Does ADHD make it impossible to not be messy?
My partner has crippling ADHD. Right now he’s the one paying rent and covering household expenses. He works very hard and juggles multiple clients at once. He also has back taxes he pays every month. My work permit is still in processing, so I do freelance work that covers my own expenses.
I’m explaining all this because since he’s covering the bigger expenses right now, I try to help around the house instead. He helps too sometimes.
Here’s the problem. Because of his ADHD, he’s all over the place and messy, not dirty messy, but things like socks thrown everywhere, the closet always open with clothes falling out, his bathroom drawer constantly a mess. Whenever he cooks, I actually get stressed beforehand because I know the spices, food items, and sauces will all end up misplaced, and the sink will be piled with dishes after.
When I clean, I put in a lot of time and effort, so I want the space to stay that way for at least a day or two so I can actually enjoy it. But the house gets messy again so fast that it kills my motivation. When I’m home alone, or when he’s out for work, I love sittingg in the clean space I created its so important for my mood. I just want him to help maintain that for even a week, but he tells me his ADHD makes executive functioning difficult.
One example: I cleaned his bathroom drawer yesterday, sanitized it, cleaned the products inside, wiped off the toothpaste residue, and organized everything. He appreciated it a lot. But this morning I opened it and he’d already thrown his shaving cream and other stuff back in without any order. I know that in another day or two it’ll be right back to how it was. This kills my motivation to keep cleaning. When I ask him to put things back where they belong, he says he has too much on his plate already and that his brain can’t hold onto that many things at once, and I don’t want to add to his struggle.
So my questions are:
\- Is it so hard for people with ADHD to put things back in place?
\- Am I being inconsiderate as I really believe these are basic life skills everyone should work on regardless of how busy you are?
Would love to know everyone’s opinion here! Also what does DX mean? (New here!)