differentiating bipolar disorder vs unipolar depression

i was wondering if there is anyone who can relate or at least give a explanation or answer for where i may fit.

i have always wondered whether my problems could be explained by bipolar disorder or if it was just "unipolar depression" all along combined with other issues that caused me to behave or function the way i have up to this point or in the past.

the specific topic is about excessive spending or somewhat impulsively spending money on things. although this is more of an issue i had in the past and had to accommodate and adapt differently up till now.

the specific issue is that i've had major depression for quite a long time now and within that time, there was a point in the past when i had more money, ( financial aid money that is ) that i spent most of it or a large portion of it on certain things. now my question is, could that be part of the bipolar disorder to do something like that and not being good / logical about managing the money or could it just be that i had ongoing depression that had caused me to feel a lot of emptiness, boredom, etc where the only thing i really had any motivation for was to spend it on those specific things to feel somewhat more alive and less empty / less bored?

the reason why i brought up this topic is because almost every topic i researched had pinpointed bipolar disorder as being the problem with excessive spending, etc. i even went and read an article recently that mentioned that when people are sad, they may spend excessively, however, it was implying that it wasn't the case with people with clinical depression which confused me because i've had very disabling depression for a long time and it's quite severe now.

however, i do have a diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder too which i got a few years back, so could it have just been having a personality disorder combined with depression for the reasons why i did what i did?

i am more careful with money now and tend to be cautious and mindful of how much i spend ( i don't have a income or work ) so i sort of have to be cautious of how much i spend anyways because the little money i do get has to be obtained from my parents every now and then, it's not really allowance per say, it's more of like, i need some money now for food and gas, basic stuff, the rest of the money i have left over, i may spend it on hobbies of interest which i usually will make a few dollars profit off.

With bipolar, there are several other things going on in your life and for a certain amount of days to be considered BP I or BP II. The diagnosis is hard to get unless you know what those details are. I recommend you do a google search or go to a bookstore and just read up a little bit on bipolar.

I have a spending addiction and it just gets worse when I have a manic episode. But yeah, I still spend during stable periods and depressive episodes as well. I talk all this out with a therapist and I feel good that I am now more careful about how I spend the money. I used to be very bad about it.