Hoarding & ADHD: The Surprising Connection and How to Regain Control of Your Space

For many people, clutter is just an occasional annoyance—a messy room after a busy week or a pile of unopened mail that gets sorted eventually. But for others, clutter is overwhelming, emotional, and impossible to tackle alone.

If you or someone you know struggles with hoarding tendencies or chronic disorganisation, you may be surprised to learn that ADHD and hoarding behaviours often go hand in hand. While not everyone with ADHD develops hoarding tendencies, there are clear overlaps in the way the brain processes decision-making, organisation, and emotional attachment to objects.

At The Calm Curator, I specialise in working with individuals who find traditional organising methods don’t work for them. By understanding your organising style, your unique challenges, and your emotional connection to your belongings, we can create a realistic system that actually lasts.

So, let’s break it down: Why do ADHD and hoarding sometimes overlap, and what can we do about it?

1. ADHD and Hoarding Share Common Challenges

Hoarding behaviours and ADHD both impact executive function—the brain’s ability to plan, organise, and make decisions. Here are some of the biggest struggles they share:

🔹 Decision Fatigue – Struggling to decide what to keep, donate, or toss often leads to avoiding decluttering altogether.🔹 Emotional Attachment to Objects – Assigning deep meaning to items, making it difficult to part with them.🔹 Out of Sight, Out of Mind – Keeping items visible to remember them, leading to cluttered surfaces and overflowing spaces.🔹 Lack of Organisation Systems – Difficulty creating and sticking to traditional storage methods, leading to chaos and frustration.

Many people with ADHD or hoarding tendencies aren’t disorganised by choice—their brains are simply wired differently, making conventional decluttering methods feel impossible to maintain.

But here’s the good news: there’s a better way!

2. Why Traditional Decluttering Advice Doesn’t Work

📌 “Just throw away what you don’t need.”📌 “If you haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it.”📌 “Be ruthless—if it doesn’t spark joy, toss it!”

If you’ve ever been told these things and felt completely stuck, you’re not alone. Many traditional organising methods rely on quick decision-making and minimal emotional attachment, which isn’t realistic for those with ADHD or hoarding behaviours.

Instead, what works best is an approach that is:

✔ Compassionate – Acknowledging the emotional weight of certain items and finding ways to honour memories without keeping everything.✔ Customised – Recognising that one-size-fits-all organising doesn’t work and tailoring solutions to how your brain works.✔ Step-by-Step – Breaking tasks into small, manageable wins to build momentum and avoid burnout.

This is exactly what I do at The Calm Curator—helping people find realistic, sustainable organising methods that work with their brains, not against them.

3. ADHD-Friendly Decluttering Strategies That Work

✨ Instead of ‘hiding everything away,’ try visible storage solutions:🔹 Use clear bins or open shelves with labels so you always know where things are.🔹 Colour-code or use icon labels to make retrieval easier.🔹 Store frequently used items at eye level to prevent forgetting them.

✨ Instead of ‘declutter everything at once,’ try small, focused sessions:🔹 Work in 10-15 minute bursts with a clear goal (e.g., just one drawer or one shelf).🔹 Set a timer to avoid overwhelm and burnout.🔹 Celebrate small wins—every little bit of progress counts!

✨ Instead of ‘keep or toss,’ try ‘best of the best’ selection:🔹 Keep the most meaningful items, not all sentimental objects.🔹 Take photos of items with sentimental value before letting them go.🔹 Ask: “Would I buy this again today?” If not, consider donating or recycling it.

By adjusting the approach to match how your brain processes clutter, we create systems that feel doable, stress-free, and sustainable.

4. How The Calm Curator Can Help

If hoarding or clutter is affecting your daily life, you don’t have to face it alone. At The Calm Curator, I offer a compassionate, non-judgmental approach tailored to your specific needs. Whether you're struggling with ADHD-related organisation challenges or deep emotional attachments to items, I can help you:

✅ Understand your personal organising style (Minimalist, Visualist, Systemiser, or Curator).✅ Break the decluttering process into small, manageable steps so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.✅ Create ADHD-friendly systems that work for you—not against you.✅ Develop long-term habits that help you maintain a tidy, functional space.

With my unique Calm Curator Method, we’ll create an organising system that suits your lifestyle, energy levels, and emotional needs—so your home becomes a place of calm, not chaos.

5. Ready to Transform Your Space? Let’s Talk!

If you’re tired of feeling overwhelmed by clutter, I’m here to help. I offer free discovery calls to understand your needs and see how we can work together to create a home that feels peaceful, functional, and truly yours.

📩 Book a free discovery call today and take the first step toward a calmer home!

💚 Let’s create a space that works with your brain, not against it.