[whateveracct]

I could and am in a macro sense. But when things I normally buy are a little more expensive and I'm gonna buy them anyways (a grocery trip is a good example), I don't especially notice the haircut.

I guess you can blame me for not micromanaging every dollar I spend? But if I'm sitting in a drive thru grabbing a burger and fries and notice it's $5 more than it used to be, I'm probably still gonna buy the burger and fries. And I probably will still go grab one occasionally when I want it. Because saving $5 every so often isn't gonna really affect an activity that makes up a microscopic amount of my expenses (I've got fast food including coffee at 2.5% last I reviewed my data.)

But regardless I think what I'm describing is a real bit of human behavior at scale - and isn't that just economics at the end of the day?

[latchkey]

I don't know. Over the years, I've stopped drinking alcohol, eating fast food and cut down on pointless spending. Sure, grocery shopping is more expensive, so I also stopped buying certain items that also affect my health and the planet... most meat. I changed my spending habits to focus on becoming healthier and happier as I age. I look at my dad who, like his father, refused to change anything and decided to break the cycle.

$5 is $5... every penny counts.

[whateveracct]

I've been learning the same thing. I did a big review of my finances (downloads CSVs and crunched them) and found like $4000 of easy money .. across a bunch of in-a-vacuum "small" expenses I wouldn't balk at. That's a new water heater and then some!