fiscal restraint

Hi,

I have a long history of compulsive spending, lending and gambling during manic phases of my illness. Sometimes I spend money to get out of depression as well. Now I am trying to counteract these activities. Last year I obtained three credit cards with a total of US $3500 spending limit. I maxed them out on trips, coin buying and musical instrument purchases that I later stopped using. I also gambled in July, using one credit card to fund my $1000 foray. Now I have sold one of my instruments to pay off the balances on the three cards and am setting aside money to pay a possible medical bill that might not be covered by the US Veterans Administration or Medicare. I've stopped using the cards completely and am using only cash or debit cards at this time. I'm keeping one $1000 card (with no cash advance capability) in my wallet for emergency use (such as a car breakdown).

At nearly 52 years of age, I feel I've learned this lesson too late but facing the loss of Social Security has motivated me to watch my money more closely. Also, the US government can't get its own house in order, and my income is solely dependent on what they do. So I will try to fix my own money house the best I can. I'm saddled with a $130,000 debt that will take the rest of my life to pay. That's a given and I have to accept that. I'm looking into working again or volunteering. I play a little bit of music to fill in the time, as long as it's not too stressful. I take my meds and attend regular therapy and psychiatric sessions. I stay away from "non-prescribed drugs" and alcohol. I also have about 3 months away from gambling (finally!).

I hope everyone here is doing OK. I really appreciate this forum.

Take care,
Barnett

Hi Barnett

Sound like you are doing really well to take responsibility for your finances. I have a lot of trouble with spending when manic too tho thankfully not gambling. It is very difficult to get control of and I admire you for doing so. Some people suggest putting credit cards in ice tho i have never tried this and I guess it would not be useful if you need the card for emergencies. Congratulations on your hard work and I hope you continue to be able to manage to do it. I am glad you are liking the forum

Hugs

Cracked

I'm having to learn this lesson too. It's a hard one to learn, I hope I can gain control over it.

for those not familiar with it, compensatory spending is a symptom of bipolar disorder.