I've been kept on a tight leash my entire life - so when I went off to college (free in my country if you have decent grades) my parents controlled me by threatening to cut off my spending money (food and dorm rent) every time I wouldn't do what they wanted. It wasn't much but it was definitely a control thing. A year in, I got a job and told myself that I'll never allow anyone to control me with money again. I learned a lot from frugal, simpleliving, eatcheapandhealthy and have trained myself to only buy what I really need or really want. It wasn't difficult since I started this lifestyle right when I got my first paycheck. I track my spending and plan my "fun" money. During the summer I have two months where I don't plan to save anything, I just travel cheaply.

This shit started again, but now it was my job that tried to control me. A few months ago, I quit a downright abusive job on the spot in the middle of one of the most severe lockdowns in the world. I had nothing else lined up and I could have never done that if I hadn't been habitually saving up for years. Everyone acted like I was completely insane and ungrateful because people were being fired left and right, but I was pretty relaxed since I knew I had enough in my bank for food and bills for almost a year. I think this is an underrated aspect of simple living - nobody can control you by dangling your livelihood in front of you