Originally Posted by
Thumper 
I am not an obsessive compulsive person by nature - I am just low on that spectrum. I'm a bit compulsive about keeping track of my money now though. I keep track of every dime and where it goes. I have a spreadsheet with dozens of 'line items' and I separate paper towels from groceries from cat food even if I have to go down a list for $300 worth of junk at Walmart to do it. I think that simply comes from years of scrambling and trying so hard to keep track of money to pay the bills when someone else was always sabotaging the family budget (but always the first to enthusiastically make a new budget or get excited about a new plan - my god how crazy making - words and follow through actions were so opposite). I had zero ability/success with planning anything for the future (near or far) with our money and felt so insecure because of it.
LOL, Thumper, I'm exactly the same way!! Now that there are tools on the internet, I'm even worse, because I'll write my expenses in my DayTimer, AND record them on my Excel spreadsheet, AND log them onto my Dave Ramsey website AND then balance it all with my Mint.com account. And you're right--all that work is just the pendulum swinging as far as it can to the other side to try (futile, of course) to balance out the ridiculous mindless, wasteful spending by AH.
I LOVE ResilientFather's post--I'm going to print it out--RF, who is the author, do you know?
lifewenton: I do believe you can go back to living in the moment with practice. Maybe some meditation or yoga classes or podcasts/websites would help. I think cracking open awareness by stopping yourself from time to time and just noticing your surroundings on a regular basis throughout the day will slowly expand your ability to tap into that whenever you need it.