MANAGING MONEY WITH ADHD | how to create a budget, automate your finances & avoid impulse spending

We're talking about tips for budgeting and managing your money while having ADHD! Tips to stop impulse spending, automating your finances, and reaching your savings goals.

✨PART 2 | DO'S & DON'T OF BUDGETING WITH ADHD ✨

✨PART 3 | START & STICK TO YOUR BUDGET WITH ADHD✨

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⬇️ FINANCIAL SURVIVAL GUIDE ⬇️
learn to save money, create a budget that works for YOU, pay off debt, and invest
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DESCRIPTION:
Today we are talking about budgeting and managing your money while you have ADHD!

1. Automating your finances
One of the best ways to make sure sure you stick to a budget is to make it as simple and automated as possible. Digit is partnering with MetaBank on a new app called Direct.

Direct AUTOMATICALLY categorizes your money in 3 places:
- SAVING
- SPENDING
- BILLS

2. Listen to your budget, not your bank account
Seeing a big number in your bank account on payday can make it feel like you have tons of money. Since people with ADHD often struggle with object permanence, we can forget that money needs to cover upcoming bills, utilities, rent etc. Instead, you want to look at your budget to see how much you have to spend. Your budget will remind you of all the expenses that paycheck needs to cover so you can be more realistic with your extra spending money.

3. Navigating impulse spending
Spending is often tied to emotions, so it's important to give yourself a chance to step back and think about whether you really want to spend money on that item. I give myself a 24 hour on any non-essential Amazon purchases. They have to wait in my cart for 24 hours before I can buy them. Typically, I forget about them and realize I didn't actually want to buy that thing.

4. ADHD, Dopamine, and Finances
People with ADHD often look for hits of dopamine because we often have less dopamine in our system. We tend to get bored or uninterested in monotonous activities. So it's important to focus on short term goals and give yourself little, frequent financial wins! you want to balance out your short, medium and long term financial goals.

5. Visuals, Visuals, Visuals
Take advantage of visual saving and debt payoff trackers to help you to stay motivated and reach your financial goals.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 intro
1:06 Automating your finances
4:24 Listen to your budget, not your bank account
7:03 Navigating impulse spending
10:25 ADHD, Dopamine, and Finances
11:47 Visuals, Visuals, Visuals
13:07 outro

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DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my channel so I can continue to provide you with free content each week!

Views expressed in this video are my opinion and should not be interpreted as professional financial advice. I am not a certified financial advisor.

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[kayleigh]

For me, when I’m spending my money I’m always thinking I have more than I do - like I forget to subtract what I’ve spent. I’ll keep thinking that I have $1000 in my account when it’s really down to $400

[deborahsheets]

Stick to your budget not your bank account. GIRL THANK YOU I NEEDED TO HEAR THAT

[spacemonkey]

As someone with adhd this is my biggest struggle. Thank you for this. Timing is perfect.

[SimplifiedBusinessSystems]

I smiled when you mentioned starting an Etsy sticker shop! I did that back in July (very impulsively and focused on funny ADHD stickers, ha) and somehow it stuck! I’m sitting here packaging a wholesale order while watching! But if only I had back all the money I spent on every idea that didn’t stick!

[linkus]

Something that helps me is to think of money as time. Let’s say you make 10$ an hour after taxes. Your friends invite you out to eat then to the mall. 20$ for a burger and fries thats 2 hours of work. How about that $60 hoodie at the mall is it worth 6 hours of your time? I love cooking so instead of going out to eat I invite to eat at my place 5$ each for a good meal and dessert. 5$ covers my grocery cost and helps them save money too. Then walk to the local bar and shoot pool and have only one or two drinks which costs me about 10$ all night. I’ve hung out with my friends all night and only spent 1hour. There are many ways to do this hiking, having a snacks and Netflix day instead of going to the movies. Hope this helps.

[KatThePRPrac]

I am tired of this struggle! Thank you for this.

[SanctifiedLady]

This is awesome! Glad I learned to auto draft and never look at my bank balance…use cash envelopes for groceries and fast food envelope, social outing envelope, never spend more than $10 a outing. $5-10 fast food rare occasion, put and keep a $100 bill in the glovebox for on the road 911, then $1000 in the safe for repair 911.

I’m always going on $600 shopping sprees then retuning it all. I can only use my debit card for gas. This have helped me so much.

Until Covid debt. ER out of pocket visits. 😢

[ILikeCatsMoreThanILikeYou]

This is like the 10th video I've watched on adhd budgeting and I gotta say, this one nails it. The mentality of thinking I have tons of money cause I see my paycheck is 10000% me. Out of sight out of mind it such a strong sensation with me as well. So thank you!! I'm gonna do my best to implement these tips and I think it will genuinely help! ❤

[mishka.a]

I just realized I might have ADHD... The hobbies thing, this is totally me! + spending money on the best equipment and then forgetting about that hobby soon later. Whoa

[rissa]

Wow! You popped up on my iG feed and I literally just got my adhd diagnosis today. I’ve known it forever but I’m tired of working so hard just to survive. Us Adult women have it hard. Literally turned my Digit account back on today. I can’t save the way it does for me. You have a new subscriber!

[batbxby]

The amount of hyperfixations I related to 😭 thank you for this, budgeting has been such a struggle

[theblueelephant]

one of the splurge items I allow myself is stickers that are cute and to my liking. I don't skimp out on stickers. It allows me to engage with a reward that is relatively inexpensive (compared to other things) and can be used for other reward/habit-building systems (ie sticker charts for daily exercise). The nuance of different sticker designs keeps my dopamine receptors happy and my budget gets SIGNIFICANTLY less impacted by it.

[mesharuu]

The fact that I was nodding and laughing with your examples means I need to subscribe lol. … meanwhile waiting for the $2 to stretch for 12 days lol

[jackielehman]

I would cautioun folks doing auto payments until you have an account that has enough to cover 1 month ahead. When you miss payments it can be very costly.

[melissapetzer]

If you're comfortable I'd love to hear your diagnosis story of adult adhd.

[thecreativeminimalist]

OH EM GEE. I HAVE NEVER NEVER found someone that has explained everything like that. I was screaming "THIS IS ME!" So glad I found this!

[faigyliebermann]

Fab video, yet again! My ADHD brain still finds YNAB hard to navigate. I know that I will keep on coming back to your videos until I get it right...

[feerich]

This is Soo good! So much budgeting advice out there requires you to have so much discipline and do so much work, without much short term reward. As someone with ADHD, I get really excited and try it all, but then stop after a few days. This is really helpful, sustainable advice :) Thank you, Lexa!

[danikeebler]

I have worked in sped for 30+ years and never entertained the idea of myself having a learning disability. I was always the the village idiot from 4th grade on. Not only am I being tested for adhd....but dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is a math learning disability similar to dexlexia....but for math/ left brain. I can add, subtract, x and ÷ really well ( using my fingers) but anything beyond that my brain goes blank. I can do numbers but I avoid them. Most people have never heard of dyscalculia
I accidentally found out how my brain struggles.

I also was diagnosed with double vision 20 years ago. The numbers font line up for me.
I finally got my act together and got out of worth of debt in about 2 years. It works but the denial has to end. Denial of debt and learning disability.

[ferniecat]

Watching this before I go to bed to have it engraved in me naturally:-)