I spend most of my time with a mild background worry about money.  I don’t make QUITE enough to be comfortable.  So I’m always counting, always deciding, always wary of the next expensive disaster.

Right now I’m facing a lot of expensive things and so I’m constantly re-shuffling my funds and re-prioritizing my spending.

What I realized is that it’s not the money that is worrisome.  It’s the uncertainty around it all.

For example – my car needs new tires.  How long can I put that off?  What if I only buy 2 at a time?  What if I got used, is that bad?  Where does one get used tires?

My tooth needs a filling.  It only hurts sometimes… Will that trend be OK for longer than the tire problem?

It’s not so much the money – it’s the uncertainty.  If I knew the answers to those questions, it would be easy to make the shuffling and prioritizing decisions.  But I don’t.

Most of my stress is about things I don’t know.  Because I hate to make the wrong choice.  Sometimes it’s possible to find an answer.  A lot of the tire questions have answers, but the tooth question doesn’t.  Nor does the consequence of not getting new tires in time.