I apologize in advance for my stream of consciousness.<p>I found myself in a similar situation when I started working after graduate school. I continued to live like a poor grad student as my income became an order of magnitude higher than my expenses. Changing my expenses would have actually taken congnitive overhead, so my expenses barely increased for years. I just saved the difference in Vanguard's VTSAX.<p>Gradually, during busier times of my life, I did start to eat out more and more. Then I gained a lot of weight from it -- for me, eating out almost always meant eating more food than I should consume, and it's often unhealthy food. I eventually pulled myself together and cook almost all of my food at home now. I also get more joy drinking coffee at home, reading in the morning, than buying it out. Although I don't cap my grocery budget, it's significantly healthier, and spending can still only get so high if I'm not wasting food.<p>At this point, living life feels much like a game. Money equates to a kind of resource point that is useful to achieve goals, and it is worthwhile to manage and "cultivate" this resource, but it's not an end to itself. "Winning" isn't getting more resource points, it's to maximize joy (or other "fullfillment" however you may wish to define it). Spending resources doesn't necessarily increase joy , though it does provide opportunities. A great many things that increase joy are either free or linked to lower resource spending vs. alternatives (e.g., cooking at home is healthier and usually cheaper, and for me, often tastier, a smaller home "forces" more social interaction with family, which can often lead to a less lonely life, frugal spending while traveling can lead to you staying in hostels and meeting other friendly travelers, etc...).<p>Preserving and managing your resource can also let you optimize long-term choices, perhaps getting you to FIRE (Financially Independent, Retire Early). Even if you don't want to retire early, it allows choice to leave a job that isn't leaving you personally fulfilled.<p>Good luck!