When was the last time you forgot to pay an important bill? Missed the deadline for a clothing return, and had to suck up the cost of the unwanted item? Or maybe you’re drowning in all the life admin you never have the time or inclination for. If this sounds familiar – you’re not alone.

Unregulated, impulsive spending, food wastage and the cost of replacing mislaid items are all signs of the financial cost of ADHD – and there are so many more. As we know, talking about these behaviours can help to banish the stigma, so with this in mind, we’ve talked to experts and sufferers about their experiences. 

We’re not delving into literal taxation here; essentially, an ADHD tax refers to both the obvious and hidden costs of living with ADHD.

“I pay ADHD tax pretty much daily,” Cat Regi, a 41-year-old artist and neurodiversity campaigner, tells Stylist. “Whether it’s having to pay people to help me do things like move house or complete application forms, returning items I’ve ordered in error through not reading descriptions properly (we have twice the dining chairs we meant to order) or having to own several hairbrushes in order to stand any chance of finding one, every day there’s something new.”

Research shows that living with ADHD can cost an extra £1,600 per year – and that’s just the financial cost.

“Having ADHD can cause very real financial difficulties due to the nature of how the condition affects our executive function,” explains GP and ADHD sufferer Dr Zoe Watson. “From impulsive spending to forgetfulness and even emotional dysregulation, all of these symptoms can translate to serious financial consequences.”

While everyone’s experience of ADHD is individual with a unique set of symptoms, there are some common signs that many people with the condition will be able to relate to.

Food wastage

“I’m definitely guilty of buying groceries online and meal planning in my head, but forgetting to write down the meal I was planning,” says Dr Watson. “Then when the groceries arrive, I put them in the fridge and forget about them. I then discover them weeks later, liquefying at the bottom of the vegetable drawer and suddenly remember that I was meant to make some fancy meal with them weeks ago.”

Grocery shopping can be a minefield for those with any kind of executive functioning disorder as it requires almost military-level skill and organisation, particularly if you’re feeding a large household.

“We’ve missed out on whole food shops because I booked to collect by mistake instead of deliver,” says Regi. “We never got the food – and the cost of living crisis is making things much harder.”

Online spending

You don’t have to have ADHD to be lured into spending way too much online – only to have to return practically everything once you’ve tried it on in the cold light of day. Newsflash: internet shopping drunk/late at night/basically ever is not a good idea – but when you have ADHD, there’s an added element of danger, and you run the very real risk of forgetting to make your returns in time.

“I get as far as packaging up clothes to send back, but then I completely forget to send them, and I miss the cut-off for returns,” says Dr Watson. “I end up with a bunch of clothes that I paid £150 for that I’m never going to wear. And yes – if I could be bothered, I could sell them on Vinted or whatever and get some money back, but that requires multiple tasks like photographing/listing/packaging/sending – and given that I didn’t manage to send them back the first time, I don’t trust myself to remember.”

Overpaying for memberships

Let’s face it – we can all relate to this one. Tempted to try free delivery for a week, only to then forget to unsubscribe after the seven days are up? Check. And don’t even get us started on television subscriptions that we’re never going to use. Add ADHD into the mix – and it’s a recipe for (financial) disaster.

“I sign up to a lot of subscription-based things and it is a real issue for me,” admits Dr Watson. “While I’m hyper-focused, feeling energised and filled with ideas, I fall down an online rabbit hole and sign up for things thinking things will be different this time, but it’s not until an invoice lands in my inbox that I can even remember what I’ve signed up to.”

Unfortunately, the reality is that cancelling memberships can be tricky, to say the least – which can be hugely off-putting for people who struggle with executive functioning, leading to a vicious and costly cycle. 

Impulsive spending

The lure of online spending is real – you can’t scroll on any type of social media for long without being tempted by ways we could have a better life/wardrobe/make-up collection/home. And the irony is that the worse our mental health is, the harder it becomes to resist these thoughts.

“My impulsive spending was particularly bad during the Covid lockdowns,” admits Dr Watson. “My brain was on fire (I had a four-year-old and a five-month-old baby at home with me) and I felt trapped and extremely chaotic. My brain coped with this by seeking out dopamine fixes late at night while drinking wine.”

As if this weren’t enough to contend with, ADHD tax isn’t limited to financial consequences.

“We also need to consider the emotional burden carried by those with ADHD and how it impacts their life,” warns Dr Watson. “The guilt, shame and low self-esteem which is often so tangled up with the other symptoms of the condition costs us a huge amount emotionally.”

The mental health impact of ADHD tax is something that neurodivergent writer and author Michelle Foulia knows all about.

“I owe £11k in tax credit overpayments because I seem to constantly mess up my returns, updates and renewals,” she says. “I’ve just fully withdrawn from them leaving my family vulnerable, but I have full-blown panic attacks every time their letters come through the post. I can’t get my act together to support my family because of my ADHD; I just seem to make it worse, and now we are paying back money we don’t even have.”

If you can relate to any of these issues, there is help at hand. Charities and websites such as ADHD UK and Mind have great resources available, and it’s important to ask for help if you’re concerned about your spending or your mental health. 

Dr Watson recommends the following to try to keep ADHD tax under control: 

• Write it down. Any time you sign up to something new, write it down! It doesn’t matter where, as long as you’re going to remember it. 
• Review your app subscriptions monthly – put an alert in your phone to do this, if you need to.  Check your app subscriptions in case you have signed up to something for a trial period that has expired and are now being charged, and cancel anything that isn’t essential. 
• Check your bank balance weekly and specifically look at the direct debits and standing orders for anything you don’t remember or don’t recognise.
•  Don’t drink and shop. This never ends well!

Images: Getty