Problems with organisation/self-discipline

I realised recently that my main functional problem in life is my complete lack of organisation.

I can manage in my work and I think that my lack of strict organisation is actually an asset in my position because new information comes in all the time and I have to constantly rearrange my priorities. But at home, it's a problem. I forget bill payments, I forget to go get the groceries, I forget to make lists when I go to the store and don't remember what I needed to buy, my place is a mess...

How do you guys cope with this, if you share a similar situation?

i go through better periods of coping with it and worse. right now, it's a "worse" period. if i make something a part of a routine, i find i mind doing it less. otherwise, i can actually get anxious about doing things. if i'm completely immersed in something (or a number of things,) it all falls apart. right now, the house is a mess, i need to do laundry, i need to pay a speeding ticket, i need to call applecare about accidentally setting my password to gibberish, etc.

maybe i'm not the right person to answer that post.

I write lists of lists and send myself email reminders. But 'big' things like organising holidays I really dread but usually end up doing because my bf is worse than me.

We have actually not gone on holiday because neither of us could be bothered to sort one out. I mean, how pathetic is that! I think it is apathy coupled with disorganisation and the fear of losing control! Whatever it is, I am determined to overcome it

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I couldn't organize lunch for one. I let my partner take care of these things. I just go for it, forgetting most of what i need to do what i should do.
If i do DIY (which i love to do) i spend more time walking up and down to the store buying things i forgot i needed then actually working.

Even preparing my glass of iced fruitjuice takes me three trips to the kitchen (get juiceconcentrate, forgot iced water, fetch iced water, forget icecubes) and 2 to fetch my glass and stirrer. I then sit down only to notice i've put the fruitconcentrate on another table in order to fetch the water. When opening my waterbottle more often then not it lost it's fizz so i have to go and gas it up in the sodamaker.

Finally i can drink.

I think with organisation I really need to be in control of things otherwise it all slipps out of control. I need to get me a filofax today!

topaz wrote: We have actually not gone on holiday because neither of us could be bothered to sort one out. I mean, how pathetic is that!

Its not pathetic that you cannot organise a holiday. They are incredibly complicated with all the insurances you have to get and the booking of planes, finding accomodation, looking for a destination in the first place etc! You are also possbily going to an unfamiliar location which just confounds the organisation problems.

I am terrible at organisation, for uni work I am fine as I am interested in it, but organising in general is about the most BORING thing I can think of. I hate it with a passion I find it pointless, its like "oh lets clear all the things in my room to make it look presentable. Oh, wait, in a few days, I will need these things out again or be using them, whats the point of putting them away? Let's just wash them or whatever when I need them!"

I have decided that I cannot live a complex life full of different activities and things to organise, the more things you give me to organise, the more it means I will forget that I have them. The organisation thing seems to be a universal problem with almost identical problems we face. There must be someone who has a special interest in cleanliness and order with tips on how someone with Aspergers can cope!

phoenixknight wrote:There must be someone who has a special interest in cleanliness and order with tips on how someone with Aspergers can cope!

Easy enough, outsource it. I let my partner do all the organizing/clearing away/cleaning. She likes to organize and it gives her a sense of merit. Win/Win.

If you get confronted with demands to 'help out' you just mess up everything and they'll think twice to ask you again

I'm already forbidden to touch anything connected with clothes (wasshing, hanging, folding) and with general housecleaning. I frequently, hypocritically, offer to help which gets me a nervous, worried glance to see if i'm serious.

petrossa wrote:If you get confronted with demands to 'help out' you just mess up everything and they'll think twice to ask you again

Heh, that sounds like a very good idea, come to think of it, I often do mess up things, but I need to do them anyway because they are necessary or to help my family with important things. I am too much of a "goody-good" to do that sort of thing anyway, it would make me feel too guilty and bother me constantly, I like to do things the supposed "right" way and to do them properly.

When i was about 18 i think my parents actually called the city sanitation department to clean out my apartment. I was one of those stacking up the filth kind of persons. Just couldn't be bothered and i also found a certain fascination in seeing how much garbage my house could hold.
One day my father commented on the empty winebottles in the kitchen. You had to ease your way through them. He said, shouldn't you throw those away. I responded: Already? Those are just from today.