Let me start this post by stating that I am annoyed. I am annoyed this year that the holiday season has began with full force before Thanksgiving. Radio stations are all ready playing Christmas music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It seems that every store is having several black friday sales before Thanksgiving. From every angle it seems that I am getting bombarded to begin preparing for and celebrating for the holiday season. The prolonging of the holiday season is also taking an additional toll on adults with ADD who are susceptible to over stimulation and the barrage of extra tasks and decisions the should be made before the end of the year.  

I know that our struggling economy is a major reason for lengthening the holiday season, so in order to help stimulate the economy, and perhaps shorten next years holiday season, may I suggest a couple of presents (found on luxist.com) that you could give a loved one this year.

Most Expensive Bottle of Beer

Most Expensive Christmas Ornament

World's Most Expensive Xmas Gift  (Hint: its only 500 million dollars)

None of these gifts are in my holiday budget this year. In fact I think that these gifts are absurd to give to anyone. What I really want to make sure of is that people put the holiday season into its proper perspective. The whole point is to spend time and celebrate with the people you care about. It is not about what people give each other or how much money is spent. I implore everyone to focus on finding ways to reduce financial and social stress during the holiday season.

Recently I had to end a relationship. I will admit that I was still happy in the relationship, but the relationship wasn't good long term for me. I never really discussed the relationship with my wife, but the evidence was clear. Sometimes I would leave half filled styrofoam cups of coffee in the car, other times the car would be filled with bags and wrappers that had the name of the one I was having this relationship with. Ever since I ended the relationship I have been a lot less nervous and I have had a few more dollars in my pocket. If you haven't figured it out by now, I decided to end my daily ritual of getting an iced latte and a breakfast sandwich on my coffee break at work.

Many people have pointed to cutting out the daily trip to the coffee shop as a simple way to reduce expenses. The method is truly a very simple way to reduce expenses. But simple is not always easy. Personally for me, cutting out the daily trip to the coffee shop is extremely difficult. There are several reasons why the breakup with the coffee shop was hard, there was the physical high I got from the caffeine and sugar, the purpose it gave me to physically leave my work for 15 minutes, and the ability to interact with people who I didn't work with.

For me a simple habit, had both physical and emotional ramifications and was not an easy habit to break. I think it is safe for me to assume that many adults who have ADD and try to cut the coffee shop will find it difficult. Many adults with ADD use caffeine as a way to self medicate, and if the coffee break has any emotional connection, it makes it an extremely tough habit to deal with. I am not saying that you shouldn't try to deal with reducing the number of trip you make to the coffee shop, all that I am really saying is to take it easy on yourself if you find it difficult to break a simple habit. Often there are other underlying reasons why you are not ready to end a habit.

Recently, I consolidated some debt into my credit card. I am not going to go into the details, but after reviewing my finances I have made my main financial focus to pay off the balance on this card within 18 months. I believe that this is a slightly ambitious goal but also one that is achievable with a little persistence and a little sacrifice.

Focusing on one key financial goal is generally a good idea for someone with ADD. Having one large goal is easier to focus on because it should have a significant impact on your life, it is also easier to track versus having several smaller goals. In the past I lost financial focus when trying to manage several smaller financial goals. I tended to not deal with smaller financial goals because I could not easily visualize the benefit of achieving them. While I do not have ADD, I am pretty sure that many adults with ADD who are reading this post can relate to my past setbacks. From time to time I will keep you updated of the challenges that I will run into when trying to achieve my goal.

Here are five of my favorite blog posts for October:

Uh Oh: Halloween + Sugar = Hyperactivity?  (Moms with ADD / ADHD)

The 4 Steps of Personal Change for Adults with ADD (Experiencing ADDvantages)

How AD/HD Makes Me More Like Monk Than I Care For ( A Splintered Mind)

Winding Down (thinkythink)

I am always looking for great stories about adults with ADD, I especially like stories about ADD entrepreneurs who start a business to deal with an issues that affects many people with ADD. While surfing the internet I found an article from the Rancho Sante Fe Review about Sean Conway. Conway founded a company called Notehall.com that allows college students to purchase notes from lectures on-line. Although I do not have ADD, I would have found this a tremendous service in college, because I could not take notes and pay attention to a lecture at the same time. Sean was recently featured on ABC's show the Shark Tank. 

Shark Tank is a show where entrepreneurs give a business pitch to get the shows venture capitalists to invest in their business.

Recently I had been debating over whether to purchase a gym membership or buy a stationary bicycle. I have been a member of a gym before, but I only attended sporadically. I really wanted to buy a stationary bicycle, but was a little leary about the cost.

The bicycle that I wanted to purchase was $240.00, the gym I would have signed up for was $160.00 for a year. According to my comparison I would need to use the bicycle consistantly for a year and a half, if I wanted to get the same financial benefit as belonging to a gym. While it is certainly possible that I will use the bike for that long, 18 months is a considerable amount of time. I was undecided on the issue until I took one hidden cost into effect.

You see, it is a least a 10 mile round trip from my home to the gym. If I went to the gym 2 times a week, it would cost me an additional 11 dollars each week. Including my gym membership it would cost me slightly over $60.00 a month to use my gym, using those figures, the bicycle would pay for it self in four months. This made my decision to purchase the bicycle very simple.

The point I am trying to make it that sometimes it is very easy to overlook hidden costs when making a financial decision. This is especially true for adults with ADD who are more likely to make impulsive decisions. A lot of time you can uncover these hidden costs by using the 24 hour rule., and waiting a day before making a financial decision.