How To Thrive with ADHD Without Going Broke!

There are so many ways that adults can thrive with ADHD without going broke! And in this post I’m going to lay them all out! You will learn some very practical strategies that won’t cost YOU any money that you can take action on right now, and how to thrive with ADHD without going broke!

Most people do start with either medication, dietary changes, different therapies, homeopathy, a homeopathic or a naturopath, and supplements, just to name a few. Heck, I have even seen ADHD coaches out out there offering their services to a specific audience, like moms. All of that is great, and I probably would benefit with an ADHD coach myself! However, all of those solutions do cost money. Yes, I know you get what pay for most of the time, and the more expensive something is, the better it is! Most often, very cheap or bargain items like clothes or furniture are not the very best quality, hence they don’t last very long. But thankfully, some things like ADHD, do not fit into that category!

What is ADHD?

As I have mentioned previously in this post, ADHD is an actual disorder, which can affect brain function, memory, attention and focus, and impulse and bodily control. So, it definitely is a real disorder, and can affect daily life of the person with ADHD. So, this is why parents and teachers alike are trying to come up with solutions to help students, and even adults with ADHD. It is important to teach children and adults how they can live their best life despite their symptoms, and give them resources and tips for managing their symptoms so they can function in society.

I am still working on all of these tips I am sharing with you today! I have not overcome ADHD with a magic pill, so I don’t want you to think that I don’t have symptoms anymore. I still do! However, I have learned a lot this past year about my ADHD, how my brain works, and what helps and what doesn’t. So, I want to pass along what I have learned. And the BEST part again, is its all FREE!

Why are Adults with ADHD Seeking Help for Themselves or Their Children?

The first word of ADHD is Attention, and I think this is the basis for everything people with ADHD struggle with. If we can strengthen our focus and control our attention, then I think that is the secret to everything!

Most people do start with either medication, dietary changes, different therapies, homeopathy, a homeopathic or a naturopath, and supplements, just to name a few. Heck, I have even seen ADHD coaches out out there offering their services to a specific audience, like moms. All of that is great, and I probably would benefit with an ADHD coach myself! However, all of those solutions do cost money. And lots s of it sometimes. Yes, I know you get what pay for most of the time, and the more expensive something is, the better it is! Most often, very cheap or bargain items like clothes or furniture are not the very best quality, hence they don’t last very long. But thankfully, some things like ADHD, do not fit into that category!

Adults are diagnosed or they self diagnose themselves, then they start looking into ways to help their symptoms, which again are limited attention span, limited focus, and high impulsiveness. I will go ahead and say that most of us didn’t gain great learning strategies growing up, because there weren’t any in the 90’s! Now you may be adult, and getting jobs, or having a family, and you are wondering how in the world did you get through life? Well, nothing is wrong with you! We just were not taught how to cope, and manage our ADHD as we grew into adulthood. And you know why?

Because most kids, teens, and adults just learn the skills naturally to function in society and into productive adults, and we learn differently, because we are different. We are neuro divergent and that is ok! I believe instruction and education need to be more intentional with children/teens/and even adults with ADHD. Education also needs to be more individualized for each kid, special needs or not, but don’t even get me started on that soapbox!

What is the Problem?

The problem is so many parents want to help their children with their ADHD naturally, but they feel like all they can afford is medication because their insurance pays for it or some of it. They may want to try different methods, but they may not have the funds or even the time to research other ways. So they end up giving up, and just going the medication route, which is ok if you feel like you have no other choice. But…there are also other little known ways you can teach your children and train your own self how to thrive with adhd without going broke! And finally…. let’s get to the tips!

How to Thrive with ADHD Without Going Broke!

Tip 1: Declutter Your Space!

If all we see in our house is clutter, and things on the floor instead of put away, then it’s probably time to declutter! Why? Because its a visual reminder that we need to clean up, or we need to put that away, and that can get overwhelming. When we put it off because its overwhelming, then it builds up even more and turns into this big task. Then we don’t want to do it even more! But seeing it, and knowing it’s there every day can set up a spiral of negative self talk, which can lead to more overwhelm, poor confidence, lack of motivation, and lowered attention span. We spend so much time beating ourselves up over our failures, and that takes up all of our attention! To make it easy, I’ve got short, step by step instructions.

• Do one room at a time
• If that’s too overwhelming, try decluttering a small area or space first, like a junk drawer.

Tip 2: Start an Easy, Daily Cleaning Routine

I know you’re still probably wondering what cleaning has to do with ADHD. Here’s the lowdown: we can’t focus on anything we really want to focus on and we can’t finish anything because our house is full of junk! Our floors, surfaces, coffee tables, kitchen tables, desks, closets, islands are mostly full of junk that we can’t concentrate on anything other than our junk and the negative self talk starts again. The point of this tip is start good habits, so we can get some momentum toward even better habits!

• Only start 1 new thing at a time. Wash dishes every day for a week or 2, then add in washing a load of laundry every day. Then add in something else you always feel you’re behind in.
• When it becomes a habit, you don’t have to think about it. It just gets done! And that is what we need- we don’t need to “think about” one more thing! We need to save our attention and brain space for more important things, like our spouse and family!
• Pro tip- Don’t start the laundry unless the dryer is already empty! Trust me. I know I just told you to wash a load every day, but if you aren’t ready to take the dry clothes out, then what makes you think you’re going to take 2 loads out? Don’t do that to yourself

Tip 3: Teach Your Kids How to Pick up after Themselves

This may seem hard at first, and you will be tempted to just do it yourself. #beentheredonethat However, teaching them how to clean up after themselves, helps you out more in the long run! You will be able to save your attention for more important things other than cleaning up toys and your children’s things. And if it’s your child or children that have adhd, and not you the parent, then hello, its great for them too! It’s never too early for children with adhd to learn good habits!

• Show them how to clean up, and where each toy goes.
• If you don’t have toy bins or containers, this may cost you money, but its worth it! Have a bin or container for each toy item, like magna blocks in one, legos in one, wooden blocks in one, mega blocks in one, cars in one, etc. Can you tell I have a 5 year old boy?
• If you want to go the extra mile, you can put pictures of the toys on the bins. I have not gone that extra step, and not sure that I will yet, but its always an option!

Tip 4: Limit Technology

Like I said above, even people who don’t have ADHD have problems focusing their attention on things more than a few minutes. Why? Because of technology like our phones that notify us of every little thing, and even if you turn your notifications off, you are still tempted to pick up that phone every few minutes to check it. I have noticed a huge decrease with my attention span the last few years and I think its because I am so distracted by my phone, and fb messenger, and podcasts, and personal development things, apps for my business, etc. It is a lot! We are bombarded by ads (that are great are marketing I will give them that) but it’s not helping us in the long run. So here are a few tips for making this transition.

• Start with yourself first. How are you going to set boundaries for your kids, if you can’t even follow the boundaries for yourself?
• If your at home with all your children and husband, have a designated spot for your phones, and maybe only check them once a day.
• Tell important people to send you a fb message if they really need to get a hold of you, and check messages on your computer a couple times a day.
• If your kids go to school or preschool, and your spouse works away from the house, then leave it close enough to hear it ring but far enough so you have to get up to go get it. Don’t make it so easy to access while you’re at home, or working, or homeschooling the kids. Don’t feel bad for leaving it out, I leave mine out during the week because my son goes to preschool while I homeschool my daughter.
• If you get tempted to scroll facebook or instagram when you wake up (guilty), delete the app at a set time like 9 or 10 pm, and you can put it back on the next day at your designated check your phone time.
• Have a set time for children to have access to ipads, or video games, phones or the computer. It helps to have rules in place where they can see them regarding screen time. List the rules and specific times they can be on technology, and even list the consequences if they break the rules.
• Don’t give them phones or ipads too early! They will live, I promise! It only sets them up to be addicted to screens. Trust me, I know this all too well.
• If they have phones or ipads/computers, have a designated place for them to go after they have their screen time.
• Don’t let them keep them in their rooms overnight.
• Do make sure you have their phones set where you have to approve any apps before they download any new ones.
• Limit their apps. Too many apps are distracting, and overwhelming.

Tip 5: Unsubscribe or Start a New Email

You may be just like me, and have subscribed to soo many email lists for that coupon that we didn’t end up using, and then we are subscribed to so many things we can’t keep up with our inbox! If we forget to check it every day, then it builds up and makes it so overwhelming to keep on top of it, and unsubscribe from email lists. So as Simply This Life on youtube talks about in this video, just start a new email!

• Save the new email for important emails like family, personal correspondence, kids school or sports updates, pictures, etc.
• Keep the old email for email lists, coupons, sales, etc.
• Set a timer for 5-10 minutes a week or a day depending on how many emails you get daily, and unsubscribe from the old list until it is more manageable.

If you’re still wondering how this will help gain our attention back, just think about the correlation of not being able to go to sleep because our brains won’t shut off because we are replaying the day, how it went, how it could have gone better, why did my kid do that, maybe I should try this next time, I forgot to make that dentist or doctor appointment, or I forgot to start the dishwasher, oh man the kitchen or the living room is a mess because I didn’t get to it this evening like I wanted, and on and on and on it can go

This is the same with our email. When we see how many unread emails we have, first we may get distracted and not find the email we needed to read in the first place, or we may end up buying something that we didn’t need because hey we got a coupon or it was on sale. That can turn into a rabbit trail and we end up forgetting what it was we needed to read in the first place! And we get overwhelmed with how many emails we get, so we may try to unsubscribe, but we quickly realize that its stressful, not fun, overwhelming, and so we quit. However the emails just keep coming. We can’t find the important ones, or we miss the important ones. This task and our unread emails are looming over us like a heavy, dark cloud. We know they are there, and it’s taking our attention off of more important things, so let’s just give ourselves a break and start a new email!

Tip 6: Prioritize

This is something I need to get better at myself! The word prioritize means to designate or treat something as more important than other things.

Part of the reason most ADHD adults and even children think we can’t reach goals, or we can’t be consistent enough to get better or reach a certain goal, is because we are not being intentional and prioritizing things! We want to think and get better at all the things (reality check, no one is good at everything) at the same time, so what happens? We end up not getting better at anything, and not reaching any goals because we didn’t focus on the most important things to get us there! Below, are some ways to be more intentional with our time, and determine our priorities!

• Make a list of things that are important to you, and this will be the basis of all of your priorities and intentions (family time in the evening, getting places on time, a work project, health and wellness, kids sports, fitness, outdoor time, etc)
• Each week brain dump a list of a few things that must get done, and a few things that you need to get done, and 1 thing you want to get done, along with recurring activities such as sports or kids activities, or co ops that are the same every week (this could be make kids dentist appointment, go to that doctor appointment, or the kids have this activity or sport going on on this day and time)
• Then make a calendar/schedule and write down 3 things a day to get done
• You can do all your must haves on the same day to get them out of the way such as making phone calls, or paying that bill
• Or you can do 1 or 2 must haves, and then do 1 or 2 needs or wants every day
• For the things on your want list, try having a goal in mind or written down that you want to reach (financially, biz related, work related, personal) and only list 1 small step on the way to achieve that goal on your daily list

Tip 7: Time Blocking

Ok, I admit, I haven’t attempted this one yet! Mostly because I feel like I can’t control my time, so I have not even tried to make a daily schedule in so long. However this is something I would like to get better at, so I’m going to start a small time blocking schedule for my afternoons, and maybe for the weekend. Time blocking is when you block out time in your schedule for a specific task, and only do that task for that amount of time. When the time is up, you move on to something else. Here are a few tips so I can achieve this in my own real life:

First, be aware of where you think you’re lacking as far as things not getting done when you want them to get done, and start with 1-2 tasks a day to start off with. For me that would look like meal planning, any things I need to turn in for my sons preschool, going through artwork and throwing some away, returning phone calls, and just a general keeping up with stuff and life can be hard for me. So be aware of the tasks that you want to get better at, and those are the things you are going to put in your time blocking schedule!

• If you’re just starting out, just start out with 30 minutes to an hour of a task on your schedule.
• Make the daily steps attainable, so you feel like you can actually achieve that step that day, plus checking off a to do item gives you the confidence and the momentum to keep going
• Group similar tasks together, like phone calls the first 20-30 minutes, and then another task such as meal planning or paying bills the next 20-30 minutes
• Do the hardest task first, so you can get that out of the way! For me, that would probably be phone calls and making appointment 🙂 I wish it wasn’t, but it is! I hate making and returning phone calls- does anyone else feel me on that one?
• Once you master an hour or so a day of a time blocking schedule, then maybe add in 30 more minutes.
• The time blocks don’t have to be back to back! You can do 30 minutes here, and 30 minutes there, or whatever time you think will work best.
• Keep the same tasks on the same days to keep it consistent, such as on Mondays and Wednesdays you make or return phone calls and make appointments, and on Tuesdays you go through school papers and make decisions and sign papers or forms, on Thursdays you pay bills and check bank statements etc., and on Fridays you meal plan and prepare for the weekend or the week ahead. Online grocery shopping would be on my schedule.

The Last Thing You Need to Know About How to Thrive with ADHD Without Going Broke

I know that was a lot, but it is all FREE things at least!

Now, the LAST thing you need to do for your ADHD is to try to do ALL of these at once, and then get overwhelmed and then think, “That mermaid Tara didn’t know what she was talking about! It didn’t work for me!”

Well, maybe it didn’t work because you tried to do it all at once, and that isn’t the point of this post. The point was giving you easy and actionable strategies that won’t cost you any money! So take baby steps, and just start with one step. I have learned, if it’s not easy, I won’t do it! Start with something that gives you an easy win almost immediately, even if it’s small results.

One more thing before I sign off. If you are like me, and aren’t sure which one to start with, and which one would make the biggest impact, and which one would be the perfect first step, yadda yadda yadda, and then if you start overthinking everything… stop!

There will never be the perfect first step. There will never be the perfect place to start. Just because you choose one, doesn’t mean things are going to fall apart in the other tips I laid out. Does that make sense? I hope it does. Just remember, the best place to start is the one you choose is the best! Most people think that to focus on something new, that other areas of your life will either get worse, or fall apart because you’re not giving your attention to those other things. But, if we give our attention on starting too many new things, then we will get discouraged and quit. And I don’t want that for you friend!

I want you to thrive with your ADHD without going broke!

I hope this helps you, and if you know another mom with ADHD, or you know a Mom with a child with ADHD, please share this article with them! This is a GREAT first place to start in the ADHD journey!

Catch you on the flip side!

Tara