Do I use math in my everyday life?

Any math teacher will hear: "I will never use this in life!" The emphatic statement that really reveals our common understanding of math. Since the enlightenment, it has seemed that mathematics, in the way it is taught, has but one use: utility.  If it has no immediate use to my everyday life, what good or use is it really? My algebra students moan when we are mastering factoring. In their minds they can see no correlation to manipulating expressions and equations to careers and rigors of everyday life. Outside of balancing a checkbook and investing money, of what use is math? If I don't go into a field like Engineering or business finance, why do I need subjects like Algebra, Geometry and Calculus? These classes seem like really hard work for little to no return. This common misconception, I believe, comes from a long line of false understanding about what subjects like Algebra are and what they were historically used to teach. Algebra to most people is simply a set of tools used to solve interesting problems in life. Here is an example: If there are two tax rates, both state and federal that are interdependent of each other a straightforward calculation is impossible. However, a system of two equations and two unknowns can be expressed and therefore solved. This is useful and the idea is this is for what Algebra is. But, that is actually only a consequence of Algebra. Algebra was originally taught to teach people how to think, not just solve problems. Lets go back to balancing the check book. Theoretically it is easy to balance a checkbook. Most people know what they should do. They should save money and live below their means. Do people normally do that? No, most American's live on 110% of their income. This shows that even though we know what to do, that doesn't mean we do it. Why? Because we make emotional decisions. This is a problem. Algebra engages the mind on a level that forces it to think rationally. It forces one to think in terms of logic and does not allow answers that feel right, only ones that are logically provable. The field is based on axioms not statistical analysis. Algebra helps the mind make logical decisions as opposed to emotional ones. Algebra teaches someone how to think and that is something we use everyday of our life!