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

Where Is My Money Going? | Detecting Invisible Spending Leaks with ADHD“Ever check your bank account and think… ‘Wait, where did all of it go?’”

The impact of small, unnoticed expenses on overall finances

Practical tips for mindful spending and tracking

The importance of regular, brief financial check-ins

How to use habits and routines to improve money management

What You'll Learn:

The impact of small, unnoticed expenses on overall finances

Practical tips for mindful spending and tracking

The importance of regular, brief financial check-ins

How to use habits and routines to improve money management

Vote the Women Podcasters Award Here: https://debtrebelpodcast.com/

Podcast Disclaimer:

This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only. As a financial coach, I share insights, strategies, and tools to help you make more confident decisions with your money—but personal finance is personal. Your situation, priorities, and goals are unique, and what works for one person may not be the right fit for you.

This content should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. I encourage you to seek guidance from a trusted financial professional who can understand your full financial picture and provide personalized recommendations.

Additionally, while we may discuss topics related to stress, habits, and behavior, I am not a licensed medical or mental health professional. Any insights shared are based on personal experience and research and are not intended to diagnose, treat, or replace professional medical or psychological advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for support in those areas.

By listening to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are responsible for your own financial and personal decisions.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
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.

(00:23):
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 debtRebel community, and this is
part of the special series I'm doing just about the most
commonly asked questions. And maybe there are questions
that have been asked to me or questions that we kind of think

(00:44):
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

(01:06):
you another way that might work for you and your family.
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 haveworked 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

(01:29):
and tips that you could implement in your money
management system to see if theywork.
And we'd also do this inside of a coaching membership that I
have. And we do it as a community, but
we also have somebody doubling time.
So if you're like, hey, I reallyneed 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.

(01:51):
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.
And so I've, I've shared this story also in the past, but it's

(02:13):
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 littleapple out of the inside.

(02:34):
I was like, Oh my gosh, it was so good, right?
That was it. Every single time I walked by,
it was just one. 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

(02:58):
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. 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

(03:18):
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, whenwe go, when we go and use our
card somewhere and we're like, OK, we can tap our card and it's

(03:40):
the same action if we spend $100or if we spend $5, right?
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.

(04:03):
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 quicktaps or maybe those
subscriptions don't eat away at our financial goals.
So we want to also think about awareness without obsessing

(04:25):
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 beas 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

(04:46):
drinking coffee. Maybe it's, you know, Friday
morning and you're getting readyfor the weekend and you're
having your coffee in the morning or whatever it is
something that you enjoy. 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.

(05:09):
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.
So you're not having to stay consistent and depend on your

(05:30):
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 orif 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

(05:52):
said, part of a miniseries. And this is also to celebrate
that this show was nominated fora women podcaster award for the
second year in a row. 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

(06:13):
to, but I would love to continueto 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.
So thank you again for joining me and we'll see you in the next
episode. Thank you for tuning into the

(06:34):
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

(06:55):
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.
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.

(07:16):
Debt Rebel.