Who’s Joni?
Three grown men call me Mom (among other things) and one little boy calls me Mimi (well, he doesn’t actually call me that yet since he only says “Da-da” but you know what I mean).
I come from a family of the devoutly disorganized. Some of whom are officially ADHD and some of whom remain blissfully clueless.
I was pretty lost when I began keeping house in 1992 in my very own builder-grade-one-maple-sapling-in-the-front-yard suburban starter home. And I got even more lost with each baby that (warning: gross visual ahead) sprang from my loins.
I searched for answers for years and years, reading every book I could and following every expert I could find to learn how to get organized, manage my time, and have a house I wasn’t ashamed of. I pestered every naturally neat and organized person I knew for their secrets, but I still had trouble “getting it.”
I also got a whole lot of odd looks (and still do but whatever).
In 2000 I got a diagnosis of adult ADHD which (obviously) did not magically fix my problems but did make me realize I needed a new approach.
In 2001 I found Flylady who graciously opened up a bunch of yahoo groups connecting her followers. And for the first time, I didn’t feel like I was alone. Or at least not alone among non-relatives.
I had found my people!
All-in-all, I’ve spent 30 years working on organizing myself, my family, and my life and 20 of those years learning to work with instead of against my ADHD tendencies.
And for the last 15, I’ve also:
- Cleaned and organized professionally,
- Contributed non-traditional organizing ideas to Parade and Redbook magazines as well as several other organizing blogs, and
- Coached many ADHD moms on getting their time and homes organized so they can calm their chaos, find their own focus(es?), and make time and energy for the fun stuff.
Whether you have ADHD or not, if you weren’t born organized and/or didn’t learn how to keep all the balls in the air during those years when you were supposed to be cleaning your room but sat in your overwhelmingly messy bedroom daydreaming or hyperfocusing on organizing your Strawberry Shortcake collection instead of picking your dirty underwear up off the floor, then you’re also one of my people.
Welcome 🙂
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