Money is a tool, Carl Richards says, and he is correct.
He suggests that we move beyond thinking about our money in the either/or terms of saving it or spending it.
I have found the same thing. When we can think about how we save and spend our money non-judgmentally, we can think about when we are pleased with how we are spending our money and when we are displeased with our expenditures. When we are pleased with our savings rate and when we are not pleased with our savings rate. When we are pleased that we splurged on x and when we are sorry we splurged on y.
This sort of examination of our financial behavior allows us to learn about ourselves and our money on another level. Money is a tool.