ADHD Products - For the Home
My husband is outnumbered in our house. Between me and two of our three children being neurodiverse - a lot of ADHD and dyslexia in our home. This leads to my stepson and husband doing a lot of head shaking and waiting patiently for their turn to talk at dinner, which never comes.
Anyway, the biggest producer of the chaos is me. I remember my parents would be so frustrated with me for always leaving lights on, forgetting where I put my things, and being just plain messy! I can honestly say I haven’t grown out of any of them, but there I so much more technology these days - which keeps my husband sane.
Below I have listed the 5 things our family can’t live without. Even if we move, these are the first changes we make to our new house. In full transparency, my husband is very mechanical, so we make all these adjustments ourselves. He feels confident that these tech solutions are manageable for most families with a good set of screwdrivers.
These light switches can be controlled by Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit and they’re an ADHDer’s best friend. It has an app that allows you to turn on/ off lights from anywhere. My favorite feature is the routines that we have set up. For example, every morning at 8 am, all our lights go off in our house. So there is obviously a savings element with the reduced amount of electricity. The more significant frustration was my husband coming home at 5 pm each day to an empty house and at least 5-6 lights left on.
These switches also can dim and start on a low light mode, which I love at night when I’m trying to get everyone settled down. When converting over your entire house, these switches can be expensive. So I recommend starting with one room and adding a set as needed. So before you know it, you will have them in all areas of the house!
*There is some electrical work to be done here, but it’s minimal. If you have a handy friend, it’s an easy project.
Just when my husband thought he had the light switch under control, lamps were his new enemy. I love lamp light, especially around dinner time, and I have no problem walking around the house to turn every one of them on - and that’s where they stay - on. Forever and ever amen.
Needless to say, we have these on night lights, lamps, fans, space heaters and our dehumdifier in our basement. My personal favorite and the one that does bring me peace of mind is my space heater I use down in my basement office. I’m always running upstairs once the kids get home from school and anticipate going right back down - and then it’s 7 pm and my heater is still going. It’s nice knowing that now it always shuts off at 5 pm.
Kasa also integrates into our Alexa and works with Apple Homekit, making it easy to control everything from one app. My husband also uses their outdoor plugs for our Christmas lights and our attic fan, which simplifies everything and makes it easy to control.
Smart Chamberlain Garage Door Opener
How many times have you left the house only to drive yourself nuts, wondering if you closed the garage door? It happens to me all the time.
With this smart garage door opener, I can quickly open the app, check to see if it’s open, and close it if needed. This has truly been a lifesaver for me to put my mind at ease. We also set it to make sure it closes each night, just incase I left it open at the end of day.
Although this doesn’t connect to our Alexa home system, the myQ app is easy to use. Hopefully, there will be an integration at some point, especially because it does have the option for the Amazon Key In-Garage Delivery program.
Having an Air Tag on my car keys has been a lifesaver. It was well worth the money I spent and saved countless hours trying to find my keys that I left in a coat pocket or under a stack of papers on the counter. I have two tags - one on my key chain and one in my wallet (in the change section).
Air tags use the "Find my" app, which my kids love. Making the panic of me trying to find my keys more of a scavenger hunt with arrows and alerts, relieving a little bit of pressure as we try to get to school and work on time.
There are many uses for these tags, which can be swapped out as needed. When we travel, we throw an air tag in each suitcase. Luckily we haven't had to track down our suitcases yet, but we have known other families where this came in handy. We also have one on our dog's collar. Us ADHDer's are famous for leaving gates open, and our family dog will wander the neighborhood if he has the opportunity. This is the easiest and lowest-cost way to track him down quickly. Airtag Dog Collar Holder
Air tags use the "Find my" app, which is limited to Apple users. If you are an Android person, Tile is also a great option. Tile Mate
In full transparency, I gave some hard eye rolls when my husband bought this air fryer. I thought it would be the next kitchen gadget to end up in our basement in four weeks. Man, was I wrong! I love this thing, and I am the least likely person to say I "love" anything that belongs in the kitchen.
The kids and I always use our air fryer instead of the oven, toaster, or microwave. It warms, toasts, and crisps up food in a. super simple way. The best part is that it operates on a timer, so there is less chance of me burning the house down (although still possible). I tend not to use the oven because I'll tell myself, "I'll just move the laundry from the washer to the dryer" or "I just need two minutes to check my email." Then the entire house is smoking 30 minutes later. Am I alone on this one? It has become a joke in our family; I'm not allowed in the kitchen without supervision, and for a good reason! I can start the timer with this air fryer, and it shuts off when it's done. The smaller trays and counter height make it easy for our younger child to use on his own, giving him some independence.
I hope this was helpful and gave you a few ideas. We all have our version of challenges in and outside the home. My goal is always to share things we have found helpful, celebrate our differences and have fun throughout the process. I would love to hear if you use any of these products in your home right now or if you have others that you just can’t live without.
