Wow, That's a GREAT Deal!

“Sydney, there are ten more boxes out on the porch!”

“Okay....thanks”.

How did this happen? I don't even remember buying any of these things. I wonder how much money I spent altogether? It must have been quite a bit because I got a notification from my bank that one of my accounts was at or near zero... which isn’t great because I don’t have any extra money this month.

I have a disease called Bipolar Disorder 1, which means I sometimes have high, highs (called Manias) and low, lows (called Depressions). The goal is to remain somewhere in between, but that doesn't always work out. Manias feel better, but they have their own problems, one of which is uncontrolled, impulsive spending, which can really get me into trouble.

The other day, during a mania, there was a big snowstorm and I was out shoveling through the piles of snow. It was hard work, and I took a break, which caused me to notice the red blade. This immediately reminded me of those red rubber balls from elementary school, which reminded me of my first real responsibility as a Service Squad in a special education class, which of course reminded me of that new movie about Special Olympics, so of course, I immediately ran inside and made a donation for Special Olympics.

From there, of course I went to an online shopping site and looked up Special Olympics for some bling, and I came across a silver decal with their motto, "Let me win, but if I do not win, let me be brave in the attempt" for just $3.99!. It was such a great deal! If it only stopped there...

The idea of Olympics makes me think of rings, and I found a beautiful sapphire ring for only $15.99! The blue of the sapphire reminded me of the ocean, and I knew I needed more sunscreen for next summer so I picked up a twelve pack for just 18.99...and so it went. I don't really know everything I bought; it will probably be coming in boxes over the next few weeks. All I can tell you is that everything I bought seemed exceptionally important in the moment, and it was a great price! Unfortunately, even when everything is a great deal, you can spend a ton of money quickly if you buy a lot of items…and by the morning I didn’t even remember what I bought. It didn’t become real until the boxes started arriving, and boy were they arriving!

There have really been some incredible times where I’ve bought some unusual products. For example, I tend to really lean towards kitchen appliances. I have several blenders, one that is VERY fancy, a deep covered baker, two crock pots, a fancy citrus press, a juicer, an instapot, an air fryer, a panini press, a George Foreman grill, probably ten thermal cups, a heavy duty bundt pan and so much more. At the time they all seemed like GREAT DEALs, and like I absolutely needed them or I was going to explode. But then they would come, and I would remember that my OCD makes it difficult for me to cook, so I just have a ton of appliances filling up my kitchen cupboards…and in tubs in my basement because they don’t all fit in my cupboards.

The most difficult time of the year for me is heading up to Christmas. I really struggle because I want to make sure everybody in my family…really every person that I have ever met…gets at least a card, but hopefully a present. This year my best friend made me promise that I would not give a gift, even a homemade one, to people that I only see once a year or that are not even in the country. I committed to that, but there were so many amazing sales, and I knew that my nephews and nieces needed them, and that they would definitely love me more if I got them all these presents, and before I knew it I had 84 presents for my family of five. My niece and nephews had a blast, but it’s unbelievable how much “very good” prices add up when you make 84 purchases.

I have learned overtime to put items that I really want to purchase in my shopping cart so that I can come back to them when I am more stable and determine whether I really need them, which has helped some. But when I am really manic, Heaven help me, there really is nothing stopping my shopping sprees. Recently I have become interested in magazines. For some reason I thought that my life was suffering because I wasn’t receiving magazines in the mail. But I didn’t just sign up for one magazine – I signed up for FIVE magazines, and I didn’t even know it. All of a sudden they started arriving – some once a month, some once a week, and some that I even got the digital edition. The good thing is they were all at a great price, at least for the first year, but again, it adds up, and do you think I have read even one of those magazines?? Nope! They are sitting in a pile on the end of my bed. Great, great purchases.

I think that marketers are desperately targeting people like me. They could double the price of an item then mark it as 50% off and I would be all in. How can you pass up a sale like 50% off?! Especially if it has free shipping! They know that there are people like me that aren’t going to do any research, they are just going to see the slash marks and know that they need to jump on the item immediately because when are they ever possibly going to get a deal like this again?!

Mania is a challenge, and I end up with all kinds of things that I don’t need, but fortunately my family helps to protect at least some of my money, and I do not have any credit cards, so I can’t cause too much permanent damage. All I can say is, thank goodness for free returns – as long as we can convince me that it’s not something I need. Let’s just say, I’m a work in progress!