I've also noticed all my bad spending habits disappeared when she did.

This comment just triggered a moment of clarity for me. Growing up I was always good with money. I would save for what I wanted, never spent anything unless it was absolutely necessary. And when I eventually got a credit card, I never went into debt - I just used it for convenience (and necessity for online stuff etc). But I would always transfer the real money within a day or so of any purchases.

Recently I've been trying to make ends meet with only a very small amount of money and I noticed that I would dip into debt and then slowly start getting out and then drop back in again, never making any progress. I've been thinking, how on Earth have I managed to change my internal feelings (read: hatred) towards debt? That's where the moment of clarity comes in.

About 5-6 years ago I moved in with my (now ex) girlfriend. I was in a pretty high paying job and she was fairly well paid as well, for what she did. It wasn't until after we moved in, however, that I found out she was more than $20k in debt. We lived together for about 4 years before I left a very broken, and broke, man.

Didn't learn my lesson and started a new relationship within about 6 months. During this last relationship, I had much less money, as did she. I was talking about something one day and she said "oh yeah, you can get a loan for that." At the time, I remember thinking how stupid it would be to get a loan and thankfully never did it. I broke off this relationship a couple of months ago and frankly, I have this sub to thank.

In any case, I now know where I picked up this horrendous habit of living in debt and I'm starting to look forward to getting back on my feet again.

TL;DR: I have been tied to a female nearly consistently for about the last 6 years. I'm rebuilding now and basically having to re-wire my brain to stay out of debt; a behaviour that I never had as a kid, but ended up with after living with a woman.