Wish I could stop "beating" myself over money mistakes

[imagine]

Do you "beating" yourself up over money mistakes.

I still get upset for myself for accidentally throwing out the check reward from our credit card. That was 13 years ago.

I fret over a bad use of a coupon. Example today I used a $10 off $10 or more purchase. I bought the socks Hubby said he needed (spent $2 oop). He thought his dress socks for work had faded a lot over the last year. Nope the new ones (same brand/style) look almost the same color to me. Maybe I should have used that $10 off $10 to buy some soft socks for Christmas present for my SILs. So now I'm beating myself up.

Those are just a few of the examples I fret about sometimes keeping me up at night.

DH tells me not to fret about these mistakes "It is just money" While I know that is true and that it won't break the bank. I can't seem to stop.

How does one stop "beating" oneself up over money mistakes ?

[lwlynch]

Must be in the water today.. sometimes I feel that way.. You gotta just let it go.. all that stuff is negative wasteful thinking and will drag you down.. you will be so busy worrying that you will miss the next beautiful thing to come by...
Hang in there and remember we are all human...
hugs to you.

[chevy_chick95]

yes, i had a car repo'd over 3 years ago. I still kick myself in the ass over it.

[Dancing Lotus]

girl I'm still kicking myself over things from 10 yrs ago. I just can't let it go can I.

[Russ]

always look forward, never back.

this coming from someone who had a HELOC paid down and spent it again.
All you can do is learn and make sure you don't repeat the mistakes.

[WV_mom_of2]

I do this all the time. I'm hoping that we have FINALLY learned from our past mistakes, but it doesn't make them any easier to live with. Things have been so tight for us this year that money is on my mind CONSTANTLY! I dream that they are taking our house from us at night LOL.

Right now I am kicking myself over our trip this weekend. I haven't had a weekend off since April 1. I NEED a break and want to go away on a camping trip. I've worked 6 days in a row three different times this summer and our campground has been packed which means I've worked my butt off. I'm tired and stressed and need this trip, but I'm stressing over the money!

HUGS!

[pecunierrant]

I so hear ya! I kicked myself in the butt for throwing out a rebate check worth $3.99 just a couple of weeks ago. I was so annoyed with myself!
But then I thought to myself...
The money saving actions that we're doing, couponing, rebates, list making, keeping a budget, etc are all part of the Big Picture, the long haul, etc.

In other words don't let small things distract from the main goal. Think "Rocky" training for his prize fight! Hear the music now? LOL!

[Greebo]

Do not dwell upon the regrets of the past. One can not live in the past. Just as one can not drive a car forward by looking in the rear view mirror, one can not live ones life today if one is dwelling in the past. The rear view mirror, and the past, are tools from which we gain knowledge, but not places where we can live our lives.

Look AFAR.

Acceptance.
Forgiveness.
Amends.
Resolve.

Acceptance - accept that you are human, you make mistakes, just like everyone else, and that nobody is perfect. The fact is, you made the mistake. You can't change the fact that you made it.

Forgiveness - tell yourself it's OK that you made the mistake. Whether you did it on purpose or not, you have to let yourself have had that experience. Look - lets say a friend wronged you somehow, and later was genuinely sorry for it. What is forgiveness? Letting the past go, right? If you forgive someone, you let that bad part of their past go. You don't bring it up again, hold it against them, etc., or you haven't really forgiven them. Well, you have to be able to forgive yourself too - its not fair TO YOU to keep holding your mistakes against you.

Amends - Make amends, if amends can be made. When dealing with others, this is easy. When dealing with ourselves, it can be harder. It may be that no amends can be made or need to be made. When we make money mistakes, we can't really make amends because the past is done.

Resolve - Resolve to become the person who will never make this mistake again. Note I don't say resolve never to make it again - because you probably will for a while. Habits are hard to break. No - RESOLVE to BECOME the person who will never make such a mistake again. Come up with a plan of action to help you become that person, and stick to it as best you can. Should you stumble, and falter, go back to Acceptance.

[lwlynch]

very well said greebo...

[kaykwilts]

I make mistakes all the time. Just live it and learn from it. I started doing CVS and Walgreens last Fall and believe me I've made a lot of mistakes. One thing you learn and you are less likely to repeat those mistakes.

[perSue]

sure! i think we all "beat ourselves up" over something.

the best thing to do is think slowly, rationally and understand there's always a 'new start' ahead.

be it you ate too much today. spent too much. gave too much. exercised too much. wasted too much time.
start anew tomorrow.

[prftstrngr]

I think we all do this at times whether it be over money or something else. Hard habit to break....but try to look ahead...tomorrow is another day and another chance to do things right!

[elphie]

The best wisdom I've ever received on this topic...

My choices yesterday create my today. My choices today create my tomorrow.

I don't want my future built on worry and anxiety about things in the past I can't change.

and Greebo; I like the AFAR anagram... I will keep that in my "file".

[ZenTherapy]

It's right, it's just money. It's important but it shouldn't rule our lives, and our minds - whether we are rich or poor. It can't be an obsession.

[frugalandsimple]

Learn from your mistakes and move on. There's no sense of wasting precious time and energy on something you can't change.