Managing your money with ADHD can be a struggle. But it doesn’t have to be: Here’s how
8 mins read
Published Nov 29, 2025
Managing finances and admin tasks is tough for everyone, but with ADHD, it’s a whole different struggle. Routine? Boring. Admin? Avoided. Budgeting? Overwhelming.
If that’s you, don’t worry, it’s not about trying harder, it’s about approaching it differently. These ADHD-friendly guidelines can help you take back control of your finances and subscriptions without overwhelm.
ADHD and Money: Why It’s So Hard
Even high-performing founders, creatives, and professionals with ADHD struggle with the same thing: avoiding repetitive, boring, and admin heavy tasks (basically anything less fun). Managing your money and subscriptions? That’s all of those things.
Letting this go unmanaged can quickly turn into a disaster, especially for people running businesses or juggling large numbers of payments.
Did you know?
Adults with ADHD are 4x more likely to miss bill payments, more likely to exceed credit card limits, and often end up with poor credit ratings.
This isn’t just forgetfulness, it’s a direct result of how ADHD impacts executive function: budgeting, organising, tracking, and following through.
1. Reframe “Budgeting” to Something That Doesn’t Suck
The word budgeting sounds like an ADHD person’s definition of hell. It feels restrictive, suited to accountants, and probably reminds you of being broke on a backpacking trip with €20 trying to get across five countries.
So let’s reframe it.
Think of it as visibility. Knowing where your money is going is the first step. Not a 19-column spreadsheet, just a simple view:
What’s coming in
What’s going out and to what
What’s leaking out
As Jim Rohn said: “I simply don’t know where it all goes.”
If you don’t measure it, it’s leaking somewhere.
You can build this habit manually or use tools that connect to your accounts and auto-categorize spending (this is better). That way, the system does the hard part and you just check in on a set date each month (and maybe cry a little, but that’s nature healing).
2. Simplicity + Automation = ADHD proof
ADHD brains love a good 1am Red Bull-powered system-building session, but those 50 tab workflows you got excited about usually last 2 days. Complexity kills your ability to be consistent.
Here’s the rule: simplify first. Automate second.
Start with just 2-3 categories (buckets):
Core bills
Spending
Savings (even small)
Tax (yes, don’t forget this one)
Then use tools or neobanks that let you:
Auto-separate income into different buckets/accounts. You could set up an account or even a whole neobank for each bucket with its own card/cards.
Set rules so money coming in is automatically moved to the different buckets.
Apps like Revolut, Monzo, Wise, or any that support auto-transfers can help a ton here.
3. Use Tools That Take the Work Off You
Manual budgeting is often a dead-end for ADHD, spreadsheets get lost, and if it’s not fun, it’s forgotten.
Instead, rely on tools that:
Connect to your bank (or let you upload statements)
Auto-sort your subscriptions and spending
Automatically alert you when bills are due or budgets are exceeded
Push notifications and visual summaries are far more ADHD-friendly than checking a sheet every week.
AI is soon going to make budgeting and managing finances way more efficient and automated.
Visuals:
Use phone widgets, sticky notes, or anything visual to surface your key financial reminders.
If you don’t see it regularly, you’ll likely forget it.
4. If It’s Not in Your Calendar, It Doesn’t Exist
Reminders help. But notifications alone often hit you at the worst time, mid-task, late at night, or during a meeting, annnd you’ll forget again.
The key is multiple visual cues at different times:
Push notifications from a finance app
Scheduled calendar events (monthly “Money Hour”)
Physical reminders (whiteboards, post-its, etc.)
Even better, align due dates (subscriptions, rent, payroll, etc.) to the same day of the month if possible. That way, you only need one dedicated time block to handle everything.
You can negotiate this with providers, it will save you a lot of headaches.
5. If all fails, get an Accountability Partner
This one works almost every time.
You don’t need to share how broke you are or sensitive financial details. Just find someone who agrees to do a monthly 1–2 hour money co-working session.
It can be on Zoom or In-person. Treat it like coworking, both of you audit your finances, set goals, and do the boring stuff together.
Social accountability pushes you past the discomfort. Once it’s on the calendar and someone else is showing up, you’re far more likely to follow through.
Start Small Then Build
If managing money feels like chaos right now, don’t try to “fix it all” this weekend. Start with visibility and one or two automations. Then stack it on over time
Money management is like a muscle, it gets stronger with regular reps. As you see there are simple ways to automate, it gets easier and less daunting.
How Orbit Can Help
At Orbit, our mission is to make this process way easier.
We’re starting with subscription tracking, because it’s one of the most common (and invisible) ways people lose money. But that’s just the beginning.
We’re building toward smarter tools that use bank data + AI to:
Track spending automatically
Detect forgotten subscriptions
Notify you
Help you cancel or switch
Show you easy ways to save, without extra friction
We want to make personal finance feel less like a chore and more like something that takes care of itself. So you can focus on more of what you love, and less on what you don’t.
Beta testing is opening soon. Join the waitlist for early member lifetime perks.
