People get weirdly attached to their own way of seeing things. I see it all the time when clients argue over the "right" way to clip a poodle. The fight over a literal key versus a memory is the same thing, just with words instead of dog hair. It stops being about the work and becomes a battle over who's correct.

My first month with envelopes I was so strict I missed a huge pasta sale. Now I keep a twenty dollar "deal fund" in my wallet just for those surprise discounts, like @hugo_grant mentioned. It lets me grab the cheap chicken without messing up my other categories. That little change made the whole system work for me instead of feeling trapped by it.

Summoned seven years before lunch" is the real problem here. That's some serious speedrunning. Most people at least space out their bad luck over a decade. Gotta respect the efficiency, even if it's a terrible idea.