Typhoon Money doesn’t buy happiness, just makes it easier to pay the bills.
Simple fix.....get rid of the bills!!
We made it a habit of not having any bills, outside the normal 'must have for life' bills. Buy a car...pay cash. No credit cards. See something you want, but maybe don't really need....forget it, unless you can save up the cash to pay for it. It's not been an easy way, with seeing everyone around with new(er) this/that/everything. But we never owed for anything, still don't.
10 yrs. ago, my wife decided she wanted to retire. When she told me, I was in dire need of Depends immediately. I just smiled and said, OK. 😃 Then, 'we' decided that she would work 1 more year, while drawing full SS at the same time, which would be banked entirely. After a couple months, she informed me that her boss(allergy Doctor) was dying, and in a month he did. No one bought up his practice, so it was closed down after a few months of paperwork, and my wife was then fully retired. No way was she going to work for anyone else, and she did have offers. That was that. 1.5 yrs. ago, my boss was killed from a fall down basement stairs. When I was not given the position, after 19 yrs., I walked out. I figured I could always get the same type work any where, but after a few weeks, decided I didn't want to. Now, neither of us work. The last 2-3 yrs. of my employment, I worked tons of OT, and at the same time I did scrapping of all the remodel throwaways. AND drew full SS. All of this extra was banked entirely, and that is our life savings. I have a very tiny pension, my wife has none, no IRAs, no severances, so it is SS and the savings as how we live today. Bills are always paid on time. Anything purchased is still cash only. We get along, probably not as happy as we could be, but not complaining either, except about this damn COVID BS keeping us in.
I put all this out here so you know you are correct.....Money is not everything. Your mental health is though. Doesn't explain why I am so fucking nuts, but still.... 🙂