[comicgeek007]

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I was hypo for over a month, and during that time, I spent over a hundred dollars just on costume-making supplies for myself. I just decided that day that I HAD to make costumes, I had to make specific costumes, and I HAD to have all the stuff to make them ASAP. At least I had enough sense not to pay for expidited shipping, but still! It seems a little out of character for me to spend that much money at once, not including all the body jewelry I ordered prior to even getting piercings. I also took on a near-hundred dollar project to make a costume for my boyfriend's little sister from scratch (she didn't ask me, I offered). I mean for crying out loud! I thought I knew how to handle money better. And I rationalized all the spending on getting a bunch of REALLY cheap textbooks. So I'm not out of money yet, I just have to be very careful with what I buy for the time being, eat at the cafeteria instead of buying food to cook, etc.

I can't tell if this was hypo or just poor money management skills. Or maybe a combination of both.

[unlived]

Just my opinion but I think if it was hypo you would have spent a lot more

[BipolaRNurse]

A hundred bucks on costume supplies may not be managing your money well, but it doesn't rise to the level of a hypo/manic spending spree. What does rise to the level of hypomania is the urgency with which you felt you needed to make the costumes, "had to have" certain items and so on.

I've been known to go out for groceries and come home with a new TV. I've gone to Wal-Mart to look at blouses and spent a thousand bucks on new dishes in seasonal colors, table linens, toys and games for the grandkids, clothes, audio equipment, kitchen appliances......

The only thing that limits my spending during manic episodes is the available funds---I don't have credit cards (for good reason!) so I can't buy what I don't have the cash for.

[comicgeek007]

the thing is, that was a good chunk of my availible money. :/

[Rapunzel]

The dollar amount spent is relative - $20 might be a lot for one person's budget while others could go through $1000 and not miss it. One thing that defines a hypomanic episode is whether it is different from what you normally would do. Another sign is goal-directed activity that isn't something you normally do (and anybody can decide to try a new hobby or something once in a while - the intensity and the impulsiveness have a lot to do with it). Also, how do you feel about it afterwards? Do you regret spending the money? What is the potential for painful consequences?

[Trippin2.0]

Pretty sure if you were hypo and not just irresponsible and impulsive you would've spent it all. Because it really doesn't matter in the moment when your spending is illogical.

I spent 2000 on underwear No they weren't bejewelled I just had to have ALL the underwear my credit could buy.
I now have drawers and gym bags full of sexy undies! Hehe Atleast bf is never bored
Good times hypomania:P

Blowing a budget isn't always a symptom, sometimes we're just careless. Fact of life.

Could have been either, could have been both. Now you know it has the potential to happen perhaps now is a good time to think about what you are going to do to stop it happening again?

I am extremely good at budgeting and living within my means, but when I go up I tend to splash out (random roadtrips and holidays are my biggest concern). Now I have a few ways to limit my spending. I dont have a credit card, I try to do everything with cash and I have a limit on my savings account. I cant blow more than a certain amount in a day now and its as difficult as possible to do. It would be handy to have a credit card from time to time but its not that big of an inconvenience not having one. Better safe than sorry. I know I am hypo when I start spending because usually I am pretty tight with money haha.

[Anika.]

If you don't have the available funds to go completely coaco for coaco puffs, you just do less damage. I've been hypo plenty and manic plenty and spent much much more than I should on stuff I shouldn't but I did not spend it all. I have my kids to feed, I can rationalize that much. But it still is money I would have normally not spent and money that I really needed for actual living. Normal me would not make those kind of choices, neva!

Normal me is extremely frugal and cheap.

If you don't have credit cards and don't have large sums available, and are normally very good or tight with money, or are living in poverty you may just not spend it all. If you are hypo and not manic you just might be able to squeeze some rational in there. If you have been conditioned to always watch your money very carefully, you might not spend every last cent whether hypo or manic. Plus not everyone gets the bipolar gift of extreme overspending. Just like not everyone gets the rage.

If you were hypo tho there would be other symptoms present at least one or two. Not just isolated spending too much I would think. I would look at that, and then I would look at making a budget and watch my spending a little closer either way if it was hypo or irresponsible, better to just treat both the same, and be aware of your spending so hopefully you won't end up in a spot you can't undo. And yes make it difficult to spend it.

I am very aware that if I blow all my money there is no rescue available to me. One false move and I could loose everything and be homeless, it has always been that way for me and I have been homeless, maybe that is why I stop myself short of spending it all, I dunno. Since having kids my impulsivness has been mostly directed at things that will not cause great harm. No more risky stuff for me.

[Trippin2.0]

forums.psychcentral.com/bipolar/296704-starting-doubt-diagnosis.html


In that thread you explained that you have been stable for over a month, no change on or off meds, now you saying you were hypo for over a month...

Is this the same time period we are discussing?

If you have reflected and ascertained that you definitely were hypo then sure, spending most of your money could be tied to that, whether its been a problem in the past or not.

Like Anika said, alot of us can control ourselves to a certain degree. I know I said you wouldn't have cared if you spent it all if you were hypo, but thats coming from the POV that you have no huge financial responsibilities / obligations.

Me? I do, a daughter is one of them but I still go cray cray with the monay. I make sure to give her portion to my brother for safe keeping, and then I go tigger/tazmanian devil in the mall (and I hate shopping go figure) because I honestly don't care if I have smokes the next day.

Remember, a disorder is (loosely) based on the gravity with which your symptoms affect your life.
If spending over your budget is out of character, that's understandable. Question is, did it cause any damage and to what extent?

If it didn't wreak any actual di-sorder in your life, then I'd be weary to call it a symptom.

That just gets you back to square one when you were driving yourself nuts adding name tags to every mood you had, all the while discounting the fact that mood is a natural human condition.

In essence what this longwinded post (I'm chatty and haven't slept since Saturday maybe? idk) was supposed to relay is this; If your actions didn't cause personal, or internal problems in its aftermath, then don't sweat the small stuff.

[Anika.]

Heh , man I forgot that one time I bought two tv's and that wasn't all that long ago because I freaked out about here, maybe a couple years. So ummm yeah... that was actually one time I spent it all. But I did return one and got some money back. See consequence wasn't bad enough and I forgot about it.

I making costumes, but if I am making a costume to wear to somewhere where costumes would not be appropriate... that kinda is a little problem. If I actually wore it there... I just call it pizzaz!! !

[A Red Panda]

It definitely can be. Picking up a brand new hobby and blowing money on body jewellery which you can't even use yet - at the start of a new school year when you should otherwise be spending money out with friends and focused on your studies? Yeah, I can see how that is some hypomanic spending!

I can tell how my spending goes based upon my surrounding circumstances.

For example. This August I definitely spent over $3000, mostly on stuff but also on food and a few activities. For most people, this would look like some manic spending. Most of the time for me this would definitely qualify. However. I live somewhere without access to shopping, and I do NOT purchase clothes online. So I had deliberately taken an extra suitcase with the intentions of filling it up. Yeah, so I did go over my budget... but I was spending within my means (I have just mostly depleted my savings for now, but I'll get it back up).

In comparison, I spent a crapton of money during the school year on books for my classroom - each time they got a scholastic book order, I'd buy some more books. Whichever ones I thought seemed cool. There were definitely times where I got the books and was like "why did I buy these? They're too hard for my students!". So while I wasn't spending a HUGE amount of money, it was money that I wasn't spending carefully and that's not my normal behaviour. Also - I was fairly broke for most of last year because I had just gotten a new apartment and was busy trying to furnish it. That money that I spent on books could, and should, have gone towards things for the apartment. I consider those classroom purchases to be a bit of a hypomanic spending, the times when I bought a crapton of books anyway.

[Resident Bipolar]

I think it's rather subjective depending on the person - experiences with hypomania vary from patient to patient and hence it's difficult to judge whether hypomania is present or if it's just poor budgeting/overspending.

As others have said: typically when hypomania is to blame, the urge to spend is coupled with a feeling of urgency to buy whatever it is that you desire.

For example, you may have limited funds to buy something you want. If you wait a week you will be able to afford it but that's too far away - you want it now and it can't wait. In frustration you spend the last of your money, or you get out your credit card and add more money to your ever-rising debt.

I've taken out many loans of large amounts just to buy things I wanted because I needed them when I wanted them and felt unable to wait for just a few more days.

I could give you another example: spending without thinking about it or even buying things you may never use. I can't count all the times I've walked into a shop to buy one thing and walked out with five bags of pointless stuff that nearly always end up in the attic. Once I bought a hamster, a huge cage and lots of hamster food without thinking about it before hand. On the car journey home I began crying (not sure why) and decided I didn't want it and I took it back just an hour after I bought it.

I've also invested in stocks and companies without considering a business plan or thinking about it any longer than a few minutes. During my younger years, I opened multiple companies with my mother's bank account and had to repay her over £700 worth of bills.

On top of that, I am in general terrible at managing my money and sticking to budgets. But that's just me I think!

RB

[comicgeek007]

Originally Posted by Trippin2.0

forums.psychcentral.com/bipolar/296704-starting-doubt-diagnosis.html


In that thread you explained that you have been stable for over a month, no change on or off meds, now you saying you were hypo for over a month...

Is this the same time period we are discussing?

If you have reflected and ascertained that you definitely were hypo then sure, spending most of your money could be tied to that, whether its been a problem in the past or not.

Like Anika said, alot of us can control ourselves to a certain degree. I know I said you wouldn't have cared if you spent it all if you were hypo, but thats coming from the POV that you have no huge financial responsibilities / obligations.

Me? I do, a daughter is one of them but I still go cray cray with the monay. I make sure to give her portion to my brother for safe keeping, and then I go tigger/tazmanian devil in the mall (and I hate shopping go figure) because I honestly don't care if I have smokes the next day.

Remember, a disorder is (loosely) based on the gravity with which your symptoms affect your life.
If spending over your budget is out of character, that's understandable. Question is, did it cause any damage and to what extent?

If it didn't wreak any actual di-sorder in your life, then I'd be weary to call it a symptom.

That just gets you back to square one when you were driving yourself nuts adding name tags to every mood you had, all the while discounting the fact that mood is a natural human condition.

In essence what this longwinded post (I'm chatty and haven't slept since Saturday maybe? idk) was supposed to relay is this; If your actions didn't cause personal, or internal problems in its aftermath, then don't sweat the small stuff.

It's the same time period. I guess I thought I was stable because I didn't think i was god and I certainly wasn't depressed. But looking back, I did a lot of things that I now see as out of character- not to mention the thought process that my meds were completely useless so I should just not take them (albeit in character, but still).

Thanks for your replies. I'll try not to worry about it. Maybe I'll start working on thise costumes since the fabric just came in.

[Victoria'smom]

I'm known for spending all rent and utility money (honestly not a lot) when normally $5 is hard to part with. Enjoy making the costume and talk to T.

[ultramar]

I don't think that spending sprees necessarily indicate hypo/mania --simply because if this were the case, a heck of a lot more people would be diagnosed with it. Of course there are a lot of people out there who overspend, for any number of reasons. Impulsiveness, coping mechanism, just because...

I wouldn't worry about it, unless you're really putting yourself in financial trouble. If you're concerned it is an episode, I would look at whatever else is going on with you, other 'symptoms' that have coincided with this. Spending a lot alone could be any number of things, including just fun You've actually seemed to be pretty stable lately, so do you really think you've been that unstable for a whole month?

Some people on here have previously given lots of good advice on how to control spending regarding credit cards and the like -lots of great suggestions about that on here.

Hopefully, you were just being somewhat impulsive and nothing more. I'd try not to worry about it for the moment

[ultramar]

spending without thinking about it or even buying things you may never use. I can't count all the times I've walked into a shop to buy one thing and walked out with five bags of pointless stuff that nearly always end up in the attic.

Just wanted to add, that at least in my case, when I'm spending boatloads of money when ill, a lot of it tends to be stuff that later I realize I don't want at all -clothing that isn't at all my style, etc. I've actually noticed I have a tendency to buy bright-colored clothing, go figure. I do overspend sometimes when well...Not a good idea, but I enjoy it and then it can just go too far.

[A Red Panda]

ha! Ultramar - I will buy bright coloured stuff that I will never wear too.

For example. I own a zebra-print jacket. That I do not think I've ever worn out - I bought it like ten years ago. I also own florescent yellow skinny jeans. What on earth was I thinking that day? no idea. But I've worn them once. To shock my students. While I was in an up.