ADHD Money: Detecting Invisible Spending Leaks and Managing Finances Mindfully | 109

0:00 All right, do you ever check your bank account and think, wait, where did all of it go? Right. So we might not be making these gigantic purchases, but the money's gone. It's not like we're going out and buying a refrigerator every week or a new washer and dryer. But then we check our accounts and the money's gone, right? So it's not one big mistake. It is 100 invisible ones. So if you're brand new to the show, I just want to say hello and welcome. Thank you, Madeline, for listening to the show. I'm so glad that you're here, part of this community, the debt Rebel community, and this is part of the special series I'm doing just about the most commonly asked questions.

0:39 And maybe there are questions that have been asked to me or questions that we kind of think to ourselves when we're going through the process of working on our money. And especially if you're someone like myself that has ADHD or maybe you haven't been officially diagnosed, but you have done a little bit of research and you're like, yeah, this is probably why some of these things when it comes to managing your money haven't worked in the past. And so this show exists to teach you another way that might work for you and your family.

1:09 And so the thing about personal finances, and it's very personal. And The thing is also our brains are constantly changing and evolving. And so something that might have worked a few years ago, we're, we're a different person. So maybe you need to change up a little, a little part of your system isn't working. And so that's what this show is about is giving you some ideas and tips that you could implement in your money management system to see if they work. And we'd also do this inside of a coaching membership that I have.

1:38 And we do it as a community, but we also have somebody doubling time. So if you're like, hey, I really need some accountability and I need some help, then I highly encourage you to check that out and I'll put those that info in the show notes. But today I want to talk about why we asked ourselves that question. Where is the money even going? So I noticed for myself when we especially when we were starting to really be intentional about what we were spending our money on, there was a lot of these little these.

2:07 And so I've, I've shared this story also in the past, but it's the same, it's the same philosophy as when my mom made an apple pie when I was younger. And I love sweets and I absolutely love my mom's apple pie. It's one of my favorite things ever. But she had made it. We had had a piece and it was sitting on the counter and I just, every time I walked by the kitchen, I just grabbed 1 little apple out of the inside. I was like, Oh my gosh, it was so good, right? That was it. Every single time I walked by, it was just one.

2:39 So I wasn't sitting out and sitting down, grabbing a fork and eating out the entire inside. That's what eventually happened because I walked by so many times and took one piece that I because I wasn't paying attention. I was also young, but I wasn't paying attention that those things were adding up. And so eventually I hollowed out the entire pie so it was just the crust and my mom was less than thrilled with me. But the same thing can happen with our finances is we will, you know, maybe it's like $10 here.

3:11 It's it's like, Oh my gosh, it's only $5. That's not going to happen. You know, it's not much, but if we do that 10 times, that's $50.00. But then we're adding that on top of some other things like, you know, we run into Costco really quick or we just order this thing on Amazon really quick. And none of these things are bad. It's when we are not being mindful that they're happening. And sometimes like maybe it's those quick taps, you know, when we go, when we go and use our card somewhere and we're like, OK, we can tap our card and it's the same action if we spend $100 or if we spend $5, right?

3:45 It's the same, it's the same thing. And so we don't necessarily unless we are committing to memory, OK, this is how much we have spent and this is how much that we have for that category to spend, we can get out of control. And so our brains are not designed to track those small decisions well. And that's not a bad thing. It's just information for us to know so that we can be more intentional about those things. And we can put some guardrails, some some safety measures in place so that those little quick taps or maybe those subscriptions don't eat away at our financial goals.

4:21 So we want to also think about awareness without obsessing about it. And so if you are like myself and we can get hyper focused in a certain area and you're like, OK, I want to start tracking my spending. So you're looking at every single day. That is probably not going to be as helpful for you as maybe checking in, You know, do a 15 minute check in once a week and maybe you layer it with something like your favorite coffee. I'm sitting here right now drinking coffee. Maybe it's, you know, Friday morning and you're getting ready for the weekend and you're having your coffee in the morning or whatever it is something that you enjoy.

4:55 And then looking at your, your spending for the last week and say, OK, am I on track? Am I, are there things that are coming up? They're like, hey, I don't even remember having that subscription or I didn't actually buy that. Did my card get compromised or those kinds of things. And it's about sending setting little habits of intention versus the obsession of, Oh my gosh, looking at it all the time, getting all the notifications and that kind of stuff. So, so these are the kind of things that we do regularly inside the membership.

5:27 So you're not having to stay consistent and depend on your own willpower. There's a framework set up and we check in. And so I hope that this info was helpful for you because having having these little 15 minute check insurance with yourself or if you're managing your money with someone else, those things are going to be much better than a hour deep dive where you're just obsessing about every little purchase. So and these this is, like I said, part of a miniseries. And this is also to celebrate that this show was nominated for a women podcaster award for the second year in a row.

6:01 So if you have been listening to the show for a little while, thank you. If you're a brand new to the show and thank you so much for listening. And I'm going to leave the info in the show notes so that you vote for that if you feel led to, but I would love to continue to answer your questions. And so there will be a spot there as well that you can ask those questions. But we're going to keep this in miniseries going. These are some shorter episodes than usual, but hopefully they're more bite sized so that you can take some quick action on them or right away.

6:29 So thank you again for joining me and we'll see you in the next episode. Thank you for tuning into the Debt Rebel show today. Ready to take your family budgeting to the next level? Stop that paycheck to paycheck grind and start living debt free? Head over to my website, debtrebelpodcast.com. That's DEBTREDEL podcast.com to grab resources, tools and tips to make it happen. And don't forget, subscribe, leave a review. And if you know another family that will love hearing today's episode, it would be such a gift for both of us, your friend and me.

7:08 If you share this episode and remember your debt free life starts with one brave step and I'm cheering you on every step of the way. We'll talk soon. Debt Rebel.