Money management

So, I made an offer on someone’s facebook to share some of my experiences of trying to manage money while being, frankly, appalling with the stuff. I have shit impulse control, I can’t count properly due to dyscalculia, I have hypomanic spending sprees and I also get easily distracted and forget about stuff I’m meant to do.

I’m a total financial disaster area.

I have, however, spent a fair bit of time trying to get myself down to ‘financially incompetent’ as opposed ‘horror show’. I’ll never be up there on moneysavingexpert.com, but I have gone from ‘my bank account has its own scorched earth policy’ to ‘I have savings sometimes, for short periods of time’. I’ve not bounced a direct debit in over five years, or gone into unauthorized overdraft and I finished last month with £50 spare in my account until payday.

Yes, I was still in my overdraft at that point. Shush.

So what I’m saying is that I’m not offering expert advice on how to be really good at this stuff. I’m offering a crazy person’s guide to being functional. Basically, How To Fake It Until You Make It (the money edition)

This process, by the way, is based on three principles which I use relentlessly.

1) If it’s automated, you can’t screw up by forgetting about it.
2) Big things are hard to focus on. Small things can be devoured.
3) Use your powers of distraction for good.

So, let’s start.

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