Our life is changing fast. Big changes, bigger costs. Full steam ahead.

So the other night, when I woke up at 2 am in a full-blown money panic, I did what any reasonable insomniac does: I cracked open a new book about money. Then I read the whole thing, cover to cover, before the sun came up.

Never Worry About Money Again by Jesse Mecham is part confessional, part self-help and 100% aimed at people like me who lose sleep over money. So, basically 99% of the human race. It’s why I agreed to be part of the book launch team for it, because who can’t use the help?

And this book is what got me back to sleep that night, despite the whirlwind of change hitting us. Here’s why.

The Real Reason I Was Panicking

Before I tell you why I was spiraling over money at 2 am, let’s rewind.

Jim and I are about to take on some big expenses. But it clicked, mid-read, that our new direction isn’t a detour; it’s the plan we made for ourselves back in 2007, the day we hit the road. I just couldn’t see the forest for the trees when we took that leap of faith a few weeks ago.

Being good at money is a process, not a destination

Back in 2007, when we kicked off this never-ending road trip, we fell in with a debt-free fulltiming family who handed us a cup of Dave Ramsey Kool-Aid. Drinking it was one of the best money moves we ever made.

Ramsey’s “Give every dollar a job” approach to money management taught us to live within our means. We paid off our debt and adopted a “No debt, ever again!” mantra.

And then life happened. The road got more expensive, even with a frugal approach. Every time we had to put something on a credit card, even knowing we’d pay it off next month, I beat myself up like I’d broken a sacred vow.

I thought debt-free was the only definition of being good with money. I hadn’t yet learned a simpler, more honest question to ask instead.

The Three-Word Question That Changes Everything

What’s it for?

That’s it. That’s the question.

Ask it about every dollar, and you’re really asking: does the way I’m spending it fit my values and build the life I want, not just now but long into the future?

That question is the spine of Mecham’s new book. He’s the founder of YNAB, the budgeting app I’ve used for over 10 years, and this is his second book. It’s a guide to spending on purpose, so your money builds the life you’re actually trying to live.

As Mecham puts it, spending well is being good with money. And worrying less starts with getting intentional about where your money goes.

“What’s it for?” isn’t a gut check or a willpower test. It doesn’t make you feel bad if you’d rather spend money on a night out than put it toward your emergency fund.

“What’s it for?” is introspection. Asking it when you decide how to slice and dice your paycheck forces you to look at your whole financial picture and decide, on purpose, what earns your money and what doesn’t, now and later.

“What’s it for?” is how you take agency back.

It closes the gap between what you think your money is doing and what it’s actually doing. That gap? That’s where the worry lives. Close the gap, and the worry goes with it.

And you’ll also fall back asleep when you wake up in a money panic.

Nineteen Years Later, The Plan is Paying Off

Here we are, almost two decades into this road trip, and the map we drew in 2007 is finally paying off. We just hit a milestone we set for ourselves the day we first hit the road, and “Never Worry About Money Again” is coming along with us on the new adventure. I promise to tell you about it real soon!