Adult ADD and Money

Twitter Accountability

This weekend I want to complete some chores. In order to avoid the awesome power of distraction, I need some additional accountability. I am going to use twitter to post completed tasks during the weekend. I have used this technique on other occasions and found that I completed more tasks on my list. What techniques do you use to motivate yourself when doing tedious tasks?

The Photo Shopping List

Have you gone to the store to only pick up a couple of items, and when you got home you found that you forgot at least one of the items you went to the store to pick up. One way to help you to make sure that you remember to but the things you need is to take photos of all the items that you want to pick up at the store. This will not only help you to remember everything that you need, but can also help you to spend less time shopping and keep you more focused to help avoid impulsive purchases.

Top 20 Best ADD ADHD Blogs

  I am honored to be included on the list of the Top 20 Best ADD ADHD Blogs compiled by Bryan Hutchinson at ADDerworld. The list includes many great ADHD blogs that I read on a regular basis and is a great place for people looking for quality information and different perspectives on ADHD.

 

Excise Tax

Today I paid my automobile excise tax bill. (Applause!!) This may not seem like a big deal to many people. In truth, paying the bill took me all of five minutes. In past years I have struggled to pay this on time, and at least on one occasion I paid the bill late, and incurred additional fees.What makes this difficult for me is that it does not fit well with my financial tracking system. 

There are two main reasons why paying the excise tax bill does not fit into my financial system. The excise bill comes but once a year, in my system I keep track of upcoming expenses for three months at the most. The second reason the excise bill does not fit into my system is because the bill is sent by mail. I pay almost all of my bills on-line, this has allowed me to reduce the amount of paper I need to keep track of. Since I am not looking for bills in my mailbox, it is easy for the excise tax bill to get lost in the paper shuffle.

Even though my system does not work well when it comes to paying excise tax, I am not going to change my system. I might tweak my system by setting up a reminder on my calendar next year to make sure I pay the bill on time. Even though my system is not perfect, it works for me most of the time. The problem with trying to create a perfect system is that it often becomes too complex and difficult to maintain. My advice is to accept that your system is not going to cover every scenario, when you have challenges to your system do your best to embrace them.

Financial Documents

This is a good time of the year to get a step up on finanical organization. During this month, most people will get important tax documents in the mail. If you are like me, it is likely that you won't open the envelopes for several more weeks. If you are also like me, it is likely that you could misplace one of the documents before the next time you need to look for it. Rather than getting into a panic and frantically looking for a misplaced document. Now is the best time to set up a folder, file, box, or draw to place all of your important tax documents as soon as you get them from your mail box. Setting up a place to put your documents will save you time,reduce your stress, and will also reduce the stress of loved ones who have to deal with your frantic search for misplaced documents. 

Happy New Year !! (Dealing with Resolutions)

During this weekend many of us have made New Year's resolutions. According to research by the University of Minnesota 80% of people break their resolutions by Valentine's Day. Financial resolutions can be especially difficult to keep. A 2003 - 2004 UMASS study found that 67% of Adults with ADHD had issues with managing money. So lets review, if your an adult with ADHD it is likely that you will have issues managing money, and if you make a financial resolution, you will likely break it in less than six weeks.

Just because the odds are stacked against you, it is still not a bad idea to make a financial resolution. Making a resolution is a sign that you are serious about financial change. Even if you are unable to keep your specific resolution, just thinking about changes will alter your thoughts when it comes to making future financial decisions. Your resolution will have a better chance of succeeding if you:

Create one realistic goal to focus on. - If you have too many goals with your resolution, you will not be able to properly focus on achieving any of your goals.

Plan Ahead - Having a desire to make change, will only give you short term motivation to achieve your goals. Planning is required in sustain your gains and to make the feasible long term changes you need to make to achieve your goals. 

Give yourself a little slack -  From time to time you will slip a little backwards when it comes to achieving your goals. Your ability to bounce back from adversity will be a major factor in achieving the long term change that you desire. 

 

Avoid the malls and superstores during the holiday season

Under normal circumstance the malls and superstores can be over stimulating. However during the holiday season everything is more distracting; there are more people shopping, the holiday music always seems louder, there are more choices, and more displays. It is easy to make poor impulsive choices or to get discouraged and not buy anything at all. Many people reduce the stress by doing holiday shopping online. In many cases you can have the gift delivered directly to the person you are giving to and it can also be giftwrapped. This way you won't have to worry about forgetting to bring the gift when you visit people during the holiday season.

Sometimes it is not feasable to buy all of your gifts online. If you have to go to stores try shopping at smaller stores that you are familiar with. Smaller store typically have less distractions and often have more unique gifts. 

Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 24th is Thanksgiving in the United States. It also kicks off the holiday season that lasts until New Years day. This can be a VERY stressful time for people with ADHD. The holidays seems to offer many challenges in money management, time management, planning, organization, and dealing with friends and family. If you are not careful it is easy to get overwhelmed by all of the stresses of the holiday season. This holiday stress can lead to mentally shutting down, having a negative (grinch like) attitude about the holidays, and over indulging.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to think about everyone that is important to us, and everything we are grateful for. By focusing on your blessings, it should improve your attitude, and can also help you to not worry about going to events, or completing tasks that have little or no meaning to you. This could mean:

• not focusing on holiday decorations or perfectly wrapped presents
• not over stressing if you are a little late for an event 
• reducing the number of parties and events that you go to
• reducing the number and/or money spent on presents 
• reducing or not sending holiday cards

The holidays are a time to enjoy and share your blessings. Hopefully by focusing on your blessings it will help you to reduce stress and make it easier for you to recover quickly in the new year.

 

How do you hold yourself accountable?

When you struggle with issues like managing money, procastination, organization, and household chores it is vital that you hold yourself accountable for completing tasks the will improve how you live. The paradox is the more that you struggle the less you want to held accountable. A good way to hold yourself accountable is to focus on the positive changes that you are making. One area that I struggle with is household chores. Over the last year I have used twitter to help hold myself accountable when it comes to completeing chores.

Today, in addition to using twitter I set up a written log to help make me accountable.   

 

Date	Accomplished	Total Time
8-Oct	Cleared Clutter, Shredded Documents,	30 min
	Took Out Trash, Started Laundry,
8-Oct	Put away Laundry, Started New Loads for
	Washer & Dryer,  Cleaned Kitchen Table & Chairs	35 min
	Swept Kitchen Floor
		5 min
8-Oct	Put Away Dishes from Dishwasher
8-Oct	Washed Dishes in Dishwasher, New Loads for	20 min
	Washer & Dryer, Put away towels
8-Oct	Put Away Laundry, New Load for Dryer, Cleaned	50 min
	Cat Box, Wiped Counter & Sink, Cleaned Microwave
	Dishwasher, Part of Kitchen Floor
8-Oct	Finished Washing Kitchen Floor, Cleaned	25 min
	Refrigerator, Cleaned Back Counter

By writing down my tasks it makes me feel more positive about what I accomplished, and it also will help me in managing my time to complete these tasks in the future. Writing down tasks is a good tool for holding yourself accountable, if you need a little more help with accountability might I suggest you look into the ADD Action Club.

The Stages – What to Expect After an ADD / ADHD Diagnosis

Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Time: 9:00 – 10:00 pm ET* (New York Time)

Instructor: Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D.

Listen Live on the Phone or over the Internet!

Wow! If you or someone you care about has been recently diagnosed with ADD / ADHD – you might be wondering what comes next? Why are they acting this way? or Why am I feeling this way?

Join us as we welcome Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D. to discuss the varying stages she’s identified in her book, “Adult ADD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed.” Learn about the stages people go through after an ADHD diagnosis as well as how to recognize them and navigate through them.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER