March 31, 2025 • 35 mins
I can't respond to texts but I will do my best to respond in my next episode!
Get the Download for today's episode or the Daily TO-DO list planner on Megs' website here: Organizing an ADHD Brain Shop
I am hosting a clothing swap on Saturday, April 19th, 12-5 pm at Balanced Studio in Palmer Lake, CO. I'll keep sharing in future episodes to keep you posted on more!
Here is the invite link for Facebook (Megs is not on Facebook): Clothing Swap
We will be donating a part of the proceeds to Charity Hope Springs
In this episode of 'Organizing an ADHD Brain,' the host discusses the common theme of letting go and provides guidance on how to declutter household items effectively. Emphasizing the importance of small, manageable actions to bring stability when life feels overwhelming, the episode offers practical tips on disposing of various household items, including paint, batteries, and bug spray, in an environmentally friendly way. The host introduces upcoming events like a clothing swap in Colorado and highlights resources, including a downloadable recycling and disposal guide, to help listeners clear their space. The session stresses the value of doing 'one thing' at a time rather than feeling overwhelmed by the need to tackle everything at once. The host also mentions community support options, including virtual decluttering sessions and group coaching, aimed at assisting listeners in their decluttering journey.
00:32 The Emotional Weight of Letting Go
01:34 Practical Steps to Declutter
03:58 Understanding the Barriers to Decluttering
06:25 Specific Tips for Common Household Items
18:07 Recycling and Disposal Guide
30:45 Community and Resources
Join the Organizing an ADHD Brain COMMUNITY waitlist for the FALL: What is the Community?
Looking for ADHD-friendly support with decluttering, organizing, or just making life feel a little less chaotic? The new Ways To Connect page is your go-to hub for real-life tools, gentle guidance, and ways to connect—free and paid, no pressure.
The TO DO list Daily Planner is available here! TO DO List Daily Planner
The ULTIMATE Recycling & Disposal Guide: Disposal Guide
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Yeti Stereo Microphone (00:00):
Hey, beautiful people.
(00:01):
Welcome back to organizing an ADHD Brain, and I have a real
episode for you this week.
I'm so excited to be talking toyou more about letting go.
This seems to be a common themein our life, right?
This week we're gonna talk aboutletting go of some of the common
household items that we know weneed to let go of.
But there's that barrier thereof not knowing how to get it out
(00:22):
of our house in a way that makessense, in a way that We know
that there's more informationthat we need to gather in order
for us to be able to let go, andI wanna talk to you about it
today.
Before we dive in, I want tohighlight that the way I
perceive the world right nowfeels really heavy.
There are so many changes goingon.
In fact, the only constant inlife is change.
(00:44):
That phrase on a regular basisactually makes me feel a little
bit better that the only thingwe can expect is change.
So while we have a bad day.
The next day gives us a newopportunity, and when we have an
incredible day, that high iscertainly not gonna last.
However, When things feel out ofour control and everything feels
a little uncertain, takingsmall, tangible actions in your
(01:08):
own space can bring a sense ofstability.
I've noticed it with myself whenI feel a little overwhelmed and
I'm sitting at my computerconsuming, I get up and I do
something and it brings a lotmore clarity to my life.
It helps.
Just one thing.
That's something that I talkabout all the time, right?
Just one thing, not 30 things.
We can't do 30 things all atonce, even though our brain is
(01:29):
trying to tell us we need to.
But what is one thing you cando?
Letting go of the things we knowwe don't need is a small but
powerful step If you need anexcuse to let go, and you're
also in Colorado and you're freeon April 19th, I'm co-hosting a
clothing swap with a friend ofmine who is a stylist, a local
stylist in the area.
(01:51):
So if you're interested, come toBalanced Studio on April 19th
from 12 to 5:00 PM Bring all ofyour old clothing, so things
that you don't wear anymore,things that are in good used
condition.
Women's men's kids clothing.
It's$10 to get in and you canshop all of the clothes that are
(02:11):
there and take anything homewith you.
You'll also have a chance to wina virtual decluttering session
with myself, or a mini stylingsession with Tara in addition to
that.
A portion of the proceeds gonnabe donated to Charity Hope
Springs in Colorado Springs.
I donated a lot of the clothesthat we gathered, the last
clothing swap that I had hosted,and the woman who runs this
(02:34):
charity is absolutely amazing.
I'd love to tell you more abouther and I'll also put a link to
that charity in the show notesbelow if you'd like to find some
way to get involved on thisshow.
I talk about a lot.
I give you a lot of tips.
I talk about a lot of the thingsthat have made sense in my own
life, but the way that I'vegotten to where I am.
Is by not allowing the manythings that are controlling my
(02:57):
hyperactivity in my brain totake control.
Okay?
I take that back sometimes mybrain takes control, but what
brings me back to earth isallowing myself to focus on one
thing.
So when you leave this episodetoday, what is one thing that
resonated with you and one thingthat you can take with you into
the future?
(03:18):
It's okay if you don't save thisepisode and come back to it
later.
One thing is so much better than30 things because 30 things is
gonna set you up for failure.
we need to be setting ourselvesup for success.
One thing that'll set you up forsuccess.
Decluttering is a form of activemedicine, so choose one thing.
(03:39):
as far as all of our stuff inour household, we can accumulate
so darn much so easily.
We don't even realize it'shappening.
It's almost like we wake up oneday and we're like, how the heck
did I get so much stuff in myhouse?
How the heck did this happen?
How did I not even notice ithappening?
wouldn't I have stopped thisfrom happening years ago?
But no, we're here in thismoment and so now we have to ask
(04:01):
ourselves instead of what if wehave to consider what now?
And a lot of the times, whatprevents us from letting things
go in our house is thisunforeseen barrier, this barrier
that we don't even realize isthere.
So when it comes to things inyour household, like old paint
that you're not gonna useanymore, or because it.
(04:22):
Is old and you can't use itanymore.
Things like old pesticides orbug spray or sunglasses or you
name it.
All of these little things.
What is the appropriate way todispose of them?
Even batteries, what the heck doI do with old batteries or
electronics?
There's so many things that comeup on a regular basis and
(04:43):
knowing what to do with it isjust another thing to do on our
to-do list and what do we do?
We say, I'll deal with thatlater, and then we come across
it again and we say, I'll dealwith that later.
Because we know in general it'sgonna be a pretty quick task.
However, because it's a task, itgets added to our to-do list
that are already too long anddoes not get prioritized to the
(05:05):
top of the list.
But you're listening to thispodcast because decluttering and
organizing has become a highpriority for you because you've
realized that it's creating alot of congestion in your life
and you want to eliminate thatcongestion.
You are looking for a way tobreathe on the other side.
And this episode today is gonnabe a little bit more breathing
(05:27):
room for you Because I did allthe research and I got so
excited about this episode andfiguring out how do we remove
the barrier to getting out thestuff that we don't know what
the heck to do with, and Idiscovered so many incredible
cool tidbit things that I cannotwait to share with you.
I also created a download foryou.
(05:47):
With AI prompts on how to figureout where to donate in your
specific location, That's gonnabe available on my website, and
you can go to that in the shownotes below, or just go to
organizing an ADHD brain.com.
Click on shop, and you'll seeall of my downloads available
there.
Some of you have also beenasking for my to-do list Daily
(06:10):
planner that I had recorded anepisode on way back when, I
think it was last summer or so.
This is the daily planner.
That I use to organize myschedule on a regular basis
that's available for you todownload as well.
It's only$2 and 50 cents.
I send you the podcast episodesto support your use in this, and
I'll record some additionalepisodes moving forward so you
(06:32):
can understand how you might beable to use it too.
Coming back to letting go of thehousehold items, these are the
things that we know we don'twant anymore.
That we no need to leave ourhouse.
It's not what if I could usethis anymore?
'cause most of the time it's tooold.
Or this is something that I knowis gonna cause contamination in
my house and I've made differentdecisions on the things that I
(06:54):
wanna buy now, but I also wannadispose of it in a way that
makes sense for not only me, butfeels like I'm doing my part for
the environment.
My husband and I are gettingready to move, and we have been
going through our garage andtrying to figure out what we're
gonna keep, what we're gonna letgo.
And I came across some bug sprayand I asked my husband, what do
(07:15):
we wanna keep?
What are we gonna use before weleave?
And then there was this can ofbug spray.
That I didn't know what to dowith.
Now, my husband was like, maybeI just throw that in the
garbage.
Okay.
Possibly, right?
I think we've all made adecision that we knew maybe was
not the best decision for us.
However, we're also trying tomake decisions in getting stuff
out of our life, and we wannamake a full decision, so we're
(07:37):
not putting off or delaying orprocrastinating trying to make
this decision in the future.
Regardless, I decided to take.
A little container that I hademptied it out and I didn't know
if I wanted to keep it or not.
Just this crate in my garage andI was like, oh, this is where
I'll put all of the stuff that Iwant to leave the garage.
So while I didn't know what todo with the bug spray in that
(07:58):
moment, I knew I was going to bedoing this episode, which is
awesome.
And I figured this is a greatspace for me to collect these
items that I don't wanna throwin the garbage right away so
that I can dispose of themproperly.
before we jump into some of thespecifics, let's talk about why
do we keep things right?
Sometimes it's the uncertaintyas I've been talking about.
(08:18):
We don't know how to remove themfrom our homes.
Sometimes it's.
Guilt.
We don't want it to go to waste.
We spent money on it.
Maybe we didn't even use it.
Maybe we just had this reallygreat intention of a project
that we thought we'd do one day,but now it's been so long that
the item doesn't even do what itwas supposed to do in the first
place.
we have the decision paralysis,as I had mentioned, we
(08:40):
procrastinate these decisionsbecause it's so much easier.
To put it off.
And I read somewhere recentlythat procrastination, when we're
procrastinating, we are decidingto not do this right now.
And so in that regards, it'salmost like We're checking this
off on our to-do list.
Like I've seen it.
(09:01):
I've decided that I'm not goingto deal with this right now.
Check Denzel and we move on.
And I was like, wow.
I don't know if I feelpersonally victimized by that
sentiment or if it just helps meunderstand how to attack certain
situations in a different way.
And then of course theaccessibility.
Doing the research feels likeit's too much and it's so
(09:24):
annoying, and we also know howeasy it is.
We know that it would be easy tojust Google something and figure
out where to drop it off.
but because of our executivefunction difficulties, there's a
lot of steps that go into that.
There's a lot that goes intofiguring out where I'm going to
dispose of this.
(09:45):
In fact, last week I was justtelling you about how I was
trying to dispose of paint and Ihad to set myself up for this
specific event to go to.
But then I had scheduled it forthe wrong day and time, and
there I was sitting there withall this paint that I was ready
to let go.
But the only reason why I wasactually able to find a space to
let it go in that moment becausethe other one didn't work out
(10:06):
was because I was forced to.
I had no other choice and Iwasn't gonna go home with that
paint uhuh.
I was already in the car and Iwas actively doing this.
This is when I was making thatdecision.
coming back to theaccessibility, we want it to be
easy.
And so I wanna make it easybecause these things shouldn't
be cluttering up our lifeanymore.
(10:26):
I just wanna support you andfinding some room to breathe.
I was working with one of myclients the other day and we
were talking about.
You know what's something thatshe's responsible for, but what
could her spouse support herwith that she could delegate?
That's not necessarily somethingthat's on her list.
And she was like, oh, we have somuch paint.
We have so many cans of paint inthe corner of our garage.
(10:47):
We don't know what to do withit.
And I'm like, I do.
I know what to do with it.
I was so excited because I'mremoving those barriers to help
you make the decisions for youto get these things out of your
house in our community the otherday.
one of our community members wastalking about sunglasses and how
to dispose of sunglasses.
And guess what?
(11:09):
There is a way to dispose ofsunglasses where you're not
necessarily just donating it toGoodwill or just the next
donation center.
You can actually recycle them ifthat is what you wanna do with
those items.
So I'm really excited to sharethis with you today.
So the way we attack this is bygaining the knowledge.
I am gonna drop one of theexamples of a chat GPT prompt
(11:31):
that I would encourage you touse in the show notes below.
And like I said, if you wantsomething easier, go to
organizing an A DH ADHDbrain.com.
Go to shop, and there will be atemplate on the specifics for
each and every item There's alsoa website called Earth 9 1 1.
I am actually gonna go to itwhile I'm recording this right
now because I wanna tell you myinitial reactions of it because
(11:55):
it's super cool.
But it was a little overwhelmingto me.
So it's Earth 9 1 1 more ideas,less waste.
And for those of you who arelistening and aren't located in
the States, I don't know if thisis just state-based or if it is
truly for our entire earth.
It does say recycling centers byzip codes, drop off recycling
(12:16):
centers.
Super cool.
There's even podcasts.
There's Business Ecotech, homeand Garden.
So it says how to recycle.
I clicked on that.
When you click on how torecycle, it goes over.
Everything.
even oyster shells and largeappliances, computer monitors,
kerosene, coffee pods, carpets,car batteries.
(12:40):
really cool.
So that's a good place to startif you wanna tackle this on your
own.
'cause ultimately, I'm justgiving you some of the
information to inspire you.
Another way to attack this ismake it easy, like I shared
before, have an out box, havesome sort of recycling box or
donation box that is just forhazardous chemicals or whatever
you have the most of in yourgarage.
(13:00):
But sometimes we have thiscyclical thinking like in order
to do this, we have to do this.
But in order to do this, we haveto do this right?
So like in order for me to havean outbox, then I have to go
over and I have to organize allof my paints.
But in order for me to organizemy paints, I probably need an
hour or two, and I'm gonna putthat off because I'm gonna wait
until I get the dopamine boostthat I really need to start a
(13:21):
project that I don't actuallywant to do.
So what if we started by justhaving an outbox and just
putting that there so that youknow the things that need to
leave, and then when you'reready again, you can come back
to that outbox and be like,okay, let me look up just this
bug spray and see what I need todo with that.
(13:43):
I'm just gonna figure it out.
I'm gonna make a note of it andthen I'll come back to it again.
It's okay if you do this littleby little, but our executive
function in breaking these stepsdown into minimal tasks is
difficult.
We're not good at it.
Research shows that people withA DHD have executive function
difficulties, and so that's whyit's so important to challenge
(14:07):
yourself to just do one thinginstead of trying to tackle all
the things all at once.
Another thing that has helped meand my clients is using a
trigger to remind you of some ofthe things that you wanna do in
the house.
a trigger is not like a reminderon your phone, which could work
depending on who you are.
I know sometimes when I createreminders, they're good for a
(14:30):
moment.
Maybe a week or so, and thenI'll ignore them.
And so when it comes totriggers, you use something like
an event in your house or maybeit's seeing something that'll
trigger you to remember aspecific thing.
for example, when I brush myteeth at night, I'm triggered to
(14:51):
clean up around my sink so thatI put away all the stuff that
I've made a mess of.
Just because I'm organized doesnot mean I'm not messy.
I am still me.
I just have a place foreverything now, and that is my
life.
But I'm triggered by the actionof brushing my teeth.
It gives me something to do asI'm brushing my teeth.
I'm using one hand to brush myteeth and one to put things
(15:12):
away.
It just works for me.
So use a trigger.
Maybe you walk out the garagedoor, you're triggered to look
at the outbox and see if there'ssomething that can go.
and if you've looked up a placethat you can drop this off at,
maybe that's something you coulddo along the way.
I don't know that's the greatestsystem you could use, but that's
something That could start.
when it comes to this stuff too,we've gotta be able to reframe
(15:33):
the guilt.
Sometimes we feel a lot of guiltand shame because we have so
much stuff.
But as I was saying earlier,it's okay to not focus on what
if?
We can ruminate on that andsometimes because we're
ruminating on what if or whydidn't I, then we don't actually
do the thing.
So instead of saying, what if,if you say, what if, why didn't
(15:56):
I do this sooner?
Use that as a trigger to saywhat now?
What do I do now?
And what is one thing I could doto start to make progress in
this garage or with thehousehold items that I keep
holding onto because I wannadispose of them in the proper
way.
Letting go really allows you tosee what you have and reevaluate
(16:16):
the needs in your life.
It's such a positive experiencewhen you get used to it.
Having a system is gonna be keyhere, and a system is just a
series of triggers that helpsyou get these things out of your
house.
For example, a lot of peopletell me they have a one in one
out rule.
So if I buy a shirt, I'm gonnalet go of a shirt.
(16:37):
If I buy some bug spray, I'mgonna let go of some bug spray.
If I buy a can of paint, I'mgonna see what can of paint
needs to leave, and that's theway I'm gonna do it.
It's okay if it happens thatway.
Some people also say, well, Itried that it didn't work.
And what I would say to that is,how long did you try it for?
And when you forgot that ruleexisted, did you ever come back
(16:58):
to it?
Because we're not great withconsistency.
We're good with continuity.
So when we're not good atsomething right away, we expect
that we're just failures, right?
But it's really just that it'snew and we're not good with
habits if we don't do them for along time.
in fact, we need those triggersto support us in making more
(17:19):
long-term decisions.
It's not about.
Not doing it every day or everysingle time it happens.
It's about noticing that youdidn't do it last time, but then
saying, okay, what if I triedthat again?
What if that worked?
I hate not being good atsomething right away.
I hate it.
Like even with this podcast, Ididn't wanna do a podcast'cause
(17:39):
I just wanted to be so good atit right away.
But can you imagine if I hadnever started this?
I've been doing this for over ayear now.
And I'm so much better than whenI initially started.
And guess what?
I still have so much to learn,but I keep coming back to it
time and time again.
And that's the key when you'retrying something new, trying to
(18:02):
incorporate a new system in yourlife is to continue to come back
to it time and time again.
All right.
I wanna go through some of thecommon household items so that
you get an idea of how to letgo.
But I can't go through all ofthem.
I also think that we'd get boredof them, if I'm being honest.
I might get bored of telling youabout them, but I am gonna go
through some of the things Ithought were so super
interesting.
(18:22):
we're gonna start with paintbecause I talked about it last
week, but I really wanted toknow why is it important that we
don't put paint in the trashbecause.
Let's be honest, that's the easyway to do it.
But when you put paint in thetrash, it can seep into the
groundwater and the breakdownleads to toxins in the
environment.
(18:43):
And some of the paint canactually be remixed or resold if
we were to recycle it in a waythat makes sense.
So it creates a lower carbonfootprint when we put a little
bit more effort into it.
One way I would approach thepaint is if you have a lot of
it, just make sure it's all inone area.
Start there, right?
(19:04):
That's a good place to just geteverything in one space and say,
okay, I'm just gonna move onecan a day.
I walk into my garage, I'mmoving, one can of paint, right?
There's your trigger right thereand then in action.
Aside from donating paint toSherwin Williams or even Home
Depot, there's some paintrecycling opportunities there.
Some of the usable paint youcould donate to Habitat Humanity
(19:26):
Restore.
I know we have one in downtownColorado Springs, but you can
look up different locations forthe Habitat Humanity Restore.
You could donate to a localschool or community center.
They might need it for props fora theater production, or the
community center might just needsome touchup paint for a room or
an area.
(19:46):
You could also list it on buynothing or neighborhood groups
to feel more comfortable aboutletting it go.
I did not know this, but Ithought this was so cool.
For latex paint only if it'sless than a quarter full, you
can remove the lid and you canlet it dry out before you put it
in the trash and to let it dryout faster or to speed it up.
(20:07):
You can put some kitty litter inthere or sawdust, and then you
just put it in the regular trashSo if it's oil based, that's a
no go.
I also learned that some of thisold paint is used to cover up
graffiti or constructionprojects instead of new
materials, so it's saving moneyin other places.
And then as I had mentioned lastweek, some of the paints can be
(20:28):
used to produce alternativeproducts and oil-based paints
can actually be used as fuel inindustrial settings.
So super fascinating stuff.
And again, it just comes back toinstead of throwing all of this
stuff away or putting it in thetrash where it's certainly not
gonna get reused, if we takethat little time to make that
additional effort, we can makeit easy.
(20:50):
One of the reasons why I didthis episode is because I really
wanted to talk about batteriesbecause I did not know how to
dispose of batteries, and I havebeen throwing away AA batteries
in the trash.
For a good amount of time andfeeling really guilty about it,
but also knowing that I did notwanna take the extra steps to go
and do something about it.
So I'm gonna be honest about it.
And what I found out is that aa,aa, ld, and nine volt batteries
(21:14):
can be thrown in the trash.
They no longer have mercury inthem, which was why they
originally were not supposed tobe thrown in the trash.
So that's awesome.
That makes our life easier.
You don't have to find an extraway to dispose of those regular
batteries.
For the batteries that containlead, mercury, cadmium, lithium,
(21:35):
those all can leak into soil andwater if you throw them in the
trash.
So it's super important that youdispose of them in the correct
way.
They can also harm wildlife,plants and water over time.
You'll notice that's a prettycommon theme as I go through a
lot of this stuff.
for rechargeable batteries,those must be recycled car
(21:57):
batteries.
It's actually illegal in moststates, I think in all states
because there's toxic lead andacid.
And then the lithium batteries,they could cause fires if
they're crushed.
So if they go into a trashcompactor and they're crushed,
they could cause a fire, whichcould cause an explosion.
(22:17):
So I would say that's a prettygood reason to not throw it in
the trash.
I could imagine that you agree,and then button batteries, they
contain silver mercury orlithium as well.
And so we wanna make sure thatwe're also recycling those are
the common batteries that yousee.
Sometimes they're in little toysor used for hearing aids.
What's interesting is when yourecycle it properly, some of the
(22:40):
lithium nickel and COBOL can bereused to make new batteries
super cool, and then batteriesin landfills release toxic
chemicals that cause healthproblems.
So just a lot of reasons why youshould recycle it in the right
way.
And of course, the reasons why,we don't wanna put it simply in
the trash.
(23:01):
Bug and weed spray.
Okay, so bug and weed spray.
Why is it important that wedon't just throw it in the
trash?
It can harm the soil andgroundwater, it could disrupt
water treatment facilities.
So if you don't know, of coursewhen water goes into the sewer
system, if you're in a largercity area, oh my gosh, I'm not
(23:23):
an expert on this, so I'm gonnaexplain it in the best way I
know how.
But whenever we recycle water inany way, shape, or form, it goes
into a treatment facility.
And if you're putting additionalchemicals in there.
That I would assume there's alot of other chemicals that
they're mixing with.
It could be really harmful tothose facilities where they're
having to spend a lot more moneyto have to clean out in order to
(23:43):
get them back to a working andfunctional way of being.
bug and weeds spray could alsobe harmful to bees, butterflies,
birds, insects.
It could poison animals, kids,humans, you could have a harmful
reaction on your skin.
So it's just good to takecaution when it comes to
recycling Those items.
And honestly, if you haveunopened or still usable items,
you might be able to donate to alocal farm, maybe a community
(24:06):
garden, maybe neighbors if theylike the brand that you're
using.
But a lot of those homeimprovement stores out there
have take back programs thatthey'll recycle it for you,
which is so cool.
So let me give you an example ofwhat I put together for you.
it's gonna be listed on mywebsite right now for only$2 and
(24:27):
50 cents.
It is.
We're in March of 2025, so Ican't tell you what's gonna
happen in the future if you'relistening to this in 2026 or
2027, but right now it's only$2and 50 cents on my website
organizing an A d ADHDbrain.com.
But what it does is it just goesthrough and breaks down the
different steps as far as.
(24:48):
What to expect from this guide?
Executive Functioning Tips, soskim the guide, pick the easiest
one to do.
Open chat, GPT or Perplexity.
Perplexity AI is the one that Iwould recommend.
although Chat, GPT and I areBFFs at this point, but when it
comes to using ai.
Just choose your preferredmethod, put in the prompt and
(25:09):
adjust some of the guidelines toyour area so that you can find
what makes sense for you themost.
I tried to make it as easy aspossible, as simple as possible,
so why this matters, how torecycle even the time it may
take to actually do it.
So that way you have this guidefor yourself in the future.
(25:29):
You can keep it saved on yourcomputer.
I did put links in here to bothchat GPT and Perplexity, but
then it just gives you someideas.
Yeti Stereo Microphone-2 (25:39):
As I am editing this episode, I
realize that not everyoneunderstands how to use ai, nor
have they ever used it before.
I just wanted to remind you thatthat's okay.
Sometimes we're afraid to usesomething that's new or
different because we don't knowhow to treat it or what it's
gonna be like, and some of usare afraid that AI is gonna take
over one day.
(25:59):
The way that I see it is whetherwe like it or not, AI is around
and likely going to be aroundfor good, And if they do end up
taking over one day, we shouldprobably learn about it now and
grow with it instead of tryingto learn about it when it does
eventually take over the world.
Anyway, that's my perspective onit.
Perplexity is more like Googleand I love it because you can
(26:21):
ask more specific questions andAs far as I understand.
There's no ads yet.
Like Google people pay for adsso that they get put at the top
of the queue, I also, reallylike chat.
PTI I put both of those links inthe PDF download on my website
so that you can simply justclick on the link and see which
one works out better for youregardless.
(26:42):
Just know that you might not begood at it right away, and
that's normal.
I am here to support you There'sa ton of YouTube videos.
That's another rabbit hole youcan go down.
Let's go back to the show.
Yeti Stereo Microphone (26:53):
So what I also included on here, is
electronics now.
Electronics is gonna be a futureepisode.
One of my coaching clients andone of my favorite people, put
together a guide on how to letgo of our electronics, like old
computers and old cell phones,things like that in a way that
makes sure that not only we'reprotecting our personal data,
(27:15):
but also making sure that we'rerecycling in a way that makes
sense for the environment.
Other things I put on here arelike eyeglasses and sunglasses,
car fluids, miscellaneouschemicals, bicycles, tires, ink
and toner cartridges, Christmaslights, satellite dishes.
I worked hard to make sure thatyou had a good idea of where to
(27:36):
go.
there's an AI prompt specific toeach and every item that's on
this list.
And then if you find somethingthat's not on this list, you can
easily modify the AI prompt tojust put in the thing that
you're looking for to make iteasy.
What's super cool about in tonercartridges?
First, I had no idea that youcould recycle in toner
(27:58):
cartridges.
But as I was looking into this,one of the places you can
recycle cartridges is atStaples.
So I figured I'd just Give mylocal staples a call.
And I talked to this adorablekid on the phone.
So cute.
And he was giving me all thisinformation.
So proud of the things that heknew.
It was really cool.
But he told me that you canbring in all of your old
(28:18):
cartridges and they will evengive you a discount for what
you're recycling.
So that's something that you caninclude in your search is after
you're done finding the placeyou wanna go to when you give
them a call, just to make surethat you know everything is
correct as far as AI has givenyou.
Ask them if they have any likecoupons or discounts they give
you based on you recycling.
(28:40):
What a cool dopamine hit to havesomething else.
Saving money as an opportunity.
So for the cartridges, you cansave an additional$2 per
cartridge After talking to him,he said that they also take all
of your old electronics, so doesBest Buy, so does Apple, but
they'll take some of your oldcharger batteries for your
electronics.
(29:01):
They'll also take schoolsupplies.
So for some of you that I'vetold you, how many pens do you
really need in your life, right?
Like how many pens would you becomfortable having in your home?
If that's the case, where couldyou bring your extra pens?
You could just donate them inyour donation box wherever you
bring your donations.
But this is another really coolplace.
(29:22):
and I asked, he didn't know aton about the writing utensils.
But he did say for theelectronics, they're able to do
something where they can get theparts and use them for.
Either new electronics or mayberefurbished electronics, things
like that.
so super interesting.
The more I dive into this, themore I'm learning about how
there's so many companies outthere doing incredible things to
(29:47):
repurpose so many of the itemsthat we have sitting in our
homes.
And honestly, I had no idea thatyou should recycle Christmas
lights.
because they contain valuablecopper that can actually be
reused.
So a lot of the home improvementstores will offer seasonal
recycling programs for yourChristmas lights.
It's just insane.
(30:07):
There's so many cool things outthere.
I'm sure this is just the tip ofthe iceberg as far as recycling
goes, but I'm really excitedabout this recycling and
disposal guide and I put a lotof work and effort into this,
into making sure that this issomething that you could use and
it would be beneficial for youremoving the barrier and getting
this stuff outta your house.
(30:27):
These are the easy decisions.
We just have to overcome thebarrier of knowing where to
bring it, of knowing where itgoes next, because this is not
something that we could justbring to goodwill or someplace.
That's easy because there arespecifics for each and every one
of these items.
Now for those of you who join mycommunity, you'll get this
(30:48):
download for free.
My community is organizing anADHD brain.com/community, and
there you'll get a free downloadeach and every month.
you'll also get access to groupcoaching sessions with me,
Virtual decluttering as well asbody doubling sessions.
And next month, so for the monthof April, I'm partnering with
(31:09):
Russ from the A DHD big brother.
And I'm gonna do a specialtraining with his community,
where my community is involvedas well.
So this is an extra session.
And we're doing an extra virtualdecluttering session with his
community and mine So superexciting stuff that's happening
in the month of April.
What a perfect time.
Because It is spring cleaningtime.
(31:31):
It is time to let go.
It is time to bring in.
New growth and to let go of theold.
With that said, go to organizingan ADHD brain.com/community.
You can save$5 your first monthby using the code podcast by
signing up.
It's only$27 a month and It isso important that we have
(31:52):
community when we're goingthrough something like this.
Something like letting go of allof this stuff because not only
is it emotional, but it's alsosomething we just really don't
wanna do alone.
Yeti Stereo Microphone-1 (32:02):
If you're ready to get organized
and transform your life with ADHD, but you need a little
accountability to get there,book a free 20 minute call with
me this week.
Let's see how we can worktogether to create the calm
you've been craving.
And as a reminder.
I mentioned at the beginning ofthe call, what's one thing you
took away from everything I hadmentioned today?
(32:23):
Whether you go download theRecycling and Disposal guide, or
you're just listening to thispodcast, what's one thing that
you could do that'll get you tothe next step?
Because taking control of yourhome feels so good, but it
doesn't happen all at once.
It happens by doing one thingand then another thing, and then
another thing, and then anotherthing.
(32:45):
On that note, I hope you have anincredible week this week.
Thank you so much for tuning in,and I'll see you next week.
Hey, beautiful people.
(00:01):
Welcome back to organizing an ADHD Brain, and I have a real
episode for you this week.
I'm so excited to be talking toyou more about letting go.
This seems to be a common themein our life, right?
This week we're gonna talk aboutletting go of some of the common
household items that we know weneed to let go of.
But there's that barrier thereof not knowing how to get it out
(00:22):
of our house in a way that makessense, in a way that We know
that there's more informationthat we need to gather in order
for us to be able to let go, andI wanna talk to you about it
today.
Before we dive in, I want tohighlight that the way I
perceive the world right nowfeels really heavy.
There are so many changes goingon.
In fact, the only constant inlife is change.
(00:44):
That phrase on a regular basisactually makes me feel a little
bit better that the only thingwe can expect is change.
So while we have a bad day.
The next day gives us a newopportunity, and when we have an
incredible day, that high iscertainly not gonna last.
However, When things feel out ofour control and everything feels
a little uncertain, takingsmall, tangible actions in your
(01:08):
own space can bring a sense ofstability.
I've noticed it with myself whenI feel a little overwhelmed and
I'm sitting at my computerconsuming, I get up and I do
something and it brings a lotmore clarity to my life.
It helps.
Just one thing.
That's something that I talkabout all the time, right?
Just one thing, not 30 things.
We can't do 30 things all atonce, even though our brain is
(01:29):
trying to tell us we need to.
But what is one thing you cando?
Letting go of the things we knowwe don't need is a small but
powerful step If you need anexcuse to let go, and you're
also in Colorado and you're freeon April 19th, I'm co-hosting a
clothing swap with a friend ofmine who is a stylist, a local
stylist in the area.
(01:51):
So if you're interested, come toBalanced Studio on April 19th
from 12 to 5:00 PM Bring all ofyour old clothing, so things
that you don't wear anymore,things that are in good used
condition.
Women's men's kids clothing.
It's$10 to get in and you canshop all of the clothes that are
(02:11):
there and take anything homewith you.
You'll also have a chance to wina virtual decluttering session
with myself, or a mini stylingsession with Tara in addition to
that.
A portion of the proceeds gonnabe donated to Charity Hope
Springs in Colorado Springs.
I donated a lot of the clothesthat we gathered, the last
clothing swap that I had hosted,and the woman who runs this
(02:34):
charity is absolutely amazing.
I'd love to tell you more abouther and I'll also put a link to
that charity in the show notesbelow if you'd like to find some
way to get involved on thisshow.
I talk about a lot.
I give you a lot of tips.
I talk about a lot of the thingsthat have made sense in my own
life, but the way that I'vegotten to where I am.
Is by not allowing the manythings that are controlling my
(02:57):
hyperactivity in my brain totake control.
Okay?
I take that back sometimes mybrain takes control, but what
brings me back to earth isallowing myself to focus on one
thing.
So when you leave this episodetoday, what is one thing that
resonated with you and one thingthat you can take with you into
the future?
(03:18):
It's okay if you don't save thisepisode and come back to it
later.
One thing is so much better than30 things because 30 things is
gonna set you up for failure.
we need to be setting ourselvesup for success.
One thing that'll set you up forsuccess.
Decluttering is a form of activemedicine, so choose one thing.
(03:39):
as far as all of our stuff inour household, we can accumulate
so darn much so easily.
We don't even realize it'shappening.
It's almost like we wake up oneday and we're like, how the heck
did I get so much stuff in myhouse?
How the heck did this happen?
How did I not even notice ithappening?
wouldn't I have stopped thisfrom happening years ago?
But no, we're here in thismoment and so now we have to ask
(04:01):
ourselves instead of what if wehave to consider what now?
And a lot of the times, whatprevents us from letting things
go in our house is thisunforeseen barrier, this barrier
that we don't even realize isthere.
So when it comes to things inyour household, like old paint
that you're not gonna useanymore, or because it.
(04:22):
Is old and you can't use itanymore.
Things like old pesticides orbug spray or sunglasses or you
name it.
All of these little things.
What is the appropriate way todispose of them?
Even batteries, what the heck doI do with old batteries or
electronics?
There's so many things that comeup on a regular basis and
(04:43):
knowing what to do with it isjust another thing to do on our
to-do list and what do we do?
We say, I'll deal with thatlater, and then we come across
it again and we say, I'll dealwith that later.
Because we know in general it'sgonna be a pretty quick task.
However, because it's a task, itgets added to our to-do list
that are already too long anddoes not get prioritized to the
(05:05):
top of the list.
But you're listening to thispodcast because decluttering and
organizing has become a highpriority for you because you've
realized that it's creating alot of congestion in your life
and you want to eliminate thatcongestion.
You are looking for a way tobreathe on the other side.
And this episode today is gonnabe a little bit more breathing
(05:27):
room for you Because I did allthe research and I got so
excited about this episode andfiguring out how do we remove
the barrier to getting out thestuff that we don't know what
the heck to do with, and Idiscovered so many incredible
cool tidbit things that I cannotwait to share with you.
I also created a download foryou.
(05:47):
With AI prompts on how to figureout where to donate in your
specific location, That's gonnabe available on my website, and
you can go to that in the shownotes below, or just go to
organizing an ADHD brain.com.
Click on shop, and you'll seeall of my downloads available
there.
Some of you have also beenasking for my to-do list Daily
(06:10):
planner that I had recorded anepisode on way back when, I
think it was last summer or so.
This is the daily planner.
That I use to organize myschedule on a regular basis
that's available for you todownload as well.
It's only$2 and 50 cents.
I send you the podcast episodesto support your use in this, and
I'll record some additionalepisodes moving forward so you
(06:32):
can understand how you might beable to use it too.
Coming back to letting go of thehousehold items, these are the
things that we know we don'twant anymore.
That we no need to leave ourhouse.
It's not what if I could usethis anymore?
'cause most of the time it's tooold.
Or this is something that I knowis gonna cause contamination in
my house and I've made differentdecisions on the things that I
(06:54):
wanna buy now, but I also wannadispose of it in a way that
makes sense for not only me, butfeels like I'm doing my part for
the environment.
My husband and I are gettingready to move, and we have been
going through our garage andtrying to figure out what we're
gonna keep, what we're gonna letgo.
And I came across some bug sprayand I asked my husband, what do
(07:15):
we wanna keep?
What are we gonna use before weleave?
And then there was this can ofbug spray.
That I didn't know what to dowith.
Now, my husband was like, maybeI just throw that in the
garbage.
Okay.
Possibly, right?
I think we've all made adecision that we knew maybe was
not the best decision for us.
However, we're also trying tomake decisions in getting stuff
out of our life, and we wannamake a full decision, so we're
(07:37):
not putting off or delaying orprocrastinating trying to make
this decision in the future.
Regardless, I decided to take.
A little container that I hademptied it out and I didn't know
if I wanted to keep it or not.
Just this crate in my garage andI was like, oh, this is where
I'll put all of the stuff that Iwant to leave the garage.
So while I didn't know what todo with the bug spray in that
(07:58):
moment, I knew I was going to bedoing this episode, which is
awesome.
And I figured this is a greatspace for me to collect these
items that I don't wanna throwin the garbage right away so
that I can dispose of themproperly.
before we jump into some of thespecifics, let's talk about why
do we keep things right?
Sometimes it's the uncertaintyas I've been talking about.
(08:18):
We don't know how to remove themfrom our homes.
Sometimes it's.
Guilt.
We don't want it to go to waste.
We spent money on it.
Maybe we didn't even use it.
Maybe we just had this reallygreat intention of a project
that we thought we'd do one day,but now it's been so long that
the item doesn't even do what itwas supposed to do in the first
place.
we have the decision paralysis,as I had mentioned, we
(08:40):
procrastinate these decisionsbecause it's so much easier.
To put it off.
And I read somewhere recentlythat procrastination, when we're
procrastinating, we are decidingto not do this right now.
And so in that regards, it'salmost like We're checking this
off on our to-do list.
Like I've seen it.
(09:01):
I've decided that I'm not goingto deal with this right now.
Check Denzel and we move on.
And I was like, wow.
I don't know if I feelpersonally victimized by that
sentiment or if it just helps meunderstand how to attack certain
situations in a different way.
And then of course theaccessibility.
Doing the research feels likeit's too much and it's so
(09:24):
annoying, and we also know howeasy it is.
We know that it would be easy tojust Google something and figure
out where to drop it off.
but because of our executivefunction difficulties, there's a
lot of steps that go into that.
There's a lot that goes intofiguring out where I'm going to
dispose of this.
(09:45):
In fact, last week I was justtelling you about how I was
trying to dispose of paint and Ihad to set myself up for this
specific event to go to.
But then I had scheduled it forthe wrong day and time, and
there I was sitting there withall this paint that I was ready
to let go.
But the only reason why I wasactually able to find a space to
let it go in that moment becausethe other one didn't work out
(10:06):
was because I was forced to.
I had no other choice and Iwasn't gonna go home with that
paint uhuh.
I was already in the car and Iwas actively doing this.
This is when I was making thatdecision.
coming back to theaccessibility, we want it to be
easy.
And so I wanna make it easybecause these things shouldn't
be cluttering up our lifeanymore.
(10:26):
I just wanna support you andfinding some room to breathe.
I was working with one of myclients the other day and we
were talking about.
You know what's something thatshe's responsible for, but what
could her spouse support herwith that she could delegate?
That's not necessarily somethingthat's on her list.
And she was like, oh, we have somuch paint.
We have so many cans of paint inthe corner of our garage.
(10:47):
We don't know what to do withit.
And I'm like, I do.
I know what to do with it.
I was so excited because I'mremoving those barriers to help
you make the decisions for youto get these things out of your
house in our community the otherday.
one of our community members wastalking about sunglasses and how
to dispose of sunglasses.
And guess what?
(11:09):
There is a way to dispose ofsunglasses where you're not
necessarily just donating it toGoodwill or just the next
donation center.
You can actually recycle them ifthat is what you wanna do with
those items.
So I'm really excited to sharethis with you today.
So the way we attack this is bygaining the knowledge.
I am gonna drop one of theexamples of a chat GPT prompt
(11:31):
that I would encourage you touse in the show notes below.
And like I said, if you wantsomething easier, go to
organizing an A DH ADHDbrain.com.
Go to shop, and there will be atemplate on the specifics for
each and every item There's alsoa website called Earth 9 1 1.
I am actually gonna go to itwhile I'm recording this right
now because I wanna tell you myinitial reactions of it because
(11:55):
it's super cool.
But it was a little overwhelmingto me.
So it's Earth 9 1 1 more ideas,less waste.
And for those of you who arelistening and aren't located in
the States, I don't know if thisis just state-based or if it is
truly for our entire earth.
It does say recycling centers byzip codes, drop off recycling
(12:16):
centers.
Super cool.
There's even podcasts.
There's Business Ecotech, homeand Garden.
So it says how to recycle.
I clicked on that.
When you click on how torecycle, it goes over.
Everything.
even oyster shells and largeappliances, computer monitors,
kerosene, coffee pods, carpets,car batteries.
(12:40):
really cool.
So that's a good place to startif you wanna tackle this on your
own.
'cause ultimately, I'm justgiving you some of the
information to inspire you.
Another way to attack this ismake it easy, like I shared
before, have an out box, havesome sort of recycling box or
donation box that is just forhazardous chemicals or whatever
you have the most of in yourgarage.
(13:00):
But sometimes we have thiscyclical thinking like in order
to do this, we have to do this.
But in order to do this, we haveto do this right?
So like in order for me to havean outbox, then I have to go
over and I have to organize allof my paints.
But in order for me to organizemy paints, I probably need an
hour or two, and I'm gonna putthat off because I'm gonna wait
until I get the dopamine boostthat I really need to start a
(13:21):
project that I don't actuallywant to do.
So what if we started by justhaving an outbox and just
putting that there so that youknow the things that need to
leave, and then when you'reready again, you can come back
to that outbox and be like,okay, let me look up just this
bug spray and see what I need todo with that.
(13:43):
I'm just gonna figure it out.
I'm gonna make a note of it andthen I'll come back to it again.
It's okay if you do this littleby little, but our executive
function in breaking these stepsdown into minimal tasks is
difficult.
We're not good at it.
Research shows that people withA DHD have executive function
difficulties, and so that's whyit's so important to challenge
(14:07):
yourself to just do one thinginstead of trying to tackle all
the things all at once.
Another thing that has helped meand my clients is using a
trigger to remind you of some ofthe things that you wanna do in
the house.
a trigger is not like a reminderon your phone, which could work
depending on who you are.
I know sometimes when I createreminders, they're good for a
(14:30):
moment.
Maybe a week or so, and thenI'll ignore them.
And so when it comes totriggers, you use something like
an event in your house or maybeit's seeing something that'll
trigger you to remember aspecific thing.
for example, when I brush myteeth at night, I'm triggered to
(14:51):
clean up around my sink so thatI put away all the stuff that
I've made a mess of.
Just because I'm organized doesnot mean I'm not messy.
I am still me.
I just have a place foreverything now, and that is my
life.
But I'm triggered by the actionof brushing my teeth.
It gives me something to do asI'm brushing my teeth.
I'm using one hand to brush myteeth and one to put things
(15:12):
away.
It just works for me.
So use a trigger.
Maybe you walk out the garagedoor, you're triggered to look
at the outbox and see if there'ssomething that can go.
and if you've looked up a placethat you can drop this off at,
maybe that's something you coulddo along the way.
I don't know that's the greatestsystem you could use, but that's
something That could start.
when it comes to this stuff too,we've gotta be able to reframe
(15:33):
the guilt.
Sometimes we feel a lot of guiltand shame because we have so
much stuff.
But as I was saying earlier,it's okay to not focus on what
if?
We can ruminate on that andsometimes because we're
ruminating on what if or whydidn't I, then we don't actually
do the thing.
So instead of saying, what if,if you say, what if, why didn't
(15:56):
I do this sooner?
Use that as a trigger to saywhat now?
What do I do now?
And what is one thing I could doto start to make progress in
this garage or with thehousehold items that I keep
holding onto because I wannadispose of them in the proper
way.
Letting go really allows you tosee what you have and reevaluate
(16:16):
the needs in your life.
It's such a positive experiencewhen you get used to it.
Having a system is gonna be keyhere, and a system is just a
series of triggers that helpsyou get these things out of your
house.
For example, a lot of peopletell me they have a one in one
out rule.
So if I buy a shirt, I'm gonnalet go of a shirt.
(16:37):
If I buy some bug spray, I'mgonna let go of some bug spray.
If I buy a can of paint, I'mgonna see what can of paint
needs to leave, and that's theway I'm gonna do it.
It's okay if it happens thatway.
Some people also say, well, Itried that it didn't work.
And what I would say to that is,how long did you try it for?
And when you forgot that ruleexisted, did you ever come back
(16:58):
to it?
Because we're not great withconsistency.
We're good with continuity.
So when we're not good atsomething right away, we expect
that we're just failures, right?
But it's really just that it'snew and we're not good with
habits if we don't do them for along time.
in fact, we need those triggersto support us in making more
(17:19):
long-term decisions.
It's not about.
Not doing it every day or everysingle time it happens.
It's about noticing that youdidn't do it last time, but then
saying, okay, what if I triedthat again?
What if that worked?
I hate not being good atsomething right away.
I hate it.
Like even with this podcast, Ididn't wanna do a podcast'cause
(17:39):
I just wanted to be so good atit right away.
But can you imagine if I hadnever started this?
I've been doing this for over ayear now.
And I'm so much better than whenI initially started.
And guess what?
I still have so much to learn,but I keep coming back to it
time and time again.
And that's the key when you'retrying something new, trying to
(18:02):
incorporate a new system in yourlife is to continue to come back
to it time and time again.
All right.
I wanna go through some of thecommon household items so that
you get an idea of how to letgo.
But I can't go through all ofthem.
I also think that we'd get boredof them, if I'm being honest.
I might get bored of telling youabout them, but I am gonna go
through some of the things Ithought were so super
interesting.
(18:22):
we're gonna start with paintbecause I talked about it last
week, but I really wanted toknow why is it important that we
don't put paint in the trashbecause.
Let's be honest, that's the easyway to do it.
But when you put paint in thetrash, it can seep into the
groundwater and the breakdownleads to toxins in the
environment.
(18:43):
And some of the paint canactually be remixed or resold if
we were to recycle it in a waythat makes sense.
So it creates a lower carbonfootprint when we put a little
bit more effort into it.
One way I would approach thepaint is if you have a lot of
it, just make sure it's all inone area.
Start there, right?
(19:04):
That's a good place to just geteverything in one space and say,
okay, I'm just gonna move onecan a day.
I walk into my garage, I'mmoving, one can of paint, right?
There's your trigger right thereand then in action.
Aside from donating paint toSherwin Williams or even Home
Depot, there's some paintrecycling opportunities there.
Some of the usable paint youcould donate to Habitat Humanity
(19:26):
Restore.
I know we have one in downtownColorado Springs, but you can
look up different locations forthe Habitat Humanity Restore.
You could donate to a localschool or community center.
They might need it for props fora theater production, or the
community center might just needsome touchup paint for a room or
an area.
(19:46):
You could also list it on buynothing or neighborhood groups
to feel more comfortable aboutletting it go.
I did not know this, but Ithought this was so cool.
For latex paint only if it'sless than a quarter full, you
can remove the lid and you canlet it dry out before you put it
in the trash and to let it dryout faster or to speed it up.
(20:07):
You can put some kitty litter inthere or sawdust, and then you
just put it in the regular trashSo if it's oil based, that's a
no go.
I also learned that some of thisold paint is used to cover up
graffiti or constructionprojects instead of new
materials, so it's saving moneyin other places.
And then as I had mentioned lastweek, some of the paints can be
(20:28):
used to produce alternativeproducts and oil-based paints
can actually be used as fuel inindustrial settings.
So super fascinating stuff.
And again, it just comes back toinstead of throwing all of this
stuff away or putting it in thetrash where it's certainly not
gonna get reused, if we takethat little time to make that
additional effort, we can makeit easy.
(20:50):
One of the reasons why I didthis episode is because I really
wanted to talk about batteriesbecause I did not know how to
dispose of batteries, and I havebeen throwing away AA batteries
in the trash.
For a good amount of time andfeeling really guilty about it,
but also knowing that I did notwanna take the extra steps to go
and do something about it.
So I'm gonna be honest about it.
And what I found out is that aa,aa, ld, and nine volt batteries
(21:14):
can be thrown in the trash.
They no longer have mercury inthem, which was why they
originally were not supposed tobe thrown in the trash.
So that's awesome.
That makes our life easier.
You don't have to find an extraway to dispose of those regular
batteries.
For the batteries that containlead, mercury, cadmium, lithium,
(21:35):
those all can leak into soil andwater if you throw them in the
trash.
So it's super important that youdispose of them in the correct
way.
They can also harm wildlife,plants and water over time.
You'll notice that's a prettycommon theme as I go through a
lot of this stuff.
for rechargeable batteries,those must be recycled car
(21:57):
batteries.
It's actually illegal in moststates, I think in all states
because there's toxic lead andacid.
And then the lithium batteries,they could cause fires if
they're crushed.
So if they go into a trashcompactor and they're crushed,
they could cause a fire, whichcould cause an explosion.
(22:17):
So I would say that's a prettygood reason to not throw it in
the trash.
I could imagine that you agree,and then button batteries, they
contain silver mercury orlithium as well.
And so we wanna make sure thatwe're also recycling those are
the common batteries that yousee.
Sometimes they're in little toysor used for hearing aids.
What's interesting is when yourecycle it properly, some of the
(22:40):
lithium nickel and COBOL can bereused to make new batteries
super cool, and then batteriesin landfills release toxic
chemicals that cause healthproblems.
So just a lot of reasons why youshould recycle it in the right
way.
And of course, the reasons why,we don't wanna put it simply in
the trash.
(23:01):
Bug and weed spray.
Okay, so bug and weed spray.
Why is it important that wedon't just throw it in the
trash?
It can harm the soil andgroundwater, it could disrupt
water treatment facilities.
So if you don't know, of coursewhen water goes into the sewer
system, if you're in a largercity area, oh my gosh, I'm not
(23:23):
an expert on this, so I'm gonnaexplain it in the best way I
know how.
But whenever we recycle water inany way, shape, or form, it goes
into a treatment facility.
And if you're putting additionalchemicals in there.
That I would assume there's alot of other chemicals that
they're mixing with.
It could be really harmful tothose facilities where they're
having to spend a lot more moneyto have to clean out in order to
(23:43):
get them back to a working andfunctional way of being.
bug and weeds spray could alsobe harmful to bees, butterflies,
birds, insects.
It could poison animals, kids,humans, you could have a harmful
reaction on your skin.
So it's just good to takecaution when it comes to
recycling Those items.
And honestly, if you haveunopened or still usable items,
you might be able to donate to alocal farm, maybe a community
(24:06):
garden, maybe neighbors if theylike the brand that you're
using.
But a lot of those homeimprovement stores out there
have take back programs thatthey'll recycle it for you,
which is so cool.
So let me give you an example ofwhat I put together for you.
it's gonna be listed on mywebsite right now for only$2 and
(24:27):
50 cents.
It is.
We're in March of 2025, so Ican't tell you what's gonna
happen in the future if you'relistening to this in 2026 or
2027, but right now it's only$2and 50 cents on my website
organizing an A d ADHDbrain.com.
But what it does is it just goesthrough and breaks down the
different steps as far as.
(24:48):
What to expect from this guide?
Executive Functioning Tips, soskim the guide, pick the easiest
one to do.
Open chat, GPT or Perplexity.
Perplexity AI is the one that Iwould recommend.
although Chat, GPT and I areBFFs at this point, but when it
comes to using ai.
Just choose your preferredmethod, put in the prompt and
(25:09):
adjust some of the guidelines toyour area so that you can find
what makes sense for you themost.
I tried to make it as easy aspossible, as simple as possible,
so why this matters, how torecycle even the time it may
take to actually do it.
So that way you have this guidefor yourself in the future.
(25:29):
You can keep it saved on yourcomputer.
I did put links in here to bothchat GPT and Perplexity, but
then it just gives you someideas.
Yeti Stereo Microphone-2 (25:39):
As I am editing this episode, I
realize that not everyoneunderstands how to use ai, nor
have they ever used it before.
I just wanted to remind you thatthat's okay.
Sometimes we're afraid to usesomething that's new or
different because we don't knowhow to treat it or what it's
gonna be like, and some of usare afraid that AI is gonna take
over one day.
(25:59):
The way that I see it is whetherwe like it or not, AI is around
and likely going to be aroundfor good, And if they do end up
taking over one day, we shouldprobably learn about it now and
grow with it instead of tryingto learn about it when it does
eventually take over the world.
Anyway, that's my perspective onit.
Perplexity is more like Googleand I love it because you can
(26:21):
ask more specific questions andAs far as I understand.
There's no ads yet.
Like Google people pay for adsso that they get put at the top
of the queue, I also, reallylike chat.
PTI I put both of those links inthe PDF download on my website
so that you can simply justclick on the link and see which
one works out better for youregardless.
(26:42):
Just know that you might not begood at it right away, and
that's normal.
I am here to support you There'sa ton of YouTube videos.
That's another rabbit hole youcan go down.
Let's go back to the show.
Yeti Stereo Microphone (26:53):
So what I also included on here, is
electronics now.
Electronics is gonna be a futureepisode.
One of my coaching clients andone of my favorite people, put
together a guide on how to letgo of our electronics, like old
computers and old cell phones,things like that in a way that
makes sure that not only we'reprotecting our personal data,
(27:15):
but also making sure that we'rerecycling in a way that makes
sense for the environment.
Other things I put on here arelike eyeglasses and sunglasses,
car fluids, miscellaneouschemicals, bicycles, tires, ink
and toner cartridges, Christmaslights, satellite dishes.
I worked hard to make sure thatyou had a good idea of where to
(27:36):
go.
there's an AI prompt specific toeach and every item that's on
this list.
And then if you find somethingthat's not on this list, you can
easily modify the AI prompt tojust put in the thing that
you're looking for to make iteasy.
What's super cool about in tonercartridges?
First, I had no idea that youcould recycle in toner
(27:58):
cartridges.
But as I was looking into this,one of the places you can
recycle cartridges is atStaples.
So I figured I'd just Give mylocal staples a call.
And I talked to this adorablekid on the phone.
So cute.
And he was giving me all thisinformation.
So proud of the things that heknew.
It was really cool.
But he told me that you canbring in all of your old
(28:18):
cartridges and they will evengive you a discount for what
you're recycling.
So that's something that you caninclude in your search is after
you're done finding the placeyou wanna go to when you give
them a call, just to make surethat you know everything is
correct as far as AI has givenyou.
Ask them if they have any likecoupons or discounts they give
you based on you recycling.
(28:40):
What a cool dopamine hit to havesomething else.
Saving money as an opportunity.
So for the cartridges, you cansave an additional$2 per
cartridge After talking to him,he said that they also take all
of your old electronics, so doesBest Buy, so does Apple, but
they'll take some of your oldcharger batteries for your
electronics.
(29:01):
They'll also take schoolsupplies.
So for some of you that I'vetold you, how many pens do you
really need in your life, right?
Like how many pens would you becomfortable having in your home?
If that's the case, where couldyou bring your extra pens?
You could just donate them inyour donation box wherever you
bring your donations.
But this is another really coolplace.
(29:22):
and I asked, he didn't know aton about the writing utensils.
But he did say for theelectronics, they're able to do
something where they can get theparts and use them for.
Either new electronics or mayberefurbished electronics, things
like that.
so super interesting.
The more I dive into this, themore I'm learning about how
there's so many companies outthere doing incredible things to
(29:47):
repurpose so many of the itemsthat we have sitting in our
homes.
And honestly, I had no idea thatyou should recycle Christmas
lights.
because they contain valuablecopper that can actually be
reused.
So a lot of the home improvementstores will offer seasonal
recycling programs for yourChristmas lights.
It's just insane.
(30:07):
There's so many cool things outthere.
I'm sure this is just the tip ofthe iceberg as far as recycling
goes, but I'm really excitedabout this recycling and
disposal guide and I put a lotof work and effort into this,
into making sure that this issomething that you could use and
it would be beneficial for youremoving the barrier and getting
this stuff outta your house.
(30:27):
These are the easy decisions.
We just have to overcome thebarrier of knowing where to
bring it, of knowing where itgoes next, because this is not
something that we could justbring to goodwill or someplace.
That's easy because there arespecifics for each and every one
of these items.
Now for those of you who join mycommunity, you'll get this
(30:48):
download for free.
My community is organizing anADHD brain.com/community, and
there you'll get a free downloadeach and every month.
you'll also get access to groupcoaching sessions with me,
Virtual decluttering as well asbody doubling sessions.
And next month, so for the monthof April, I'm partnering with
(31:09):
Russ from the A DHD big brother.
And I'm gonna do a specialtraining with his community,
where my community is involvedas well.
So this is an extra session.
And we're doing an extra virtualdecluttering session with his
community and mine So superexciting stuff that's happening
in the month of April.
What a perfect time.
Because It is spring cleaningtime.
(31:31):
It is time to let go.
It is time to bring in.
New growth and to let go of theold.
With that said, go to organizingan ADHD brain.com/community.
You can save$5 your first monthby using the code podcast by
signing up.
It's only$27 a month and It isso important that we have
(31:52):
community when we're goingthrough something like this.
Something like letting go of allof this stuff because not only
is it emotional, but it's alsosomething we just really don't
wanna do alone.
Yeti Stereo Microphone-1 (32:02):
If you're ready to get organized
and transform your life with ADHD, but you need a little
accountability to get there,book a free 20 minute call with
me this week.
Let's see how we can worktogether to create the calm
you've been craving.
And as a reminder.
I mentioned at the beginning ofthe call, what's one thing you
took away from everything I hadmentioned today?
(32:23):
Whether you go download theRecycling and Disposal guide, or
you're just listening to thispodcast, what's one thing that
you could do that'll get you tothe next step?
Because taking control of yourhome feels so good, but it
doesn't happen all at once.
It happens by doing one thingand then another thing, and then
another thing, and then anotherthing.
(32:45):
On that note, I hope you have anincredible week this week.
Thank you so much for tuning in,and I'll see you next week.
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