What did you actually stop doing when you bought the thing? That's the part nobody talks about. Buying a planner feels like doing the work because you get a little hit of progress just from owning it, so your brain checks the box before you've planned a single week. The purchase scratches the itch, and then you never build the habit because the itch is already gone. So the money is really just paying to feel like you fixed something, which is probably why your cousin lasted four months without ever noticing the problem.

That cashier at the Route 9 Kroger must have seen it all. Back in 2011 I was at a Piggly Wiggly in Gastonia with a cart full of groceries and my debit card got declined over $6. A guy behind me in a work shirt just handed the cashier a ten and told me to keep the change. I never got his name. What sticks with me is that he didn't act like he was doing me a favor, he acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. That woman saying she'd been on the other end in 2009 makes sense to me. People who've been there don't make a show of it, they just pay it forward when they can.