I went through a "phase" that lasted perhaps three years where my spending was very irresponsible. I am bipolar but it was something that I did consistently rather than episodic related to mood so I am not sure that my bipolar had much to do with it.

I collect model horses. There are some pictures of some of them in this thread - http://forums.psychcentral.com/showp...9&postcount=12

Af first I would only buy a few horses and I bought the ones that I considered inexpensive, usually less than $50. I saw pictures of beautiful resin horses that cost $400-500 on ebay and other sales sites and couldn't imagine who would spend that much money on a twelve inch tall model horse.

But then...

Horses became more and more important to me. I bought more horses and more expensive horses. I have been on disability since 2000 so it's not like I have spare money for these sort of things. One time I saw a horse on ebay that I just HAD to have. The horse cost $600. A man from the electric company came to my house and said my bill was overdue and I needed to pay $600 right then or my electric would be turned off. I had just a little over $600 cash in my purse and no money in the bank. I said, turn it off. I then went to the post office and bought a money order for $600 to buy the horse. Within a few days I had the box with my new horse and was thrilled and didn't mind having no electric. I named the horse "Bittersweet" because of that situation.

Things only got worse. Once I spent the weekend searching a model horse sales site the weekend after I got paid. Within 48 hours I had bought three horses and spent my entire disability check. Nothing seemed to stop me. I had a private therapist and also went to group therapy and they were aware of my problem. They sent me to a financial counselor. I did not have much debt other than my mortgage so he said there was nothing he could do for me, I should get help from the therapists to control my horse habit.

I even stopped paying the mortgage on my farm to enable my horse buying. I once spent $2500 on a single horse. My disability is not near that much for a month. I did not pay my mortgage for six months in a row so I could buy more horses.

I finally got the reality check that I needed. The mortgage holders sent me a letter saying that if I did not pay my mortgage they would take legal action. I realized I was going to lose my house and I would have nowhere to keep my son or my real horse.

The buying slowed to a level that I could pay my bills. In 2008 I bought only one horse for $50 and later sold him for $80. In 2009 I have bought zero horses but I have been making time payments to artists to paint several models.

I owe taxes so I am going to sell some of my horses to help fund that. Although my $2500 horse is outstanding I know he has to go. The good thing is that unlike the $300/month that I was also spending for clothes at the time the horses maintain the resale value. The horse "Bittersweet" that was more important than electric - I sold him on ebay when I needed to install a heat pump and I made a profit of $150. I miss him but I like heat. When I bought the most expensive horse I was the first to email wanting to buy him and the seller said that within the same hour she had three other people email wanting him too. I am confident that I can sell him for at least as much as I paid. So sort of a silver lining in the insanity of my obsession.