As someone with no relevant diagnosis but who considers their memory and attention to be occasionally questionable, I find a solution (not always attainable, but I try) in mustering up the energy to create [recurring, if applicable] calendar entries with reminders. Anything to streamline and reduce the friction associated with doing so, such as using voice assistants as much as possible, is super helpful. The slightest bit of thought along the lines of "I'll probably remember" to get out of documenting the reminder is a major catalyst for failure.
Therefore, I'd consider the quantity/frequency of such reminders (detectable by cloud calendar/reminder providers) to be an early indicator of such issues.
My wife and I have a paper calendar and we have a meeting every Wednesday where we check in and record bills and make payments. We get 15-20 bills a month for reasons.
We also moved all bills back to paper, as it’s easier to track that than various email based accounts.
I don't get how this is useful. All of my bill pay are automated and have been for at least a decade. I get paid once a month the total cost of my bills goes to one account and from the rest a portion goes to savings and a portion to a spending account. As my bills get paid the bills account gradually decreases to near zero and at the beginning of each month it's refilled automatically with my direct deposit. I never have to think about paying bills late and have infact never missed a payment.
That’s great. The system that works for you is the best one.
In my case, the cadence ensures that my wife and I communicate about money stuff and are on the same page. This “meeting” takes about 20 minutes. Certain aspects of money coming in and going out are variable for us, so we cannot set and forget. Someday I’m sure we will, but not today!
>I don't get how this is useful. All of my bill pay are automated and have been for at least a decade.
I have an anecdote, that would be central to my article on the ADHD organization if I ever get around to writing it (an ADHD organization is my term for any organization that is less organized than I am, they generally really get on my nerves because as unorganized as they are they like to contact me and complain about my lack of organization skills as being a form of immorality), anyway enough preamble - on to the anecdote:
About 5-6 years ago I got a message from the local power company - please go down and read the meter and tell us what it says if you don't we will come by and read the meter and charge you for us coming by. So of course I didn't read the meter, they said they would come by and charge me a small fee for it, win-win I call that.
The next year they sent me the same message, again I didn't go read because they told me they would do it for a small fee (I think it comes out to between $30-50).
A few months later it's Christmas, I am in Berlin to celebrate with family I get a message from the power company. You owe $15000 extra for the last couple years in extra power usage (this is approximate as I don't know what the rate of exchange was then, it was in Danish kroner, and I don't remember the exact amount). Then they sent another message a couple hours later, you owe $15500, the next day $17000, the next day somewhere around $19000. They just couldn't make up their mind, the power company was going through some monetary issues at the time and a coworker of mine suggested they saw me as the solution.
So I called them up and they said it was because I hadn't done the check in the last two years and so they had to finally come out and check and told me I was morally obligated to do the check and this was what happened when you don't do the check sometimes you end up paying more.
I said so you thought my yearly power consumption for a family of 3 was $2-3000, which is actually a bit high in Denmark (I have an old house, should fix up some stuff) but it turns out to have been more than 3 times as much. Doesn't that sound weird to you?
Argued back and forth. Sent it forward to their investigation department. They asked me to please go look at the meter, I did. Turned out they had read my downstairs neighbor's meter, not mine. My meter is described as being inside the garage in their system, which it is, my neighbor's is directly outside the garage (by the front door)
At any rate - I don't trust giving companies the right to bill me automatically and to pay bills automatically because there are a lot of disorganized organizations out there. Perhaps this particular issue would not have been automatically billed and paid, but I'm glad I didn't have to find out.
I've long used paper with tracking as one of the reasons, but due to the pandemic's effects one actually wound up a month late (and other attempts to keep track also missed it).
Therefore, I'd consider the quantity/frequency of such reminders (detectable by cloud calendar/reminder providers) to be an early indicator of such issues.