Order, chaos and keeping track.

I came here to start this thread saw the one one decor this kinds of continues.
When I am relatively well I can keep track of things like appts go straight in my phone, I have a priority system for bills and payments, but as I'm getting more unwell this becomes a bit chaotic, appts get written on pieces of paper and lost, I put bills in the strangest places etc.
Has anyone found a solution for this. I am waiting for a med review in the public system of my country which should take months to get an appt but I'm spiralling up and have lost track of bills and overdue notices etc.

I enter all appts and dates/bills I do on my cellphone, an alarm goes off and there it is.

But how do you go when your attention span isn't that great, when there are 20 thoughts all at once? Or are you relatively stable all the time?

Thanks for starting this thread, Bipolarartist --
I've got huge issues with paperwork management too. And concept of time/date. No joke, even season sometimes.
I have an alarm set for same time every day to check other alarms, if that's any indication.
And 4 alarms, including a really annoying one in next room (so cannot turn off in sleep) just for getting up if I have to go to work. And still can't manage to be on time.
More recently, like Christina, I've been putting appointments in the calendar part of my phone. Never thought of putting bills in there.

I think putting stuff in phone is great, and do it, BUT. I worry -- what if it gets lost? Would be curious to hear others thoughts on "backup".
I wonder this too, and think it (esp. attn span) is a BIG contributor to my notorious out of control list-making. Have paper and pencil at hand at all times. Sometimes forget before pencil hits paper. BF goes nuts over all these lists, saying the important stuff you'll remember and it'll get done. But it doesn't!

Then there is how to organize the information. (Getting priority things done, even determined, not a strong suit.) And where to put it. Not in face, gets forgotten. In face, covers desk. Ack! I CAN get stuff that needs to get mailed, put in car etc. Just set in front of door to trip over. That actually works!

IZ LOL Yeah I drop stuff in front of the door and tie a ribbon on my purse at times.

Bipolarartist,

I have often wondered "Omg" what if I lose my phone" I mean that is a valid problem that could happen.

I do actually have a small back up reminder here on my laptop desk page , just a yellow sticky boring computer generated one and I list T appts, Pdocs, Bills. But I have been known to just ignore the desk top in my rush to get on PC .

But having an actual alarm going off is my best bet for staying on track of things. One thing you do need to figure is what time of the day on average is the best time for the alarms to go off... Morning? Afternoon? Night?

Also make it a hellish annoying alarm sound, harder to ignore, and I always had a follow up alarm that goes off 15 mins later. Yes at times it seemed my phone was buzzing a lot , but I now manage my bills by paying then twice a month took a few months to get everything aligned to pay that way, I just called cellphone provider and asked to change my bill date , same with electric and stuff , I was actually surprised how easy it was to change the due dates, Maybe that could help you?

Yes, well important to a normal and important to a hypomanic or even irritable bipolar is different. I once had an argument with ex over was cooking tea more important than arranging every single beatles album on the floor and dsicovering the overarching convept in all of them because that was important to me, not cooking food!

Alarms with back-up back-up alarms and reminder alarms sounds great but what motivates you do them? I suppose thats the crux of my question do you have something that motivates you. Even letters of legal action don't particularly motive me unless i am depressed and then it a downward motivation.

I have a large month by month calendar and as soon as I know something's coming up I add it.

When I'm a real mess I have to cross out days just so I know what day and date it is. Wouldn't even know the difference between a Monday and a Friday when I get like that.

Haha Hooligan that's exactly what I do too!

I have a dry-erase large white calendar hanging near my front door. ALL appointments, visitors, etc go on there as soon as I know.

As far as bills - I pay them once a month on the same day. It works for me.

I think you have your priorities straight nothing should come between beatles contemplations lol:

Semolina pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna
Man you should have seen them kicking Edgar Alan Poe
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
I am the walrus, goo goo goo joob goo goo goo job

I have a terrible time keeping up with dates, deadlines etc. so the last couple of years I force myself to immediately write them on the big calendar in the kitchen-I too cross out days so I don't feel like I'm skipping through time-like earlier this week I was convinced it was Wednesday but nope checked the calendar & it was Monday-I love my fabulous brain.

It was hard for me at first to just react to the alarm that meant I need to do X now... That is why it took me a bit of time to organize "me" , bill due dates, My T appts are always on the same day of the week, my pdoc appts are always on a monday regardless of the month , I picked that day.

I work much better with a routine , like I grocery shop on X day weekly. Im not saying I HAVE to stay strict ,but it keeps things easier. I use to just shop groceries for a few days or a couple meals, I did force myself into a weekly or 10 day stretch..was hard , but I am saving a ton of money by doing so , no impulse extra buys 3-4 times a week.

I also found that the only "time " of the day that I am most likely going to be able to just do the shyt is in the evening.

I looked at organizing "me" like I looked at starting a new job and learning what to do and when and how.. It was the only thing that maid sense to me on how to transform myself.

Yeah I still forget shyt sometimes. everyone does, My husband has a terrible memory especially if hes stressing , he bought a micro recorder and carries it and when he thinks of something he needs to do or whatever he just speaks into it ,its recorded so he can play it back later.

I just tried lots of things and found what worked best for me , I cant do the record thing I think I have a horrible voice lol

I would never thought of it

That is an excellent idea!!

Probably guilt, being overly-dutiful, fearing/hating to explain myself (and being not at all good at lying ) and the dread of "getting in trouble". Pretty much negative motivators. Having to deal with people in uncomfortable situations makes me extremely anxious. Extremely. Like I can't turn it off. At all.
Oooooh yeah. It kind of po'd me one time with getting this evaluation (mental status or something) and was asked. Well, I actually knew. But ONLY because I could NOT miss this appt., and had reminders out the wazoo. It upset me because it reflected the opposite of my reality.
I have often thought how handy that would be, especially driving back from psych appts.. So much processing going on.

I use a variety of tools.
1. A box by the front door for wallet, keys and mail and mitts.
2. A calendar on the fridge and I write appointments down immediately. I also cross off the days.
3. A med alarm on my phone.
4. A checklist on the fridge for meals and snacks and workouts.
5. Packing up and laying out clothes the night before so I have less to remember in the morning when I'm at my worst.

I am going to start using a white board. Cool topic.

Organization is my biggest problem. I have not found anything that helps.

Alarms? Annoying noises that are too easily turned off or tuned out.

Notes? What notes?

Flashing reminders on computer screen? Easily phases out by distractions.

And my phone doesn't help me, either. When I'm home I don't even notice it. I miss things all the time.

Best thing is bright colors. My purse, coat, phone, etc are all hot pink. Easy to see even in dim light. I lose them less often this way.

I am currently paying my bills manually because I am practically broke and need to watch each payment like a hawk or else my account gets overdrawn.

If you are not in this situation, then why do you not have automatic payments for all your bills?

Go paperless as much as you can and automatic as much as you can. Going paperless and automatic is frontloading: you expend time and effort in the beginning but reap the rewards later. What you are trying to do is called being reactive rather than proactive - you react to bills and you react to overdue notices instead proactively setting up a system. Your system may not be perfect at once as you will need to iron out the kinks, but you need to start with SOMETHING. Make a spreadsheet with all your credit cards, internet, phone service, energy bill - everything recurrent. That would be Day 1 - just make a spreadsheet in which you corral all your recurrent expenses. The goal is to make the spreadsheet and that's it. You are done for the day.

Day 2 - develop a system for online access to these accounts. Basically, username and password. Mine is like this (I have not been able to learn how to use password generating apps):

I have a master password that has CAPS, lowercase, and numbers.

For an example, let us say that my master password is HBhb1463

Then I prepend this master password with something meaningful related to the site. ALWAYS in ALLAPS.

So on this site my meaningful word is PSYCH. My password would be PSYCHHBhb1234. On Amazon, my password would be AMAZONHBhb1463

These are not actual passwords, but examples.

This system works 95% of the time. In 5% of cases, websites ask for special characters, in which case I always prepend the whole thing with an exclamation point, e.g. !PSYCHHBhb1234

Note that some sites do not allow a string of consecutive integers, so my master password has 1463 - for that reason.

When I started using this system, I opened a spreadsheet titled "USERNAMES and PASSWORDS" and recorded the site in column A, the username in column B, the meaningful word in column C ("PSYCH", "AMAZON"), and nothing else, since I know the master password by heart.

Later, I got so used to this system that I rarely have to refer to the spreadsheet and no longer enter new lines. If I sign up for, say, INDEED.com, my password would be INDEEDHBhb1463.

I no longer have time to write, nor do I want to overwhelm you with details.

Can you do the following things in the next two days:
DAY 1. In a spreadsheet, record all your recurrent expenses.
DAY 2. In the same spreadsheet, for each recurrent expense record the website, the username, some hint that would be your password.

And that is it. More later when you have laid this groundwork.