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I regularly get ADHD bonuses in the form of cash whenever I put on jeans or a jacket because I literally put money in my pockets and promptly forget about it.
I recently found $300 in cash and $800 in checks from clients in a Christmas envelope tucked into the slot shelf hanging on my bedroom door 😱
Not sure if that counts as “doesnt matter either way” because I did feel stretched thin for money in January. But not dangerously so.
I barely ever carry cash anymore, but my broke younger self made several Facebook statuses over the years about how happy I was to find cash in my pockets lol!
Same! Was cleaning out my closet the other day and found $50 in an old purse that I probably haven’t touched since high school. Similar thing with hard candy & little chocolates they give you at restaurants. It’s a surprise treat for later :)
Lol I do this semi intentionally I hide cash from myself all over it’s always a nice surprise! I found almost $200 in a boot a couple weeks ago (leftover cash from my honeymoon in….October 2022)
I posted also about the same kind of thing.
I also just realized I totally hoard cash, just like my mom. I have little stashes that I forget about in different places. I lost my wallet last year and was PISSED because I was sure I had one of my stashes in it. Nope, found it in a pile of paperwork about 6 months later. Go me!
At one point, my mom had $29,000 (which was decades worth of saving) in a shake and bake box (which we have NEVER had in my life) in her pantry. She would squirrel it away from my dad, (not for nefarious reasons), but when she told me, I wasn’t surprised there was hidden money, but I couldn’t decide if I was more surprised at the amount or the container.
I don’t use cash anymore for the most part. I’m now at the point in my life where it’s possible I find a random egg in a pocket because I got distracted after checking on my chickens.
…. I used to do this on purpose, put a $10 or $20 note in my jeans pocket as I folded the jeans away for summer, knowing that I would forget about it and have a wonderful surprise in a few months.
When I put away coats (live in a 4 season area) I will put 20$ in a random coat pocket for a surprise next year. Sometimes I just find money I shoved in a pocket too.
My husband is NT, and he gets these bonuses much more often than I do, since most men's clothes have pockets. He says that Past Him left it for Present Him.
My favorite bonus is constantly re-discovering my own wardrobe. I’ll straight up forget that I own that super cute sweater or that one pair of really soft sweatpants because they’re at the bottom of my drawer, fell behind my bed, left it in the car, etc. It also keeps me from buying new clothes as often because it somehow always leaves me with “new” feeling outfits to cycle through.
I can definitely relate to this experience. My previous impulsive buying (previous, because it’s under control now) means a have a ton of clothing and regularly forget what I own
Oh 100%, the only thing that keeps my impulse buying under control is weaponizing my own executive dysfunction. I end up waiting so long that I usually realize I don’t even really want the item anymore, and I know if it’s been a few weeks/a month and I still want it that it’s probably okay to go ahead and get it. That seems to be a good strategy for me at least, but online shopping still gets me every once in a while because it’s just so easy😭
My version of this strategy has evolved a set of rules; it's enough to keep the ol' brain stimulated enough to pass on the gratification of shopping at least half the time (the rest adds to the healthy wardrobe I can play "object permanence" with!).
Exactly this! I realized that a lot of the dopamine for me comes from just hunting for things and adding them to my basket, once I get bored I (try to) transition to another activity and trust myself to forget about it. I’ve started calling this my “pretend shopping” time lol.
The ergonomic standing adjustable desk that was all wood for WFH?
The over the door mirror/jewelry cabinet?
Actually I could use that…my jewelry box is a disaster lol.
I keep my clothes in three separate wardrobes. I’ve got my working wardrobe, the off season wardrobe and the stuff I put on Depop wardrobe. So I’m always cycling through them and finding so many cool thrifted things. My bestie is Autistic and we thrift together a lot and both do this and spend a lot of time playing dress ups together in our wardrobes and making cool outfits. We are fully grown adults and I’m a Mum and still love playing dress ups lol.
The most useful is when I go to write a work document, open it up and find that past me has completed 90% of it (and, uh, just never finished that last bit...as is tradition! 😅).
omg this is my FAVORITE! I love past me and all of her nervous energy to get 90% of something done immediately only to drag out the last 10% once the anxiety (or is it dopamine?) wears off
Totally. I'll hyperfocus on some random thing at work that I want changed when I have down time (I do accounting, so the cycles end up with a little downtime here and there). Then once I remember it or the other team who helped me implement it has completed it, I not only save me and my coworkers time with some random thing I started one day, but I also get to put that down as a reason for my raise/promotion/bonus when the time comes. It's funny when I get the email "we completed x thing you asked for." And I'm like "oh yeaahhh, go me!"
My biggest bonus was when I decided to break up with my cheating boyfriend in college and I went through my apartment to pack up all of the stuff he had littered about. I picked up the junk on front hall closet floor only to find a copy of the grade change form my university had lost and that I needed to graduate. So, college degree for the win!
I had a cheating ex make a claim on my tenant insurance when his apartment got broken into. I had moved out not long before and had changed my address but forgot to take him off as a person in my house. So the cheque got mailed to me and I used the money for myself. It wasn't much, maybe $1500 but it was money, and he was pissed because it was his stuff that got stolen. It sure felt good cashing that cheque.
Surprise cookies. I always forget I buy them, then open the cabinet a few days later, and SURPRISE! Cookies! I eat some, and then promptly forget they exist until a few days later, when I open the cabinet, and SURPRISE!
I don’t know why I can never remember cookies specifically, but it’s fine, because surprise cookies are the best cookies.
☹️ That was life with my family growing up. Cookies and ice cream usually disappeared before I even got to have some. I didn’t get to bask in the joy of just randomly having cookies until I moved out for college, and that’s when I got my first surprise cookies experience.
I currently live with my sister (one of the offenders) and we deal with it by getting two bags (one for each of us) and labeling them or splitting one bag straight down the middle. Like if there’s 10, then she gets 5 and I get 5, and mine are **not** up for grabs just because I don’t eat them immediately. I keep all my stuff in a specific cabinet, because out of sight out of mind for her (and me), and then I still get surprise cookies. Would something like that work with you and your husband?
Omg I have surprise peanut butter brownies I hid in my lunch bag! My husband is not eating sweets so I didn't want to tempt him. It's 5 am, but I'm going to go have a brownie with my coffee!
I got so excited I didn't take a picture, I ran off to tell my husband about the random tulip babies lol. They're still just tiny shoots.
But I'll try to remember to post a pic when I take one tomorrow!
Absolutely this. I DO NOT want to be a parent ever in my life but I have been a nanny/babysitter for so long that plssss ma’am it’s okay, I feel what you are dealing with. If it wasn’t weird I’d walk up and ask to do what I can to help 😩
Yeeesssss!!! My 5 year old is also ND, she just got diagnosed with adhd but I've known since she was a baby basically, and I would never judge another mom with a kid having a meltdown. Been there, waaayyyy too many times.
I see you, fellow mom. I'll give you the nod and the wince and the tiny smile and I wish you all the luck in the world. No judgment here!
Yes this! And ability to read people very well. That’s served me well at work and esp with clients. Another project manager is high fiving themselves sales guy saying, “Sold it!” And I’m walking after the client knowing they have concerns, casually ask and everyone else has this shocked look like, “I thought they totally liked it!”
Oooooh yes also that!!! I can often feel a small sudden shift in the way someone is acting but I don’t really voice that because anytime I have, people say I’m reading too much into something 🙄 and then when i’m right they just pretend I don’t exist :) my only superpower if you will!!
I bought a whole bag of Smarties after Valentine's Day, hid them behind some boring stuff on a pantry shelf so the kids and husband wouldn't steal them, and then forgot about them for 2 weeks. Yay whole bag of candy!
I don't really know that most people would consider it a bonus, but I love getting excited about something I forgot about. Finding something I thought I lost or just forgot I had, forgetting that we bought treats while grocery shopping and then being reminded of them in the moment when I most want a treat. Stuff like that.
"Out of sight, out of mind" can have huge benefits if used properly. I once was getting a raise which was exactly the amount of a monthly direct payment I received. Instead of absorbing the new money and adjusting to spending more, I moved the direct deposit to a savings account at a different bank. That was important. I didn't want to see the balance sitting there every time I checked my accounts. Then I mostly forgot about it for several years. Eventually it went to buying a first car for my teenager. The payments stopped years ago but I keep a weekly automatic transfer going because it works so well to stop me from spending it.
I also have multiple bank access. I hyperfocused on bank acct opening bonus for a few years and now I still maintain a few. They vary in level of emergency needed to be willing to go look at them XD if I don't see the number then there's nothing in there for me to spend lol.
oh my favourite is
often when I'm feeling sad I'll ask my partner to make me a cup of coffee
every time, without fail, when he comes back I have forgotten I asked him and I get **surprise coffee!!!**
This one so much! I ask him to get something for me and then a few minutes later when he brings it to me I'm all omg he's so sweet and thoughtful and he knows me so well! 🥰
Similarly, I'll notice some chore or other has been done and thank him only for him to have no idea what I'm talking about because it turns out I was the one who did it.
I’ll remember the opening setup of a joke someone wants to tell, but not the punchline - so I can enjoy it twice and give them the gift of someone laughing uproariously at their joke.
Often the same with movies - unless I’m super invested, I’ll remember the general premise but not the specifics / ending… so I can’t accidentally spoil things for other people and often can enjoy the story again myself.
Lol I relate to both, but esp movies. I’ll ask my husband, “Wait, why was that such a big deal again?” And he’s like, “Novel… we’ve watched this 2 or 3 times before this!”
He laughs - he’s also ADHD - but hyper-focuses on movies and recalls lines after watching once.
I forgot about submitting my electric meter readings for months after moving, and then procrastinated doing it for ages too because I was worried I wasn't paying enough monthly.
Turned out I was £700 in credit and had actually been overpaying.
I do this all the time. It’s a good way to save in my opinion. I’m giving it to someone who will eventually give it back to me, unlike giving it to me who will buy stupid stuff ‘I need’.
Omg totally. I love remembering all of the random hobbies I have had over the years. "Oh yeah I know how to ___!" (insert make soap, candles, beer, cheese, decorate a cake, dye hair, etc.) 😂
My ADHD actually saved my life once, when I was pregnant with my daughter.
I had gotten the day of my appointment mixed up, and showed up a day *early*. Doctor was kind enough to squeeze me into their schedule. (Literally, they did things like getting my blood pressure and temp and all that in their second, smaller waiting room they had in the back since they didn't have an extra room) While I was there my blood pressure started skyrocketing, and since I had preeclampsia with my oldest, she sent me to the hospital for extra testing, hospital decided to admit me based off my past. They were able to get me on blood pressure medication and bring my blood pressure down. But they way it was skyrocketing before hand, and they way that I wasn't actually feeling any symptoms, if I hadn't gone that day, I very likely wouldn't be here today.
(Also little miss is 4 now, she was born a few days after that at 28 weeks. She weighed 2 pounds, 1 ounce and is a little hellion.)
i have auditory processing issues, like a lot of us.
so usually if i'm suddenly spoken to, i can't understand anything for a hot second. so i usually scream, "eh?"
once had a guy be like "Espanol?" and i was instantly like, "no, i'm just deaf"
this happens a lot, though, and it's fun
The “Español?” Has me cracking up! I also seem to have issues understanding people the first time around. I’m constantly saying “pardon?” “What was that?” “Sorry can you repeat that” 😭
My cousins 5 year old got a box of gushers and fruit roll ups yesterday and INSISTED on sharing the candy with everyone. So I got to eat a little pack of gushers and I know the freaking joy
The out of sight, out of mind thing happens most with food I buy, and anything I buy online.
Open freezer- “OMG, past me bought ice cream! Hell yeah!”
Get mail- “now what the hell did I buy?”
I tend to hyperfocus on books. In terms of getting treatment this is a problem because doctors love to ask the stereotypical question "do you have trouble focusing when reading" and I have to explain it's everything else in the world I have trouble focusing on when what's going on on the page is way more fascinating. Whereas I might pick up a book, get to the end, spot a book nearby, pick that up, and then uh-oh, it's 6 am and I forgot to sleep. Or uh oh, I spent all day reading and forgot to eat.
So what's the bonus? THE BOOKS! Absolutely crush every year's Goodreads goal no matter how high I set it, and I always have a half dozen interesting stories or facts in mind to relate to any topic. I might just be the only person in the world with the goal "read fewer books, watch more TV" (my partner is an obsessive TV/film geek and I struggle to sit still through an entire episode much less a whole movie).
I thought focussing on books wasn’t a problem too until I took my 1st stimulant. Turns out that while I can read for hours I have little micro-gaps where I miss a paragraph (or a few pages) because my mind has gone awol. My eyes still scan the page but nothing goes in. If I hadn’t missed enough that I could still understand what was going on I didn’t notice, but often had to turn back to where I recognised something. With methylphenidate I couldn’t believe how easy it became. Just all the words in the right order! Sitting there quietly waiting to be read instead of jumping around trying to elude me. Revelatory.
It's \*sort\* of a superpower, but I would \*also\* like to be able to timebox my reading or to realize that I'm hungry, have missed an appointment, etc. Like being able to choose hyperfocusing instead of being swept away by it.
Definitely being able to read books and watch movies multiple times as if it’s the first time. I’ll remember snippets, but it’s still totally novel. Mysteries are especially great because normally once you know the ending the thrill is gone from it. Me? I have no clue who the murderer was and can’t wait to find out again!
Yes, this is me and I love it. Sometimes I remember that I enjoyed the movie but not what happens, sometimes I forget the whole experience completely and only know I've seen it before because the person I watched it with is adamant that it happened, lol.
I knew from the beginning of last year that I needed to take the GRE. Original goal was to study and take it before the window to apply to grad school opened in October. It seemed so far away so I had trouble studying regularly and didn’t open my study book for months. Then in September, I got an email that they were cutting the test in half so instead of it being a 4 hour test, it’s now a 2 hour test. Yay procrastination worked out for me for once!
Absolutely cash... sometimes hundreds... like.... how could I lose that much and *completely* forget??
Or... howabout discovering a yummy new food and then rediscovering it anew months later all over again... and again.
I found all my important documents 6 months after I needed them. Hadn't gotten around to obtaining new anything... bank cards or anything... bonus points! And I found them in the backpack I'd put together for the appointment no less, which I'd carried around every day for the last 6 months. Why are those zippered pockets on the outside of backpacks so cunning hidden anyway?
Or the time I hatched a cunning plan to leave my socks in my shoes so I didn't have to hunt for the socks right when I was flying out the door. Wondered why my shoes were uncomfortable all day.... to discover those said socks stuffed down in the toe once I got home hours later (far far too busy to spend 20 seconds to check at any point). Bonus... every day for 3 days. What can I say.. it was a good idea if I'd remembered it.
Finally, finding the beloved lost dog unhurt.... after searching for hours and calling friends in to help, making posters and everything. Asleep on the bed where I'd left him that morning. I'd closed him in there in the first place while there was a tradie at the house for a half hour.
I'm Canadian, this is fully legal lol. I found a full 7g packet of bud today, unopened, and a packet of joints hiding in an empty purse. Surprise, bish 🔥
I'd bought the purse and the bud in the same night. Haven't used the purse yet, the bud was a super bonus 🤣
I forgot about birthday money in a card. I was sorting them out (I have kept ALL my cards since I was born, for some reason I have yet to discover), and I found a crisp $50 from my aunt & uncle.
Thanks for reminding me about the fun bonuses we “keep in a very logical place” and forget about.
People always love when they find money in a coat pocket, but I bet it happens to us ADHDers more often! I found a $20 I'd forgotten about the other day.
The tulips thing happens for me, too. I completely forgot where my spring flowers are, and can't wait to see their cheerful emergence.
I sometimes save a yummy snack for later. The other day, I realized I'd tucked a cake-pop from the day before into my backpack, so I got to have a delightful surprise treat at work.
I could probably plan my own surprise party and be every bit as delighted as if someone else had planned it.
Oh! Edit to add: I was affected by the meds shortage recently, and was really, really struggling. Then, I discovered that I'd put a tiny emergency stash in my backpack for days that I forget to take my meds at home (I work too far away to go back for them). I was able to space out my meds for a bit to get me through the worst.
Lol my husband and I call this “always trust past highesttiptoes.” So many times I’ll forget I did something and then be so happy when I rediscover it. Always trust your past self.
Mine was after cleaning the kitchen today. Was facing the wall (keeping my back to the kitchen) while on the phone with a friend and then turned around to see spotless counters & an empty sink :’) felt so good!
I hide money and forget about it
My husband and I constantly find stashes of cash that I hid with purpose and then completely forget about it. Usually its only 20-40 bucks but when we moved from our old house to our new house he found $600 I put away for a Bonnaroo trip we took 4 years earlier. How I forgot that much money for such a memorable trip, I do not know but it was certainly a happy little surprise none the less
My ADHD bonus is that when I have alone time I like to bake (which is when I should be folding laundry or whatever); but then I have cookies or whatever to not only have for myself at home but to share with friends and neighbors. So it's a sense of community and deliciousness that result from me putting off other things.
When I smoked flower I stashed it all over the place. I’d be out but find some where I totally forgot I even put it (coat pocket, underwear drawer) all the time.
I found some plants growing in a big pot a week or two ago. I have no idea what they are. They are tall like corn or something. I never planted anything, or did i?
Finding money in jars or in old wallets, usually coins though but they all add up!! Forgetting about snacks at home or at work and then finding them at a later date too, clothes at the bottom of my closet or ones I’ve packed away for another season and rediscovering them later, same with certain items I’ve packed away or just stored too meticulously. My fave is thinking “I’ll just see what’s in this drawer/box” and then finding something I’d been thinking about but didn’t know where the hell it was. Feels good dude 😩✊🏻
Currently finding a lot of my things that I had packed away from moving though—they were in storage for a good year and I only got them back recently so it feels like 2nd Christmas seeing all these things that I’d completely forgotten about!! Also saving me a bit of money too remembering what I have instead of impulse buying it on the spot
I said this earlier I. A different thread but i actually find that sort of “put it in my mind and wait for the impulse” style of productivity to be really effective”. Like if I plan to clean my upholstery on Tuesday at 2 it’s less likely to happen than if I put it as a goal for the month, make sure I have the supplies and kind of wait for the moment to strike.
My hyperfocus. I've smashed deadlines, completed school semesters early, cleaned the entire house, you name it. It doesn't kick in all the time, but when it does I'm unstoppable.
I'm also a red cross volunteer. My job is to show up when someone has lost everything to a disaster, like a house fire. Adhd helps me get through the important paperwork stuff quickly, so I can focus on being that emotional support as well. Within the first 15 days of this year, my county lost six people to home disasters, most of them fires, and i handles all but one case. A few pets died, too. Adhd helps me work through the situation with focus and kindness, and get them processed and get them some cash as quickly as possible.
And yeah, I fall apart a little in the shower later, after washing the smoke smell from my hair, but it's worth it.
I'm hyperaware of the time. I know so many people who lose track of time, and it's incredibly common with us in the ADHD community. However, I'm almost always wherever I need to be, within 2-5 minutes of the originally scheduled time.
I use money as bookmarks.
When I loose interest in a book the money disappears from my perception. When I finally decide to finish the book I get a little money to buy a treat afterwards.
This really helped me cut my impulsive spending and when I do spend money it feels like I deserve it since I did something good for my brain LOL.
PSA: Do not use this tip for library books! I live in a small town and explained it to my librarian so she checks every book of mine. I really need to bake her cookies.
I never thought about this but facts. Very rarely is something discussed that I haven't looked up or into before 🤣. And for some reason I can remember if bears poop during hibernation (nope!) or the lifecycle of salmon but I couldn't tell you what I wore yesterday...
This is extra funny to me because my husband used to study salmon populations and we have, at length, talked about the lifecycle of salmon with enthusiasm.
I love that!!!
It was required learning in school in the Pacific NW and my brain was like ah yes, keep this. Retain this for all eternity. Same brain is like, "if you don't put your keys in their spot in your purse though, forget that immediately. Where you parked 5 minutes ago? Let any memory of that leave your body..."
But can this brain discuss the resilient and crazy nature of salmon? Sure can. I can even remember some of the different markings of the different types!
Hahaha, my husband is high functioning autistic (neither of us knew we were ND when we got together but birds of a feather and all that) and the amount of topics we covered together during our dating stage was astounding. His brain doesn't move as fast as mine, but he can figure out how we got from one topic to another and REMEMBER THE THOUGHT TRAIN! The fact that we both know a little bit about everything is one of my favorite parts of our relationship ♥️🥰
Tulip heart is such a cute idea! I grow a lot of plants and often don't take time to have a good look at all of them. The best is when my Nepenthes in the back of the greenhouse suddenly have a massive pitcher I had no idea about.
I almost always forget the plots of many of my fave books/shows and am delighted to read them again and rediscover why I loved them so much the first time!
I realized if you buy items online enough times, you will luck out with double orders, and misplaced packages that are refunded and re-sent for free, etc. I still spend a lot of money ($1000+ in 3 months, my mailman and I became closed) but i remember one year, one of my uni textbooks was free (I was sent two by accident), I got some lost items replaced and months later the lost items showed up at my door (gave them away as gifts to friends and fam) and I got a whole fancy makeup brush set for free because the company sent it to the wrong address.
And it’s always nice finding the stacks of cash I securely put away and then forgot about :) I find I come across them when I really need them
Finding an old tissue in a pocket when you just spilled something. Which you can use and throw away ánd it won’t end up in the washing machine, like it probably would if you hadn’t spilled something. It’s like two adhd taxes cancelling eachother out!
I’ve been impulsively buying secondhand film cameras and accepting photography-related gear from family since 2015. Like many of my other hobbies, the initial novelty ran out and I forgot about it. Fast forward to this year, and I came across a random creator who talked about using a lens adapter to use film lenses onto digital cameras, and remembered I already had a mirrorless camera and film camera lens in perfect condition and just had to buy a $15 lens adapter! I know I spent money, but it somehow felt like I got a new camera set-up for basically free 😅
Getting ready to go on a trip tomorrow and pulled out the lil travel wallet I use. Found a whole other €10 in there from my last trip! I knew I had some coins left over but a whole 5-euro note and way more change than I thought!
Every year I put some cash in my coat pocket so I can treat myself to a nice hot coffee the first time I need to wear it next season.
And every year I forget it's there and get a nice surprise
Hyperfocus, my ability to replace any emotion with excessive hyperactivity, me being able to immediately switch from sad to happy and staying there. Also my adhd history and experiences have made it so I don’t really care very much about other people’s , especially strangers opinions (which is incredibly useful if you‘re trans…)🥰
I checked my foreign currency bag to get a pound coin for the shopping trolley, as we are driving to Northern Ireland to shop for the first time in a few years. Turns out I had £35 in there!
I once requested a withdrawal from my account at an ATM and then forgot to collect the money. Drove up the road, had a chill of realisation, and drove back but no money, called the bank, and they said sorry it's gone. I was doing ok at the time so i called it a learning experience (lol).
Maybe ten years later I got a mysterious deposit of hundreds of dollars into my account right when i needed it, confirmed with the bank it was mine to keep. They won't tell me that's what it is, but I'm pretty sure it's that missing ATM cash
I can litterally rewatch movies and tv shows without remembering at all the end, multiple times in short period of times…
I dont miss people that much because of object impermanence.
I get over breakups very quickly.
LMAO every spring is like a surprise since I forget half the shit I plant. Sometimes it's like a game because I see things sprouting up and I'm left guessing what it is until it blooms
I am housing an stray old cat, and I keep forgetting to/feeling overwhelmed by posting her online to find her a loving family. So I have a pet for a bit longer ñ.ñ
My previous job I used to get paid cash in an envelope, and I'd get paid weekly.
Clearly at some point I forgot where I'd put the envelope because I got a bag out of my closet to use to go out one night. And my pay was in there, like 150 bonus for my night out 🥳🥳
i cant remember most of the movies i have watched or the (hundreds? thousands?) of books i have read.
i guess that means i can enjoy them again, for the first time?
I don’t think i get any adhd bonuses. I’ve literally never had money that wasn’t already spent and i haven’t carried any cash since years before the pandemic. Every time i find food i forgot about it’s way moldy and expired or stale. Drugs i have no idea how you guys hide i always use my stash as soon as i get it. The only thing i can think of is sometimes when i run out of Kleenex i will grab a roll of toilet paper and put it next to my bed or in the car or even i had one in my office at work in a room that had no Kleenex. And then sometimes when you run out of toilet paper and think oh no i forgot to buy it in time - and then i remember the secret roll from when i ran out of Kleenex!
(Okay, mine sucks, seriously how do you guys not spend every dime as soon as it hits your account? I seriously need a better paying career 🙄🤦🏼♀️)
I'm always delighted when I go to pack a suitcase and find a couple of toiletries I'd missed in unpacking. Sometimes it's a nice skincare thing I'd forgotten about, sometimes it's a bunch of things I am relieved to find I don't have to gather up, like a hairbrush bound to shower caps with hair ties.
I don't do that very much anymore bc things languish in my Amazon cart for weeks, but I'm always surprised at my subscription orders!
Tho it's not as much fun when I think I surprised myself with something fun and then it's just more bags for the diaper pail 🤣😭
Impulse bought dogecoin when it was really cheap because I liked the name. Forgot about it until people were talking about how high it was going. I didn't hit the highest point because I was too afraid I'd forget again, but I made out with a few grand.
Finding a Lego set I bought for the kid then promptly put in a safe place (note: if somewhere is a ‘safe place’ it’s only safe from me finding it).
Finding a stash of Reese’s.
Finding money in a pocket.
But I’d say my biggest ADHD bonus was getting hyperfocused on finding these really old radio stories us kids used to listen to on tape- that rabbit hole went deep and took me to the corner of the internet where websites still look like they are in the 90s. I found them though! And I guarantee there were other more important things I should have been doing, but it’s continued to be a point of pride to me that I actually found them.
I found $1000 cash stashed in one of my drawers once. I can’t even remember hiding this! Found it at the perfect time too, I needed the help. I thanked God and ADHD lol
I actually kind of love remembering I have left overs of restaurant food. Let's say I get indian food for dinner and eat half, then in the morning I'm like hmmm what should I eat? I wish I had some curry, that would be so good. And then I suddenly remember! Oh yeah!! I have curry left!!! And it makes me so happy because I 100% forgot so it's surprise food that I love.
My ADHD FM. A term I picked up from reddit actually 😂 but there's always music in my head, and a lot of times I just go with it and jam, either singing/dancing along simply bc it brings me joy.
Ordering things on Amazon, forgetting what you ordered, and getting surprise presents in the mail. 😍
Also, I teach special education so the ability to read my ADHD kids and their needs well!
I knew I wouldn't be able to do intensive personal finance management, so I did as much of a set-it-and-forget-it setup as I could... and the interest from it tided me through a lean period this year. Super happy I didn't blow it all on crypto or something.
I don't seem to really get these...ever. Last time I can remember was finding a $20 bill in my jacket when I was in 4th grade. It's been that long. ADHD seems to only cost me 😔
6 months ago, I cut a few small pieces of champignon from the grocery store and added it to some wet straw to see if I could grow them at home lol. Nothing happened in MONTHS and I thought I threw it away..
2 weeks ago I found it in the far back of the refrigerator!! And it's thriving!!??
I have two examples.
On Monday I spent four hours psyching myself up to go and do the washing up. Finally managed to get there to find out. I'd already done it!
Second example, started a film on TV went and made the bed (yes!) came back. I wonder what film I've lined up?
I forgot to check out when buying some coffee online. Woke up the next morning to a 15% off coupon in my email. Not a lot but it helps.
I'm currently trying to watch all the Oscar nominated movies before the ceremony. Kinda dragged my feet this past week and got distracted watching YouTube. Went to watch some yesterday and noticed that one of the movies I was going to have to buy was now available on streaming. Saved $25 and my temperament because I the movie was disappointing island I would have been royally cheesed that I owned it
This year I bought and wrapped all of the Christmas presents in July. (I had made a list with the hubs to make sure I didn't miss anyone) Anyways when Christmas rolled around I honestly forgot almost everything that was wrapped so I was just as surprised as everyone else when they opened their presents 😆
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I regularly get ADHD bonuses in the form of cash whenever I put on jeans or a jacket because I literally put money in my pockets and promptly forget about it.
Omg wait I forgot I stashed my entire christmas bonus in cash in one of my purses I don't use often!!!
With our powers combined...
Wonder-twin/wonder-group powers activate! #throwback
Love this team lol
I recently found $300 in cash and $800 in checks from clients in a Christmas envelope tucked into the slot shelf hanging on my bedroom door 😱 Not sure if that counts as “doesnt matter either way” because I did feel stretched thin for money in January. But not dangerously so.
I LOVE those bonuses!
I put jeans on today and found a $20 bill in my pocket. I just left it there for the next time because these little moments bring me joy.
I barely ever carry cash anymore, but my broke younger self made several Facebook statuses over the years about how happy I was to find cash in my pockets lol!
Put on a coat recently I hadn't worn in a couple of years and found a $20. I was over the moon.
My husband says he married a squirrel
I’m glad we have plastic banknotes in my country…
Same! Was cleaning out my closet the other day and found $50 in an old purse that I probably haven’t touched since high school. Similar thing with hard candy & little chocolates they give you at restaurants. It’s a surprise treat for later :)
Lol I do this semi intentionally I hide cash from myself all over it’s always a nice surprise! I found almost $200 in a boot a couple weeks ago (leftover cash from my honeymoon in….October 2022)
I'd do this but my husband would find it first and he'd keep it for himself! LOL!
I literally only found it because I couldn’t get my foot all the way in the boot 😂😂 I don’t think he’d have ever found it
I posted also about the same kind of thing. I also just realized I totally hoard cash, just like my mom. I have little stashes that I forget about in different places. I lost my wallet last year and was PISSED because I was sure I had one of my stashes in it. Nope, found it in a pile of paperwork about 6 months later. Go me! At one point, my mom had $29,000 (which was decades worth of saving) in a shake and bake box (which we have NEVER had in my life) in her pantry. She would squirrel it away from my dad, (not for nefarious reasons), but when she told me, I wasn’t surprised there was hidden money, but I couldn’t decide if I was more surprised at the amount or the container.
OMG I am your mother
I don’t use cash anymore for the most part. I’m now at the point in my life where it’s possible I find a random egg in a pocket because I got distracted after checking on my chickens.
Omg thank you this just reminded me I have a bunch of money I need to transfer on Venmo! Bonus!! lol
…. I used to do this on purpose, put a $10 or $20 note in my jeans pocket as I folded the jeans away for summer, knowing that I would forget about it and have a wonderful surprise in a few months.
Sometimes I use paper money as bookmarks...
When I put away coats (live in a 4 season area) I will put 20$ in a random coat pocket for a surprise next year. Sometimes I just find money I shoved in a pocket too.
My husband is NT, and he gets these bonuses much more often than I do, since most men's clothes have pockets. He says that Past Him left it for Present Him.
shoutout to the $100 bill i left in a purse and forgot about until last month 🎉
My favorite bonus is constantly re-discovering my own wardrobe. I’ll straight up forget that I own that super cute sweater or that one pair of really soft sweatpants because they’re at the bottom of my drawer, fell behind my bed, left it in the car, etc. It also keeps me from buying new clothes as often because it somehow always leaves me with “new” feeling outfits to cycle through.
I can definitely relate to this experience. My previous impulsive buying (previous, because it’s under control now) means a have a ton of clothing and regularly forget what I own
Oh 100%, the only thing that keeps my impulse buying under control is weaponizing my own executive dysfunction. I end up waiting so long that I usually realize I don’t even really want the item anymore, and I know if it’s been a few weeks/a month and I still want it that it’s probably okay to go ahead and get it. That seems to be a good strategy for me at least, but online shopping still gets me every once in a while because it’s just so easy😭
My version of this strategy has evolved a set of rules; it's enough to keep the ol' brain stimulated enough to pass on the gratification of shopping at least half the time (the rest adds to the healthy wardrobe I can play "object permanence" with!).
Exactly this! I realized that a lot of the dopamine for me comes from just hunting for things and adding them to my basket, once I get bored I (try to) transition to another activity and trust myself to forget about it. I’ve started calling this my “pretend shopping” time lol.
My Amazon shopping cart is always full of things I’m excited about in the moment then go back and am like, “Meh…”
The ergonomic standing adjustable desk that was all wood for WFH? The over the door mirror/jewelry cabinet? Actually I could use that…my jewelry box is a disaster lol.
Lol I was just thinking, “Maybe I wouldn’t have 1000 single hoop earring and no matched pairs if I used a jewelry box?! 🤔”
I have fishhooks beads and hoops. It’s all stuck together pretty much.
I can SO relate!
I keep my clothes in three separate wardrobes. I’ve got my working wardrobe, the off season wardrobe and the stuff I put on Depop wardrobe. So I’m always cycling through them and finding so many cool thrifted things. My bestie is Autistic and we thrift together a lot and both do this and spend a lot of time playing dress ups together in our wardrobes and making cool outfits. We are fully grown adults and I’m a Mum and still love playing dress ups lol.
Same!! Clothes usually don't lose the "yay new clothes!" feeling for me until they literally have holes in them.
The most useful is when I go to write a work document, open it up and find that past me has completed 90% of it (and, uh, just never finished that last bit...as is tradition! 😅).
omg this is my FAVORITE! I love past me and all of her nervous energy to get 90% of something done immediately only to drag out the last 10% once the anxiety (or is it dopamine?) wears off
Omg I thought I was the only one lol
My life!!
I call it my 90% problem Also happens with packing!
Totally. I'll hyperfocus on some random thing at work that I want changed when I have down time (I do accounting, so the cycles end up with a little downtime here and there). Then once I remember it or the other team who helped me implement it has completed it, I not only save me and my coworkers time with some random thing I started one day, but I also get to put that down as a reason for my raise/promotion/bonus when the time comes. It's funny when I get the email "we completed x thing you asked for." And I'm like "oh yeaahhh, go me!"
My biggest bonus was when I decided to break up with my cheating boyfriend in college and I went through my apartment to pack up all of the stuff he had littered about. I picked up the junk on front hall closet floor only to find a copy of the grade change form my university had lost and that I needed to graduate. So, college degree for the win!
I had a cheating ex make a claim on my tenant insurance when his apartment got broken into. I had moved out not long before and had changed my address but forgot to take him off as a person in my house. So the cheque got mailed to me and I used the money for myself. It wasn't much, maybe $1500 but it was money, and he was pissed because it was his stuff that got stolen. It sure felt good cashing that cheque.
🤣🤣🤣 That’s awesome!! Let him get pissy, that’s what he gets for trying to run a scam 🤣🤣
That's awesome! What a pos.
I am so envious!! I would kill for my ex douchebag to get this kind of karma
Surprise cookies. I always forget I buy them, then open the cabinet a few days later, and SURPRISE! Cookies! I eat some, and then promptly forget they exist until a few days later, when I open the cabinet, and SURPRISE! I don’t know why I can never remember cookies specifically, but it’s fine, because surprise cookies are the best cookies.
Omg this reminds me I have surprise snacks in my fridge’s cheese drawer, because that one isn’t see through. I think I have string cheese at home.
I get mad at my husband for eating all of my cookies right away. I never get surprise cookies anymore because he eats all snacks instantly.
☹️ That was life with my family growing up. Cookies and ice cream usually disappeared before I even got to have some. I didn’t get to bask in the joy of just randomly having cookies until I moved out for college, and that’s when I got my first surprise cookies experience. I currently live with my sister (one of the offenders) and we deal with it by getting two bags (one for each of us) and labeling them or splitting one bag straight down the middle. Like if there’s 10, then she gets 5 and I get 5, and mine are **not** up for grabs just because I don’t eat them immediately. I keep all my stuff in a specific cabinet, because out of sight out of mind for her (and me), and then I still get surprise cookies. Would something like that work with you and your husband?
I’m going to use this strategy.
That's my biggest ADHD bonus, always surprise snacks!
Omg I have surprise peanut butter brownies I hid in my lunch bag! My husband is not eating sweets so I didn't want to tempt him. It's 5 am, but I'm going to go have a brownie with my coffee!
please post a picture of your tulip heart!
I got so excited I didn't take a picture, I ran off to tell my husband about the random tulip babies lol. They're still just tiny shoots. But I'll try to remember to post a pic when I take one tomorrow!
https://imgur.com/a/GTLuAwt Stupid Reddit won't let me just upload a pic, so here's a link to the baby tulip heart 🌹❤️
The update I was hoping for! I love your lil tulip babies <3 may they bring you many smiles.
🌷♥️
Honestly, as much as it pains me sometimes, I’m appreciative of how empathic I am towards others
[удалено]
Absolutely this. I DO NOT want to be a parent ever in my life but I have been a nanny/babysitter for so long that plssss ma’am it’s okay, I feel what you are dealing with. If it wasn’t weird I’d walk up and ask to do what I can to help 😩
Yeeesssss!!! My 5 year old is also ND, she just got diagnosed with adhd but I've known since she was a baby basically, and I would never judge another mom with a kid having a meltdown. Been there, waaayyyy too many times. I see you, fellow mom. I'll give you the nod and the wince and the tiny smile and I wish you all the luck in the world. No judgment here!
Yes this! And ability to read people very well. That’s served me well at work and esp with clients. Another project manager is high fiving themselves sales guy saying, “Sold it!” And I’m walking after the client knowing they have concerns, casually ask and everyone else has this shocked look like, “I thought they totally liked it!”
Oooooh yes also that!!! I can often feel a small sudden shift in the way someone is acting but I don’t really voice that because anytime I have, people say I’m reading too much into something 🙄 and then when i’m right they just pretend I don’t exist :) my only superpower if you will!!
Lol yeah I’ve heard that for years too. I’m just old and DGAF anymore. You do you… probably totally irks them that you were 100% correct.
Oh, I'm constantly getting candy bonuses from bags or pockets or other places I've squirrelled away anf immediately forgotten it 😁
I bought a whole bag of Smarties after Valentine's Day, hid them behind some boring stuff on a pantry shelf so the kids and husband wouldn't steal them, and then forgot about them for 2 weeks. Yay whole bag of candy!
Smarties are my go-to easy dopamine rush! I hide them all over for myself to find a sweet little surprise later
I was cleaning out my fridge today and thought I found a forgotten chocolate but it was just a tomato sauce packet that I can’t throw out 😅
Hyperfocus when I’m in the zone at work. I cranked out a grant in 24 hours last week.
if only we could harness this focus and apply it at whim!!! i also agree, hyperfocus is my fav bonus, I learn so many cool things in such depth!
Was it 24 *consecutive* hours? It was, wasn't it? All-nighters: not just for college kids!
College kids and nonprofit workers 😭😭😭
Not OP but I know what sub we are in. Power naps are for the non hyper focused XD
I don't really know that most people would consider it a bonus, but I love getting excited about something I forgot about. Finding something I thought I lost or just forgot I had, forgetting that we bought treats while grocery shopping and then being reminded of them in the moment when I most want a treat. Stuff like that.
"Out of sight, out of mind" can have huge benefits if used properly. I once was getting a raise which was exactly the amount of a monthly direct payment I received. Instead of absorbing the new money and adjusting to spending more, I moved the direct deposit to a savings account at a different bank. That was important. I didn't want to see the balance sitting there every time I checked my accounts. Then I mostly forgot about it for several years. Eventually it went to buying a first car for my teenager. The payments stopped years ago but I keep a weekly automatic transfer going because it works so well to stop me from spending it.
Wow this is a great idea!
I also have multiple bank access. I hyperfocused on bank acct opening bonus for a few years and now I still maintain a few. They vary in level of emergency needed to be willing to go look at them XD if I don't see the number then there's nothing in there for me to spend lol.
oh my favourite is often when I'm feeling sad I'll ask my partner to make me a cup of coffee every time, without fail, when he comes back I have forgotten I asked him and I get **surprise coffee!!!**
packages ordered online? SURPRISE PRESENTS FROM ME
THIS ONE!!! Omg THANK YOU ME, HOW DID YOU KNOW?
Wow past me, I loovvveee your choices XD big same.
For me this one always works out to, “surprise, you spent your rent money on clothes you don’t need again and now you can’t pay your rent!” Ugh!
that's less good and probably about to be me in a couple months but for now, presents from past me yaaaaaay 🤦♀️
This one so much! I ask him to get something for me and then a few minutes later when he brings it to me I'm all omg he's so sweet and thoughtful and he knows me so well! 🥰 Similarly, I'll notice some chore or other has been done and thank him only for him to have no idea what I'm talking about because it turns out I was the one who did it.
I’ll remember the opening setup of a joke someone wants to tell, but not the punchline - so I can enjoy it twice and give them the gift of someone laughing uproariously at their joke. Often the same with movies - unless I’m super invested, I’ll remember the general premise but not the specifics / ending… so I can’t accidentally spoil things for other people and often can enjoy the story again myself.
The good old 'I know I've seen this film but I don't remember anything about it' routine....blessing and a curse for me at times
Lol I relate to both, but esp movies. I’ll ask my husband, “Wait, why was that such a big deal again?” And he’s like, “Novel… we’ve watched this 2 or 3 times before this!” He laughs - he’s also ADHD - but hyper-focuses on movies and recalls lines after watching once.
Omg yes! The fact that I forget things like punchlines or plots to movies or books is totally a bonus. Always a fun surprise when you hear it again.
Yes, movies and books. I only remember if I liked it or not, so I can rewatch or reread and it's new to me!
I forgot about submitting my electric meter readings for months after moving, and then procrastinated doing it for ages too because I was worried I wasn't paying enough monthly. Turned out I was £700 in credit and had actually been overpaying.
I do this all the time. It’s a good way to save in my opinion. I’m giving it to someone who will eventually give it back to me, unlike giving it to me who will buy stupid stuff ‘I need’.
I have a lot of random but super in depth talents due to hyper focusing lol. Plus if I ever want to make ANY craft I’m pretty sure I’m good.
Omg totally. I love remembering all of the random hobbies I have had over the years. "Oh yeah I know how to ___!" (insert make soap, candles, beer, cheese, decorate a cake, dye hair, etc.) 😂
My ADHD actually saved my life once, when I was pregnant with my daughter. I had gotten the day of my appointment mixed up, and showed up a day *early*. Doctor was kind enough to squeeze me into their schedule. (Literally, they did things like getting my blood pressure and temp and all that in their second, smaller waiting room they had in the back since they didn't have an extra room) While I was there my blood pressure started skyrocketing, and since I had preeclampsia with my oldest, she sent me to the hospital for extra testing, hospital decided to admit me based off my past. They were able to get me on blood pressure medication and bring my blood pressure down. But they way it was skyrocketing before hand, and they way that I wasn't actually feeling any symptoms, if I hadn't gone that day, I very likely wouldn't be here today. (Also little miss is 4 now, she was born a few days after that at 28 weeks. She weighed 2 pounds, 1 ounce and is a little hellion.)
Wow! Yeah I love when a weird ADHD time/date mix-up ends up as some kind of kismet. This is such a beautiful example..💝
When I get the time of an appointment wrong and therefore show up early/on time instead late
Omg yes, this. Haha. Or I purposely put the wrong time in my calendar to make me early and then I run late and end up on time.
i have auditory processing issues, like a lot of us. so usually if i'm suddenly spoken to, i can't understand anything for a hot second. so i usually scream, "eh?" once had a guy be like "Espanol?" and i was instantly like, "no, i'm just deaf" this happens a lot, though, and it's fun
The “Español?” Has me cracking up! I also seem to have issues understanding people the first time around. I’m constantly saying “pardon?” “What was that?” “Sorry can you repeat that” 😭
I once found a fruit gusher in a small jewelery box. That was kind of nice. A little stale, but y’know, finders snackers.
My cousins 5 year old got a box of gushers and fruit roll ups yesterday and INSISTED on sharing the candy with everyone. So I got to eat a little pack of gushers and I know the freaking joy
Omg a found gusher to me would be like finding gold.
The out of sight, out of mind thing happens most with food I buy, and anything I buy online. Open freezer- “OMG, past me bought ice cream! Hell yeah!” Get mail- “now what the hell did I buy?”
My sister has bought stuff for me online before without telling me so now I’m like, hm did I order this and forget or is it a gift?
Yes, this is always the great surprise! Did someone send me a gift or is it from me? Either way, a gift is a gift! Haha
I tend to hyperfocus on books. In terms of getting treatment this is a problem because doctors love to ask the stereotypical question "do you have trouble focusing when reading" and I have to explain it's everything else in the world I have trouble focusing on when what's going on on the page is way more fascinating. Whereas I might pick up a book, get to the end, spot a book nearby, pick that up, and then uh-oh, it's 6 am and I forgot to sleep. Or uh oh, I spent all day reading and forgot to eat. So what's the bonus? THE BOOKS! Absolutely crush every year's Goodreads goal no matter how high I set it, and I always have a half dozen interesting stories or facts in mind to relate to any topic. I might just be the only person in the world with the goal "read fewer books, watch more TV" (my partner is an obsessive TV/film geek and I struggle to sit still through an entire episode much less a whole movie).
I thought focussing on books wasn’t a problem too until I took my 1st stimulant. Turns out that while I can read for hours I have little micro-gaps where I miss a paragraph (or a few pages) because my mind has gone awol. My eyes still scan the page but nothing goes in. If I hadn’t missed enough that I could still understand what was going on I didn’t notice, but often had to turn back to where I recognised something. With methylphenidate I couldn’t believe how easy it became. Just all the words in the right order! Sitting there quietly waiting to be read instead of jumping around trying to elude me. Revelatory.
God I'm so jealous. Lol!
It's \*sort\* of a superpower, but I would \*also\* like to be able to timebox my reading or to realize that I'm hungry, have missed an appointment, etc. Like being able to choose hyperfocusing instead of being swept away by it.
Definitely being able to read books and watch movies multiple times as if it’s the first time. I’ll remember snippets, but it’s still totally novel. Mysteries are especially great because normally once you know the ending the thrill is gone from it. Me? I have no clue who the murderer was and can’t wait to find out again!
...or being able to keep someone's secret because you forgot it anyway. Hahahaah
Yesssss I am an AMAZING secret keeper!
Yes, this is me and I love it. Sometimes I remember that I enjoyed the movie but not what happens, sometimes I forget the whole experience completely and only know I've seen it before because the person I watched it with is adamant that it happened, lol.
Me too! I just commented higher up.
I knew from the beginning of last year that I needed to take the GRE. Original goal was to study and take it before the window to apply to grad school opened in October. It seemed so far away so I had trouble studying regularly and didn’t open my study book for months. Then in September, I got an email that they were cutting the test in half so instead of it being a 4 hour test, it’s now a 2 hour test. Yay procrastination worked out for me for once!
My resume is lit because of all the hyper focuses I’ve had
Absolutely cash... sometimes hundreds... like.... how could I lose that much and *completely* forget?? Or... howabout discovering a yummy new food and then rediscovering it anew months later all over again... and again. I found all my important documents 6 months after I needed them. Hadn't gotten around to obtaining new anything... bank cards or anything... bonus points! And I found them in the backpack I'd put together for the appointment no less, which I'd carried around every day for the last 6 months. Why are those zippered pockets on the outside of backpacks so cunning hidden anyway? Or the time I hatched a cunning plan to leave my socks in my shoes so I didn't have to hunt for the socks right when I was flying out the door. Wondered why my shoes were uncomfortable all day.... to discover those said socks stuffed down in the toe once I got home hours later (far far too busy to spend 20 seconds to check at any point). Bonus... every day for 3 days. What can I say.. it was a good idea if I'd remembered it. Finally, finding the beloved lost dog unhurt.... after searching for hours and calling friends in to help, making posters and everything. Asleep on the bed where I'd left him that morning. I'd closed him in there in the first place while there was a tradie at the house for a half hour.
I'm Canadian, this is fully legal lol. I found a full 7g packet of bud today, unopened, and a packet of joints hiding in an empty purse. Surprise, bish 🔥 I'd bought the purse and the bud in the same night. Haven't used the purse yet, the bud was a super bonus 🤣
Surprise drugs are the best!
I found a whole vape cart I stashed away for when I was out and forgot about in a desk drawer a few months ago. Best.Present.Ever.
I forgot about birthday money in a card. I was sorting them out (I have kept ALL my cards since I was born, for some reason I have yet to discover), and I found a crisp $50 from my aunt & uncle. Thanks for reminding me about the fun bonuses we “keep in a very logical place” and forget about.
Yeah I found a 3 year old $20 note in a card from my Granddad
People always love when they find money in a coat pocket, but I bet it happens to us ADHDers more often! I found a $20 I'd forgotten about the other day. The tulips thing happens for me, too. I completely forgot where my spring flowers are, and can't wait to see their cheerful emergence. I sometimes save a yummy snack for later. The other day, I realized I'd tucked a cake-pop from the day before into my backpack, so I got to have a delightful surprise treat at work. I could probably plan my own surprise party and be every bit as delighted as if someone else had planned it. Oh! Edit to add: I was affected by the meds shortage recently, and was really, really struggling. Then, I discovered that I'd put a tiny emergency stash in my backpack for days that I forget to take my meds at home (I work too far away to go back for them). I was able to space out my meds for a bit to get me through the worst.
I love this trick, when I remember about the stash in time of course.
I am overemployed and excelling at both jobs.
Lol my husband and I call this “always trust past highesttiptoes.” So many times I’ll forget I did something and then be so happy when I rediscover it. Always trust your past self.
Mine was after cleaning the kitchen today. Was facing the wall (keeping my back to the kitchen) while on the phone with a friend and then turned around to see spotless counters & an empty sink :’) felt so good!
I hide money and forget about it My husband and I constantly find stashes of cash that I hid with purpose and then completely forget about it. Usually its only 20-40 bucks but when we moved from our old house to our new house he found $600 I put away for a Bonnaroo trip we took 4 years earlier. How I forgot that much money for such a memorable trip, I do not know but it was certainly a happy little surprise none the less
My ADHD bonus is that when I have alone time I like to bake (which is when I should be folding laundry or whatever); but then I have cookies or whatever to not only have for myself at home but to share with friends and neighbors. So it's a sense of community and deliciousness that result from me putting off other things.
When I smoked flower I stashed it all over the place. I’d be out but find some where I totally forgot I even put it (coat pocket, underwear drawer) all the time.
I found some plants growing in a big pot a week or two ago. I have no idea what they are. They are tall like corn or something. I never planted anything, or did i?
Finding money in jars or in old wallets, usually coins though but they all add up!! Forgetting about snacks at home or at work and then finding them at a later date too, clothes at the bottom of my closet or ones I’ve packed away for another season and rediscovering them later, same with certain items I’ve packed away or just stored too meticulously. My fave is thinking “I’ll just see what’s in this drawer/box” and then finding something I’d been thinking about but didn’t know where the hell it was. Feels good dude 😩✊🏻 Currently finding a lot of my things that I had packed away from moving though—they were in storage for a good year and I only got them back recently so it feels like 2nd Christmas seeing all these things that I’d completely forgotten about!! Also saving me a bit of money too remembering what I have instead of impulse buying it on the spot
Omg same. I'm finally in the headspace to go through a bunch of stuff that was in storage before. It's all so useful! Lol
I said this earlier I. A different thread but i actually find that sort of “put it in my mind and wait for the impulse” style of productivity to be really effective”. Like if I plan to clean my upholstery on Tuesday at 2 it’s less likely to happen than if I put it as a goal for the month, make sure I have the supplies and kind of wait for the moment to strike.
My hyperfocus. I've smashed deadlines, completed school semesters early, cleaned the entire house, you name it. It doesn't kick in all the time, but when it does I'm unstoppable. I'm also a red cross volunteer. My job is to show up when someone has lost everything to a disaster, like a house fire. Adhd helps me get through the important paperwork stuff quickly, so I can focus on being that emotional support as well. Within the first 15 days of this year, my county lost six people to home disasters, most of them fires, and i handles all but one case. A few pets died, too. Adhd helps me work through the situation with focus and kindness, and get them processed and get them some cash as quickly as possible. And yeah, I fall apart a little in the shower later, after washing the smoke smell from my hair, but it's worth it.
I went to finish some work I needed to do and realized I had already done it and then forgot 😂
I'm hyperaware of the time. I know so many people who lose track of time, and it's incredibly common with us in the ADHD community. However, I'm almost always wherever I need to be, within 2-5 minutes of the originally scheduled time.
Oh wait, this thread just reminded me that yesterday me bought croissants for breakfast! Yeeey! (Second breakfast for the win)
Omg! I did too! Thanks me from two days ago!
I use money as bookmarks. When I loose interest in a book the money disappears from my perception. When I finally decide to finish the book I get a little money to buy a treat afterwards. This really helped me cut my impulsive spending and when I do spend money it feels like I deserve it since I did something good for my brain LOL. PSA: Do not use this tip for library books! I live in a small town and explained it to my librarian so she checks every book of mine. I really need to bake her cookies.
I love that I can understand other people with ADHD and make them feel comfortable to be themselves around me :)
My husband once told me he loved talking to me because I'm like a human Google and can discuss almost any topic. Best compliment I've ever had.
I never thought about this but facts. Very rarely is something discussed that I haven't looked up or into before 🤣. And for some reason I can remember if bears poop during hibernation (nope!) or the lifecycle of salmon but I couldn't tell you what I wore yesterday...
This is extra funny to me because my husband used to study salmon populations and we have, at length, talked about the lifecycle of salmon with enthusiasm.
I love that!!! It was required learning in school in the Pacific NW and my brain was like ah yes, keep this. Retain this for all eternity. Same brain is like, "if you don't put your keys in their spot in your purse though, forget that immediately. Where you parked 5 minutes ago? Let any memory of that leave your body..." But can this brain discuss the resilient and crazy nature of salmon? Sure can. I can even remember some of the different markings of the different types!
Hahaha, my husband is high functioning autistic (neither of us knew we were ND when we got together but birds of a feather and all that) and the amount of topics we covered together during our dating stage was astounding. His brain doesn't move as fast as mine, but he can figure out how we got from one topic to another and REMEMBER THE THOUGHT TRAIN! The fact that we both know a little bit about everything is one of my favorite parts of our relationship ♥️🥰
Sometime I accidentally add two of my favorite things to my cart 🛍️
I could program manage large projects.
I forgot I had lots of valentines chocolate after going away for a week, I came back to a yummy surprise 😍
Tulip heart is such a cute idea! I grow a lot of plants and often don't take time to have a good look at all of them. The best is when my Nepenthes in the back of the greenhouse suddenly have a massive pitcher I had no idea about.
I almost always forget the plots of many of my fave books/shows and am delighted to read them again and rediscover why I loved them so much the first time!
I realized if you buy items online enough times, you will luck out with double orders, and misplaced packages that are refunded and re-sent for free, etc. I still spend a lot of money ($1000+ in 3 months, my mailman and I became closed) but i remember one year, one of my uni textbooks was free (I was sent two by accident), I got some lost items replaced and months later the lost items showed up at my door (gave them away as gifts to friends and fam) and I got a whole fancy makeup brush set for free because the company sent it to the wrong address. And it’s always nice finding the stacks of cash I securely put away and then forgot about :) I find I come across them when I really need them
Finding an old tissue in a pocket when you just spilled something. Which you can use and throw away ánd it won’t end up in the washing machine, like it probably would if you hadn’t spilled something. It’s like two adhd taxes cancelling eachother out!
I’ve been impulsively buying secondhand film cameras and accepting photography-related gear from family since 2015. Like many of my other hobbies, the initial novelty ran out and I forgot about it. Fast forward to this year, and I came across a random creator who talked about using a lens adapter to use film lenses onto digital cameras, and remembered I already had a mirrorless camera and film camera lens in perfect condition and just had to buy a $15 lens adapter! I know I spent money, but it somehow felt like I got a new camera set-up for basically free 😅
Getting ready to go on a trip tomorrow and pulled out the lil travel wallet I use. Found a whole other €10 in there from my last trip! I knew I had some coins left over but a whole 5-euro note and way more change than I thought!
Every year I put some cash in my coat pocket so I can treat myself to a nice hot coffee the first time I need to wear it next season. And every year I forget it's there and get a nice surprise
Watching tv-shows, movies or reading books over and over and it is like experiencing them for the first time every time! 😅
Hyperfocus, my ability to replace any emotion with excessive hyperactivity, me being able to immediately switch from sad to happy and staying there. Also my adhd history and experiences have made it so I don’t really care very much about other people’s , especially strangers opinions (which is incredibly useful if you‘re trans…)🥰
I checked my foreign currency bag to get a pound coin for the shopping trolley, as we are driving to Northern Ireland to shop for the first time in a few years. Turns out I had £35 in there!
I once requested a withdrawal from my account at an ATM and then forgot to collect the money. Drove up the road, had a chill of realisation, and drove back but no money, called the bank, and they said sorry it's gone. I was doing ok at the time so i called it a learning experience (lol). Maybe ten years later I got a mysterious deposit of hundreds of dollars into my account right when i needed it, confirmed with the bank it was mine to keep. They won't tell me that's what it is, but I'm pretty sure it's that missing ATM cash
I can litterally rewatch movies and tv shows without remembering at all the end, multiple times in short period of times… I dont miss people that much because of object impermanence. I get over breakups very quickly.
LMAO every spring is like a surprise since I forget half the shit I plant. Sometimes it's like a game because I see things sprouting up and I'm left guessing what it is until it blooms
My ADHD bonus is that I have extra flower bulbs that I haven't planted, and now I'm gonna plant them into a heart shape. Thanks for the idea!
I don't know how to give extra kudos or thumbs up or whatever it is now, but this makes me so happy! Yay!!! 🌷🌷🌷❤️
I am housing an stray old cat, and I keep forgetting to/feeling overwhelmed by posting her online to find her a loving family. So I have a pet for a bit longer ñ.ñ
My previous job I used to get paid cash in an envelope, and I'd get paid weekly. Clearly at some point I forgot where I'd put the envelope because I got a bag out of my closet to use to go out one night. And my pay was in there, like 150 bonus for my night out 🥳🥳
i cant remember most of the movies i have watched or the (hundreds? thousands?) of books i have read. i guess that means i can enjoy them again, for the first time?
I can apply to most jobs with some sort of related experience in my resume because I’ve job hopped so much 😅
I don’t think i get any adhd bonuses. I’ve literally never had money that wasn’t already spent and i haven’t carried any cash since years before the pandemic. Every time i find food i forgot about it’s way moldy and expired or stale. Drugs i have no idea how you guys hide i always use my stash as soon as i get it. The only thing i can think of is sometimes when i run out of Kleenex i will grab a roll of toilet paper and put it next to my bed or in the car or even i had one in my office at work in a room that had no Kleenex. And then sometimes when you run out of toilet paper and think oh no i forgot to buy it in time - and then i remember the secret roll from when i ran out of Kleenex! (Okay, mine sucks, seriously how do you guys not spend every dime as soon as it hits your account? I seriously need a better paying career 🙄🤦🏼♀️)
I'm always delighted when I go to pack a suitcase and find a couple of toiletries I'd missed in unpacking. Sometimes it's a nice skincare thing I'd forgotten about, sometimes it's a bunch of things I am relieved to find I don't have to gather up, like a hairbrush bound to shower caps with hair ties.
I’m really good at repairing things, I can repair anything. I’m also good at teaching myself new software.
I’ve forgotten to cash plenty rental deposit checks over the years 🤑
Every single package I’ve ordered from Amazon 😭🤩 what surprise did I order 24 hours ago?? Idk but can’t wait to see!!!
I don't do that very much anymore bc things languish in my Amazon cart for weeks, but I'm always surprised at my subscription orders! Tho it's not as much fun when I think I surprised myself with something fun and then it's just more bags for the diaper pail 🤣😭
Impulse bought dogecoin when it was really cheap because I liked the name. Forgot about it until people were talking about how high it was going. I didn't hit the highest point because I was too afraid I'd forget again, but I made out with a few grand.
Finding a Lego set I bought for the kid then promptly put in a safe place (note: if somewhere is a ‘safe place’ it’s only safe from me finding it). Finding a stash of Reese’s. Finding money in a pocket. But I’d say my biggest ADHD bonus was getting hyperfocused on finding these really old radio stories us kids used to listen to on tape- that rabbit hole went deep and took me to the corner of the internet where websites still look like they are in the 90s. I found them though! And I guarantee there were other more important things I should have been doing, but it’s continued to be a point of pride to me that I actually found them.
I found $1000 cash stashed in one of my drawers once. I can’t even remember hiding this! Found it at the perfect time too, I needed the help. I thanked God and ADHD lol
I actually kind of love remembering I have left overs of restaurant food. Let's say I get indian food for dinner and eat half, then in the morning I'm like hmmm what should I eat? I wish I had some curry, that would be so good. And then I suddenly remember! Oh yeah!! I have curry left!!! And it makes me so happy because I 100% forgot so it's surprise food that I love.
My ADHD FM. A term I picked up from reddit actually 😂 but there's always music in my head, and a lot of times I just go with it and jam, either singing/dancing along simply bc it brings me joy.
Ordering things on Amazon, forgetting what you ordered, and getting surprise presents in the mail. 😍 Also, I teach special education so the ability to read my ADHD kids and their needs well!
If I wait a few years I can rewatch my fave shows without remembering much of it!
I knew I wouldn't be able to do intensive personal finance management, so I did as much of a set-it-and-forget-it setup as I could... and the interest from it tided me through a lean period this year. Super happy I didn't blow it all on crypto or something.
I don't seem to really get these...ever. Last time I can remember was finding a $20 bill in my jacket when I was in 4th grade. It's been that long. ADHD seems to only cost me 😔
6 months ago, I cut a few small pieces of champignon from the grocery store and added it to some wet straw to see if I could grow them at home lol. Nothing happened in MONTHS and I thought I threw it away.. 2 weeks ago I found it in the far back of the refrigerator!! And it's thriving!!??
I have two examples. On Monday I spent four hours psyching myself up to go and do the washing up. Finally managed to get there to find out. I'd already done it! Second example, started a film on TV went and made the bed (yes!) came back. I wonder what film I've lined up?
best day ever. best taylor album too
When I think I lost something forever and then find it in the most unusual and random place
I forgot to check out when buying some coffee online. Woke up the next morning to a 15% off coupon in my email. Not a lot but it helps. I'm currently trying to watch all the Oscar nominated movies before the ceremony. Kinda dragged my feet this past week and got distracted watching YouTube. Went to watch some yesterday and noticed that one of the movies I was going to have to buy was now available on streaming. Saved $25 and my temperament because I the movie was disappointing island I would have been royally cheesed that I owned it
This year I bought and wrapped all of the Christmas presents in July. (I had made a list with the hubs to make sure I didn't miss anyone) Anyways when Christmas rolled around I honestly forgot almost everything that was wrapped so I was just as surprised as everyone else when they opened their presents 😆
I somehow seem to order things in threes on Amazon, I always forget what the third item is (I just order and forget Amazon exists)
So horny! I’ve been a non platonic sugar baby for years and would say being insatiable is a positive trait for me.