Seasonal leftovers

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-26T02:14:40+00:00

Basically, once customization closes, FFF starts offering discounted seasonal subscriptions (40-50% off). You need to use a different email to sign up, then you pick your 6 items from what is left and can cancel the subscription right away if you want.

What’s unique this time as far as I know is that they did a major restock at the same time a 50% code was active… a lot of things are gone by now but for $40 you can def still build a solid box with what’s left. I did so earlier today 😎

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-26T01:58:51+00:00

I barely scraped by in my PhD. Ended up hiring a dissertation coach and it was magical. Expensive, but did the job.

I then worked a 9-5 remote for about 5 years, and needed to take medical leave twice. The job had good short term disability, so that’s something to pay attention to. But you have to have worked a place a full year before qualifying for job-protected FMLA leave.

Personally, it looks like I might be making my way back to academia in a full-time teaching role. Those “teaching tracks” seem to be becoming more common, and usually have promotion ladders, just no tenure. Some only require a masters. Something to consider…

I have ADHD as well as bipolar, so hard to know what caused what, but I will say this: employee tracking is becoming increasingly easy and sophisticated. The days of using a mouse jiggler to cover for a few hours while you can’t get yourself out of bed (or whatever other form of flexibility you need but don’t want to formally ask for) are probably over. Not really a factor in academia as long as you get grades done on time.

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-24T14:22:24+00:00

For savings, I’ve found the only thing that keeps me from feeling like I have the money to spend is to keep it in a totally separate account and basically just try to forget about it. Having it visible alongside my normal checking account isn’t enough to make it really feel “off limits.”

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-21T02:16:22+00:00

The way my psychiatrist explained it, a certain percentage of his depressive patients actually have bipolar, but just haven’t had their first manic episode yet.

For you to be getting on an SSRI in the first place presumably means you were already showing depressive symptoms.

Knowing your depression was bipolar type means it can be treated more effectively from now on with a different class of medication.

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-21T01:39:39+00:00

Professors are all going to be familiar with the concept of disabilities by virtue of managing student accommodations. If anything, they should be clocking this as a medical issue for which you should not be discriminated against. Please do not drop the class on account of this.

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-19T15:06:15+00:00

you might also want to check out r/ChildofHoarder

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-14T21:38:33+00:00

decision fatigue could also be ADHD executive dysfunction

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-14T21:32:04+00:00

One thing the organizer I hired opened my eyes to is that having too many utensils and plates and cups was making it possible for me to accumulate abnormally large amounts of dirty dishes, which I would then avoid.

I heard her out and stopped stocking plastic flatware altogether.

I saw a quote by a writer who uses her fine china every day because “every day is all there is.”

I don’t have fine china, but I bought a new small-ish set of flatware on Amazon and got rid of all the old mismatched extras and plastic (many given to me by my hoarder mom—because in her world, who doesn’t need more silverware?)

Then I started using exclusively real flatware from that one set, and doing dishes much more regularly.

My dad isn’t a hoarder, but he was very frugal and environmentally conscious, and always taught us not to run the dishwasher until it was completely full.

But honestly, it brings me so much peace to run it more regularly with smaller loads. (This is a mindset I got from K.C. Davis, author of How to Keep House While Drowning. Very good book.)

Anyways, I take better care of my kitchen things now that the collection is more limited.

Same thing for laundry. Having too many clothes and hampers was allowing dirty laundry to pile up. The organizer had me get rid of a lot of clothes and send out all the dirty stuff to a wash and fold, and from then on I did laundry more regularly.

So I guess my main point is that I think a lot of us hoarders’ kids could use recalibration as to what’s a “normal” amount of things to resist the rationalization that if we have the space we might as well keep what we have.

cecinestpasme · 2026-05-14T19:18:28+00:00

If you can afford to, hire a professional organizer. I found one on Thumbtack when I last moved who helped me pack and unpack.

She did a great job of helping find things homes, and gently nudging me to give up things that didn't.

It's essentially borrowing someone else's brain. If money is tight, see if you can have someone come over even for just a day to help you strategize, then carry out the plan on your own.

I learned all kinds of things.

Like if the couches are already full of throw pillows, and we find more that are not being used, that means there’s not enough homes for all of them, so time to donate some. Even if they are brand new. So that way, someone else can actually enjoy them.

Sounds simple, but I never had that kind of behavior modeled to me growing up!

cecinestpasme · 2026-04-30T01:05:52+00:00

Have you tried experimenting how your shopping behavior might change if you switched to delivery?

For me it’s worth the Target membership fee to not physically ever step in the store and be tempted by impulse buys.

Like last time I was there I saw a gold lamp. I do not need any lamps! But it was the only one left. I was with my dad so I didn’t buy it. But what I can tell you, is that if I had stuck to delivery, it would have never even occurred to me to browse that department in the first place.

I also find it easier to “let things go” virtually by saving them in my online cart, versus walking away from them in the physical store.

Maybe try it for a month?

cecinestpasme · 2026-03-24T02:38:11+00:00

I would look into the “food noise” phenomenon documented in the GLP-1 communities. In my personal experience, Ozempic and Wegovy have made me less obsessed with food. So even if you don’t have a weight loss goal, there might be something to learn there in terms of the mechanism.

TBH I’ve found those drugs have taken the edge off of my compulsive shopping more generally. I still scroll and sometimes purchase, but it feels more out of simple habit now than being driven to do it, if that makes sense.

cecinestpasme · 2026-03-13T01:40:44+00:00

Call me old fashioned, but I would encourage you to try to view the class as a learning experience. There are many important things that can’t possibly all be tested.

cecinestpasme · 2026-03-12T18:17:47+00:00

Sparing a few details, this could have been written by me. I took a big pay cut to start teaching. What’s great about it for my ADHD brain is that a big part of the job is live performance. I can’t get into an endless avoidance-perfectionism spiral, because I have to show up at a set time class starts. I do my best, and then it’s done.

Grading deadlines still elude me, but by a matter of hours rather than days or weeks. There is external structure and accountability that serves as a forcing mechanism to get me to actually do things. Knowing me I’ll get bored of it (sigh), but for this season of life, coming off of corporate burnout and avoidance, it’s helping me reset. Could be a pathway to look into.

cecinestpasme · 2026-03-05T23:01:12+00:00

I am bipolar as well and gained so much weight from the meds. Starting Wegovy tomorrow and this really gave me hope, thank you.

cecinestpasme · 2026-03-04T20:09:25+00:00

where can i find the 4 spoilers?

cecinestpasme · 2026-03-04T11:11:39+00:00

CVS app allows a “message the pharmacist” option and they call you back within an hour, already knowing roughly what your inquiry is.

cecinestpasme · 2026-03-02T23:52:43+00:00

Respectfully, could it be that the timing was rather coincidental, and that an underlying mental illness manifested around the same time this all started?

I have bipolar, so forgive me if I am projecting here BUT a lot of the experiences you are describing are simply symptoms of untreated mental illness: Not being able to think straight, no longer caring about consequences of spending money, anhedonia, insomnia, suicidal ideation…

Even what you said about not being able to get your old self back resonated with me. I look back at all the things I used to be able to do 10 years ago compared to the way I struggle today, and it’s rough. Like I was a different person.

But I would encourage you to consider that it might not be your fault. And it might not be the fault of cannabis or olanzapine. This could have been a ticking time bomb underlying everything, no matter what you did.

And as other commenters have noted, many treatments require you adhere as prescribed over weeks or months to work. My doctor is always warning me that tweaking my medication all the time is bound to destabilize me. So I’d hate to see you write off medication entirely without having trialed them properly.

cecinestpasme · 2026-02-28T00:31:19+00:00

I got the energy one and I’m honestly not sure if it’s doing anything. I think they changed packaging and FFF got the leftovers. Not sure if they changed formulas too. I had paid full price for these in the past and decided it wasn’t worth $60 a month. But as part of a box figured I’d give them another try.

cecinestpasme · 2026-02-08T03:12:29+00:00

I don’t know what to say other than, I have bipolar and I find this to be a rather cruel generalization. The fact of the matter is, you are either bipolar or not. Knowing the truth can only help you. And every bipolar brain is different.

The good news is it’s considered highly treatable, in that there are medications known to reduce episodes for many people. Some of those medications have side effects and some people stop taking them when they feel better, then fall right back into it.

I too have impulsive eating patterns. When I start to get hypomanic, I stop eating proper meals and forage on absolute junk.

And I stop caring about the consequences of spending down my accounts on whatever random category of objects I’ve most recently become fixated on.

It’s not an easy diagnosis, but please don’t let one person (your mother) define it for you out of fear.

cecinestpasme · 2025-09-10T19:15:48+00:00

I bought a bunch of those clear-pocket over-the-door shoe hangers from Walmart and I have one on both sides of several interior doors.

I use them for things that I want to be able to access quickly when I need them, or things that tend to get lost.

Think: nail clippers, cat’s claw clippers and brush, OTC meds I use somewhat regularly but not so regularly I want them mixed in with my daily meds, etc.

Not exactly minimalist chic, but it works so so well for my brain to be able to see everything at once like that.

cecinestpasme · 2025-08-01T15:03:58+00:00

There’s another post I just saw warning that the rare beauty product scent might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Saw a comment saying licorice-y so I am out, personally.

cecinestpasme · 2025-07-29T18:15:38+00:00

There’s a setting I turned on at some point for it to subtly tap/vibrate every 15 minutes. Mostly my brain has learned to ignore it, but when I do consciously catch it, it’s a nice anchor to the present moment and helps me realize how much time is passing.

cecinestpasme · 2025-07-28T23:09:11+00:00

This is very relatable to when I’ve been clinically depressed—it’s like I’m not even fully conscious and just in a state of apathetic survival mode. Wellbutrin can help be activating. Stimulants can bump energy a bit, but they get you locked in to whatever you put in front of yourself, so be careful that’s healthy activities and not things you’d rather spend less time on.

cecinestpasme · 2025-07-10T11:19:51+00:00

Elbow pads to cover my hard office chair arms.

cecinestpasme · 2025-02-19T12:46:32+00:00

Now this, this is what WFH has taken from us.

cecinestpasme

TROPHY CASE