I keep a big roll of blue painter's tape in my kitchen drawer for marking the date on things in plastic bins in the fridge or freezer. AND I also use a big piece of that blue tape to tape across my front door to help me remember the thing I put by the door so I wouldn't forget it.
I began labeling everything during the pandemic bc I was the Head Chef and I wanted to avoid having to risk my life going to the store if I had enough ingredients on hand…but that tape on the door??? GENIUS
It is wild how many years (DECADES) I referred to and measured this personal "tax" as reflected by lost calculators and keys and late fees and missed appointments and just thought I was an inattentive asshole. Even after getting control of it as an adult and squeezing it out of my professional life, I still didn't realize it was an obvious symptom of ADHD for another decade.
Hi hi! Omg yes right? I thought I was just occasionally very stupid and careless for reasons I could not explain. Definitely when my shrink asked “did you forget or lose things a lot before the age of 12” it was like a slideshow in my brain….
I Felt this in my BONES. Especially the part about all the saving money hacks are just laughable (in a dark comedy kind of way) if you have ADHD. I have a long list of the same stories (including ridiculous amounts of money paying for library books and DVDs I lost, losing checks, losing cash, losing my purse, losing my CAR once because I forgot which parking garage I parked in and wandering for literally HOURS before I found it, etc etc etc). There are tricks that can help, but the most important thing you learn over time is to plan ahead as best you can and be kind to yourself. Thanks for helping me feel seen!!
On the list of the MANY reasons I put off learning to drive until I was 35 (!) is because of my Fear of Losing the Car. It was not unfounded. Thank god you can drop a pin in Google Maps....if you remember to do that....
It's not just the forgetful tax either. The impulse tax gets me a ton. Yes, I'll pick you up at the airport on Sunday. No, I won't remember and will spring for your rental because the drive is two hours and you work tomorrow.
I feel this real hard. Not ADHD in my case, but Parkie/depresh brain has zero memory retention these days. My latest smooth move is to pack all of my food so I don't have to buy expensive food on the road and then leave it on the airplane. So then I lose the nice less expensive healthy food AND I have to buy airport/hotel crap for $$$$. I like to announce "I WILL NOT FORGET THIS LATER" out loud, sometimes that triggers me to remember or a coworker who thinks I'm insane will follow up.
Also I have a million pill alarms on my phone that I often just turn off without taking the pills. I now hit SNOOZE until I take the pills and it does save my ass on the regular. The struggle is real.
My most frequent tax is paid out in hypervigilance, wasted time and ultimately mental fatigue because I obsessively check and recheck things so I don’t actually forget about and/or misplace them. AND YET sometimes I still screw up! Which is totally human. Really trying to focus on basic food, water, sleep and giving myself a pass for not being my best self when any of those things is off.
I keep a big roll of blue painter's tape in my kitchen drawer for marking the date on things in plastic bins in the fridge or freezer. AND I also use a big piece of that blue tape to tape across my front door to help me remember the thing I put by the door so I wouldn't forget it.
I began labeling everything during the pandemic bc I was the Head Chef and I wanted to avoid having to risk my life going to the store if I had enough ingredients on hand…but that tape on the door??? GENIUS
It is wild how many years (DECADES) I referred to and measured this personal "tax" as reflected by lost calculators and keys and late fees and missed appointments and just thought I was an inattentive asshole. Even after getting control of it as an adult and squeezing it out of my professional life, I still didn't realize it was an obvious symptom of ADHD for another decade.
Hi hi! Omg yes right? I thought I was just occasionally very stupid and careless for reasons I could not explain. Definitely when my shrink asked “did you forget or lose things a lot before the age of 12” it was like a slideshow in my brain….
I Felt this in my BONES. Especially the part about all the saving money hacks are just laughable (in a dark comedy kind of way) if you have ADHD. I have a long list of the same stories (including ridiculous amounts of money paying for library books and DVDs I lost, losing checks, losing cash, losing my purse, losing my CAR once because I forgot which parking garage I parked in and wandering for literally HOURS before I found it, etc etc etc). There are tricks that can help, but the most important thing you learn over time is to plan ahead as best you can and be kind to yourself. Thanks for helping me feel seen!!
On the list of the MANY reasons I put off learning to drive until I was 35 (!) is because of my Fear of Losing the Car. It was not unfounded. Thank god you can drop a pin in Google Maps....if you remember to do that....
It's not just the forgetful tax either. The impulse tax gets me a ton. Yes, I'll pick you up at the airport on Sunday. No, I won't remember and will spring for your rental because the drive is two hours and you work tomorrow.
I guess that's the combined impulse and forgetting 😆
I feel this real hard. Not ADHD in my case, but Parkie/depresh brain has zero memory retention these days. My latest smooth move is to pack all of my food so I don't have to buy expensive food on the road and then leave it on the airplane. So then I lose the nice less expensive healthy food AND I have to buy airport/hotel crap for $$$$. I like to announce "I WILL NOT FORGET THIS LATER" out loud, sometimes that triggers me to remember or a coworker who thinks I'm insane will follow up.
Also I have a million pill alarms on my phone that I often just turn off without taking the pills. I now hit SNOOZE until I take the pills and it does save my ass on the regular. The struggle is real.
oh god, yeah, horse of a different color but still a BIG OL SHITTY BRAIN HORSE.
I am always ignoring my pill alarms. ALWAYS.
I think my horse wants Ivermectin.
literal LOL
My most frequent tax is paid out in hypervigilance, wasted time and ultimately mental fatigue because I obsessively check and recheck things so I don’t actually forget about and/or misplace them. AND YET sometimes I still screw up! Which is totally human. Really trying to focus on basic food, water, sleep and giving myself a pass for not being my best self when any of those things is off.
I FEEL THIS.