task less intense if there ever is a reason to get things totally clean.
In looking for the source of the quote, I found several discussions of ADHD-ers who had some version of roomba cleaning. One person described a method in which you cleaned in one room till something needed to be put away in another room. Then you'd take that object to the room it belonged in, and then started cleaning there as a way to minimize the likelihood of hyper-focusing on a particular spot and ending up with the mess of a half-reorganized closet rather than with the original goal of a general tidy pass.
Someone else said that their "roomba cleaning" was them starting off their robot vacuum, then making a mad dash to clear things out of the robot's path so they don't get eaten. This approach solved the problem that when they'd try to clear a floor so they could vacuum in a more "normal" way, they'd lose their energy for the task before they could actually get to the vacuuming part.
I think it's funny to see a community all latch on to a phrase, but apply it it such varied, but similar ways. Personally, I have found myself needing more structure to my cleaning approaches, but I think that all of these ideas are brilliant and I figured I'd put them in one place so that the next time I need to change up my methods, I had some recommendations! While I'm at it, sharing them here so others can also benefit is great :D