I’ve never been able to. I’ve tried:
Keeping receipts, text file on laptop, trying to keep track… too absent minded. Forget one receipt, it’s all off.
Bank app on phone? Phone stolen last year, wary.
Weekly visit to atm to check balance? Forget pin, can’t remember, locked out of account.
Paying for everything with cash might work, but unsafe neighborhood. And I forget where cash is, random $20 bills found in bizarre locations months later.
At my wit’s end. Any adhd people experience similar?
Dude, we are not in the 1950s. Just last week I watched a 70yo woman pay for her groceries using her phone via NFC for example. Some of us didn’t learn how to manage money from our parents. I was lucky - I did. Some of us don’t have access to all the tech. We are behind on connectivity in rural areas, but consider how large the U.S.A. is compared to most nations combined with the over-developed profit motive here.
I’m growing weary of the global pastime of denegrating America and Americans based on stereotypes. It’s as bad as some of us denegrating places like France for similar reasons. If you think you’re better than us, guess what - you’re proving you are not. We’re all fundamentally the same, with different histories.
What year is it where you live? 😂
You say there’s no internet but we’re using a banking app at one point. Do you mean no home service, but you have cell service? If so, you can use your phone’s web browser to do online banking, or use your phone’s hotspot to enable a computer.
Failing that, the weekly check with your pin is the next angle of attack. I make my pins and passwords based on a rule. That way, it doesn’t matter if I forget it, I can use the rule to recreate it. For instance, let’s say I bank at Citigroup. To make a pin, I take the first 4 letters and convert them to numbers using a standard keypad. Citi becomes 2484, although I’ll just remember to type in the first 4 letters of the bank.
This is a simple example rule, and isn’t secure enough for my standards, but once you’ve defined a rule, you just follow the recipe, and you’ll get the same pin every time. For my actual rule, I have clarifying rules like “always use the full name”, and rules to create secondary pins when something demands I change one.
These rules stay the same no matter what thing I’m doing, and I find rules that make sense to me are far easier to remember than numbers.
Banking apps generally require you use a biometric ID or enter a password to open them. If your bank’s app doesn’t, find a new bank.
OTOH, you shouldn’t need to rely on an app to keep your phone secure. I recommend setting your phone to require a PIN or fingerprint to unlock it. Then having your phone stolen isn’t a security risk.
Do you have a computer? Online banking does it all for you now.
I don’t use any banking app on my phones. Web browser on my laptop is all I need for online banking. Purchases and deposits are listed in chronological order and the balance of the account is shown.
Just be sure that your computer is up-to-date on security patches and it should be all good.
Don’t have internet where I live. But your suggestion sounds way helpful.
