When I started living on my own as an adult with a job and a budget to figure out, every week I was astonished at how much money I could spend at the store. But then I would look in my cart and think: well, yes, that was a lot of money, but look at the items you will not need to buy for a long time? The laundry detergent will last months, that bottle of olive oil will also stick around for awhile, and this bag of rice might last half a year. Thus, I would reason with myself, next week the grocery bill will not be so high.

The thing is…there were always these items that would last a long time. Something was always running out and required replacing. Next week was not actually going to be markedly different.

In my quest to figure out money, I didn’t, or didn’t let myself, get truly realistic. I kept telling myself the story that things would change.

Are you telling yourself a similar story?

Maybe you are constantly telling yourself that “next week will be better, I’ll have more time for X.” Or, “this is just a really busy time in my life, in a couple of years I will really start using my vacation time” or look for that new job or get the house remodeled.

Is there actually a reason to think that things will change? Or is it time to let go of the story?