I hear through the bipolar grapevine that outrageous overspending is a symptom of mania. Manic people have been known to go out and spend thousands and sometimes millions of dollars they might not have on things like cars, homes and yachts.
My husband, for one, is particularly grateful that this is not a symptom of my mania. I am too.
I am definitely not an overspender. In fact, I’m cheap. I buy my clothes and my child’s clothes at thrift shops and on Ebay. I never buy anything unless it’s on sale. I clip coupons. I don’t eat out much.
This is not to say that my mania is not problematic. Again, it is. I just don’t have episodes where I blow money.
A disease that can bankrupt you!
Some experts tell people with overspending issues to give their credit cards and checkbooks to their loved ones if they feel they’re escalating into a manic phase. These same experts advise that if a manic person needs go to a store, he or she take along a sort of “babysitter” to guard against overspending, or even send a proxy to the store to purchase what he needs and nothing more.
What about you? Are you an overspender? Have you gotten into trouble because of money issues during manic phases?
How do you handle it?