Autistic woman

Tiny Tweaks #3: Removing Clothing Tags

AnnaLeave a comment

I’m an Autistic adult and this is a small thing that makes my life just a little bit better.

I have some sensory sensitivities around clothes. Some are constant, and some come and go depending on my capacity that day. A constant one that bothers me is clothing tags. I just can’t stand something lightly touching me on my back of my neck.

Fortunately it’s an easy fix. I use a stitch ripper, a tiny pair of scissors with a sharp point, and tweezers to take them off as needed.

If a piece of clothing has specific instructions I need to follow, I just take a photo of the tag and put it in a folder on my phone.

This sensitivity is one I’ve always noticed, I just didn’t do anything about it. I think it’s because I wanted to fit in, and everyone else seemed to tolerate tags just fine.

Plus it just felt wrong to cut the tags off. Or when I did, bits were left behind and felt even worse (hence the tweezers! You can get all the bits!).

Things I Collect (As an Autistic Adult): Digital Photos

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I’m a late diagnosed Autistic woman and I’m starting to be more aware of the things I collect.

Not all of them are physical items, like what I collected as a child (Disney princess toothbrushes and toy horses). My biggest collections now are actually all digital!

My laptop, tablet, and especially my phone, are low on storage. Like my phone barely runs low; because I have so many photos and videos.

At this moment, my phone has 948 photos and 46 videos of my pet aquatic snail Steve. And that’s just the ones on my phone. I have more on my camera and other devices.

That’s just one folder. I have dozens of organised folders of photos on my phone.

I notice I keep a lot of photos that other people would delete. I don’t care if they aren’t perfect. Each captures a moment or memory and that’s what important to me.

I’m currently in the process of slowly uploading my photos to a cloud, where I do have a lot of storage free. That way I can go through them easier on my laptop and reorganise them. I think I might also put some USB sticks so I have the security of second copies.

It’s really hard for me to delete photos, but I definitely need to get rid of some. I think one of the reasons this collection is so huge is because taking photos is (mostly) free.

Tiny Tweaks #2: Eating The Same (Easily Accessible) Breakfast

AnnaLeave a comment

I’m an Autistic adult and these are little things that make my life a bit easier.

Since I was a child, I’ve really liked instant oatmeal (especially apple cinnamon). This year I’ve embraced it and now I eat the same instant oatmeal for breakfast every single day.

I’m not a breakfast person. My stomach is easily upset, especially before lunch time, but a small serving of oatmeal is something I can tolerate.

I’ve tried making my own (less expensive), but the results varied a lot. If I accidentally ran out of an ingredient it was upsetting. I’m also a noise-sensitive grouch in the morning and like quickly grabbing my food and hiding from other people.

Now I just put the packet in my favorite shaped bowl, add 1/2 cup of water, and microwave 1 minute. It’s the same every time. Consistent. It’s one less thing to think about; one less decision.

Plus I have meds I need to take in the morning with food. I eat my oatmeal and take my meds. These 2 things help remind me to do the other.

As long I remember to restock the oatmeal that is….