"I ask two things from you, Lord. Don't refuse me before I die. Keep me from lying and being dishonest. And don't make me either rich or poor; just give me enough food for each day. 9 If I have too much, I might reject you and say, 'I don't know the Lord.' If I am poor, I might steal and disgrace the name of my God" - Proverbs 30: 7-9
For the past 1 year of my working life, I’ve been exposed to the idea of lifestyle inflation rather frequently.
Lifestyle inflation refers to an increase in spending when an individual’s income goes up. It tends to become greater every time an individual gets a raise/bonus and can make it difficult to get out of debt, save for retirement or meet other financial needs. Examples of lifestyle inflation would be getting that first branded bag. Branded watch, luxurious travel and even more frequent fine dining experience.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all these are evil and should be avoided at all cost. What I’m saying is that these little wants start to creep in rather unconsciously into our lives and before we know it, that $x amount of pay cheque doesn’t seem to be able to support our lifestyle anymore.
Was I a victim of lifestyle inflation? Hell yes! Some foolish mistakes I made was to immediately sign up for a facial package after I barely starting working for a few months and subsequently signed up for a gym membership T.T. AND a few months after, I went to get a new iPhone 11… so you kinda know what I mean. What went through my mine prior to signing was “since I’m working, I should be able to afford it! Its only about $100 plus per month mah.” Little did I know a few months down the road that I’ve unknowingly welcomed lifestyle inflation into my life. But what’s done is done and there is no point beating myself up over financial mistakes. However, I can always learn from my mistakes and not to make them again.
So instead of lifestyle inflation, let’s go for lifestyle deflation instead!
Lifestyle deflation is an active choice of deliberately choosing financial choices below your means AKA living below your means. This is especially important as one will never know when they next recession or retrenchment would hit you. As the saying goes, when it rain, it pours - it’s always good to live below your means so that should anything bad happen, you would still be able to weather the storm :)
Here are some tips I use to remind myself to not succumb to the new crazy
1. Stop chasing after the next fad
You see, Apple is always gonna launch the latest iphone anyways.
Until unless you realise that it is a never ending cycle, you are always going to chase after the next best thing, but at what cost? The market is always evolving and constant coming up with the latest gadgets to get consumers money. This means that within a few months, your ‘latest’ phone, EarPods etc wouldn’t be the ‘best’ out there anymore. Get off the race and buy only when you need to.
2. Don’t compare with others.
One of the things that drove me to buying more things, spending more on dining experiences previously was my comparison with my peers. I often see my peers having the 'time of their lives' whenever they post about their latest travel, finest food, cars etc on instagram.
It makes me feel envious and kinda makes me wanna have those kind of experiences too. However, how i reminded myself is to never compare with others because firstly, our financial situation is different and secondly, looking rich doesn’t mean you are rich. You don’t have to keep keeping up with the Joneses :)
3. Choose the more affordable option
Between Starbucks and kopitiam coffee? Choose the latter if you just need the caffeine kick. I’m not saying that we should restrain ourselves from all forms of ‘luxury’ and ‘comfort’ nor am I suggesting to choose the cheapest option of it all, but I think we should always choose to be prudent.
Cafe brunch or hawker centre breakfast? Choosing the former could easily set us back about $22! That could buy me about 5 bowls of fishball noodles or 4 plates of caifan!
4. Be grateful and contented
Being thankful and counting my blessings remind me that less is more. How much could I really need to be happy? Not much.
This ties in nicely with the notion of being contented. When I am contented with what I already have, I find myself having less desire to purchase the next piece of fashionable clothing etc.
Thus, the next time you find yourself coveting the latest iphone, ask yourself if could potentially make you happy or it is just a momentarily euphoria.
Remember, you really don’t need a lot to be happy :)
*image taken from google images*
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