Financial Tips for Keeping ADHD People Organized

this is something that is very helpfull, as it has helped me tremendously. With the advancement of technology, banking has become easier, as well as paying bills. Open 2 accouts at a bank that has online banking. the money goes into an account, then transfered to the other account to pay bills. this is for 2 purposes, 1 security, 2 preventive medicine from abuse. or mismanagement. Have both parties, creat a budget scenario using a program like quicken or microsoft money, and use these tools together to manage the finances. As an ADD/ADHD individual, it was quite rewarding to use these managememnt tools and see such a tremendous accoplishment. As typical for ADD people,we have tendencies to accumulate "stuff" and to some who also have compulsive behavior, this actually acts a deterant to compulsive spending, because we would rather "accumulate", and by using the above methods, we have accomplished both. accumulation of savings, the focus of attention to pay bills on time and be responsible, Because it is quick and easy, there is less time to reach accomplishment, thereby reducing the potential to distract. We are "focused "when doing this task. It is worth a try.

I'm was the ADHDer in a relationship where we lived together for 2 years. I was HORRIBLE with finances and knew it. Something had to change when he had to keep bailing me out (money on both sides was pretty even and pretty good. But all the more reason to be concerned when one partner is suddenly making all of that difficult.) We had to experiment with what worked and went through a trial and error process but ended up with something that we both thought worked really well. Obviously we ended up separating but not because of finances. Here's what we tried, what worked, and what didn't work: First, we had an honest conversation about the problem it was causing. However, the key was being understanding, not accusing or angry (i know how difficult that is and am still thankful for his patience during some of those conversations), and REALISTIC about what behaviors will change and which ones won't. We knew I wasn't going to start balancing a checkbook overnight. Second, we came up with a plan that might work and one we would try for a few months and reevaluate whenever necessary. The plan we started with was (because he was very trustworthy and responsible) me only having in my checkbook money I could spend for things I needed or wanted. My gas, coffee, maybe a clothes item here or there. The bulk of my paycheck went to him and as soon as I got paid so I couldn't spend it and didn't have to remember what checks were still uncashed, etc. He paid ALL the bills on time, paid for groceries, any mutual items, and sometimes clothes when they weren't impulse buys and actually needed. We had to adjust the list of who covers what as things came up that we hadn't thought about. For the most part, that worked pretty well and actually did wonders for my credit score, etc. What didn't work well was the inequality in the relationship from the feeling of having an allowance, having to ask if we can get this or that, etc. Bottom line is that I was successful enough to not be reduced to having to ask permission for some things and have no control over my money. NEW SOLUTION: We modified it to something that worked really well for both of us and took us back to being the equal partners we wanted to be. Instead of me keeping an allowance and the rest going to him, we figured out on average what the monthly grocery bills would be, what my bills were, etc and I would pay him my half to cover it whenever I got paid. That left me with more than the allowance I had before. And, I didn't have to ask permission to spend my money or get things we hadn't thought about earlier. When that worked, eventually I would become responsible for one bill at a time. Say one of my school loans. When I paid that on time repeatedly (and obviously not giving him money to cover that bill) , we would add another one to my list of responsibilities. That isn't really necessary if it works with one person paying the bills, but was more of a self pride thing for me to know that I could do it if I was alone. Oh, and one tip to keep in mind is making sure the amount of money and time is in manageable increments. In other words, if he gets paid twice a week but is likely to spend all of his money in the first week, divide the money for the two weeks in half so he only has access to what he can spend in one week. Then give him the other half the following week. When he can manage it in weekly chunks, you can go to two weeks and so on and so forth. And if he comes back begging for more, don't give it to him. If he needs gas, go with him to fill it up, or only give him enough money to fill it up. It will force him to think twice about spending money next time or how to make it last. Never give out more than 10 or 20 at a time if he's gone over. That should cover meals but not impulse buys. Hope that helps. SD