How to budget when manic

So, I think I *finally* found something to help with my manic spending!

This is NOT a paid advertisement, but I've been using YNAB (You Need A Budget). It lets you log all your payments in a VERY organized fashion:

See:
http://theinspiredroom.net/wp-conten.../01/budget.png

^ That is not mine, but it's an example screenshot.

You basically say "I'm going to budget $100 every month JUST for clothing". So, if you go shopping and spend $55 on clothes, the program subtracts $55 from your $100 clothing budget. That leaves you with $45 to spend on clothing. If you go over your budget, then the green numbers on the right turn red. You can add as many credit cards as you want.

Neato!

YNAB has saved us financially. We've been using it for about a year and a half, and have paid off over $25,000 in debt and saved well over $20,000 that we would otherwise have spent frivolously. It has totally curbed my manic overspending. I'd highly recommend it.

Cool! Sounds like a great idea

Congrats!

FYI to anyone who doesn't use it, there's a free trial with NO credit card required. You get to use it for 34 days at no charge. After that, it's $4.17 a month.

Blue, thanks for sharing this info with us!

bioChE, thanks for sharing your experience.

Sounds like a winning option.


WC

Sounds like a good program. How can you budget when manic? Mania is when you are not in control. For me I make impulsive and wreckless decisions. Money is spent without forethough or concern for my financial wellbeing. Budgeting never enters the mind. Debts never enter the mind. Only when I fall off from my mania do I realize the damage that I have done. Isn't this true for many BPers?

do you know if this works in the UK?

I have a feeling this might be something I need, as I struggle with budget at the best of times

knowing me though, I won't use it long and just go back to my old ways of overspending

This is why we plan ahead...
Some of us surrender all that is plastic to someone trusted, I've heard someone even suggest freezing your cards, its all about the preemptive strike in this case.

When I am stable, I make a list of housing repairs that I have been putting off. They may be time consuming or expensive.

When I am hypomanic, I start a project. Then if I turn manic, I have an avenue for spending.

Oh, and I keep most my money in savings and I can't access it online- and I am unable to access it with a debit card.

This does work in the U.K. You can change the currency to anything you like.

So Blue, are you sticking to the Four Rules and tracking your spending?

Thanks for sharing. I've never had mania but think this will be very beneficial.

Blue, I tip my hat to you if you can show some spending restraint when manic. I buy cars and go wild with credit cards. Back around 2003 my wife and I had to declare bankruptcy because I had run up about $130000 in credit card bills. I hope the program helps you.

What is so useful about this program? Isn't a elaborate Excel-sheet just as useful - and free?

Check out the website. They give away all their information, methodology, YouTube videos, and blogs for free. You could do the system with paper and pencil if you wanted. The software just makes it a million times easier and for us has made us stick with it. We're customers for life.

I forgot to mention this spending pattern I've developed over the last year or so. For some reason I've become obsessed with watches and have spent between $10000-$15000 on watches over the last year. I just ordered another one for $800, which I definitely don't need. Credit cards seem to have some sort of spell over me to spend, spend, spend

I spent my time with a watch obsession, but none of them were as inexpensive as $800. I'm presently wearing a $2,600 Brietling.

$2000 Tag Heuer Carrera here

Carrera, good choice. Hopefully not a manic spend!

My Brietling was a purchase made with part of my first bonus from one of my jobs. I'm going to pass it down to my firstborn son, probably when he graduates from college. It was purchased the year he was born.

I'm confused. Aren't you bipolar? How have you not had mania? Am I misunderstanding?

I might be wrong but I think Jennifer has mentioned having a mixed state which probably qualified her. Not pure mania but in the family.

Regarding this money program, it's very interesting. My spending hasn't been good but much better than in the past. Much of it has to do with not having money to spend ......now I need to get smart and figuring out how to get out of debt. I think I need to find something with a low interest rate and consolidate to
Start. I need to get smart about getting out of debt because at my current rate I will never get out of it. I have some ideas on ways to help, I just need to stay well enough long enough to implement them. I might check out the website for ideas ......I just get so confused so trying to keep it simple which I've developed a plan for so we'll see.

Debt is a prison. I've been out of it several times and vow never to go back there but just keep failing. It's like a diet and gaining all the weight back pattern. The trick is keeping it off, or staying out of debt. I swear if I can get out this time I might join debters anonymous or some support group to be held accountable to weekly. I need to write myself letters while I'm not feeling all spendy to remind myself of my values on this situation. *sigh*

Passing it to your son is a beautiful thought.

The Carrera was not so much manic as just something I liked alot.

I didn't mean to sound rude, I was just curious. I hope that didn't come across wrong. Sorry if it did.

With bipolar type 2 some of us never reach that point of clinically defined mania, with delusions, and inability to control behavior. We have mixed states of depression and mania at the same time or hypomanic episodes, which means not quite manic.

I'm sorry, but to me any site that asks for your credit card information is just exacerbating the spending problem. If you are trying to stop spending, or even worse, are spending out of control, this just seems like one more expenditure that you really shouldn't be making.