How much financial damage did you do being bipolar?

I was like this too. When my husband was alive we had no extra money at all so I was never able to spend any. I would do things like dye my hair, cut it all off, paint my nails crazy colors, etc because I wanted to spend but couldn't.

For some reason now that he's gone I have more money than I ever had while we were together. I think he was the major spender in the relationship. Plus our bills were higher when he was alive. So even without his income I have a decent amount of money. Which is unfortunate because my last hypomania a couple of weeks ago had me spend about $1000 in clothes, toys for my son, and a new computer plus games for said computer. and now I barely use the computer.

But I also have massive medical debt from the last three years because I have a $4000 deductible before my insurance even pays for anything. So because of my hospitalizations in the last three years I've owed at least $12000 because of the deductible. Right now I owe $6000 to my IOP for last year's time plus this year's, and I have no idea what I owe the hospital. it's crazy.

I maxed out 5 credit cards. Had to file bankruptcy because of all the debt from credit cards and hospital visits. I don't handle the money now. I ask my husband every time I want to buy something or pay a bill.

Unfortunately, I am solely responsible for the finances in our family....and have been since I became an adult. There is no one to question what I do or slow me down......and that has been a recipe for disaster on more than one occasion.

I'm really glad that this isn't only me! Thanks everybody for this thread. My mess:

After a couple years in graduate school, I'd managed to scrape together $10,000 or so by living on a shoestring budget (<$900/mo) and managing my finances to the dollar. Managed to spend ALL of it in a manic month and a half.

My accounting became nonexistent. I was vaguely aware that I was blowing through the ~$10k, but I had gotten an email about a cost-of-living increase that was going to include some retroactive payment. I figured I could spend myself broke and the incoming payment would provide a financial deus ex machina....

The most crushing moment came a few months after the mania, still super broke, and by then pretty depressed. I knew I had to dust off the old spreadsheet, start tallying up my mess, and get it back together. Digging back through bank statements, I realized that the retroactive $5000 deposit had come (and gone) in the middle of the mania. Never even realized it. That was a punch in the gut, realizing I really had to dig myself out from square zero.

I'm not sure where all of it went... I've tracked down half of it, and I'm OK with most of it... I gave a few friends cashiers checks for $500 here, $1000 there. I don't really regret that - I was helping good people out of sticky financial situations (oblivious to my impending financial crash). I spent probably a few hundred personally sharing food and cash with homeless people around the city - I'm glad it went to some good. A few thousand ended up in gold and silver, which is good/lucky since they retain value. Also some palladium... but I flipped out 3 days after buying it and decided to pay for a $25 meal with a $400 coin. Long story.....

I am still sitting here feeling so stupid for spending the money that I did. It's not like I can really tell anyone IRL about it because I am embarrassed enough and I don't feel like being judged. It is what it is, and I can't go back and change it. I stay out of stores and I throw away catalogs the second I get them. I have to find myself a support system of people that give a damn about me and my best interests, and not people that just want to be around when I am flying high and feeling generous.

In 1993 I spent $70,000 ($115,834 today) just for partying, this amount does not include mortgage, food, bills or anything else like that. I did things like rent a private Jacuzzi in an indoor jungle with topless women serving us drinks in the pool.
What's even worse is I never paid any taxes for 1993 so I owed taxes from an income of about $150,000. Wow! They garnisheed my wages for a long time in 1994/95.

Easy come, easy go!

Money is my mania...I will gamble entire paycheck then get payday loans to cover and gamble that away...just set up paychecks to go into husbands account so I can't do this anymore..I'm almost 45 years old and pretty heartbroken that it's come to this

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