Is Your House Filled With Piles of Useless Stuff? What You Need to Know About the “Don’t Organize, Just Move” Habit and How to Clean It Up

Do you ever toss your freshly worn sweatshirt onto a growing pile of clothes? Or maybe add another piece of mail to an already huge pile on your kitchen table? If so, you’ve created a junk pile—a.k.a. “I didn’t organize, I just moved”—that may reveal something about your mental health.

“DOOM pile” is not a clinical term. The expression began to circulate on social networks By 2022, many people on TikTok and other platforms are sharing their own experiences with these cases of disorder — especially those living with ADHD, who tend to struggle more with these piles than others.

Here’s what you need to know about DOOM stacks and how you can avoid or break the cycle of clutter.

Why do we create DOOM stacks?

If you regularly find yourself dealing with DOOM piles, you might be wondering why you tend to create these piles.

Psychologist Michele Leno For many people, DOOM piles are a sign of distraction or overwhelm, according to Yahoo Life. It can happen to anyone: A busy work project, for example, can leave you with more DOOM piles than you would in a week when you had more time to focus on organizing your space. But one DOOM pile can lead to another, Leno explains, because “the more piles you create, the harder it becomes to tackle the task.”

But what does it mean to regularly create these piles of DOOM? According to Leno, this type of ongoing clutter is often associated with low motivation, an inability to engage in other tasks, and in some cases, neglect of self-care, which could indicate a deeper problem, especially if the clutter is disruptive or deviates from your usual behavior. Depression can lead to executive functioning issues, or problems managing, organizing, and completing tasks. If you can’t muster the energy or willpower to declutter because of depression, you may see more piles of DOOM around your home.

It’s important to note that lack of order doesn’t always equate to poor mental health, Leno explains. A person can be highly organized but still depressed, or disorganized but mentally healthy, which is why DOOM piles aren’t always an indicator that something is wrong.

Rather than self-diagnose, Leno says, it’s best to think about why you’re accumulating unnecessary stuff in the first place. Are you in a busy period, or feeling stressed or unwell? If these piles of unnecessary clutter aren’t common and aren’t significantly interfering with your life, you probably just need to find time to get organized.

What is the connection between DOOM Piling and ADHD?

Regularly creating DOOM stacks is common among people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, says Liora Seltzera professional organizer and parenting mentor who focuses on helping families whose children suffer from ADHD. If DOOM piles are causing problems in your life and you feel unable to manage them, you may want to consider getting screened for ADHD.

For people with the disorder, DOOM stacks are often “a sign that you…