Franklin isn't warning against poverty or stinginess—he's identifying a peculiar blindness we develop toward small recurring costs. We notice the dramatic expense but sleep through the steady drip, which is precisely backwards from how reality works. A coffee habit or a subscription you've forgotten about compounds with indifference, while we agonize over one large purchase we can at least see coming. The insight cuts deeper because it suggests our psychology is badly calibrated: we're vigilant about visible threats and careless about invisible ones.