Yes, it can get overwhelming. How about prioritizing first. Most important things go at the top of the list. These things you will spend the most time on. Than break the other items into categories. Alloting time segments for the remaining items on your list. Of course this is flexible. And you may have to tweek it. Good luck!

I cannot do a total house cleaning in one swoop and my house is small. I have to break it up to small bits over days. When I used to have 3 small kids, I timed all my cleaning chores. And then I gave them days I would do them first thing in the morning. Every Thursday is change the sheet day and washing them.

I still do this now as an older adult, no kids, just a husband. I have to pay a woman and her adult daughter to come clean every other week. It takes the two of them about 2 hours. But I do the cleaning the off week except not vacuuming, my husband cleans his half bath by his office that only he uses.

My energy only goes so far also. I end up in major pain when I walk too much or do physical things. I miss this about my old life being able to go, go, go. I was told to sit down and rest for 15 minutes in between each part of the chore by my PT last year. Meaning do the toilet, go sit and rest, come back do the floor, sit and rest. I am stronger and less pain this year but it stops me from living an active and busy life like I used to.

I do time chores so when my anxiety and goal orientation is screaming at me, I know it will take me 15 minutes to do the small bathroom and I have 15 minutes right then. I sometimes make lists for the day as crossing off things makes me feel good about myself accomplishing things.

Thanks Jazzy and hasty! Jazzy, you have a good point. When I think about prioritizing, I get a little mad about the things that are getting in the way of my long-term goals. The class reunion is happening in a month. It is a priority at the moment. But this means that my long-term goals are probably not going to be completed for my therapy appointment in August. I wanted to show a clean house. I thought of other things that I have to do after I posted. I have to get together receipts for stuff that I have gotten my Aunt so that I can get reimbursed. I hate doing it and put it off. That also means that I either have to get the formed signed by my cousin, which by mail will take about 2 weeks or leave everything at the nursing home for her to sign when she visits, which is rare. I also have to find the form which I think is on my messy desk. hasty, it sounds like you have it down to a science. I'm glad that you get some help. My sister-in-law has bailed me out a few times but I absolutely have always wanted to do the cleaning by myself. But that never happens. Oh yeah, I'll do the dishes or clean a small part of the counter, do laundry, clean the kitty litter pail, stuff like that. I have to create an account for Tractor Supply. The bill is due today. I have been putting it off. I don't know if it's possible to just go to the store and pay? I think I will call. In the meantime, my cat and I heard a noise in the utility room. He checked it out and came out hissing and his tail was flared. I went in the utility room and there was a kitten in there. It kind of scared me and I screamed and shut the door. Then I went back in and opened the door to the outside and I went outside to try to see it leave. Eventually, I went to the side of my house where there is a crawlspace and saw something crawling in there. This kitten didn't look like the 3 kittens that I have been feeding. I noticed that there is a hole in the floor in the utility room that I never noticed before. I think the kitten came up the crawlspace through the hole. Now I have the hole blocked. I cannot stand the thought of my cat getting fleas. He is allergic. That would mean a vet visit. No thanks! Kittens, stay outside! hasty, I take breaks when I do clean. It helps. I have never been diagnosed with ODD but I have self-diagnosed and I think I have it. My Mom made me help her clean at a very young age. I did a lot of housework. My brothers just had the trash and the dog yard to do. I was not happy that I was a girl. It wasn't fair. I have this thing about needing to feel like doing stuff to do it. I don't like "have to" things when I don't feel like it. However, when I feel like doing these things, I love it! Now I have to jump in the shower and get to the gym. I scheduled a Walmart pick-up for 3:00 p.m. It's 12:25 p.m. I was going to order some plastic hangers and they only displayed white hangers on the list so I just did plastic hangers and hit search. They have 18 packs of plastic hangers for 50 cents! No lie! I bought about 5 of them. Gotta go! Have a great day!

My husband is identical. A chore that takes 15 minutes will, to him, "that's gonna take an hour!" And he gets super-stressed. So he uses a paper planner ---- his phone never seems to work for this ---- and he looks at it every morning.
Example:
Friday July 10:
9 AM clock in
930 meeting with J
noon tai chi
6 pm clock out
615 pm supper
630 pm wash dishes if any
7 pm treadmill
730 pm organize one box of emergency supplies with (Leo)
9 pm get ready for bed
And that's a light day, but you get the idea. I've taught him to do one box sat a time, one section of closet at a time (e.g., "formal shirts" vs "ties" vs "suits"), that knid of thing.
Tkae it in bites.

Peace!

Thanks Leo! I actually had a killer day at the gym. My normal routine is 30 minutes on the bike or treadmill and 5 minutes on an arm machine and a few minutes on a hip abduction machine. Yesterday, I skipped the arm machine. It was too early in the morning. Today I went in the afternoon, had a massage, which was wonderful, and got on a treadmill. I really wanted to do 45 minutes like I have just lately did a couple times, but I did an hour. I was drinking Arizona diet green tea throughout my workout, which seemed to help with my energy. I was also listening to some great mixes on YouTube. Anyway, I may have even stayed on the treadmill longer but I had to pick up a Walmart order, including frozen blueberries so I left. Back to what your husband does, that's a great idea! He sounds pretty disciplined about it. I am not very disciplined. I take hours to get moving in the morning. This morning, I got up around 4 a.m., had some coffee, deleted some emails, and decided to go back to bed. My cat joined me. He was so happy to be laying with Mommy that he was purring. I'm going to try to stay in bed longer tomorrow morning and make a schedule for my day and see how it goes. Thanks!

I always think things will take longer than they do as well even though I've done the thing a thousand times

I'm sure I have some degree of OCD

I also like lists and organization

I wondered about listing one thing you want to do and then one thing you need to do?

So you may want to go shoppung Monday
You may need to wash the floor etc

Hi Sun and thanks! Today was another beach day with my brother. After the beach, we went to Wawa and I got two tuna hoagie with my app so it was 2/$12. After that, I went to the gym and got a massage. Then I went to 2 stoes. Right now, I am enjoying some peace and quiet on my couch. Tomorrow is a different story. I will be following your idea as well as my plan, and I will be doing yard work as a first priority. If I can, at some point, I would like to go to the gym. We have had some storms here and my yard is full of sticks and branches. I have a very large yard. I haven't cut my grass with my new electric mower yet. Tomorrow is the day! I will feel so much better. This morning, I had a virtual session with my therapist and I told her about my beach trip yesterday and that I was in a good mood and had energy. She said that being in the sun was really good for me and that's why I had energy. I love when I have energy and a clear mind. So thanks for your advice! I'll try not to think as I usually do so I don't get overwhelmed. I think I can do it!

After reading all of your posts. You remind me of me in some ways and I've feel I've been getting spiritual messages to pay more attention and slow down a bit....BIG HUG Green

Hey Mel! Thanks for the hug! I think if we lived close to each other, we would hang out, go for walks, get some lunch! I love all things spiritual. I love watching Mediums like Matt Fraser and Theresa Caputo. They are so spot on! In 2002, my father passed away. Shortly after that, my youngest brother had a dream about a visit from our Mom from Heaven visiting his house. In his dream, he said that our Mom said that she greeted his dog, Simba, but that my father hadn't made it to Heaven yet. Then, the little boy that lived next door to my parents' home came by and said that he and a friend looked in my Dad's garage and saw him. So I saw a psychic and asked if my Dad made it to Heaven and she asked for his name and she put her arms out and she said that he did arrive in Heaven and he was like "Oh, so this is what it's like"! I also had a friend who was a Medium. He was very young. He gave me several readings. He astral traveled to my house and described something red on my loveseat. I couldn't see anything. He insisted that there was something red on the loveseat and told me to lift the cushions. Sure enough, there was a red Starburst wrapper under the cushions. He also let me talk to my Mom and a friend who had passed. It was surreal!