This is Optimal Finance Daily, Episode 1469.

I stop trying to be perfect and my budget thanked me for it by Kimiko of thebudgetmom.com.

And I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast, Diana Mariam.

This is the show where I serenade you with the sweet sounds of personal finance knowledge

from some of the best blogs on the planet, with the author's permission of course.

This show is actually one of six shows in our network,

covering different topics like personal development, health, and relationships.

So if you like narration style podcasts, be sure to search for optimal living daily wherever

you're hearing this and check out our other shows. But since you're here, let's jump right into

today's post and continue optimizing your life. I stop trying to be perfect and my budget thanked me

for it by Kimiko of thebudgetmom.com. Ever since I was little,

I always had this idea of the type of woman I wanted to be when I grew up.

I used to watch Melanie Griffith in Working Girl with Envy and I thought to myself,

I want to be that successful, that smart, that pretty, that perfect. If you haven't seen Working Girl,

it's a must see movie where Melanie Griffith plays a secretary at the bottom of the corporate

ladder. Throughout the film, she eventually realizes that to get ahead, she has to break a few

rules and portray it to be someone she really isn't. Her boss. She changes her appearance,

starts wearing gorgeous shoes and clothes, and eventually ends up with a huge promotion at work

and wins the guy at the end of the movie. If you haven't seen it, watch it. So as a little girl,

I developed this image of the type of woman I wanted to become, what I wanted to look like,

act like, be like. I developed this craving for fashion and clothes and it slowly spiraled out of

control. With all the new clothes came expensive hair appointments, nail appointments, new shoes,

...