Money is a funny thing. It doesn’t matter if you have a lot or a little, it is something way too easy to obsess over. My husband and I find ourselves in the position I have long had as a semi-goal: we can spend $20 here and there and not really notice. I have been rather poor most of my life, yet I find this position more ‘natural’ feeling than the poverty I had forever. I wasn’t ridiculously weak most of the time when I was poor, and we’re still not terrible about spending money (crud, we’re still using folding chairs from Wal-Mart and a table I got as a hand-me-down about 10 years ago), but aside from the more constant panic, not much has changed. We still say no to most of the stuff I want (well…the stuff I want has graduated from cheap lamps to SUVs) and still have problems paying off debt (though we don’t get into new debt) and we still live like recent college grads. (Which I still claim to be, no matter what you say! lalalalalalalala) But when I deal with friends and family on tighter budgets, I feel bad at how our DINK (Double Income No Kids) position has made me more lax about money, while they usually need it more than we do. But then I remember that it all evens out — I WANT kids but can’t have them, and we paid our dues with finishing college and working towards good careers from a young age, which hasn’t been easy and often isn’t fun. I don’t want to do this all my life, and when I stop I’ll be struggling financially same as all my friends and family — though they will have stronger money-management muscles than I by then. So it all evens out. Eventually.