The ADHD Tax & Where to Invest Time to Make ADHD Life Easier
I think we can all agree that it sucks having paying late fees on a bill.
Or throwing out all the produce in the bottom drawer of your refrigerator because you forgot about it.
And it isn’t just us ADHDers who pay these “taxes” for forgetfulness.
Just about anyone who’s trying to juggle raising a family while working or building a business can find themselves wasting time or wasting money because of forgetfulness or busy schedules.
But luckily, there are some strategies we can employ to support our executive function and memory to help make wasting time and money less prevalent in our busy ADHD mom business owning lives.
Keep reading to learn about the ADHD tax, ADHD times investments, and how making ADHD time investments can help prevent you from paying ADHD taxes in the future.
What is ADHD tax?
Before we dive into time investments, let’s talk a little bit about WHY those of us with ADHD may want to put some time, effort, and energy into creating these investments.
And it comes down to little thing called “The ADHD Tax”.
In a nutshell, “The ADHD Tax” is what you pay…whether in time, energy, effort, or money…due to symptoms of ADHD.
It might look like paying late fees because you forgot to pay bills.
Or tossing out yet another planner in October that you used for 2 weeks in January then forgot about until I just mentioned it.
You might have multiple staplers because you keep misplacing yours and so you buy another one.
Or you order take out regularly because all the food in the fridge went bad or you haven’t been able to motivate yourself to go to the grocery store.
It could also be paying an extra $60 to have your passport expedited because you’re taking a trip out of the country and you remembered to renew your kids’ passports but forgot to send in your renewal and now you need it right away.
I literally did this in July before our Summer vacation in August and my passport showed up on the Friday before we left on Sunday. 😬
But luckily, we don’t have to just accept that we’re going to pay the ADHD tax because we forgot to turn in our travel reimbursements or we’ve overspent on supplies for our newest hyperfixation hobby.
There are a few time investments we can put in place to help support our ADHD executive function.
Where to Invest Time to Help Avoid the ADHD Tax?
First, let’s define what an ADHD investment is.
An ADHD investment is something we do with the expectation of a positive return in terms of our time, energy, effort, or money.
Versus the ADHD tax, which is additional time, energy, effort, or money we expend to achieve the same result we would have if we hadn’t procrastinated, been disorganized, or forgotten.
The idea is if you put in time or money up front, it can pay dividends on the back end.
And we’re going to wrap up today by discussing both Lifestyle Investments and System Investments you can use to help you avoid paying that dreaded ADHD tax in the future.
Self-Care Time Investments to Help Avoid the ADHD Tax:
Joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer to make sure you exercise.
Scheduling regular doctor’s appointments and tests (I personally like to make my appointment for next year when I’m leaving so I don’t forget).
Meeting with a therapist or coach.
Creating a morning or bedtime routine that includes something for yourself.
Household Time Investments to Help Avoid the ADHD Tax:
Hiring childcare so you can work from home or plan work hours when you have a spouse or sibling home to watch your littles.
Hiring someone to clean your home.
Creating a chore list for your family so you don’t have to shoulder all the burden. Investing in lightbulbs, plugs, thermostats, etc that can be controlled via WiFi or a digital assistant so you never have to worry about leaving the AC on when you’re out of town for the weekend.
Investing in Bluetooth or WiFi enabled appliances that notify you to start dinner in the Instant Pot or remember to change the laundry over to the dryer.
Food & Meal Planning Time Investments to Help Avoid the ADHD Tax:
Using Click & Pick Up at the grocery store.
Having your groceries delivered.
Subscribing to a Meal Kit service.
Purchasing more premade foods like salad kits, frozen dinners, or rotisserie chickens from your deli.
Try a meal planning service or app if you like to cook but struggle to decide what to make or make a grocery list.
Make a list or set up Pinterest boards with your family’s favorite meals to make meal planning and grocery shopping easier.
Systems to Create to Help Avoid the ADHD Tax
Creating a weekly schedule
Creating a daily schedule
Checking your bank account on a regular basis.
Setting up automatic bill payment.
Setting up automatic transfers to your savings account.
Decluttering your closets (because it’s much easier for you and your family to get dressed if you know what you have and what you actually wear).
Decluttering storage spaces in your home (because stuff is just going to compound and unfortunately, won’t magically disappear when it isn’t needed or used any longer)
Making checklists for regular tasks so you don’t miss steps and can easily delegate (be sure to check out my fully customizable 20 Home & Personal Checklists to get you started, which you can grab for $17)
Setting up routines and regular reminders on your digital assistant for things like going to bed at a reasonable hour or remembering which night is trash night.
And these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to places you can make an investment in up front that will pay dividends in terms of you feeling healthier, keeping the house in order, and staying on top of your busy life.
For any of the lifestyle and system suggestions I’ve given, know that you will need to invest a little time and perhaps a bit of money to set up.
You may also find that your investments need to be tweaked a bit to work for you and your family.
And you may need to revisit or maintain the investments if they are no longer working for you or have gone off the rails.
But I have yet to hear a client say “It really was a waste of my time to declutter and organize my kids clothes” or “I’m using my checklists consistently but and they help but I’m going to go back to forgetting steps and making more mistakes.”
And if you’re struggling to implement your time investments or aren’t really sure where to start, I’d love to help. My programs are specifically designed to help support you in managing your busy life as a mom and business owner with ADHD. If you’d like to learn more about how I can help you achieve the success you know is possible while juggling mom life, click below to book your free, no-obligation clarity call with me.
