Managing money (and managing it well) can be extremely difficult when you have ADHD.
And by managing money, I don’t mean retirement funds and stock options. I mean plain old day to day keeping track of the money so the bills get paid on time and there’s some left at the end of the month.
Tracking your money, keeping up with the bills and sticking to a budget requires a lot of complicated steps, especially for the ADHD brain. Therefore, it’s important to automate as much as possible.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Get a general idea of how much you spend each month, especially on bills. That includes not only house payments and utilities, but gas and groceries too.
Break down that number into a weekly or bi-weekly amount, depending on how you get paid. So if you have $2,000 worth of expenses each month and get paid weekly, you need $500 a week for bills.
Consider two checking accounts and a savings account. Your monthly expense money goes into one checking account, the other is cash for incidental expenses.
Set up automatic deposits. Your paycheck goes into your expenses checking account. Also set up an automatic payment into savings. Be sure to transfer any extra to your secondary checking.
If possible, have the savings amount deducted from your check right into your savings so you never see it. And if you can use another bank, one not so convenient, even better.
Once you have a steady amount going into your primary checking account, start setting up automatic payments. Most companies offer an automatic payment option as do most banks. Between the two of them, you should be able to automate all of your bills.
You may want to consider additional help. Mvelopes, You Need a Budget. and Dave Ramsey’s program have all received high ratings.
{ 2 trackbacks }