I read a book called The Richest Man in Babylon and it states “that which we consider to be our necessary expenditures will always rise to meet our income, unless we protest to the contrary”. I’ve tried to remember that lesson my whole life. You must be very intentional about expenditures, scrutinizing each one, and scrutinize it in the context of the lifestyle you wish to maintain, not the one you’re newly capable of sustaining.

Living in a smal space also helps with lifestyle creep as you can’t find a space for new things. Also, only replace something if it’s broken or unsafe.

it becomes much more difficult when married.

The article says:

Signs of lifestyle creep could include difficulty saving money and increasing debt.[2] Making a budget and setting a limit on expenses could potentially limit lifestyle creep.

That sounds about right. To avoid lifestyle creep…

• save money
• don’t take on debt
• make a budget
• set a limit on expenses

Get yourself into a hoarding support group. You don’t have to be a total slob for these to be useful. And by far most hoarders don’t look like the folks showcased on Bravo; reality shows specifically look for worst-cases that will have a psychotic break right on camera. Some of us really wish we’d fold our laundry rather than living out of the basket.

We all have a compulsion to collect stuff, whether Funko-POP bobble-heads, unplayed board games, multitools or in the case of Jay Leno, cars in different states of disrepair (and a lot of garages). It comes with being a mammal, and that is why rental storage is so tempting.

At hoarder support programs you will learn to organize your crap and work on large scale cleaning efforts. And you’ll discover the emotional connections you have with all this…stuff.

And that is when you will develop an appreciation of what you actually need, what really sparks joy and what is a proxy for something else.

Also, if you’re used to being poor, you might be in the habit of keeping stuff that can ve cannibalized for parts, to avoid spending money on new components. If you’re in a municipal area, there might be an organization like a user’s group with a junk library. Give your adapter collection to them.

Once you’ve gone through the agony of paring down you will appreciate the gaps between the possessions like the things themselves. Maybe more so.

And then, even when you can afford that new mini-laptop or a second, better propane grill, you’ll actually ask yourself if you really need it. Maybe you know someone you can give the old one to. But eventually, you’ll appreciate the phone / bike / can opener / wallet you got enough you don’t have to get the new-fangled one.

So instead of having ten mechanical keyboards, you’ll have a good one, a travel one and maybe a spare in case one breaks. Instead of having seven pocket knives, you’ll have one with a solid selection and a separate screwdriver with twenty bits stashed away because none of the drivers on the pocket knives are very good. (Looking at you, Victorinox Cyber.)

It also means, before you buy that keen bauble, you’re going to think about where it goes. (A bauble for me is a this space intentionally left blank indicator, like a coffee table that might otherwise draw bags of stuff from recent shopping.) If you see it going on a busy shelf or in a box, it saves you the trouble of buying it.

You will also be a snob over all your prized objects.

Our financial advisor gave us these tips:

• Don’t create excessive overhead for managing money. Ideally, you know your monthly expenses, put all the money to cover them in a bill account. That money doesn’t exist and comes out with automatic payments. What remains is “carefree” money that you should enjoy.
• Work towards a new $0. This is for building a safety buffer. You pretend $250 is $0. When you get to $250 in the bank, you start to watch your finances much closer to figure out how to not spend. Then next month, you make the new $0 as $275. By doing this, you get in a better habit of saving.
• Take company matches on 401K & other benefits if you can use them. This should be more money you pretend doesn’t exist because the long term gains are very good compared to the short term outcomes of more money now.
• Have forcing functions built into your calendar for reviewing finances. Once a week, once a month. You shouldn’t stress about money constantly, but you shouldn’t be unaware either.
• As others have said, there’s a big mental & emotional component to doing this work & having the self discipline needed.
• Always pay off the Credit Card balance. Always.
• …No seriously, do not carry CC debt…

I’ve had life style issues 3 times in my life, which I’m really fortunate for honestly. You only get lifestyle creep from growing means & a failure to adjust your situation. It’s significantly harder for many people in our modern world to do some of these steps because people are already paycheck to paycheck. If you get a raise, it’s a blessing (I’m a UU), but you got to use it for good, whether that’s your security or the security of others.

Automatically transfer all excess funds into a separate account with penalties for withdrawal.