What can I do if I am extremely worried of running out of money?

It's not actually going to happen. I know it's not rational that I worry about it. I worry that I will have to spend all of my money on University and then have nothing left.

@theScientist Wow I do this too and never realized it’s probably ocd

@theScientist Ah okay I see. I sometimes get worried about a similar thing, that I’ll blow all my money before college starts and then I’ll have no savings. When I had a job I deposited all of my money directly into a savings account and I never transferred any to a checking account, but that might not be reasonable based on your circumstances

@blackraspberry I saved all the money I ever earned but still I have a fear of being poor

@theScientist When I feel that way I look up social services that would be available in that situation, or think about people in my life that support me and would help me if I was in trouble. I’m not sure that this is the right approach, but it does give me some comfort that even if this fear is true and I become poor, it’s ok and it wouldn’t be the absolute end of the world. Idk if that is helpful though ?

@blackraspberry Yes, it is helpful. Thanks. I still find myself ruminating over the same fear of being unsuccessful or even homeless and have catastrophic thinking of failure in different forms. And it is really hard for me to stop this rumination, I can go like that for hours and days without realizing it's the OCD

@theScientist I totally relate to that!! It’s really difficult because a lot of the time it doesn’t seem unreasonable at all to spend your time being worried about it.

@blackraspberry Yes, I find myself rationalizing this rumination with thoughts like: I am being responsible, I am trying to make the right choice, I am making sure nothing bad happens to me in the future, but in fact it gets me stuck in fears

@theScientist Mhm. Because of this fear and other fears like it, it took me FOREVER to start college planning Bc I was scared that if I thought about it too much I would jinx it and end up destitute/ get rejected From every college. With that too I found that finding stories from people who really did lose all their money or really did have smth bad happen is helpful. Because when you hear the stories you can see that it’s survivable and isn’t like world destroying.

@blackraspberry It's not just with University, I find everyday decisions hard too, like I can never buy clothes in stores cause I am afraid I will regret buying them, every decision I have to make becomes difficult. It took me 3 years or even more to decide what to study and I still ruminate about this decision after it was already made

@theScientist Do you struggle with hoarding? I find that part of why I save things is because I’m scared of wasting money

@blackraspberry I think I do, I have tons of books and notebooks I don't really need and I can't throw them away, I am afraid they will be useful in the future or I will throw something important.

@theScientist Yeah me too LOL. I have so many socks because even though a bunch of them have holes I’m just convinced that I’ll regret getting rid of them

@blackraspberry Do you find yourself regretting decisions you've made for no reason? Like, it was the right decision but you find something that wasn't perfect about it? Or things you've done? I find myself regretting the subject I chose to study at University even though it took me three years to choose. And I ask myself, is it really me regretting it or is it my OCD?

@theScientist Yeah all the time lol. I also get obsessed about the morality of my decisions so I’ll criticize my decisions for not being as ethical as possible along with being irresponsible or not the most logical option despite knowing it was the best thing to do/ the decision being completely mundane and unimportant

No. It is not realistic. I know it isn't but I can't stop worrying

@theScientist What behaviors are reinforcing the worry?

@NOCD Advocate - Katie Checking how much money I have, trying to calculate outcomes and incomes, not allowing myself to spend money

@theScientist Which one of those do you think would be least difficult to reduce?

I am not being lazy, I am afraid I will have to pay all of my money to University and public transportation. I can't work if I go to University so I may run out of savings

@theScientist Oh, I see. I hope you'll be okay soon!