How I Built Task n Tally for My ADHD Brain

I have ADHD. And for years, I've watched project after project spiral into chaos — not because I didn't care, but because every tool I tried made things worse.

Notion? Too flexible. I'd spend more time designing my workspace than actually working.

Asana and Monday? Information overload. Fifty columns of data I didn't need, notifications everywhere, and a learning curve that felt like a part-time job.

Spreadsheets? Sure, they worked... until I forgot which tab I was using, lost track of formulas, and ended up with three different "master" versions.

The breaking point

Last year, I was renovating my kitchen. Nothing fancy — new benchtops, a bit of tiling, some cabinet hardware. Should have been straightforward.

Instead, I found myself drowning. Receipts everywhere. Couldn't remember if I'd paid the tiler. Lost track of how much I'd actually spent versus my budget. Forgot to order handles until the installer was literally standing in my kitchen asking where they were.

The project took twice as long as it needed to. Not because the work was complicated, but because I couldn't stay on top of the boring admin bits.

That's when I decided to build something different.

What my brain actually needs

After a lot of trial and error (and some brutally honest conversations with my therapist), I realised what I needed:

One place for everything. Not a project tool AND a budget tool AND a receipt scanner AND a task list. One app. Everything in one view.

Visual progress. ADHD brains love dopamine. Seeing a progress ring fill up? That hits different. Numbers in a spreadsheet? My eyes glaze over.

Minimal decisions. Every "choose your layout" or "customise your workflow" is a decision that drains my mental energy. I needed sensible defaults that just work.

Friction-free capture. The moment I have to navigate three menus to add an expense, I won't do it. It needs to be as fast as possible.

AI that helps, not hypes. I struggle to write clear task descriptions. Having AI suggest a task breakdown from a vague idea? Genuinely useful. Having AI write marketing copy for itself? Not what I need.

The simplest version that works

Task n Tally isn't trying to be everything to everyone. It's specifically designed for people who:

• Have one or two active projects at a time
• Need to track spending against a budget
• Want to tick off tasks without ceremony
• Hate complicated software

That's it. No Gantt charts. No resource allocation. No 47-step onboarding flow.

You create a project, set a budget, and start adding expenses and tasks. The app shows you where you're at. Done.

The features that actually matter

Here's what I built, and why:

Big, obvious progress rings. At a glance, you know how much budget you've used and how many tasks are done. No mental arithmetic required.

Drag-and-drop tasks. Priorities change constantly. Rearranging should take a second, not a restructure.

Receipt photos. Snap the receipt when you add the expense. Never dig through a drawer again.

AI task suggestions. Type "organise the garage" and get a sensible breakdown. You can edit it, but you don't start from a blank page.

Invoice parsing. Upload a PDF and let AI pull out the line items. Less typing, fewer mistakes.

Payment tracking. Especially for projects with multiple people contributing, you can log who's paid what and see the running balance.

What I deliberately left out

This is almost more important:

No team features. This isn't for agencies or departments. It's for individuals or small household teams.

No integrations. I don't want to sync with fourteen other apps. I want my data in one place, not scattered across a tech stack.

No complex reporting. You can see what you've spent by category. That's enough for most people.

No social features. Nobody needs to see my half-finished renovation on a feed.

Does it actually work?

For me, yes. Genuinely.

I've finished three projects since I started using it — including the bathroom that had been "in progress" for six months. The difference wasn't willpower or motivation. It was having a system that matched how my brain works instead of fighting against it.

The visual feedback keeps me engaged. The AI takes the edge off the bits I find hardest (writing things out clearly). The simplicity means I actually open the app, which is half the battle.

Try it yourself

Task n Tally is free to start. One project, no credit card required.

If you're someone who's tried a dozen productivity apps and found them all overwhelming, this might be different. Not because it's magical, but because it's deliberately simple.

Build something. Track what you spend. Finish what you start.

Get started for free →