When you have ADHD, the furthest thing from your mind is keeping track of a budget. For most people, personal finances can be difficult, but for those of us with ADHD, budgeting can be overwhelming and in some cases even disastrous.
When you have ADHD, you often have a desire to jump from one task to another, so when it comes to trying to balance the family checkbook, it can be a huge challenge. Yet, no matter how overwhelming it may seem, you can create a budget using a few simple strategies that work for you.
Budgets are a must. Without a budget, we won't know how much money we have or how much we are spending. If you feel overwhelmed by the thought of budgeting, don't lose faith.
Budgets are really nothing more than viewing the difference between your income and your spending. You can create a budget in a matter of minutes that's fairly simple. All you need is a pen and paper to make a budget or if you want something a little more organized, you may want to consider getting an ADHD planner.
Start by writing down how much income you make on your payday and the amount you spend on bills and other expenses each time you get paid.
Next, subtract what you spend each payday from what you make every paycheck and that will be the difference or balance that allows you to know how much money you have left. If your balance is a negative number, it's time to find ways to spend less. If the remaining balance is a positive number, congratulations!
If you need to find ways to spend less, you may want to set some goals to manage your budget. Unfortunately, when you have ADHD it's not as easy to focus on those goals. But if you set small goals that are easy to obtain, they can be manageable. When you focus on smaller objectives, you increase your chances of crushing your goals.
Your first goal should be to keep track of your daily spending habits. Then decide if there are any purchases you can cut back on. If your daily soda splurge is a big part of that spending, maybe it's time to think about cutting it back to one purchase per week. If you are an impulse spender, consider any purchases over $20 for a few days to pause and think about whether or not you really need it.
If you have already cut back on your splurges and your spending habits still need a little more control, take a good hard look at your expenses and ask yourself if your satellite TV subscription is really worth it? Could you cut back to one premium subscription channel per month? You may find you have at least one expense if not a few you can live without.
Having your spending under control is just one way of keeping your budget in check. Knowing when your bills are due each month is another strategy in keeping your budget manageable.
When you can keep track of when your bills are due, it will save you from the future stress of late fees. The easiest way to pay each of your bills on time is by having the payment withdrawn automatically from your checking account. This option is not recommended however if you are in the negative with your budget as it can cause further financial complications.
If you are working on bringing your balance out of the negative, you could use one of the most well-known budgeting strategies, the envelope system.
The idea is to create envelopes that represent each of your bills. For every bill's envelope, you would set aside the amount due in cash. Be sure to place your envelopes somewhere in your daily sight range such as your office desk or the coffee table and mark what the bill is and when it is due in bold marker on the outside of the envelope.
Another budgeting strategy would be to mark the date each of your bills are due on a calendar that is within your daily sight range such as hanging on the wall by the front door.
Once you have mastered the basics of budgeting, you may want to think about a savings plan which I'll discuss in my next article from the ADHDing For Life Series.
