<$Friday, June 22, 2007$>
ADD, money management, and the importance of the bill calendar
| Back in April, I wrote what was supposed to be the first of three articles about managing finances when you have ADD. Life got in the way of writing the rest of the series, but as it happens, that's okay because over at Adult ADD and Money, guest author Kim Collins managed to boil down all the points I wanted to make into five succinct paragraphs. This is all the stuff that I've done, and still do, to conquer late fees and overdraft charges and stay on top of my finances. For me, the key thing has been keeping a bill payment calendar. Like the article suggests, this is simple enough with the myriad of free calendars available on the web that you can either print off to keep in a notebook or update and view online. Personally, I use a desk calendar that my company provides for free every year. In it I not only write down all of the due dates and payment amounts for all of my bills each month, I also record them in To Do list form in the margins. Every payday, I open up that calendar and go down the list, paying every bill that's due between then and the next payday and checking them off as I go. That way, if I can't remember whether I already took care of a bill, I just check to see whether it's checked off the list. I also note down any other known expenses I need to plan for that month, like birthdays or other gifting occasions, yarn I need to buy to get started on a large project with a deadline (i.e. Christmas sweaters), large, irregular bills coming up the next month that I should start setting aside funds for now, etc. As long as I always go through my calendar and make sure every item is squared away, I can budget out the rest of my paycheck for savings and spending with confidence. It's a really excellent feeling to know I can budget my funds and spend them down to the penny without having to worry about unexpected penalty fees incurred because of my own forgetfulness. Labels: ADD, money management |
