ADHD and Money

by Brenda on October 22, 2009

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Do you have trouble managing your money, or is it just me?

You know, I have a degree in business with a major in accounting, and I spent probably 10 years or so when I was younger working for a bank. Setting up a budget and managing a checking account ought to be a piece of cake right?

Um, no.

I actually think my ADHD has got a lot to do with it, but a simple checking account just confuses me.

I’ll probably confuse you by trying to explain this, but I’ll try.

In theory, you put X amount of money in your checking account each week and you pay Z amount for bills. X - Z = what you have left to spend.

OK, but almost all of anyone’s bills get paid monthly, not weekly. And your checking account balance is always changing. And how do you know on the 18th of the month if you’re on track to be able to pay everything by the end of the month? I mean, money’s always going out and sometimes coming in.

With the economy in the state that it’s in, and the prospect of lay offs always a concern for our family, my husband and I have decided that we need to get a better grip on our finances.

As I was researching our options this morning, I got a newsletter from my friend Dr. Rory Stern from ADHDFamilyOnline.com“>ADHD Family Online.

Guess what it was about? The M Word - money!

Now Rory doesn’t have any solutions for me yet, but he has promised to work on it. And if you’re an ADDer like me who has trouble managing your money, stay tuned. I’ll be sure to share what Rory comes up with.

How do you manage your ADHD and your money?

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

PKPK October 27, 2009 at 1:46 pm

OMG — My favorite pasttime is picking up all the bills, putting them in my briefcase and then proceeding to forget about paying them. Needless to say, this is NOT a good strategy.

A friend recommends paying every bill the day it comes in, which is probably pretty good if you check your mail every day. I will go through spurts of checking my mail every day and throwing out the junk, but then, depending on my mood, I will start letting it build up and/or think I need to save one thing or another for future use. So my bill paying habits get sort of complicated by my mail sorting habits.

(I just discovered your website and love your blog-postings)

Brenda October 28, 2009 at 5:24 pm

LOL! Been there, done that! Another favorite is writing the check, putting it in a stamped envelope, putting it in my purse and then forgetting to mail it for days. I agree that paying right away is good if you can do it; I rely on online payments to pay mine on time.

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