Lifestyle Inflation: The 8th Deadly Sin | brokeGIRLrich
Lifestyle inflation is like the 8thdeadly sin in the personal finance blogging world.
OMG – are you leasing a car? Do you eat out 2 nights a week? Do you have a home with more than one toilet? Do you bathe using something other than a sponge bath with water you then use on your plants?
FAIL
Calm down, calm down, I’m not going to say lifestyle inflation isn’t real. It’s a real thing, but here’s an analogy for you.
I grew up in a rather conservative Christian faith (and I am still down with Jesus), but the people – I don’t have much faith in other Christians. They’re (and I probably should say we’re) an alarmingly judgmental group. I noticed pretty early on that a big sin we like to harp on is sex. It’s fairly titillating to talk about at all and it’s super easy to pass judgment on other folks. If you’re happily married or remaining all chaste (as far as anyone can see), you get to point a finger at people making other choices, call them sinner, and go home feeling pretty darn good about yourself by comparison.
It’s also a sin of opportunity. You can’t really just go get down with yourself (I mean… I guess that’s sexual sin grey area, cause you totally can, but… that’s another post for another time) – it takes two to tango.
Odds are pretty good there’s definitely some other sketchy business going on in your own life – but hey, at least you’re not like that dude over there. Whether or not any chick would ever let you touch her anyway.
I think lifestyle inflation is the sexual sin of the personal finance community. It’s a big one that people who “know better” harp on.
It’s also an easy one to be kind of jealous of, because if you’re struggling with debt or make a really low wage, you don’t have the opportunity to make these mistakes anyway.
Lifestyle inflation can sort of turn into a humble brag situation:
Guys, I just wanted to let you all know I decided to buy a used car approximately 3 years old that I’ll drive until the wheels turn to ash. I was tempted to get the new car because I couldbut I knew I should really put that eight grand into a low cost index fund instead. #blessed
And listen up, I’m guilty of it.
It’s been on my mind a lot lately. I’m concerned I may be brainwashed by 5 years of personal finance blogging into thinking that if I make any extra money and do anything with it other than invest and save for the future, or possibly use it to help others, I am wasting it. OMG. Financial sin. OMG. Run.
I read this great post over at The Frugal Gene about lifestyle changes and Lily said this:
Like…I don’t get it. Someone explain this to me in the comments. Is it normal for people…to go around collecting everything that is wrong with their life and immediately when the funds come, they spend it in order to fix or upgrade it? What was wrong with life before? Is contentment rare?
It got me thinking like what even really is lifestyle inflation?
Is it still lifestyle inflation if you are fixing things you’re discontent with? What if we flip lifestyle inflation in its head and rather than a crazy Puritan-esque frugal craze, we looked at our goals and whether or not we’re able to achieve them?
And if we are – do whatever the heck you want with your money!
I honestly can’t get over how wasteful so many things in the last year of my life feel, but I am actually killing it financially. I’m using the same skills and tools I used during those barely-survival years, so it would make sense things would get better.
And this wasteful feeling is logically ridiculous. Like – I know. But I sort of feel like I need some therapy to shake off the dust of my broke past as I launch into a brighter financial future –preferably guilt free.
Right now we have a bit of extra income in our budget that hasn’t been allocated yet. It’s a great position to be in and my wife and I have a loooong list of things we might do with that money (much longer list than those funds would allow, of course!). And…spoiler alert…not all of those things involve investing and saving for the future. Some of them are fixing things we’re not content with, some of them involve goals, and some of them are just plain old “wants”. I think lifestyle inflation is a fine line and we’ll have to be careful not to cross it too far.
Gary @ Super Saving Tips recently posted…Is There A Funny Side to Money?
It’s true, there are legitimate concerns about overspend, but to some extent money must be made to be spent, right? The point is to do it responsibly.
And that is why I don’t pay attention to people who say cut down on my eating out. I like eating out and if I am going to spend 800 dollars to eat out a month so be it. Great post
If you can afford $800 to eat out, more power to you!
I’ve never felt guilty about being frugal -that way when I go on vacation I have enough money! I love to read frugal blogs because they give me ideas and so do the people who comment. I’ll read something and it’s like a light bulb has went off -oh that will save a lot of money!
Vickie@Vickie’s Kitchen and Garden recently posted…My Frugal Ways this Past Week 9/23/18!
I do love the tips I’ve gained over the years of reading about frugality – a lot aren’t really worth the effort to me, but there are also quite a few that are really simple and so easy to weave into life that I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t do it.
You bring up an interesting point about flipping the narrative to “fixing things” in our lives. My take is this: there is a certain level of lifestyle upgrade that people will do to fix things, but at some point it does get out of control for many. I read a stat somewhere that like 40% of people living paycheck-to-paycheck make over 100k a year. That’s crazy! I would LOVE to make 100k a year. The other side of this coin is that these people are putting themselves in serious jeopardy if something happens (lose their job, get hurt, illness, etc.). I guess for me, I’m not one to be obsessed with the latest and greatest things, so it’s easy for me to maintain the same lifestyle even though my income has steadily increased. I would rather spend my money on experiences, but that’s just me.
Tawnya recently posted…6 Tips to Save Money on Healthcare Costs (Without Sacrificing Your Health)
I agree – spending on experiences is definitely the biggest benefit to making more! Though to be fair, I think a lot of experiences are about who you’re with even moreso than what you’re doing – so it’s possible to build great memories at most income brackets.