Hi,
People often ask me for financial management advice for people with bipolar disorder. I am going to do a teleseminar on the topic and will keep you posted. If there are particular things you would like me to cover in the teleseminar, just let me know.
The following article was in Yahoo Finance today:
http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-110102-5999-1-secrets-of-extreme-savers?ywaad=ad0035
It has a lot of great tips- of course, it describes people with jobs and what seems to be a healthy life- but we can learn from their ideas. Here are a few things you may not know about me!
1. I am cash only. I mean this. I don’t have debit cards or credit cards AT ALL.
2. I try to budget for each place I go. I find that budgeting for a whole day doesn’t work for me- but budgeting the cash for a certain event such as a Thai restaurant with friends really helps. This is MUCH harder during a manic or depression mood swing. That’s for sure! But I keep trying.
3. I don’t go shopping in order to go shopping. If I find myself looking around and thinking how great things look and how I would LOVE those shoes and how PRETTY that shirt is- I know I’m hypomanic.
These are a few of my ideas. I started all of this in 2010. It has been hard- but it works! I am interested in your ideas.
Julie
I, too, have gone cash only; with the exception of a low limit credit card to purchase books online that can’t be purchased any other way. 🙂
I find that I don’t get the shopping rush if I JUST DON’T GO IN THE STORE. This is tough. I had to go to the store recently for some necessities with cash only. However, I spent all the cash. I felt great while I was putting things in the buggy and not so great when I reached in to buy lunch and didn’t have enough to eat. I suggest staying HOME. I really don’t NEED all that stuff, anyway.
All the commom sense things work when ‘well’. Eg. Meal planning for the week or month and going in with only that much cash. Repurposing household items, swapping clothes with a friend, swapping books, even furniture that you are tired of. It still feels new if your friend’s stuff is in your house! I do some couponing, but healthy eating coupons are hard to come by. Give gifts of my time instead of expensive presents. Plan ahead for errands and make one day to get it all done. Saves a lot on gas! Ask people to NOT give me gifts! That helps with the obligation aspect of things and saves a lot of money. Turn the thermostat up a few degrees in the summer and down a few degrees in the winter. For every degree you change, you save 10% of your bill! Be careful not to change it too much as even the furniture and walls heat and cool as well. If you change too much, you still end up using the same energy to re-heat and re-cool all that stuff. If you are really into saving money, UNPLUG all eletronics when not in use. It’s a pain to keep plugging all those things back in, but it can save you a ton of money. electronics have ‘power’ going to them even when they are OFF. TV’s, stereos, COMPUTERS, etc. Stop eating out. You would be surprised at how much you can save. When you can, buy store brands and generic brands of everything. I have also starting hanging my clothes on a backporch line. Saved me about $50.00 the first month. These are just some of the things I try to do.
I have BiPolar and Major Depressive Disorder and shopping makes me happy. just the damn transaction. I buy stuff i dont even need just to make me feel better. its really sick.
I only go to the store when I know exactly what I want, and I find it and leave, no browsing. The mall is the same, I go directly to that store, and no window shopping. Now I do have one difficulty, fabric. I am a quilter, and we can never have enough fabric, and you never know when you go into a quilt shop what fabric you will hear calling to you. (Not audio, creative – LOL) I steer clear of fabric shops unless I have a particular project in mind, or I would be in debt to my eyeballs, and the fabric would spill out everywhere. I go directly to the sale/clearance corner first. Fabric is my cure.. for a lot of things. I shop at the end of my month, I am on disability and will not buy anything unnecessary unless I have the money at the end of the month. I am very controlling of my money, frugal I would say.
Hi Lyn,
I agree with all that you say. I have found myself floating a bit with my cash policy. Usually I only take enough cash to do a specific project. Lately, I have a lot of meetings where it’s either for coffee, lunch or dinner. It’s hard to stick to your policy of having soup- which is half the price and plenty of food- but I am still on it!
Letters like yours help all of us- I love being cash only, but I constantly remind myself that it takes willpower as well.
I have been a fabric addict myself, so I know what you mean! Julie
Having read this I believed it was rather informative.
I appreciate you taking the time and energy to put this short article together.
I once again find myself personally spending way too much time both reading and posting comments.
But so what, it was still worthwhile!