Savings and Sanity

August 3, 2024 JoLeave a comment

Alright, you bargain-hunting badasses, let’s dive into the wild world of couponing with ADHD and bipolar mania. It’s like extreme sports for your wallet, but with more paper cuts and less adrenaline!

The Hyperfocusing Phenomenon: When Coupons Are Your Crack

Picture this: You’re drowning in a sea of Sunday papers, eyes darting like a caffeinated squirrel, hunting for that mythical 50% off coupon. Suddenly, time goes all wibbly-wobbly, and you emerge hours later, covered in newsprint and victory. Welcome to hyper focus hell, population: your impulsive ass! Strategic planning your every shopping trip to try and master your finances can be fun and advantageous, but it starts at minute one, giving us that sweet savings dopamine that washes over us when we find an amazing deal. And then we realize, we’ve been staring at the computer looking at these numbers for three hours. Three hours to save $2.00 doesn’t seem cost effective. Managing our time blindness here needs to be a priority. Set alarms and get up when they ring!

For us ADHD and bipolar folks, couponing isn’t just a hobby—it’s a full-contact Olympic sport. That dopamine hit when you score a killer deal? It’s better than sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll combined. Who needs a cape when you’ve got a binder full of BOGO coupons, am I right?

The Blessings: Saving Money Like a Boss
Let’s talk perks, you penny-pinching prodigies. Saving money feels fucking fantastic. You’re stacking coupons like a Jenga master on steroids, comparing prices like you’re cracking the Da Vinci code. Every cent saved is a middle finger to capitalism, and honey, that’s a beautiful thing.
Plus, you’re basically getting a Ph.D. in Bargain Economics. Warren Buffett, eat your heart out—we’re the real financial geniuses here. And outsmarting those retail giants? It’s like being Sherlock Holmes, if Sherlock was obsessed with clearance aisles instead of crime scenes.

The Curses: When Couponing Becomes Your Cruel Mistress
But hold onto your discount pants, because there’s a dark side to this bargain bonanza. Ever found yourself knee-deep in expired coupons at 3 AM, wondering where your life went wrong? Welcome to the hyperfocus hangover, baby. Your to-do list is gathering more dust than your grandma’s china, your relationships are more neglected than that gym membership you bought in January, and your bedroom looks like a paper mill exploded. And let’s not even start on the bipolar spending sprees. It’s all fun and games until your closet looks like you robbed a discount store blindfolded.

The Final Verdict: It’s Complicated AF
So, is couponing a blessing or a curse for us neurodivergent deal hunters? It’s both, darling. It’s about finding that sweet spot between saving money and keeping your sanity. Set boundaries tighter than your budget, use alarms (because your time-blindness isn’t doing you any favors), and remember: self-care is the ultimate BOGO deal.
Couponing isn’t just about hoarding deals—it’s about harnessing your hyperfocus for good. So clip on, you beautiful disaster, and may the savings be ever in your favor!
Stay sassy, stay savvy, and for the love of all that’s discounted, try not to buy another 50-pack of toilet paper just because it’s on sale. Your bathroom can’t take it anymore. Take care of yourselves and each other!

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Super power, or super weakness?

July 9, 2024 JoLeave a comment

Let’s dive into the wild world of hyperfocus and hyperfixation – the ADHD brain’s way of saying “Go big or go home” when it comes to attention. Hyperfocus: The ADHD Superpower (With a Side of “Oops, I Forgot to Eat”)Picture this: you’re so deep into a task that the apocalypse could start, and you’d be like, “Just five more minutes!” That’s hyperfocus, baby. It’s like your brain suddenly decides to cosplay as a laser beam, zoning in on one thing with the intensity of a thousand suns. Great for productivity, not so great for remembering trivial things like, oh I don’t know, sleeping or going to the bathroom.

Hyperfixation: When Your Brain Decides to Become a Walking Wikipedia on Random Topics
Ever found yourself suddenly obsessed with 18th-century French poetry or the mating habits of sea slugs? Congratulations, you’ve been hit by the hyperfixation train! It’s like your brain picked a topic out of a hat and decided, “This. This is what we’re going to think about 24/7 for the next week… or until we find something shinier.”

How These Differ from “Normal” Focus (Whatever That Is)

Intensity: While normies might be satisfied with a casual interest, we go from 0 to “I’m writing a dissertation on this” in 2.5 seconds flat.
Duration: Regular focus is like a sprint. Our focus? It’s an ultra-marathon… through quicksand… while being chased by bees.
Flexibility: Normal people can switch tasks like changing TV channels. Us? We’re more like old TVs stuck on one channel until someone physically comes to change it.
Awareness: Regular focus allows for multitasking. Hyperfocus? The house could be on fire, and we’d be like, “Just let me finish this paragraph.”

In conclusion, hyperfocus and hyperfixation are like the ADHD brain’s way of compensating for all those times it couldn’t focus on boring stuff. It’s our superpower, our kryptonite, and our entertainment all rolled into one. So next time you find yourself three hours deep into researching the history of spoons at 2 AM, just remember: you’re not procrastinating, you’re embracing your neurodivergent superpowers! Take care of yourself, and each other!

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Is it blindness if we choose not to see it?

June 12, 2024 JoLeave a comment

Tonight lets talk about something SUPER fun for people who are NORMAL procrastinators, or people who are just chronically punctual, this shit makes my eye twitch. I want to be on time, but I am ALWAYS either embarrassingly early or unforgivably late, I just can’t find a way to strike a happy medium. I was surprised to learn of the other ways time blindness presents itself in my life, its not just about not being on time. So lets dive into the wild world of time blindness. You know, that delightful phenomenon where your brain treats the concept of time like a cruel joke? Yeah, for those of us with autism or ADHD, keeping track of the chronological flow of existence is about as easy as herding cats on meth.

Let’s start with our autistic homies. For them, time blindness can manifest in a few gloriously confusing ways:
First up, we’ve got the struggle to grasp the very concept of past, present, and future. It’s like the abstract notion of time is an ancient language only understood by neurotypical scholars. “What do you mean, this moment won’t last forever? Blasphemy!”

Then there’s the complete obliviousness to how much damn time has passed. You could be happily stimming away, lost in your own little world, only to emerge hours later wondering where the hell the day went. Time? What’s that? A construct created by the neurotypical elite to oppress us?

And let’s not forget the sacred routines. Stray from the schedule even a smidgen, and it’s like the world is ending. Spontaneity? Never heard of her. Rigidity and predictability are our jam, thank you very much.

But wait, there’s more! Our ADHD brethren also get to experience the joys of time blindness in their own unique ways:

Impulsivity and time management? What a delightful oxymoron! Thinking ahead and considering consequences is for the weak. We prefer to live life on the edge, making split-second decisions without a care for that pesky thing called “time.”

Procrastination is our middle name. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow, next week, or maybe even next year? Prioritizing tasks and meeting deadlines is so overrated when you could be hyperfocusing on reorganizing your sock drawer instead.

Speaking of hyperfocus, that’s another fun ADHD party trick. One minute you’re trying to be a productive member of society, the next you’re utterly consumed by whatever random interest has captured your brain’s fleeting attention. Time? What’s that again?

At the end of the day, both autism and ADHD involve executive function challenges that make time management about as easy as walking a tightrope while juggling chainsaws. But hey, at least we’re keeping things interesting, right?So embrace the time blindness, folks. Lean into the chaos and confusion. After all, who needs to follow the neurotypical construct of time when you can march to the beat of your own delightfully disordered drum? Til next time gang, take care of yourself, and each other!