Quit talking

Years ago, we leased a car rather than buying one.
It was supposed to be cheaper and we were at a time in our lives when money was tight.
It was a very long couple of years.
Seems the allotment of miles for a leased vehicle is based on east coast driving and not west desert miles where every store and venue is miles from home.
The paltry 15,000-20,000 miles we could drive before we went over our base allowance wasn't enough. Thusly, after just a couple of months, I could see we were headed for trouble.
I started counting the miles everywhere we went, trying to estimate how soon we'd run into the wall and have to just park the car.
Marc typically is a lot less worried about such minor matters than I am.

He was fine and told me we'd be fine but I continued to agonize over every trip, every detour that ate up another mile.
At the end of the two years, we coasted into the dealership to renew the lease (actually to turn in the car and sign on the dotted line for a purchase). We were a couple hundred miles over the limit and I was braced for the bill.
Nothing happened. It wasn't mentioned. No one charged us anything extra and I never got a chance to lament the chintzy allotment.
I think now that maybe because we bought a car, they cut us some slack.
Fast forward to today as we move toward changing our cell phone plan.
We've dropped our land line — partly to see if I can stand it — and we're using our cell phones exclusively.
I'm stressing because now all of the ward, junk and local family calls come off our 700-minute allotment.
Formerly I just used my cell phone for work and long distance.
Now I started counting again.
When it was only two days into the billing cycle and we'd used 100 minutes, I freaked. I can multiply and I could foresee trouble at this rate.
I told Marc "No more long rambling calls and no waiting on hold" at least until we could change to an unlimited minutes plan.
I've started clicking off the minutes in my head when somebody calls just to chat and doesn't get to the point. (Kids and grandkids, you're fine. Our precious minutes are for you.)
I just checked my bill and we're halfway through so I think we'll be fine barring unforeseen phone call emergencies.
In the meantime, if I seem a bit brusque on the line, forgive me.
I'm just a stresser. I can't help it.