#adhdammit

Refill your toiletries and travel supplies as soon as you get home from a trip.

If the same night is too much (totally get it, I've had some business trips where I don't get home until midnight or later), at least stick it in the bathroom for you to refill in the next few days. As soon as they're refilled, store them by your suitcase or duffel bag or whatever traveling things you use. For me, the list of things to check/refill looks like:

Shampoo

Conditioner

Body wash

Deep conditioner/detangler (I mix these in one bottle since I use about a 1:1 ratio)

Makeup remover

Lotion

Any other hair products (YMMV)

Any other skincare products (YMMV)

Any makeup like loose powder that you decant into travel containers

Cotton pads and cotton swabs

I have a set of 3 sizes of suitcases that nest inside each other, and I store all my travel supplies and packing cubes inside the smallest one (or right next to the suitcases in a cabinet) so it's right there the next time I'm packing for a trip.

Additional travel tips:

If you need to replace anything you can't immediately refill (such as shaving cream, toothpaste, or other toiletries in squeeze tubes/spray cans) or replace anything that tore/broke/got lost (such as a packing cube or a hair wrap), add that to your shopping list for the next trip so you replace it ASAP.

I recommend immediately laundering things like silk bonnets, TurbiTowels/other hair wrap towels, etc and stashing them with your travel supplies ASAP, so you know they're clean and ready to go when you're packing next time.

Things like meds/supplements/vitamins, pantiliners, period supplies, contacts, etc I will pack for the specific trip depending on trip length (e.g. 2 day work trip vs 7 day Christmas-to-New-Year's-with-family), so I don't refill those until I'm actively packing for a trip. That said, I still stash their storage container with the rest of my travel supplies so I don't have to go hunting for it when the time comes.

If you only travel 1-2 times per year (say, around the November/December holidays) and you're worried about things expiring before the next trip, that's totally valid! Don't refill it if it expires in 3 months! Instead, I recommend setting a calendar reminder/alarm on your phone for a week or two ahead of your regular holiday travel to get your refills in order. There's nothing more stressful than being in the thick of packing and realizing you only have one day's worth of shampoo for a five day trip and not enough in your home supply to refill it. Save yourself the stress!

The minute you KNOW you're going to travel on a certain day (e.g. your boss says "we need you to leave Wednesday", or a family member dies and you find out you need to leave this Friday), set an alarm/calendar reminder for a day or two before you know you have to leave to charge any travel items and/or replace any batteries. Thinking specifically of things like electric toothbrushes, waterpiks, electric razors, computer keyboards/mice, etc.

If there's something you use both at home and traveling and you always seem to forget or overlook it? Consider purchasing a second one of that item. I consider this part of my ADHD tax. I have two silk bonnets, two TurbiTowels, two charging/USB docks that plug into the wall, a smaller travel keyboard in addition to my full sized one at home, and a travel toothbrush and waterpik in addition to my home versions. I recognize this takes a certain amount of financial security and privilege, YMMV. That said, the cost of buying a second one dedicated for travel (either up front or in a sale if you can wait and stalk deals) is, to me, far less than the stress and aggravation of not having the thing while traveling, or having to wrangle a full sized thing instead of a travel sized thing.

I dont go through withdrawel from my adderall xr like I do my venlafexine (god, now THERE is a miserable mess) but if I go off my daily dose My sleep schedule gets FUCKED. I'll basically sleep for two whole days with maybe a couple of hours awake (which is apparently a withdrawel symptom from going off stimulants) and then BAM

Suddenly I cant sleep at night or stay awake during the day, and Im only sleeping in two to three hour increments. I could drink all the coffee and espresso in the world and it wouldnt help me stay awake more than a few hours, although it COULD set off a panic attack. Its even worse if you consider that I take generic because I dont have insurance and name brand is ungodly expensive.

like I'll emerge from The Depression and be like OH YEAH I wanna GET BUFF and BUILD SPICE TOLERANCE and PARLARE L'ITALIANO and LEARN TO ROW A FUCKIN' BOAT* or some shit YEAH

but I just got the spark back after like a week or two of effectively laying around waiting for death in between work or sleep, and my joints are mad and the hand weights feel heavier than they did a week and a half ago and my tongue doesn't remember that chili powder isn't literally fire e non posso fare le belle parole and uhhh i never actually started on the whole boat-rowing thing

and so I feel like I have to start over : ) and then by the time I make a little progress I'm back in the shit again

so I have to figure out basically a similar 'let this logical fallacy work for you so you can work on you' exploit like I did with the day planner, for stuff I have to do like... every few days.

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It genuinely just clicked with me that this is probably a huge part of why I struggle to estimate how long things will take or when I'll have something done by, when people ask for deliverables at work

I was literally just talking about this in my peer review a week or so ago, how people will ask when I'll have something done and my kneejerk reaction is "hell if I know" but obviously I can't say that

And yeah, some of it is experience based, I may have only done this task once or twice previously with a completely different sample size and that may provide the most accurate estimate; but it's not me being a bad engineer! It's my freaking brain existing in limbo because time isn't real!

I have a sweet little pocket knife I’ve used for years. It fits neatly into even tiny women’s pockets with its clip, and it’s the perfect size for my small hands. I used it just last night to cut the ties on a skein of yarn so I could wind it! But I cannot currently find it, and I am losing my mind trying to figure out where it could be. It has to be somewhere on my property - I realized it was missing as I was going to run errands, and I'd only been in the house and the fenced in backyard between then and when I last used it - but I haven’t found it yet, I’m running out of obvious places to look, and I’m so frustrated I could cry.

I’m mentally retracing my steps trying to think of where it could be. I know what I normally do during my nightly routine (stuff in pockets goes in a little candy dish before bed), but it’s not there, and it’s not in my pockets from yesterday, and if I try to remember exactly what I did with it? Big old 404 error in the brain.

And yes I could, in theory, replace it if it’s well and truly vanished... but that’s the ADHD tax for you. Now I’m out more money replacing something. Not to mention that little voice in the back of my head going “maybe you don’t deserve to have nice things, if you’re just going to lose them.”