5 Ways I Handle Money Differently As A Person With ADHD

In this video, one woman shares her experience living with ADHD, and how it has affected her relationship with money.

Through bi-weekly video essays, "Making It Work" showcases how *real* people have upgraded their personal or financial lives in some meaningful way. Making your life work for you doesn't mean getting rich just for the sake of it. It means making the most of what you have to build a life you love, both in your present and in your future. And while managing money is a crucial life skill for everyone, there's no one "right way" to go about it — you have to figure out what works best for *you,* full stop.

Video by Grace Lee

Written by Kaitlin Stevens

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[Marylandia_r]

My tears are rolling after this. I’m 33 years old and until a few months I found out I have ADHD. I was struggling with depression for years so I started to took therapy. I live in a country where mental illness means you are crazy or you are just trying to find an excuse to not be ok. So after two years of treating my depression I understood that it was in part the result of my non treated ADHD. At times I still judge my feelings or the way my mind works because in my head I keep listening to people saying I’m lazy or don’t work enough. I’ve been working to set small routines and keep track of it because it works but this … listening too other people who had experienced the same struggles it’s such a comforter feeling. Thanks for this

[deawinter]

A few months ago I straight up just lost $500 in cash I was carrying on me. I constantly lose things, get charged late fees, need to pay to replace something or get something rushed. All of these are what I call my “ADHD tax”. Obviously I want to minimize them as much as possible, but it’s also good to be realistic and leave room in my budget for when I inevitably slip up.

[jampsonn]

My partner eventually told me about his ADHD after a few years of dating and everything clicked so fast once he did. I can be pretty self-centered and emotional about stuff, so I used to think his forgetfulness or low motivation to do household chores was a direct reflection of how much he cared about me. 🤦🏽‍♀️ I feel like I'm really starting to understand his ADHD and how it affects his/our day to day. I've learned to be more compassionate about things he forgets or his hobby-abandoning (the ukulele I bought for him is a nice decorative piece for now 😉), but he's also trying to recognize some of these obstacles so he can effectively work through them. Can't wait to show this to him!

[missnoneofyourbusiness]

As per finances, the worse thing about ADHD is how hard it is to keep a job, whether it's paid or you're an entrepreneur. It has a lot of costs, like a lot more financial instability, the lesser opportunities to have a good curriculum, experience...

And then there's the emotional part I guess. I didn't do a bad job in my last workplace but I never heard any comments on it that weren't negative because it was a toxic workplace. It's tough on your head how you're constantly feeling stupid and incompetent. I was having a very boomerly discussion about job ethics yesterday and somebody mentioned how young people want a cake and a party for every single thing they do. No I don't but some of us need a bit of orientation I guess.

[afterhourscrafts]

I have never jumped on a TFD video this fast! My late diagnosis definitely cost me a graveyard of dead hobbies. Very refreshing to see this content on a bigger financial channel <3

[troyDM]

The ADHD tax is real. I even have it in my budget. Its like a subscription model to losing money for no reason lol.

[authorbrittanyrosebutler]

I'm 34 and was diagnosed with ADHD-I on May 12th of this year - just a month ago! Everything about my behaviors throughout the entirety of my life make so much sense to me now. I've been learning so much about ADHD this past month, and I can't help but get emotional when I watch videos like this. It's such a relief to understand myself better, and whether neurotypical people accept it or not (in just one month, I've already learned that a lot of people - even people I'm close with - still seem to think it's just an excuse or not a real thing), that I at least have an explanation, even if it's just for my own understanding. It's incredibly healing to have the diagnosis, so much more than I realized it would be. Thank you for this video - every point made resonated with me and gave me something to think about as I continue on this new journey of mine.

[sunidaze]

Totally relatable. I have 3x copies of some craft supplies, rotten veggies all the time and ridiculously high doordash order history.

[renegadegeek]

As an adult with ADHD who has a partner and two teen kids with ADHD, thank you for this. It just helps to be seen and reminded that even when I make mistakes, keeping up the good habits I've built is still worth it.

[GattlingCombo]

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 8, and for most of my life teachers, parents, managers, and co-workers give me shit for not moving fast enough with tasks. Accommodations existed for school but in art school instructors ignored them quite often. I was very uncomfortable complaining to faculty about it.

Lately a lot of people are being diagnosed with ADHD as adults and they talk about how a big deal it is and how it effects their life. It's very surprising and weird seeing people care about it so much now. ADHD has constantly been seen as an "over diagnosed" thing, something every kid has, or everyone has because "the internet" but when you clinically have it, it really fucks your life up. It's good to see people empathize with it more, but people can still be impatient pricks :)

[flightlessphoenix]

Thanks for this video! I have dyspraxia so I have some similar executive function challenges to ADHD, plus sometimes my body doesn't do what I want. It's great to hear people talking about their challenges and coping strategies

[turtlescanfly]

Making all my bills auto pay to one credit card has helped me so much. Now I only need to remember that one bill due date. I also use a separate CC for non bills so there’s no confusion about what is necessary spending vs fun.

YNAB budgeting software has also been a game changer for me. Im so much better when I check in weekly but even when I only check in every 2 weeks on payday I’m still doing sooo much better than when I was trying to track all my spending on a spreadsheet

[meeomelovescookiesandhisto]

Thanks for including different perspectives in your videos. As someone who had to get herself diagnosed in adulthood because my blatant inattentive adhd was missed as a kid videos like these help me feel seen, would have helped me realize that I have adhd earlier and make it easier for us to find useful resources.
Tips for people who don't have adhd just don't work a lot of the time and it's really hard to feel good about yourself when you keep failing in their eyes. Sometimes it's difficult, but if you find the right way to deal with it it doesn't have to be all bad, it's just different. Hopefully more people being educated about adhd will bring more tolerance to different kinds of living life and dealing with finances.
Also, I accidentally bought soy sauce 3 times in the last week so this is too relatable.

[chrysiarose]

I was diagnosed at age 57 the week before graduating with my MSW and MBA degrees. My university experience was a nightmare!

[mechkitten]

4:22 "How to ADHD" suggests pratical hobby rotation which makes it easy to decide on a pre-screened list of hobbies you already showed interest. You can always pick up a hobby again, but you won't be starting from zero each time. You may forget a little and be rusty, but it gets easier.

[hiimchuckiewannaplay]

autistic and adhd here - this video is short sweet and to the point. I already sent the link to multiple ND pals because its so validating and has concise helpful information. GREAT VIDEO TFD!

[uhohspaghettios]

I believe a couple other comments have mentioned this, but in the ADHD community, we have what's called the ADHD tax. It's our term for the extra money we spend because of how our ADHD affects us: late fees, subscriptions we neglect to cancel, events we pay for and forget to go to, cancelation fees from double booking or overbooking ourselves, and more. ADHD is also often comorbid (when two or more medical conditions/disorders occur at the same time) with depression and anxiety, and in my case, I delayed getting treatment for my mental health issues because the only way I knew of to keep myself from forgetting things was by letting my anxiety run rampant so I couldn't stop thinking about them.

For anyone out there who thinks they might have ADHD, if you have the means, PLEASE get evaluated for it. Having a diagnosis and being on medication has improved my personal life, my work life, my physical health, and my mental health in more ways than I can count.

[aedooland]

God. This is a great video that I'm really interested in, and still I found myself tuning out and staring into space several times during it, needing to go back and re-listen to the parts I missed. Very relatable, all of it.

[Shiamirei]

This really resonates with some of the struggles I have with my ADHD that I haven’t seen addressed as well in other resources. Wow. The 9-5 job struggle, the self-rejection, forgetting and rebuying, and all the hobbies. I want to be able to write for my living but I haven’t been able to escape the 9-5 job yet, even though just today I had another experience that demonstrated just how ill-suited I am for it.

[rodgerlang]

This may just be the best video I've ever seen on this channel. I've just turned 50 and I was diagnosed with ADHD later in life (like my 30s) literally after my son was. This entire video is just like me. It's been really hard sometimes with my wife as she has borderline OCD so there's some things that we're just not compatible doing, and there are several projects that we've had to work on separately because our approaches to them are pretty much polar opposites.