For the past year I have been serving as an AmeriCorps member in Austin, TX, which basically means I volunteer full-time in exchange for a living stipend of ~$900/month after taxes. It has been pretty rough at times, the only reason I am still alive and (somewhat) healthy is that I qualified for the full $194/month in SNAP benefits.
BUT my hard work has paid off and, through the connections I've made while serving, I have secured a full-time position beginning in August with a salary of $44,000 and full benefits. I am very excited, this is by far the most money I have ever made. It may not blow most of you away but for a 23 year old who has only ever worked customer service, it's a game changer.
I am very cognizant, however, of the black hole of "lifestyle creep" that many people fall into after a promotion/raise where they effectively negate the increased income by increased frivolous spending. That is something I desperately want to avoid. To be honest my current quality of life is bare-bones basic and I would like to add more comfort to my life but I don't want to get gluttonous either. I have student and credit card debtIknowFuckMeRight? that I need to start taking care of and I would like to invest in whatever ways I can to prepare for my whole future.
As soon as I found out the salary amount I started daydreaming about what I could finally afford but it started getting out of hand so I made a "wish list" of all the things I kept thinking of and ranked them by importance and calculated the prices, just to give myself a wake up call about how quickly they'd add up.
I don't need investment advice or how to pay off debts, that I have a good grasp of. Basically what I am looking for is personal stories from people who have experienced an increase in income but kept their spending under control. What mental ques do you use to stop frivolous spending? What luxuries did you allow yourself? How did you decide what was worth it and what wasn't?
Thanks.
June 30, 2017 at 10:29AM
