sciencetoy,

I can't teach you how to be disciplined but I can teach you a few tricks. I can not deal with loose papers. I deal with this by putting papers in a three ring binder. Get a three whole punch and some three ring binders. Used binders work if you need to be cost conscious.

You can also use shoe boxes as loose filing systems. I use them for receipts. One box for unpaid bills that have not been entered into Quicken and another once they have been entered and scheduled for payment.

I also use Quicken to track my finances. I use bill scheduling and other features to plan ahead. My SSDI payment is scheduled for the 14th and the last week of the month, I sit down and adjust the date to the second Wednesday.

If you can't do these on your own, you may be able to get some help from your city or county social services department to help you set up system that work.

The key is to set up systems that, if you follow the system, everything usually falls into place.

I took an 80% cut in pay when I had to go on SSDI. It is difficult but we can survive.

My best to you.