The Difference Between Lifestyle Creep and Improving Your Life

I like planning for the future (surprise!) and that includes planning what my 2021 will look like months in advance. And also because I am that ready to leave 2020 behind and get to the good stuff: a COVID vaccine and police reforms being my top picks, but also by increasing my total expenses by $2-3,000. Notice I didn’t say “looking forward to lifestyle creep,” as this increase is going to be controlled and done to improve my already-great life.

For a quick refresher, lifestyle creep is what happens when you don’t pay attention to your spending and become accustomed to a more expensive way of life. What used to be a nice luxury then becomes a necessity. You suddenly need to go out and eat every week instead of cooking at home; everything in your closet becomes more bespoke than thrifty; you buy more house, car, or complex appliances than you’ll actually end up using. The bad thing about lifestyle creep is how much is actually doesn’t add to your life; it makes you beholden to all of the stuff you’re now paying to keep. Wanderer at Millennial Revolution has a cool graphic from this kickass article, outlining how much money might be going into that cool item you HAD to have:

Lifestyle creep is a net negative on your life. It directs your wealth away from investment growth and into maintaining the stuff that doesn’t truly make you happy. Avoiding lifestyle creep is exactly why I’m looking so closely at increasing my budget. I want to improve my life, not hurt it.

Because I just went through this process, I know exactly the questions you need to ask yourself to determine whether any additional expense you’re considering is lifestyle creep or not. Here’s the first question:

Can You Afford It?

By that I mean: are you able to add this expense to your budget without taking on debt or dipping into your emergency fund? The biggest victims of lifestyle creep end up with way too much credit card debt; lifestyle creep doesn’t care about leaving them teetering on the edge while, outwardly, they seem to be living the dream. Don’t place that much stress on yourself; money is already the number one cause for anxiety in America, and buying something you can’t afford is only going to exacerbate that.

Part of good money management is taking a look at any purchases/expenses and judging whether it’s something you want more than the gains your money can net you. You can’t just give in to your whiny inner child/brat whose only justification to getting something is because they’ll throw a tantrum if you don’t. Internally screaming “BUT I WANT IT” isn’t doing your future success any favors.

In my case, this was an easy hurdle to clear. Yes, I can afford adding an extra $3,000 to my yearly spend. I’ll still be saving more than half my income as well, thanks to securing a high-paying job. If I wanted to add something loads more expensive – a multimillion-dollar home being a good example – I couldn’t honestly tell myself it was doable.

Are You Buying This for Your Own Happiness, or Because it’s Expected of You?

Check in with yourself to make sure you’re making this decision conscientiously. You don’t want to just go through the motions of purchasing what society tells you is good to buy. If I did what others expected of me I’d have stayed around my hometown Fearsville. I would have continued to practice a religion I don’t believe in and socializing with people who didn’t have my best interests at heart. No part of that scenario would make me truly happy. For your own self esteem and overall life satisfaction, make sure this isn’t just something you feel you need to check off of your Life To-Do list.

Take a second to envision what will change in your life if you end up buying this thing you want. Are you doing it mainly because it’ll make someone else happy, someone who doesn’t care if it makes YOU happy? Does this bring you joy? If so, is it joy from satisfying yourself or from proving something to someone else?

I know all three things that $3,000 is going to is to grow my own joys in an already enriched life. That amount will go towards upping my grocery budget to $150 a month and increasing my travel/miscellaneous bucket beyond that; this might include maintenance for a car, if I find a good deal. All of these things clear this hurdle too. The bigger grocery budget will get me more of the food I want to eat. Extra travel money will get me to the international places I want to go, (hopefully) at a time when I can actually leave the US if I so choose. Even the car will help with this, despite my not really needing it; getting one means I can go on tons of road trips to see America like I’ve wanted to.

These things aren’t everyone’s pleasures but they’re my pleasures, and this increase enables me to go after them. Yours should do the same; anything else is noxious noise.

Is This Supporting Your Goals and Dreams?

Lifestyle creep directly inhibits your ability to reach your goals and dreams, replacing it with crap that doesn’t make you feel any more accomplished at the end of the day. That is the most heinous thing you can do when your money isn’t aligned with said goals and dreams. Adding hundreds, even thousands, of dollars hurls your timeline to goal-victory much farther into the future.

Even if your goals aren’t money-based, this turns out to be the case. Say you want to dedicate more time to some timeless hobby of, I don’t know, gardening. Long walks on the beach. Astral projection. Whatever you can point to and say “HA, Darcy! I don’t need to save a huge amount of money for this so lifestyle creep can’t affect this!!”

Regrettably, lifestyle creep can and will mess with that hardcore. To do anything, as I’ve said before, you need time for it and the energy to accomplish it. You won’t be able to dedicate much time or energy to it if you’re already off dealing with the gadgets and gizmos lifestyle creep has cursed you with.

That sort of thing can go hand-in-hand with that happiness question, as (presumably) you’re happy working towards your goals and dreams. From a purely monetary standpoint it obviously sets you back, which is only an issue if your goal is to hoard as much money as possible. Increasing my expenses by this much means pushing back the date of me hitting a million dollar net worth, which is kind of a bummer. But I care more about having that bigger budget than zooming into the millionaire’s club ASAP. Whatever the sacrifice or opportunity cost is to getting this, make sure it’s not at the expense of what really matters in your life. That just screams “bad lifestyle creep”. That’s not what you want.

Final Note

You really don’t have to be perfect at fending off lifestyle creep. It’s so prevalent because it’s hard to fight, and even harder to overcome. Yours truly has fallen susceptible to it – yes, really! I’ve got a mini food processor I’ve used maybe a handful of times since buying it. I also got this egg cooker I have yet to use; its main function is taking up space, squished sadly between my stove and my microwave. I’ve also got a small dresser and some speakers that similarly do not see use; I am by no means immune to thoughtless impulse purchases that don’t really serve me.

The main thing is recognizing it when you encounter it, as recognizing it means locating the correct tools to fight against it. You don’t have to ask yourself these three question for every single purchase you make; all this should be is a guide to adjust your mindset and reach your ideal peak. Don’t let lifestyle creep have the final say. We’re out here for an amazing life, and we’re going to get it bit by bit.

Cover image: Aziz Acharki via Unsplash