Adult ADD and Money

The KISS Principle in Action

For those of you who do not know, KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. This weekend I had paid off another credit card, leaving only 2 active credit cards. A few years ago I was responsible for making payments on 10 credit cards each month. Not only was it more difficult to keep track of when I paid the cards, but I found it overwhelming to decide what card I paid off first.

About a year ago, I was tired of being overwhelmed and I decided to transfer the balance of several cards to two cards that gave me a low rate for transfers. Not only did I reduce the interest I paid, but I had cut the number of cards to keep track of from 10 to 5. It was also easier to pay down debt because I could focus on paying down the cards with the smallest balance, because those cards had a higher interest rate than the credit cards that I did a balance transfer to.

I focused on the credit card with the smallest balance first and paid the minimum payment on the rest of the cards. Once I paid off a credit card I could take the monthly payment I was making to the paid off card and add it to the minimum payment that I was making on the card with the next smallest balance. Using this system I was able to pay down three credit cards in a little over a year.

Even though some stores offer tempting incentives like no payments till next year, or 0% interest on your purchase for the next year. I know that it is not worth the extra hassle or the potential cost to my future credit balances.

ADD @ About - ADD/ADHD in the Workplace

Your career has the biggest impact on Personal Finances. Adults with ADD often have difficulties coping in a traditional work environment. The ADD / ADHD in the Workplace section of ADD @ ABOUT.COM is the most comprehensive library of career articles that adults with ADD should read if they have any concerns or questions about workplace issues.

Your career has the biggest impact on Personal Finances. Adults with ADD often have difficulties coping in a traditional work environment. The ADD / ADHD in the Workplace section of ADD @ ABOUT.COM is the most comprehensive library of career articles that adults with ADD should read if they have any concerns or questions about workplace issues.

Sleep Deprivation, ADD, and Personal Finance

Many adults with ADD have sleeping patterns that don't fit well into the rest of society. While trying to adapt to the 9 to 5 environment there is the temptation for ADD adults to reduce the number of hours slept on a regular basis in order to take advantage of the late hours when they feel the most productive. Reducing the amount of regular sleep is not only bad for your health but it can also be bad for your wallet. According to a Japanese Sleep Study sleep deprivation has cost Japan 30 Billion Dollars a year due to poor health, increased accidents, and lost productivity.

The lack of sleep can also cost you due to:

1. Poor eating habits - ( More likely to eat takeout or convenient foods because you are too tired to prepare a meal, etc..)

2. Making bill payment mistakes - Forgetting to pay your bills, avoiding paying your bills, paying your bills for the wrong amount, etc..)

3. Likelyhood of making poor financial decisions - (Not carefully reading through agreements, more likely to make impulsive decisions, etc..)

Are You Content with Your Time Management Skills? 7 Reasons Why You Must Have a To-Do List

DeAnna Spencer at Learn Small Business wrote a wonderful article dealing with To-Do List for ADHD entrepreneurs.

Are you content with your time management skills? 7 Reasons Why You Must Have a To-Do List

by DeAnna Spencer

As an entrepreneur with ADHD, I often struggle with staying on task. One way I combat this is by making lists. This strategy can help people without ADHD stay on top of things as well. This article lists 7 things to remember about to-do lists. I know you’ve heard time and time again that you need to make lists. Here’s why it’s important to have a to do list.

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Blog Carnivals - 6/12/06

The "Attention Deficit Disorder" Carnival at Your ADD/ADHD News.  The "Attention Deficit Disorder" Carnival is a listing of the best blog entries about ADD for the week. There are seven articles in the carnival and includes my blog entry about Cash Free Monday Failure.

The Carnival of Personal Finance # 52 is up at Financial Fruition. There are many interesting articles in this carnival and includes my blog entry about Cash Free Monday Failure.

Dealing with Failure

One of the things that make adults with ADD good entrepreneurs is that they are able to juggle multiple business opportunities at once. The downside of this is that there is a good chance that one or more of your businesses are going to fail. In most school systems there is such a negative emphasis on failure that most children do not get the chance to learn from failure. This fear of failure can inhibit ADD entrepreneurs from trying out new business ideas. The Young Entrepreneur blog has an article about Dealing With Failure that gives good tips on how an entrepreneur can rebound from failed projects.

Jennifer Koretsky has started a promising new blog; The ADD Business Owner gives tips and advice for any adult with ADD who owns or wants to own their own business.

   

Cash Free Monday Failure

This week has been a failure so far when it has come to going Cash Free for a day. I know that many people will look at this entry, and say " what it wrong with this person ", how hard is it to go without spending money for a day. The truth is that is should not be that hard to go without spending money for one day. The problem is with some of my poor spending habits. This week I was not feeling well and have managed to slip back into some old fast food and snacking habits. Since one of the goals of going cash free for a day was to change old habits, I have added another goal to shoot for next week, and that is to bring in my lunch to work for 4 days next week.

Many people develop habits because they are trying to compensate for a weakness or an emotional issue. Adults with ADD are more likely to develop habits (both positive and negative) because they generally have a higher level of anxiety, and they develop the habits in order to deal with stress in their lives. ADD adults could have also developed habits in order to compensate for caused by ADD.

Gerard Montigny has an excellent article titled "ADHD & NLP: Understanding and Changing Habits"  that adults with ADD should read if they want to start changing their habits. Douglas Cootey also has a very timely article "Can You Stop Disability As Easily As You Stop Biting Your Nails? " that has tips to help an AD/HD adult control undesirable behavior.

Money Management for ADHD Children

One of the problems that many adults with ADD have had in their childhood is that no one was able to understand how to help them learn. To makes matters worse many adults were not taught the basic money management and life skills needed to be independent. If you are the parent of an ADD/ADHD child you need to read the attached article by Peter Jaksa, PhD, that covers ways you can help you ADD/ADHD child to learn the skills needed to venture out into the real world.

Money skills simply don't come naturally to children who are impulsive, disorganized or distractible. Fortunately, a weekly allowance is a great way to teach an ADD/ADHD child how to live on a budget and how to be a smart shopper. It's also a great tool for showing the vital importance of saving.

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Free ADD Teleclass 6/7/06

I Have ADD, Do I Have to be Disorganized Too? Instructor: Carrie Greene

Learn why many people with ADD have so much trouble organizing their time, tasks and stuff and get practical tips to help you get more organized and keep motivated along the way.

For: Adults with ADD / ADHD

Format: Teleclass

Date: Wednesday June 7, 2006

Time: 3:00 pm ET (New York Time)

Cost: Free*

Long Distance Phone Charges may apply

Cash Free Wednesday (Gimmicks work)

Cash Free Wednesday was a success for this week. The main reason that it worked is because:

1. It was clear and concise. ( Many adults with ADD fail to set clear goals, so there is no way to tell if you are accomplishing your goal)

2. The goal was broken down to its simplest form. Therefore I was not distracted by trying to work on another way to reduce expenses yesterday. ( My main goal is to reduce spending, this goal is to help control one behavior related to reducing spending.)

I was reading an article by Liz Pullman Weston on 10 easy ways to save money. One savings tip that I loved was to put any of the new 10 and 20 dollars bills into a jar or piggy bank. The theory is that a person was likely to come across a new bill about 1 out of 10 times. Therefore you wouldn't miss the amount you saved in your day to day life. There was also a quote to explain why gimmicks like Cash Free Monday seems to work so well: 

"The thing is, gimmicks work -- at least when it comes to our often-irrational relationship with money."

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