Money Stress

I don't normally feel stressed about money. Mostly because I have designed my life's expenses to be way lower than my income. So I have a big cushion every month. This month that's not the case. I have so many obligations -- birthdays, weddings, etc. that I am spending a lot of money. I think it is bothering me because I feel like it is out of my control. Not that I resent my friends for the money I've spent, but I feel like I should be making cuts in other areas to compensate and I am finding that very hard to do. This is making me feel more empathy for those people who don't have a large cushion and feel like their expenses pile up each month out of control. Of course, in reality, I do have control. I don't have to attend all of these weddings and birthday parties. Or I don't have to be so generous with my gifts. But the fact if that I want to do these things, so I just have to give myself permission to spend more this month, and not stress about it because these are one time events. Here's to a more frugal (hopefully) August.