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.

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.

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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Cash Free Wednesday Pt 1

( I decided to go Cash Free on Wednesday instead on Monday because of Memorial Day and because of the fact that I needed to go food shopping on Tuesday)

The reason I am writing an update now is because I want to go to the vending machine so bad right now and grab a cola. I got over my biggest obstacle for today by brown baging lunch, but I am missing my afternoon caffine hit, and I am starting to feel it. I know I could have brought a can of soda from home, but I didn't need to spend the money on useless calories. I WILL NOT SPEND MONEY TODAY. I WILL NOT SPEND MONEY TODAY. I WILL NOT SPEND MONEY TODAY.

Cash Free Monday Update

Recently I had tried an experiment where I would try not to spend any money on Monday.(For more information see Cash Free Mondays). I failed in my first attempt not to spend any cash on Monday. The reason I failed is that I forgot to pack a lunch on Monday and ended up buying lunch instead. (I need to Eat more Meals at Home) The day was not a total waste because I avoided some of my usual spending habits including my regular trip to the convenience store.

It is especially important for adults with ADD to focus on the progress made rather than to focus on the failure. Everyone makes mistakes in life and seeing how money management is a reflection of life choices, everyone make mistakes managing their money. I will attempt to not spend any money next Tuesday, hopefully with better results.

Cash Free Mondays

One of my financial goals for this year is to cut my discretionary spending. While I am making progress with some of my other financial goals, I am still having problems reducing my discretionary spending. Over the next four weeks, I am going to try an experiment where I do not spend any money on the first work day of the week (mostly mondays, but sometimes on a tuesday).

I am doing this for two reasons, the first reason is to reduce total spending. The second is to try to break spending habits that I carry on through to the rest of the week. ( Vending Machine Purchases, Fast Food at Lunch, Magazine, Lottery Ticket etc.) I think it will be easier to change my spending habits a little at a time, than to try to make major changes only to revert back to my old habits. Has anyone tried this experiment, and if so how did it work out?