ADHD Tax Examples

You may or may not have heard of the term ‘ADHD tax’ before, but if you have ADHD, then I promise that you have definitely paid it, and I’m about to give you some ADHD tax examples to prove it.

Let me virtually hold your hand while I help you understand the ADHD tax, why you pay more for stuff than neurotypical folks, and how you can get a handle on it.

What is the ADHD tax?

The term “ADHD tax” refers to the financial cost that is incurred directly from having this condition. Having ADHD can cost us a lot of money in lots of hidden ways due to our forgetfulness or low executive function. 

What are some ADHD tax examples?

Here are some ADHD tax examples and the hidden costs of ADHD:

Forgetting to cancel subscriptions

I can’t count how many times I have started a subscription that I either a) only needed for a short time for something specific b) just wanted to have a free trial of or c) just ended up not using enough to justify the costs. But do you think I ever cancelled my unused subs in good time? NO. Do you think I learned my lesson for the next free trial? NO. Do you think I’m still annoyed that I paid for Disney+ for a whole year just to watch Catfish: The TV Show for one month???? Yes!! 

Sometimes I genuinely want and like the subscription, but I completely space out about its existence, so it goes unused anyway. 

Not remembering to pay bills on time

This one’s a stinger if they’re really important bills too. You might end up paying late fees, financial penalties, or getting transferred to a debt agency. This is the most stressful of all the ADHD taxes in my opinion because it doesn’t just make you feel silly or cost you a tenner here and there, these types of missed payments can have genuine big life consequences. 

Paying more for food

This can happen in a few different ways.

• You buy lots of nice, healthy veggies and fruit, then suddenly lose all executive function, and they rot in the fridge.
• You constantly seek easy dopamine in food and pay a fortune for snacks. 
• You end up buying a lot of convenience food because you’re too overwhelmed or exhausted to cook.
• You don’t remember to bring your lunch to work most days and have to buy a meal deal from Tesco in a panic!

Impulse control + online shopping

Having shops that can deliver to you with a few presses of a button when you have a severe lack of dopamine is dangerous. There are a lot of new and shiny things out there, and your impulsivity can be a massive financial burden at times. 

Which leads me into the next ADHD tax…

Always needed something new 

For me, it’s water bottles and glasses/mugs. I have a favourite everything in my house, and often that favourite thing will change, and I will absolutely hate using it. I won’t drink enough water once I’ve suddenly become bored or disinterested in the water bottle I’m using. When I get a new water bottle or glass that is more exciting for me to use, I will drink lots of water. 

The same with clothes, I change my clothes about three times a day because I start to feel really disgusting or overstimulated in them after a couple of hours, and this creates more washing, which adds to my bills. 

Replacing lost items

I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you how frustrating it is to constantly lose things, have to rebuy them, only for the original item to occasionally reappear. 

My forgetfulness and disorganisation are consistently having me lose my stuff and buy it again.

Interest charges

Whether it’s going past the promotional window of your credit, impulsively getting into debt with higher interest rates, or accidentally dipping into your overdraft every month. Interest charges tend to rack up somehow, and you may end up paying more for things than most people.

Not returning things

I am awful for this. If something doesn’t fit, or it turns up and it’s not the right item, I generally end up absorbing the cost because I either forget to return it, or I overthink the steps of returning it to the point of running out of time.

I successfully managed to return one item recently, and oh man… what a buzz!! 

Losing jobs/work hours

This is one of the hardest ones for a lot of people with ADHD. It might be that you don’t last long at jobs, so you flit from gig to gig. Or you might be self-employed and have to work double the hours just to focus on tasks, while not getting paid double the amount. You might find that your procrastination levels are through the roof and you end up missing deadlines.

Struggling at work is so common, and I find it one of the most stressful parts of having ADHD. Not only does it affect your ability to earn money and that has a knock-on effect, but it can make you feel like you’re further behind than you need to be. 

How to manage the ADHD tax 

The ADHD is both a financial and emotional burden of having this condition, because the emotional costs of not having enough money, or not being able to earn as much, keeps you stuck in a cycle that is hard to get out of.

And while I can’t reduce the burden for you or fix your financial struggles, I can help you in a tiny way, to pay less of the ADHD tax by sharing what has worked for me.

Here are some things I do that help towards minimising the ADHD tax: 

Pay less food ADHD tax

I used to have very good intentions with food and do great for a few weeks. I’d buy all the veggies, make my own sauces, make everything from scratch. It would save me money for all of those few weeks (if I made it that far), and then in the end it would cost me more because it would all rot in my fridge during the low periods and I’d have to buy convenient food/takeaways. 

Then I consulted an ADHD nutritionist who simply said, paying the ADHD tax up front with pre-cut veggies and ready-to-cook food will cost you less in the long run. So now, I do still have to pay a little extra, but it’s a loss less than buying shopping twice or buying takeaways. 

I also always make sure I eat protein in the morning in whatever way that comes, whether it’s the boiled eggs they sell in the meal deal aisle at Tesco or a bit of leftover chicken. It helps me with over snacking through the day.

Setting up automatic payments

If forgetting to pay your bills on time is a big thing for you, standing orders and direct debits are something you should definitely set up for your most important bills. I used to always get red letters for late payments on my council tax until I set up a direct debit. Everything is set to come out the day after I get paid. Now all I have to worry about is remembering the direct debits exist and not to plan anything with the money that is due to come out!

Limit impulse purchases

We all know a little purchase here and there is the dopamine dream. Online shopping and next-day delivery have made this far too easy! 

Sometimes those little purchases can be a fortune and really affect your budget, and could get you into debt. 

A few things I do to curb this are set spending limits with my bank and block shopping apps during times when I know I’m going to be tempted to browse for new shiny things. 

Use your ADHD to your advantage

The art of not remembering is the forte of the ADHDer and one of the main reasons we end up having such high financial and emotional costs. 

BUT, how our ADHD brain works can actually work to our advantage in some ways. For example, I set up a Plum account years ago, had it take out automatic savings and round-ups from any payments I made, and because it was a separate app to my bank, I completely FORGOT that it existed. 

When I finally remembered it was there, I had saved hundreds! 

I’m not saying you will do the same, because nowadays banks send you notifications of payments taken and you have to relink your account every so many months, but it still works for me because I keep forgetting every month that my Plum account exists! It is one way I can save money, because goodness knows I’m absolutely terrible at doing it on my own.

Your thoughts on these ADHD tax examples

If you’re an adult with ADHD, I see you. If just living with ADHD costs you more than a person who isn’t neurodivergent, I see you!

The impact of the ADHD tax and the cost of executive dysfunction is hard to live with; it feels incredibly unfair. We all know that living with a disability costs more but the financial strain of ADHD in general day-to-day life isn’t talked about nearly enough.

I would love to hear about your experiences and if you relate to these ADHD tax examples. Do your ADHD symptoms cost you more money? Is the burden of the ADHD tax getting you down? Have you found some clever ADHD-friendly systems or financial tasks that have saved you from overpaying for everything? 

Let us know in the comments!

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