I’m sorry you’re going through this. It’s never too late to begin building a bottom line, and here is how I would recommend getting started.

Step #1. Find a Good Job

Consider looking for full-time employment with benefits. A job that provides health insurance and an employer-provided retirement match will help you build financial stability now and for your future.

Look for jobs that use your ADHD strengths. Consider engaging jobs and environments that are fast-paced, creative, and varied. Depending on your educational background, it may be helpful to look for companies that offer tuition assistance so that you may return to school or receive additional training and move up to a better position with better pay.

[Free Download: ADHD-Friendly Budgeting Guide]

Step #2. Budget and Save

Use financial tools that work for your brain. Automate bill paying to reduce your mental load. For budgeting, use apps like You Need a Budget (YNAB) to track your spending. YNAB offers a structured way to visualize the flow of your money and has built-in warning signs to let you know if you’re getting off track.

Other free apps include EveryDollar and PocketGuard. Make it a habit to check in with your budget regularly.

Also, automate your savings. Make sure you’re putting money away for less frequent expenses, like medical copays, vet bills, car repairs, and emergencies. Knowing that you can cover unexpected expenses will give you peace of mind.

[Free Guide to Building Healthy Habits]

Step #3. Curb Spending

Tracking your daily expenses will help you stay within your budget boundaries and reduce impulsive spending. Consider enlisting a friend as an accountability buddy and help each other curtain spending sprees and maintain thrifty habits.

Step #4. Model Good Habits

Talk with your kids about the changes you’re experiencing and help them learn to make good financial decisions. Suggest that they do extra chores around the house or walk a neighbor’s dog to earn some money of their own. Model better spending and saving habits for your kids now to help them become responsible money managers in the future.

Financial Freedom After a Divorce: Next Steps

• Read: You’re Four Steps Away from Your Financial Security
• Webinar Replay: “The Social Traps That Snare ADHD Adults”
• Read: “How Do I Support My Child with ADHD During Our Divorce?”

Stephanie Berman in a money coach. She owns Berman Budgeting Basics, LLC, in Washington State.

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In a recent survey of 2,263 ADDitude readers, mothers reported that they handle 15 percent more parenting responsibilities than do fathers – no matter their ADHD diagnosis, job, or marital status. In other words, mothers with ADHD shoulder the same unequal division of labor as mothers without ADHD – but with the added burden on weak executive functioning and emotional regulation skills.

While gender roles may be evolving, the gap in the division of household labor and childcare hasn’t narrowed. Mothers still spend more time managing schedules, planning meals, organizing, and doing other household tasks. Needless to say, this lopsided burden of responsibilities takes a mental and emotional toll on neurodivergent women in particular.

“We all have ADHD, but I’m alone at the helm,” wrote one married, 45-year-old mother of two who works full-time and reports fulfilling 90 percent of the daily parenting duties, “They are all passengers, even though I’m just as impaired as they are. It’s profoundly unfair. I have the same condition as my kids and spouse, and I fail at supporting everyone. It’s devastating.”

Division of Labor in ADHD Families

According to the survey, 76 percent of women with ADHD said they experience guilt related to parenting and ADHD; only half of men said the same. Likewise, 63 percent of women with ADHD said they often or always feel judged by others for their parenting, compared to just 25 percent of men.

Mothers were also less likely to feel satisfied with the division of parenting labor in two-parent families, less likely to feel supported as parents, and less likely to find time for self-care. In contrast, the survey found that fathers reported taking 64 percent more time each week for “exercise, hobbies, self-care, socializing, or ‘me-time’” than mothers did.

Compared to their female counterparts, fathers said they were 34 percent more satisfied with their exercise and wellness, 20 percent more satisfied with their diet and nutrition, and 18 percent more satisfied with their hobbies. The bottom line: Men are doing better, and they are doing less.

[Self-Test: Am I Burnt Out? 14 Questions That Reveal Symptoms of Burnout]

Family Stress + Mental Load = Mom Burnout

Where is all of this headed? If you guessed straight into massive, flaming burnout for mothers with ADHD, you were right, according to the nearly 60 percent of mothers with ADHD who reported this. They also said that they were dissatisfied with every facet of their own wellbeing:

• Exercise: 85% dissatisfied
• Hobbies: 79% dissatisfied
• Sleep: 69% dissatisfied

Overall, moms with ADHD reported more stress than their male or non-ADHD counterparts in 12 out of 14 parenting domains, including keeping up with daily routines and schedules, housework, and meals. Only 8 percent said they feel “fully supported.”

[Free Resource: Manage ADHD’s Impact on Your Relationship]

“I wish people understood how difficult it can be to manage the mental load of a family while navigating ADHD myself,” wrote a 41-year-old mother of two who works full-time and reports fulfilling 60 percent of parenting responsibilities. “It’s not just about staying organized but also finding the energy to handle tasks when my executive function is already stretched thin. Balancing this dynamic takes constant effort and communication.”

“Stress fried my nervous system…. I was distracted, disorganized, and crashing,” wrote another mother. “I developed chronic pelvic pain, fibromyalgia, migraines, mood issues, and chronic fatigue. And yet, doing self-care was so hard that it didn’t happen until I completely burned out.”

What Moms Wish They Had Known Sooner

ADDitude asked readers: What advice do you wish someone had given you about motherhood with ADHD?

• “Find friends who get you and find a good therapist. Don’t dwell on whether you are doing it right. Your journey will look different, but accept the child you have.”
• “It isn’t a moral failure to have problems with organization or motivation.”
• “You don’t need to explain or justify your parenting to strangers. You don’t know their story and they don’t know yours.”
• “Help your children feel accepted and loved; that’s the most important thing.”
• “Lead with love, don’t be scared to admit fault, apologize profusely, and be extremely fluid. Your ADHD child needs to know that you are human.”
• “Forget every piece of age-old parenting ‘wisdom’ you’ve ever heard. Instead, seek out experts who understand neurodivergence – because we wouldn’t use a suburban house’s electrical schematics to wire a space shuttle.”
• “Since I started learning about my ADHD, I am a better parent and person. I don’t feel as horrible about my shortcomings and have more forgiveness for myself.”
• “Find someone who is going to support you and push you to improve.”
• “Do not measure yourself against neurotypical people.”

Division of Labor in ADHD Homes: Next Steps

• Watch: Living with ADHD – It’s Different for Women 
• eBook: Women with ADHD
• Learn: Married with ADHD – How Real Couples Make It Work

Anni Layne Rodgers is General Manager at ADDitude.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Decluttering with ADHD: Key Takeaways

• Decluttering is overwhelming, especially for ADHD brains, because it involves time, decision-making, effort, and emotional management.
• Feeling shame around clutter is common but unnecessary — organization doesn’t define self-worth.
• Start with small, realistic steps — decluttering is about creating a functional, peaceful home, not achieving perfection.

Why Is Decluttering So Hard?

Forty percent of homeowners are afraid of facing the clutter in their homes, according to a 2024 survey. Half of Americans think that at least one room in their home is unsalvageable with clutter. About 1 in 3 ADDitude readers say clutter and home organizing are the areas that cause the most amount of stress in their lives — more than money management, relationships, and physical and mental health.

[Get This Free Download: Free Guide to Hoarding Disorder Vs. ADHD]

Decluttering is hard and overwhelming for many, many reasons; here are a few important ones.

• We are attached to our stuff. We infuse our belongings with meaning, sometimes justifiably, sometimes not. Either way, our habit of assigning meaning to our possessions often makes it hard to let them go.
• Decluttering takes lots of time and effort, which triggers avoidance. Very few people wake up and think, “Today’s the day I’m going to declutter.” It’s a multi-step process that takes planning, time management, focus, prioritization, motivation, and emotional regulation — all of which are affected by ADHD and executive dysfunction.
• Clutter is delayed decision-making. Think about it — you have clutter because you didn’t know what to do with a thing. Faced with analysis paralysis, you decided to set down the item and deal with it later. Now multiply that by hundreds of items, and you have too many DOOM (Didn’t Organize, Only Moved) piles.
• It’s never-ending. Decluttering and organizing are ongoing necessities, not one-time activities, as some “organizers” out there will have you believe.
• Clutter blindness is a real phenomenon and another form of avoidance. Our brains become so overwhelmed by the clutter and the decisions it demands that we start to ignore the piles around us. Somehow, we only notice them again when visitors are due.

Care Tasks Are Morally Neutral

There is nothing wrong with finding decluttering difficult. That’s the norm. Yet, there’s a common notion that organized people are somehow “better,” which only adds shame and more difficulty to decluttering.

Here’s the truth: You are not a bad person if you are disorganized. You are not a good person if you are organized. Care tasks — activities that are required to care for the self and keep life going — are morally neutral, according to author KC Davis, who popularized the concept.

[Read: Don’t Organize It, Purge It: 10 Things to Throw Out Now]

Yes, there are benefits to being organized — you can easily find things, sleep in a clear bed, and use your dining table for meals. But being neat and organized doesn’t define your worth. The more you detach your self-worth from tidiness, the easier it becomes to take steps that make your home work for you.

How to Start Decluttering When Overwhelmed

1. Attach emotional benefit to decluttering. What’s your vision for your home? How do you want your home to feel, look, and function? In other words, why do you want to declutter? Let your answer motivate you. A motivator for a client of mine is connection; her formerly cluttered space kept her from inviting people into her home, which deepened her loneliness.
2. Design a manageable plan. Go through your home and make a decluttering checklist. Which areas are your biggest pain points? Within those areas, where can you start? Which parts can you do alone, and where do you anticipate needing help?
3. Schedule decluttering appointments. Treat decluttering like you would a doctor’s appointment and put it on your calendar.
4. Start small. Rome was not decluttered in a day. As a professional organizer, I spend days decluttering and organizing a home — with a team to help. So if you’re doing it alone, focus on a single drawer, shelf, or cupboard at a time.
5. Use timers. Even if you’ve given yourself an hour to declutter, break it up into chunks of 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Accept that clutter will return. Stuff is bound to make its way into your home despite your best efforts to stem the tide. This does not mean that you failed. It only means that life happened. Accept this, and you’ll find it easier to commit to regular decluttering, organizing, and cleaning sessions.
7. Done is better than perfect. Your home doesn’t have to look Pinterest-perfect. It’s not about putting things in nifty boxes and labels and making it all match. It’s about feeling happy and at peace in your home.

How to Start Decluttering When Overwhelmed: Next Steps

• Free Download: Organize Your Home By Working With Your ADHD Brain
• Read: 5 Questions to Steer Guilt-Free Decluttering
• Read: 4 Emotions That Compound Clutter — and How to Overcome Them

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “How to Organize a Messy Home: Strategies for Clutter and Stress in ADHD Families” [Video Replay & Podcast #520] with Tracy McCubbin, which was broadcast on September 10, 2024.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

The current full retirement age for Social Security benefits is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. At 50, you still have almost two decades to save toward retirement.

Maximize Retirement Savings

The key is to get the ball rolling. For the years to come, put as much of your money as possible into a retirement plan. Don’t delay — sign into your accounts today and maximize your contribution elections through any employer-sponsored retirement plans. Depending on your income, you can contribute to your employer’s plan and may be able to also contribute to a separate deductible IRA for tax savings.

[Read: “Will I Ever Recover from Past Financial Ruin?”]

If you work independently, there are retirement accounts that you can maximize for savings, like a SEP IRA, which is like a personal profit-sharing plan. You can still contribute through a regular IRA, but the contribution limit is lower.

Revisit Your Budget

Do you have a good sense of where your money is going? Where can you reduce your spending? If you have consumer debt, prioritize paying it off, as this type of debt can seriously cut into potential retirement savings. In addition, are there ADHD-related issues — impulse spending, emotional dysregulation, “out of sight out of mind” and so on — that are affecting your ability to manage your hard-earned money?

Delay Retirement

No one can predict the future, but if you reach full retirement age and are in good health, continuing to work past age 67 may be a solid option for you. Retirement benefits increase by 8% annually beyond full retirement age up to age 70. If you wait until you’re 70, you could boost your monthly benefit by 24%. (Past 70, though, your monthly benefit stops increasing even if you continue to delay.)

Plenty of people continue to work past retirement age for these benefits and because they enjoy what they do. The Social Security Administration website has calculators and other tools that can help you plan.

Retirement and ADHD: Next Steps

• Free Download: ADHD-Friendly Budgeting Guide
• Read: 16 Ways to Better Manage Your Money with ADHD
• Read: The ADHD Guide to Saving Money

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Smart Money Habits for People with ADHD” [Video Replay & Podcast #522] with Otto Rivera, CFP®, EA, which was broadcast on September 24, 2024.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Start with Taxes

After setting aside money for your needs (rent, groceries, etc.) make paying taxes your priority. Don’t ignore the IRS’ notices or delay any further, as penalty charges and interest add up quickly. Contact the IRS to discuss your options, including a potential payment plan. A payment plan will not remove any penalty and interest charges, but it will provide structure and a path forward to paying your tax debt. (Can’t call right away? Decide on a date and time to pick up the phone.) The risk of other difficulties with the IRS will go down the sooner you address your late tax payments.

Replace High-Interest Loans

If you are dealing with high-interest or predatory loans (with an interest rate of 40% or higher), research ways to pay off those loans quickly if your credit permits. Explore loans from local community banks or credit unions, which often extend more flexible loan terms, making refinancing easier and more affordable. Opening an account with one of these institutions may allow you to consolidate by paying off the predatory lender first and then repaying the bank or credit union at a lower interest rate.

[Get This Free Download: Your ADHD-Friendly Budgeting Guide]

Is Filing for Bankruptcy an Option?

If your debt is extreme and you can no longer afford to pay your bills, you may qualify for bankruptcy. While a serious step with significant consequences, bankruptcy can offer you a fresh start. If you do go through the process, don’t take it lightly. This is the time to become diligent about managing your finances. Learn to budget effectively and reflect honestly on the factors contributing to your financial challenges. In the future, consider working with an ADHD-informed Certified Financial Planner® for tailored support.

Grow Your Income

Especially at your age, explore career opportunities to increase your income to avoid reliving the financial troubles of your past. Find a career that aligns with your passions and strengths and contributes to your financial goals. More income will put you on a path toward saving for a house and becoming financially independent.

You have your work cut out for you, but I have no doubt in your ability to fix your money problems and get your finances in order. You’re in your 30s — the prime of your life. You can do this.

Money Problems and ADHD: Next Steps

• Read: 16 Ways to Better Manage Your Money with ADHD
• Read: The ADHD Tax Is Draining — Financially and Emotionally
• Q: “My Idea of Self-Care Is Overspending.”

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Smart Money Habits for People with ADHD” [Video Replay & Podcast #522] with Otto Rivera, CFP®, EA, which was broadcast on September 24, 2024.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Getting Rid of Clutter: Questions to Help You Decide

1. Do you use it on a semi-regular basis?

Semi-regular use means you actually use the item — not just intend to — a couple of times a year. The exception is seasonal items, like a Thanksgiving platter you’ve consistently used for years.

2. Is it currently making you money?

• Is the item helping you generate income?
• Do you use it for work?
• Does it help you pay your bills on time?

The item(s) must be actively helping you make money. The pile of stuff that’s been gathering dust for years that you might sell online or through a garage sale doesn’t count.

Online selling: Is it worth your time?

Extra cash is nice, but selling items online should be a worthy investment. Consider the many steps involved: photographing the item, writing a description for it, posting it, watching the sales, fielding questions, preparing it for delivery, and dropping it off at the post office. Is this all worth how much you’d be getting from the sale? Consider how much work goes into selling and if you have the time to spare.

[Get This Free Download: 22 Clutter-Busting Strategies for Adults with ADHD]

3. Can you buy it again for a reasonable price or borrow it?

Are you hanging on to items in hopes that they’ll come in handy someday? Worse, are you wasting money storing the unused item? Consider getting rid of it entirely. Take camping equipment. Keep it if you’re an avid camper. But if not, sell off the items and, when a camping trip does come up, either buy some items cheaply or borrow them from a neighbor.

4. Do you have a place to store it within your space?

The key phrase here is “within your space” — do you have room for your item? If not, then a) don’t keep the item or b) get rid of something else to make space for the item. To stay organized, you must acknowledge and work with the space you have. Don’t build a shed or rent a storage unit that will cost you hundreds per month.

5. Do you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it?

We all have items that make us happy and remind us of special moments or people. Keep those items. But as you decide if you really love an item, remember: If everything is special, then nothing is special. The rooster collection you adore and have been working on since childhood? Keep it! The Beanie Babies that you keep in storage because you swear they’ll make you millions one day? Probably not. (FYI: “Collectible” is a marketing term.)

Still not sure if you love, love, love an item? Try the “poop rule,” a decluttering method espoused by TikTok creator @adhdorganized that’s gone viral for its unusual ask: “Pick up an item and think — is this important enough that I would wash poop off of it?”

[Read: How Do I Get Rid of My Sentimental Clutter?]

Overcoming “But I Don’t Want to Be Wasteful”

• Try Buy Nothing groups, where you can give and receive items for free in the name of decluttering, sustainability, and community.
• Some stuff is just trash. When you hesitate to throw something away — especially if it’s broken and unusable — because you don’t want it to end up in the landfill, you’ve effectively made your home into a landfill. Holding on to trash won’t solve the landfill problem. Instead, not consuming and avoiding purchases of items you don’t want, need, or use will make a difference.

Click here for a handout version of these questions and more decluttering tips from Tracy McCubbin.

Getting Rid of Clutter: Next Steps

• Read: How to Motivate for Cleaning House When You Really Don’t Want To
• Read: How to Win the War on Clutter — One Battle at a Time
• Q: “How Do I Know When to Declutter Vs. Organize?”

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “How to Organize a Messy Home: Strategies for Clutter and Stress in ADHD Families” [Video Replay & Podcast #520] with Tracy McCubbin, which was broadcast on September 10, 2024.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Keeping a clean house with ADHD — especially when all household members have it — is an exercise in teamwork. It requires planning, communication, routines, and lots of patience.

Focus on the Why

Especially with kids, talk often about how striving for organization and less clutter helps them and the family. Say:

• When we do the dishes and put them away, it means that we have clean dishes for our next meal.
• When we put our laundry in the hamper, our clothes get washed, so we have clean clothes to wear.

Bring up frustrating moments they’ve experienced due to disorganization and how a system could help them. Say, “Remember how anxious you felt that one morning when you couldn’t find your backpack? If you put your backpack away in the same place, you can find it every time.” Consider using visual reminders.

Other helpful scripts for all family members:

• “If you decide where something lives and you always put it back there, you will always know where to find it. That’s the reason that we’re organized.”
• “Don’t put it down, put it away. If you put something down, you’ll only have to deal with it later.”
• “Take the extra 10 seconds to put it away. Then it’s over with.”
• “This household is a community. We all live in it together.”

[Get This Free Download: How to Tidy Up Your Home Like a Pro]

Declutter Before You Organize

“Declutter” and “organize” are not synonymous; the latter means putting your things in places so you can find them when you need them. Organizing before decluttering often leads to headaches, as you’re trying to find spots for things that you don’t use.

Having less stuff is the key to being organized. If your home quickly becomes messy again after organizing, it’s a telltale sign that you have too much stuff and need to prioritize decluttering.

Avoid the “Right Vs. Wrong” Vortex

There is no “right” way to keep an organized home. But your family can agree to goals for common spaces and commit to systems that work for everyone, even if unconventional. One client of mine kept sunscreen in the kitchen; the only time her kids sat still enough to apply it was when they were eating. Brilliant! Rather than force her to store sunscreen in the “right” place, we made a sunscreen station for her in the kitchen.

Set up a routine that the family can do together, like a two-hour tidying session every Sunday after lunch. A practice, even if imperfect, can control mess before it explodes.

[Read: How to Win the War on Clutter]

Everyone Needs Space to Be Messy

Not everyone has the same standards for organization and tidiness. As much as possible, allow family members to maintain their personal spaces as they see fit. Trying to control every inch of your home can lead to conflicts, so it’s best to let go. Take it from me, a professional organizer with a messy husband: I stay away from his home office because it’s his space, and our marriage benefits from that.

Bring In Help If You Can

If you find yourself feeling exhausted, resentful, and hopeless about the state of your home, consider hiring a professional organizer who understands neurodivergence. They can demystify decluttering and organization, reduce your stress, and create efficient systems tailored to your needs.

How to Keep a Clean House with ADHD: Next Steps

• Read: How to Motivate for Cleaning House When You Really Don’t Want To
• Read: 33 ADHD-Friendly Ways to Get Organized
• Q&A: “How Do I Know When to Declutter Vs. Organize?”
• eBook: Declutter Your Life (and Home! and Office!)

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “How to Organize a Messy Home: Strategies for Clutter and Stress in ADHD Families” [Video Replay & Podcast #520] with Tracy McCubbin, which was broadcast on September 10, 2024.

“Do not save what is left after spending but spend what is left after saving.” — Warren Buffett

We’re taught this money-management principle from a young age and the advice is sound, but hardly straightforward — especially when ADHD impulsivity, time blindness, and executive function challenges make it difficult to plan and meet financial goals.

In a recent ADDitude survey, 47% of adults with ADHD said they are dissatisfied with their money management and budgeting. The top challenges were:

• Resisting impulse buys (46%)
• Sticking to a budget (35%)
• Reducing debt (27%)
• Creating a budget (26%)
• Saving for long-term goals (24%)

When asked to size up their money-management skills, the 1,869 respondents largely pointed to problems with execution, not education. “I know ‘what’ to do,” wrote one ADDitude reader. “Getting my brain to apply this to tangible actions is the crux of the problem.”

Some said they dodge the topic of money altogether: “I don’t go to meetings with my financial planner. I find it far too stressful with dyscalculia and dismal impulse control. It just becomes a blame game. My partner goes for the both of us.”

Another wrote: “I can’t resist impulse buying, so I cannot get out of debt and can’t save for anything. I know nothing about investing because I’ve never had money to invest.”

[Download: The ADHD-Friendly Budgeting Guide]

Where to Find Financial Support

The most helpful money-management services and support networks, according to ADDitude readers, include the following:

• A financial planner (3.64 average ‘helpfulness’ rating out of 5)
• Spouse, family, or friend (3.21)
• Free services (3.18)
• Bank services (2.96)
• Budgeting app/service (2.95)
• ADHD coach (2.89)

Ninety-three percent of respondents reported hiring an ADHD coach, making it the most popular option. However, it was reported to be the least helpful relative to money management.

“You do not have to be rich to use your bank’s (or credit union’s) financial services,” one respondent wrote. “Appointments don’t cost anything, and it’s a great place to ask questions and make a plan to work toward your financial goals. And if you don’t mesh well with your advisor, just book an appointment with a different one until you find the right fit.”

[Read: Smart Money Management for Adults with ADHD]

“Find a free service group that does financial budgeting until you find the best budget template that works for you,” another respondent wrote. “It might take several tries before you find the right one, but the simplest is best to get started.”

Other Popular Resources

The money-management mobile apps and services recommended most often by adults with ADHD include the following:

1. You Need a Budget uses a step-by-step system for “assigning every dollar a job.”
2. Monarch Money was voted the best budgeting app of 2024 by Wall Street Journal.
3. Rocket Money finds, tracks, and cancels unwanted subscriptions.
4. Every Dollar uses zero-based budgeting principles and spotlights simplicity.
5. Quicken/Quicken Simplifi is an established, best-selling finance app offering personal and business plans.
6. Dow Janes for Women was founded by women, for women. It empowers users with easy-to-grasp financial strategies to build wealth.
7. Notion is a productivity app with free, ADHD-friendly budgeting templates.
8. Debtors Anonymous is a community-focused meeting space for people with problematic debt to come together and find support.
9. The Budget Mom helps women find financial fulfillment through its Budget by Paycheck® Method.
10. Acorns is an investment app that helps customers build wealth with spare change.

DIY Money Management & Budgeting Strategies

Money is a taboo topic for many, and asking for help can carry a lot of shame. As one ADDitude reader said, “Admitting you have money issues can be harder than admitting you have ADHD.”

It may take some trial and error, but good, helpful support exists. Using strategies that work for your ADHD brain (not against it) can make a world of difference.

“It’s a pain before you do a budget: the agony of knowing it’s going to demand your full attention and a sharp brain,” one respondent wrote. “But once you can really see your expenses, the stress settles. It’s a much calmer feeling to know than to guess.”

Below, ADDitude readers recommend do-it-yourself strategies and approaches to reach your financial goals.

“My dad told me to measure items in work hours. If I make $10 an hour, and I want something that costs $40, would I be willing to work four hours for that item? Labor is a more real way to measure value vs. price.”

“To prevent impulse buys, I try to enjoy the ‘free’ dopamine (e.g., taking a picture of that funny shirt instead of buying it). If I still want it tomorrow, I can come back for it. But usually, it’s just the one-time appreciation (or text to a friend) that’s enough.”

“I set up my bank account so that every time there is a debit, I get an email. That not only helps ensure that it is me making the charges, but it also reminds me to spend less. The goal is to have fewer emails from the bank!”

“I like to create no-shopping challenges for myself to help gamify avoiding impulse purchases. Sometimes, I’ll designate a whole month as ‘no shopping month’… If I find things I would have otherwise bought on impulse, I’ll save them to a wish list for later and either buy them after the no-spend period ends or realize I didn’t actually want/need them by the time it does.”

“Consider where you’re going to put the item you are thinking about purchasing and if you really want to take care of it once it comes into your house. Is it useful? Do you love it? Need it? Sometimes it’s fun to put things in your cart, both online and in person. Then, after a little time, you realize you don’t actually want or need these things, so you take them out and leave them for someone else.”

“Make sure to allow money for having fun in addition to necessary expenses. We are impulsive people, and shutting it completely down backfired for us. So my husband and I set aside an allowance for ourselves every month — ‘me money’ that we can use for whatever we want. It’s worked really well so far. We can choose to be impulsive or save up for a bigger purchase, and no actions impact our ability to pay our bills.”

ADHD Budgeting Strategies: Next Steps

• Watch: Smart Money Habits for People with ADHD
• Read: 6 Ways to Build Wealth After Retirement
• Read: How to Curb Your Spouse’s ADHD Impulse Spending
• eBook: Getting Things Done with Adult ADHD

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

In a recent survey of 1,885 ADDitude readers, 30% said that clutter and home organization caused them the most stress in life. Sixty percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with their home organization and de-cluttering skills; only 1% said they didn’t experience trouble in this area.

The aspects of home organization that prove most challenging for readers include:

• Big decluttering projects (closets, garages, attics): 62%
• Managing daily clutter: 59%
• Finding space where items should ‘live’ in your home: 42%
• Organizing bills and other paperwork: 35%
• Curbing the impulsive spending that brings more items into your life: 27%
• Getting buy-in and cooperation from family or roommates: 22%
• Identifying items to donate or recycle: 12%

“A big challenge is having an ongoing system that works to deal with items that need decisions made about them,” shared one ADDitude reader.

Another reader said that their biggest issue was “unfinished projects like unbuilt furniture, flooring that covers 75% of a room or a half-painted room.”

[Read: 16 Organization Rules You Can Follow]

Decluttering Support: Calling in Reinforcements

The key to taming encroaching clutter? Readers say that getting the right kind of help can be indispensable. Toward that end, nearly 40% of readers report that ADHD medication helps them tackle clutter and home organization.

These supports were rated most helpful by readers (out of 5):

• Housekeeping service: 3.90
• Junk removal service: 3.53
• Professional organizer: 3.37
• ADHD coaches: 3.32
• Spouse, family member, friend: 3.06

[Read: 13 Clutter Hacks for the Easily Overwhelmed]

“Donation centers and groups that do home pick-up, like the Salvation Army, are helpful,” one ADDitude reader explained.

Another reader tip? “Planning a party or visit. It forces a panic sweep of clutter.”

Housekeeping, junk removal, and coaching services are powerful but also pricey. Here are 10 low-cost tools recommended by our readers:

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (book) by Marie Kondo
• How to Keep House While Drowning (book) and Struggle Care (site) by KC Davis, LPC
• Decluttering at the Speed of Life (book) and A Slob Comes Clean (site) by Dana K. Whi
• The Minimalist Home (book) and Becoming Minimalist (site) by Joshua Becke
• Clutterbug, podcast by Cas
• The Home Edit, YouTube organizing show
• FlyLady, online organizational coach
• Sweepy, cleaning app
• Dubbii, body doubling app
• Rock The Housework, guided cleaning session
• And, of course . . . ADDitude

Decluttering, Home Organization, and Cleaning Hack

To get to the ultimate goal — an ordered home that feels like a sanctuary, not a stressor — there are myriad paths. Here, our readers share a slew of successful clutter and home organization strategies that have worked for them:

“What helps me the most is everything having its own designated place. It makes it easier to put something away because I’ll know where to find it next time.” —Mariana

“Baskets! If an item doesn’t have a home, it goes in the basket until I figure out where it goes. I go through the baskets at least once a week.” —Mary, Pennsylvania

“Don’t look at the big picture. Instead of trying to organize your house, organize one drawer, or one dresser. As the saying goes: ‘The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.’” – An ADDitude Reader

“Clear plastic containers and clear plastic boxes, strategically placed to hold some of the D.O.O.M. piles I inevitably create in certain rooms of the house.”— Ryann, Pennsylvania

“If a large empty box comes into the house it has to be filled for donation in order to leave. I keep the box in the hall and we all add to it until it’s full.” — Amanda, Canada

“For each thing you bring into your home, remove one thing.” — Cynthia, Ontario

“O.H.I.O. — only handle it once.” — Ellie, Virginia

“I use the ‘Just 5 Things’ technique: I pick up and put away five items in a room, on a table, or another discrete area.” — Teresa, Ohio

“Having a friend come over to chat while I work on clutter is super helpful, even if they just sit and watch! Just having another person to help me decide where to start, what to do next, or what I should do with something is great.” — Nicole, Nebraska

“While I’m de-cluttering, I designate a space in the room for items that go somewhere else in the house, so I don’t get distracted.” — An ADDitude Reader

“Tackle a small area at a time, asking yourself 3 to 5 questions for each. For the closet, it would be: Have you worn it in the past year? Does it fit? Do you love the way it makes you feel?” — An ADDitude Reader

Decluttering & Home Organization: Next Steps

• Read: Home Neat Home – An ADHD Organization Plan
• Read: Organize Your Chaos to Find Calm
• Read: The Ultimate Room-by-Room Organization Guide

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From boredom to shame, here are the emotional states tangled up with decluttering, along with strategies to calm or circumvent these feelings so you can stay organized.

Unpacking the Emotional Web of Clutter: Disorganization Solutions

1. Shame

Does your disorganized home spark feelings of humiliation and inadequacy? Fear of rejection and criticism due to clutter are common, and they may be so overpowering that you feel driven to escape the task of decluttering and organizing, leaving the problem to grow.

Solution: Shift to self-compassion

Acknowledge your feelings of self-loathing and treat yourself with the same kindness that you would offer a friend in a similar situation. Keep on hand a few positive phrases that you can easily read when shame appears. Remember that no one is devoid of clutter, and that yours doesn’t define your worth. Recognizing and challenging your shame will open the door to taking small steps toward a more organized space.

[Read: Making Peace With Your Clutter]

2. Overwhelm

When organizing a cluttered space, how do you know when to start, take breaks, and call it a day? Executive function weaknesses, common in ADHD and hoarding disorder, make it difficult to identify the logical and explicit steps required to declutter and organize living and working environments. Often, the result is procrastination and task abandonment.

Solution: Grab a Hula Hoop

Lay a hula hoop over an area that needs organizing and commit to cleaning only the space within the hoop. Set a realistic amount of time to organize (preferably under 30 minutes). Don’t have a hula hoop? Use tape, string, shoelaces, or any other method to clearly mark the boundaries of your focus. By concentrating on a single area, you’ll see a more obvious transformation, which will help maintain motivation. Take it a step further by covering ancillary areas with bedsheets or drop cloths.

The key to reducing overwhelm is to break down tasks into manageable parts, whatever that looks like for you. That may mean setting timers and taking breaks, identifying specific to-do list tasks, and/or separating items to organize into a box that you can chip away at little by little.

3. Anxiety and Fear of Regret

When decluttering, do you become anxious about discarding items you may later want? You may have once regretted cleaning out an item of sentimental value, or something you ended up needing after all, and so you avoid making that mistake again by keeping everything. The fear of regret is often strong in individuals with HD, who believe that they cannot tolerate any remorse from unwisely discarding possessions.

Solution: Recognize that regret won’t last forever

Regret is an emotional state that, like all other emotions, passes with time. Chances are that you’ve felt regret before, but you don’t feel the same intensity of regret today as you did in the moment. You are more capable of tolerating and coping with difficult feelings and mistakes than you know.

[Get This Free Download: 22 Clutter-Busting Strategies for Adults with ADHD]

4. Boredom

Boredom is a catastrophic and even physically painful state for people with ADHD, who have steeper and higher mental effort hills to climb. Any task that requires lots of mental effort to initiate and sustain — like decluttering, organizing, and maintaining tidy systems — will be experienced as boring and aversive.

Solution: Gamify It!

• Set a timer for a short period (e.g., 10-15 minutes) and see how much you can clean or declutter in that time. You can make it a race against the clock or try to beat your previous record.
• Create a bingo card with different cleaning tasks in each square. Mark off tasks as you complete them and aim for a full row, column, or diagonal.
• Turn cleaning into a scavenger hunt by making a list of specific items to find and put away.
• Create an upbeat playlist and challenge yourself to finish your task list before it repeats.
• Team up with a friend or family member and turn cleaning into a cooperative game.
• Treat yourself to something you enjoy, like watching a movie or having a special snack, after finishing a certain number of organizing tasks.

How to Deal with Clutter Anxiety: Next Steps

• Free Download: Hoarding Disorder Vs. ADHD Clutter
• Read: 17 Ways To Cut Back on Clutter
• Read: How to Declutter with an ADHD Brain — Organization Solutions for Real Life

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Clearing the Chaos: ADHD-Informed Strategies for Tackling Clutter and Hoarding” [Video Replay & Podcast #510] with Michael Tompkins, Ph.D., which was broadcast on June 18, 2024.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

It’s a question I throw at the end of coaching sessions with my clients. I stole the question from the Coursera version of Yale’s most popular class ever, “The Science of Well-Being,” led by Laurie Santos, Ph.D. In this course, you’re tasked with writing down the things for which you’re grateful every day for a week.

Why Is Gratitude Important

The idea is two-fold. One, it breaks you out of negativity traps by training you to focus on and acknowledge the real good in your life, which helps you develop a positive outlook. Two, if you recall the things you’re grateful for in detail, your brain thinks it’s experiencing them again — so you’ll have multitudes of goodness in you.

[Read: ADHD and the Power of Positive Thinking]

Gratitude is an essential practice for those of us with ADHD, as we often harbor a nagging assumption that we’re less than. The extended logic is that because we are less than, we must have crappy lives – a self-defeating cycle that doesn’t make our lives any easier.

But we’re not less than. Our lives are full of beauty that we often don’t acknowledge. Noting the good around us and within us is a type of reality check that sparks awareness, acceptance, balance, and happiness.

If you’re looking for ways to practice gratitude in your life, try this fun exercise with friends and family. Propose that everyone join in on this gratitude game at your next gathering.

How to Practice Gratitude: A Group Gratitude Exercise

1. Gather a group of people together — around the Thanksgiving table, in the living room, at the beach, in the car during a long drive. Whatever works.

[Read: For to Log Daily Victories for Your Family]

2. Take turns answering the following questions.

• What’s one thing you’re grateful for in your life? (This could be your whole life or just this past week.)
• What are you grateful for about each person in this group?
• What are you grateful for about yourself?
• What are you grateful for about the natural world?
• What was your favorite answer that each person gave?

Each person should take the time they need to formulate an answer and should wait for others to formulate theirs. Go where your heart leads and have fun with it. Be chill. (I view this exercise as a game, though this is very different from the cutthroat card tournaments I played with my extended family growing up, where being chill was never an asset.) Beyond this one-time activity, make gratitude a daily practice in your life. Challenge yourself, in particular, to reflect on the positive aspects of your neurodivergence.

How to Practice Gratitude: Next Steps

• Free Download: Bonding Activity Ideas for ADHD Families
• Read: The Key to ADHD Emotional Regulation? Cultivating Gratitude, Pride & Compassion
• Read: “The ADHD Characteristics I’m Most Thankful for Are…”

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Few things spark more ADHD dread, anxiety, and overwhelm than the thought of sitting down and creating a budget. What’s more monotonous and depressing than meticulously calculating what you can and can’t afford? At the same time, bravely facing your cash flow is the only way to gain control of it. That takes a budget.

Use the following ADHD-friendly steps to get started. In this download, you will learn how to:
– Rethink how you define a budget
– Build a budget you can follow
– Review income and expenses
– Identify spending patterns
– Determine your monthly discretionary income
– Monitor cash flow
And more!