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50 examples of the ADHD Tax!

Ok, so what is the ADHD tax? It’s the extra costs of living with ADHD which over a lifetime is likely to be an eye-watering amount.

Below are examples of where the ADHD tax bites, where it costs us to be how we are – all of these I have personal experience of. Everyone with ADHD operates differently from each other but by all means check down the list for how many of these you identify with and add your own examples:

1. Magazine Subscription not cancelled
2. Free trial not cancelled before full price kicks in
3. Fees for dental treatment as result of not going to check-ups regularly
4. MOT and repair costs for your car due to not keeping up with servicing
5. Cost of all of those obsessions/hyperfocus where you brought everything for a new hobby that you discarded after a few months
6. Speeding/parking tickets due to inattention
7. Replacing lost items with new ones due to forgetfulness
8. Replacing broken items that you inexplicably damaged in the most novel ways
9. Buying stuff even though you already had some but forgot you had them
10. Wasted food/fruit due to irregular eating habits
11. Costs of solicitors etc to put right past errors or failure to complete legal forms previously
12. Cost of binge-eating/drinking as way of blocking emotions
13. Cost of addictions (alcohol, drugs, gambling etc)
14. Cost of procrastinating i.e. booking last minute  holidays/shows
15. Wasted money on greetings cards that end up in a draw and never used
16. Spending on prescriptions when buying a pre-payment certificate would have been cheaper
17. Impulse or buying clothes/products etc that you bore of within weeks (buzz of Amazon deliveries dropping)
18. Shows you buy tickets to but on the day call off due to low energy/shyness/lack of motivation etc
19. Cost of fines when you don’t pay on time and they then climb
20. Cost of coaching/therapy
21. Insurance costs increasing for income protection/car/life due to extra risks with being neurodivergent
22. Cost of overdrafts when going into red due to poor money management
23. Cost of leases/credit agreements entered into on a whim and not needed
24. Cost of car repairs and increased insurance due to causing damage due to rushing /inattention
25. Cost of home repairs due to poor DIY and inability to ask for help!
26. Cost of food delivery services when unmotivated to cook nourishing meals
27. Costs of trying to turn back time hankering for happier and less complicated times (buying old games consoles/retro magazines & books etc)
28. Cost of fear – example being an anti-choking device on Facebook that was a scam but driven by videos of kids choking
29. Cost of boredom – we love novelty and jump at the chance to replace a phone, device, even a car (over 25 cars in 34 years)
30. Lack of planning ahead leading to buying extra goods at inflated prices at airport pre-holiday
31. Gym membership that you signed up for keenly with excitement and used for  a few weeks
32. Course that you signed up for but didn’t complete paperwork for certificate
33. Cost of replacing spare car key when handing back lease car end of term (and finding it later!!)
34. Replacing smashed crockery and glasses (regular occurrence)
35. Cost of missed flights and rebooking later ones due to inattentiveness
36. Cost of emergency passport due to not planning ahead and replacing upon approaching expiry
37. Cost of helping others with grand gestures out of kindness (or need to be liked??)
38. Buying plants that you then neglect or over-feed
39.. The cost of impulsiveness such as booking activities on holiday without thinking it through
40. Buying a treatment e.g. tooth whitening and then by the time you go to use it the expiry date has long passed and it is useless
41. Overdue fees for library books
42. Failing to plan for tax bills (self assessment) and then paying interest payments to pay owed amounts in instalments
43. Lack of savings meaning need to maintain house by taking out credit for jobs and paying interest
44. Spending on credit and getting excited about how much the credit limit is. Then paying exorbitant interest fees for years
45. Non-financial costs to self esteem and relationships
46. Car getting written off due to intention-action gap of fixing a problem early to point when car unserviceable
47. Analysis paralysis – inability to make decisions creating more problems as late work /responses being extra costs
48. Short term costs to make you feel better but cost more in long run e.g. retail therapy, Amazon hits
49. Paying for failing to attend appointments due to time blindness
50. Paying for an additional flight due to panic caused by an RSD attack wasting original booking

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