[Craig]

I’m not good at budgets, but I am good at paying bills and keeping my check-book balanced. Here’s what works for me. Mail coming in has it’s own small table, a letter opener, and a garbage can. A lot of mail gets thrown out without opening it. It feels good to go directly from mailbox to trash. Bills go into a small pile, everything else I want to keep or look through later goes away – to anywhere else to get this stuff away from the bills.

Here’s the magic that makes this all work. I write down the amount of the bill on the envelope. I also write the date the bill is due on the envelope. Since I work for myself, I mark each envelope with an “H” or a “W” for home or work. Then I sort this little pile – the bill that needs to be paid first is on top. This little table is in a high traffic area that I pass many times every day.

When a bill is due or there is a pretty good pile of them, I take the bills to the computer and pay them online or write a check. At the same time, I enter what I did into Quicken – similar to what anonymousgirl does. My monthly bank statement ends up in the pile of bills and when I get a statement, I do the “reconciliation” on the spot.

It’s not exactly budgeting, but I can create reports in Quicken that let me know how much I spent last year at the grocery store, cash, credit cards, utilities, etc.

It’s finally a habit to do all of this – a very good habit for me. My bills are always paid on time and my checkbook always balances. It’s great to have this little part of my life organized and working well.

REPORT ABUSE

[Craig]

About 8 years ago, I moved from a noisy city to a small, quiet town. One new noise that really bothered me was water hitting the stainless steel kitchen sink. I replaced it with a cast iron sink. Much better.

Many years ago, I started using noise canceling headphones for plane travel. The headphones helped me arrive less agitated than without them. I can handle noise OK, but really prefer quiet for the most part. However, for reading, I like to have music playing, or even the TV going in the background.

When I was married, my wife at the time bought a sound therapy machine that created an irritating, low rumbling sound. It was really agitating to me. Without knowing about the sound machine, I complained about the irritating noise. It was immediately a real point of contention between us. I told her I didn’t want it on when I was in the house.

I didn’t know anything about ADD until a few weeks ago. All this time, I thought my noise aversion was just an odd quirk of mine, but it seems to be fairly common with ADDers. Wish I’d known about this sooner.

REPORT ABUSE

[Craig]

Until a few weeks ago, I didn’t know what ADD was. Now I realize I’ve been struggling with organizing issues for many, many years. I’ve done well in a some areas, but have a lot of work to do in others. What I’ve done well is I always know where my keys are now. They are either in my pocket or on top of the dresser. It’s not only my keys, it’s everything in all my pockets that go on top of the dresser. Years ago, before all the airport security, I flew to Colorado Springs without my wallet. Without any money and no ID, I couldn’t rent a car or pay for a taxi. I walked to the hotel, talked my way into getting a room, and was able to have my wallet sent to me overnight. Since then, everything in my pockets go onto the dresser and in the morning, everything goes back into my pockets. Problem solved.

At work and home, I’ve had problems getting the paperwork done and on time. I love working but hate the paper work. My job evaluations included doing a good job, but falling short on reporting and late time sheets. I’m getting better at organizing reporting materials and filling out time sheets, if not every day, at least by the end of the week. At home, I open mail in one place next to a trash can. For bills, I write the amount and the due date on envelope and then circle these 2 items. I don’t know why I circle them, maybe just for emphasis. Bills are sorted, the one due the soonest is on top. The bills are in a highly visible location that is seen many times every day. This has become a good habit and the bills are always paid on time.

Piles of stuff. I’m still struggling with this one. I always thought that because I read so much and have so many varied interests, I was bound to have piles of stuff. At one time, I had two offices practically piled to the ceiling. I ignored it for a long time, but the one time I came in on a weekend to clean it up, it was a depressing excercise. I went back to my old way of only going through the piles and filing things when I needed to find a critical piece of paper. As soon as I found the paper I needed, I would stop organizing and throwing paper away.

Even worse, I still take notes in meetings and jot down notes or doodle while on the phone. I rarely look at any of this later, it just adds to the various piles. I think writing notes or doodling helps me concentrate or at least not be bored.

I’ve managed to keep a few rooms in the house almost completely uncluttered – the living room, dining room, and kitchen. When a friend came over for the first time, she commented that I was the neatest, most organized man in town. Little does she know.

REPORT ABUSE

[Author]

Posts