BY MARLEY FLEUGER
Every Monday morning, like clockwork, my phone pings with the same message from a friend:
“Time block b!”
For the past two and a half years, it’s been her nudge to sit down and organize my week. Left to my own devices, I’ll juggle half a dozen projects in my head, start and stop tasks at random, and crash into functional freeze mode by lunchtime.
But with that one text, I’m reminded: Oh, right. I can plan ahead.
I’ve never felt embarrassed about that. My ADHD brain works the way it works, so I build systems around it. But last Christmas, I realized I’d been withholding the same grace from my finances.
The realization arrived first thing in the morning, when I checked my phone and saw an $850 autopay charge from my health insurance. Joy to the world! My premium had tripled for the new year.
My stomach dropped. I hadn’t even planned to renew that plan. I also hadn’t opened the email titled “IMPORTANT: YOUR NEW RATE,” because that is exactly the kind of thing I file as a future-me problem and forget.
Out of sight, out of mind, until the autopay hits.
The truth was, my finances were built in exactly the way my brain struggles most: multiple cards, autopays firing at random intervals, important emails buried among newsletters and junk mail. Numbers floating around in my head.
Instead of building systems, I’d been trying to white-knuckle it alone –– which, obviously, wasn’t working.
Instead of building systems, I’d been trying to white-knuckle it alone –– which, obviously, wasn’t working.
So, I decided to call in my people.
- A friend who’s also ND and I created a Sunday spending check-in to track our spending weekly.
- My roommate and I log shared expenses in a live document instead of Venmos that pile up and lose meaning.
- My partner and I set a weekly “going out” cap, and stick to cooking at home once we hit it.
None of these systems are complicated. They’re simply shared routines with a body double that keep money out in the open and hold each other accountable.
And like that Monday morning text, I lean on my community to remind me: Oh, right. I can plan ahead.
