<prompt> Human: TL;DR: What methods do you use to protect yourself mentally from all of the little stresses related to personal finance?___This is going to come off as a rant, but what I would like is for us to discuss means of reducing frustrations related to personal finance. We all know someone perhaps even ourselve who struggles with issues related to personal finances. I have an uncle who just cant seem to keep a smile on his face anymore seeing as he is putting two boys through college, a job he doesnt adore and two mortgages. Growing up, I always fear I would follow the same path where my own finances would consume me and disrupt my mood constantly, preventing me from stopping and smelling the roses in life.Quick story. I am a 21 M year old, recent college grad. I took a trip with my girlfriend to Montreal last week. This week, I sat down to tally up the cost of the trip so that she could pay me the half she owes. Looking things over, I noticed that there was an additional 28 charge on my credit card bill for the bikes we rented in Montreal Bixi Bikes. They are a lot like the Citi bikes in NYC. Anyways, this 28 charge is on top of the already 20 we paid to rent the bikes. Long story short, because their systems failed to receive the bikes once we returned them, they charged us extra. I called to dispute the charge, but they said Sorry, eh? Cant help. So there goes 28 down the drain.And then there is the parking ticket we got for parking too close to a sidewalk ramp. The fine was only 30, but to add insult to injury, they added a additional 13 costs to the fine, as well as a 20 contribution. And then when I log on to pay the ticket, they want another 2.50 PLUS TAX for administrative fees. What those are, I still dont know nor care. All I know is that I have an additional 65.50 ticket sitting on my desk, waiting to be paid.So my question is, is this what adult life is like? Does personal finance evolve into this montage of surprise expenses, additional little indisputable fees tacked on here and there that just ruin your mood, time after time? Things that no matter how responsible you are with your money, still appear and take from you. I imagine these things are natural, its going to happen. People always tell me that when traveling, expect to be scammed, robbed, lied to and deceived because if you dont plan for those things, you will dwell on them when they do happen and will ruin your trip.What strategies do YOU apply daily to get yourself by? How can I and others, at the ripe age of our early 20s, adjust our lifestyles and ways of thinking so that we are best protected moving forward? I know in my case, it is only 28 here and 63 there, but do these things just keep compounding and growing as life goes on?TL;DR: What methods do you use to protect yourself mentally from all of the little stresses related to personal finance?Assistant: This is where either a budget item for incidentals or a solid e- fund come into play. Beyond that, constant vigilance and receipts for everything.Human: What I told my girlfriend after all of this happened: From now on, 2 of my pay is going to go to my This is Bullshit fund that pays for all things related to Bullshit  <response>: Most people call it the rainy day fund. Its for lifes unexpected costs. Could be 20 bucks in bullshit charges you only learn after the fact; or could be a speeding ticket; or a medical thing. If it was only 2 the world would be a much better place. 