Lifestyle Inflation, A New Concept To Live By

The world changes all the time, our lives change and so does our vocabulary. Over the last decade, a good amount of terms have been born and have become a part of our culture and everyday life.

There is a new concept that I have heard of recently and has been an eye-opener to me. I wanted to share this with you in today’s post.

LIFESTYLE INFLATION

What does lifestyle inflation refer to?

The best example of lifestyle inflation is when someone gets a pay rise and buys a new car that, therefore, increases his monthly car expenses, to the point where that individual never gets to feel the benefit of getting the extra cash. Particularly, because he continues upgrading his lifestyle to more expensive habits. And despite this being the most common example, it doesn’t end here.

As someone who is interested in minimalism and financial topics, this term got my attention since the moment I heard it and I started applying it to many other areas of life apart from just the financial one.

Since we are born, we can absorb the benefits that new technologies can offer. In the case that you wanted to watch “Pocahontas” when you were a kid, you would need to buy or rent the DVD (or VHS!). Today, you can download the movie before you decide which outfit are you going to rock today.

How can we call this?

I am talking about th whole experience, not only the financial factor…

I like the term “happiness inflation” (which I just invented) for this type of evolution. The little things that used to make us happy aren’t that amazing anymore because we are able to have them as much or almost as much as we desire them. Furthermore and sadly, they are not so exciting anymore. This drives us to search for new things that are harder to get. Not only you need more money to upgrade your habits, but you also need to upgrade those hobbies as you need newer things in your life that bring you a higher level of joy.

Imagine something you used to enjoy A LOT when you were young. Something that you were looking forward to the whole week/month. Maybe going to the cinema was the most amazing part of your life when you were a child. However, living with your parents, you would get to go to the cinema only once a month. You would spend the last week of the month, all excited, waiting for Saturday to come and visit the temple of movies.

And that was the thing that made you the happiest person in the world. Now, as an adult with a full-time salary, you can attend the cinema almost every day if you wanted. And, despite the fact that you keep enjoying it, you do see it with a different perspective. Yes, you also need to spend more money to enjoy it that frequently, but after a year watching the big screen almost daily, the level of excitement it used to imply, has declined a lot.

Any solutions to this? I am not sure. I guess you can think about yourself and your everyday treats. Then, you will find out which is the “luxury” that lifestyle inflation has spoiled for you and try to soften it.

Is it clothes? Or maybe you have a special love for antiques? You don’t need to wait a whole month to enjoy yourself, but try to control and moderate how often you enjoy yourself.

What is your best way to deal with lifestyle inflation? Have you noticed any change in the way you enjoy your hobbies?