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Go through your expenses and identify waste. Even if you’d don’t keep a budget check your credit card statements etc. cancel unrequited subscriptions, haggle utility bills, refinance loans, etc.


But looking at my credit card statement gives me anxiety.


That's the point! Thinking about money should not be a cause of stress in your life. If money is stressful then budget/expense tracking is what you _need_.

Since we got married me and my wife have been tracking every expense down to the penny. The net result has been no fights about money, everything was known and obvious from the records. Every so often we come together, look at the numbers, and decide things. You might decide an expense is worth it, or you might decide an expense is not worth it. Without measurements you cannot make that decision, with measurements you are in control.

Once you are in control money should become a tool, and a source of freedom to spend on what you value.


That means you spend too much. It is good to know such things in advance. Not knowing never makes anything better in the long run.


Yes that’s a big problem. Not sure on the solution to that, but over time you get used to it. Just think of it like any other math exercise.




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