<prompt> Human: We are avid budgeters. We saved enough for our emergency fund and were in a decent place financially. I work, and my husband is in medical school.We have astronomical student loan payments so we have to be smart every month. Were trying to pay them down as aggressively as we can. Well do this for 7-13 more years depending what kind of job he lands, and then be student loan debt free.Because of this, our budget doesnt allow for many extras. We only go out to eat a couple of times a month, we dont take vacations, and we only buy something if we absolutely need it.My husbands friends drop money on things that he longs for watches, nice clothes, craft beer, etc. His friends also have wives without student loan debt, some have parents that front them money well into their 30s, and they dont have children.Hes bummed because we have advanced degrees but we dont have much to show for it yet. We made a lot of sacrifices and were close to, but not at the pay-off point. He says he hates that a 100 speeding ticket makes him feel so guilty This was his first one btw. We went to the free zoo over the weekend, but he lost the parking ticket. We had to pay extra. Hes tired of these little things adding up and cutting into our limited fun money. Any tips for how to cheer him up? See the forest for the trees? I think hes just exhausted from all of our hard work and would really like to see a tangible reward now and then.Edit: I want to thank everyone for the constructive advice. Im pregnant with our second baby and Ive worried a lot about how were going to deal with our expenses moving forward. Also, we dont have people in our lives that we can sit and talk these things out with to strategize. Ive reached out to Reddit to navigate the issue.To answer a lot of questions- Im a lawyer. I have about 160k left in student loans. I only had to pay for the equivalent of 2 years of grad school because I was awarded scholarships for undergraduate and graduate school. My husband will have 400k. He has several advanced degrees. This is his second career. We have no plans to retire early- though we would like to work leisurely as we age. I made about 12k extra this year towards my payments in attempt to pay my loans down. This was not case the two years prior. Now that we have our finances in order, I only pay extra after we have a few months over our emergency budget and we both agree that its ok to make a large contribution. Also, this happened to come after our tax return and my bonus.I purchased a home 6 months after I graduated, so we do not need to set aside any other savings.We talked it out yesterday and I offered what a lot of you suggested- a set aside amount every month for him to have to let loose.Part of his frustration is the stress of medical school. Part of his frustrations stems from the fact no one we grew up with obtained advanced degrees. We cant relate to our wealthy peers because most of them come from a different socioeconomic background than us.We reconnected and reaffirmed that this is temporary. Well continue to strike a balance between both of our ideals.Thanks everyone!  <response>: You should look at the real numbers. Use a calculator like unbury.us and see what impact paying less would have.For example, if you pay 100 less per month towards the loans and spend that on fun stuff, how much extra interest would that cost you and how much time would that add?Only you and your husband can decide if the trade off is worth it. Paying off debt should be a priority but it doesnt trump every other priority ever. Something this sub loves to talk about is the cost of every dollar you dont pay towards your debt in terms of interest. We dont often talk about the cost of every dollar you pay towards your debt in terms of quality of life sacrifice. 