{"id":177851,"date":"2014-10-15T04:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=177851"},"modified":"2023-10-02T14:53:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T20:53:40","slug":"lifestyle-inflation-how-to-decide-if-its-ever-okay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/lifestyle-inflation-how-to-decide-if-its-ever-okay\/","title":{"rendered":"Lifestyle inflation: How to decide if it’s ever okay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite that I don’t own it, I like my apartment. It’s got a mountainous view, it’s comfortable, and my neighbors are few but friendly. Sure, I’d like to own a home someday. But, unless I move to another city, that probably isn’t going to happen in the next few years<\/a>. I’m fine with that. Like my neighbor said, I’d rather live here than anywhere else, at least for now.<\/p>\n

If you sense a wee bit of defensiveness in my tone, you’re not imagining it. Part of me is trying to justify something.<\/p>\n

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After my upstairs neighbor moved out a few months ago, our management company began gutting their apartment. We found out they were completely updating it and tearing down walls to put in central air, a dishwasher and an entirely different floor plan.<\/p>\n

It didn’t take long for me to notice all the stuff I hate about our apartment: doing the dishes by hand — what are we, cavemen? — and no central air. Life shouldn’t be this hard.<\/p>\n

In case there’s any doubt, I’m joking. My point is: I never really noticed these things until I learned about the amenities that will be enjoyed by the Future Joneses in Apartment 9.<\/p>\n

“We should move into that apartment,” my boyfriend and I have been joking over the past few months. “Wouldn’t that be funny? To move up one flight of stairs?”<\/p>\n

But at some point, we got kind of serious about it. “Well, the rent will only be $240 more per month,” he pointed out. In our area, that’s not a huge jump. Plus, we split rent, so we’d each only pay an extra $120 a month. “If we moved, we’d still be living below our means,” I conceded. “But I don’t know.”<\/p>\n

It’s pure lifestyle inflation<\/a>. And in recent weeks, I admit that I’ve started to mull over the question of whether lifestyle inflation is ever okay and, if so, how do you decide when it is okay? Here’s how I’m sorting out my thoughts on the matter.<\/p>\n

(Warning<\/strong>: This is another one of those “First World problem” posts. I’m really grateful to be debating over something like this.)<\/p>\n

<\/span>How will this affect my budget?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

It’s the first, and most important, question. Our spending will automatically change, monthly, with this expense. It’s not something we buy once and get to enjoy it. It will truly inflate our lifestyle and our budget. To be honest, I don’t really use a strict budget. I make savings goals each year, and simply aim to reach those goals.<\/p>\n

I crunched the numbers to see what our spending looks like, using the 50\/30\/20 paradigm<\/a> (50 percent bills\/30 percent spending\/20 percent savings goals) as reference. If we were still trying to get out of debt, it would change my perspective quite a bit, but here’s how my spending stacks up in any event, generally speaking.<\/p>\n