Most people think lifestyle inflation starts when you get rich. In London, it starts way earlier, usually the moment your life gets slightly more convenient.
You earn a bit more. You move a bit closer to work. You start saying yes more. Nothing dramatic. Nothing reckless. Just small upgrades that feel deserved at the time.
And somehow you still feel broke.
📌 Today’s Edition
💡 Why London lifestyle inflation start way before you feel rich
🧠 The everyday upgrades that feel small but quietly drain your money
✅ One simple way to stop it without turning into a hermit
💡 Everyone around you spends unnecessary money without really noticing it. Daily coffees, upgrading gyms they barely go to, eating out like cooking just disappeared from their life. None of it feels expensive on its own, but together it quietly eats any chance of saving or investing.
The same excuse they use, “ I am not splurging, I am just living my life! “
That’s the trap
The city rewards convenience so hard that you stop noticing the cost. Individually, none of it feels like a problem. Together, it quietly replaces your savings.
⚠️The warning
The problem is this stuff scales with income. When you earn more, the habits don’t disappear; they just upgrade. Coffee becomes delivery lunches, gyms turn into boutique studios, and eating out turns into convenience food because you’re tired. If you don’t notice it early, lifestyle inflation just follows you forever.
❌ The mistake
Most people think the solution is budgeting harder or cutting everything at once. That lasts maybe two weeks. Then life happens, work gets busy, and you’re back where you started. The real mistake is trying to fight every expense instead of choosing what actually matters to you.
✅ The solution
Pick one anchor habit you control. For many people, it’s food. Cook most days, not perfectly, just often enough. When one high cost stays stable, the rest stop spiralling. You don’t need to be extreme; you need one thing that doesn’t move every time your income does.
🔍 My setup
I don’t budget every pound or track every coffee. I just keep a few rules that don’t change when life gets busy. Most meals are cooked at home. Subscriptions stay boring. Any pay rise doesn’t automatically mean better versions of everything. That’s it, really. Simple enough that I actually stick to it.
It’s fine to upgrade something you actually use and care about. If you go to the gym four times a week, paying for a better one makes sense. What usually happens, though, is that people upgrade everything around it. New bottle, new shoes, nicer clothes, smartwatch, random extras. One genuine upgrade quietly turns into five unnecessary ones. So, be careful
📘🟦 Real Example
When I first started earning more, my spending crept up without me noticing. Lunches out most days, random Deliveroo, nicer gyms because why not. On paper, I was doing better, but my savings barely moved. Once I stripped it back to just cooking most weekdays and keeping everything else the same, the difference was obvious within a month. Same life, more money left over. I still go out and enjoy my life, but with reason.
⚠️ The mistake
People assume lifestyle inflation is about luxury. It usually isn’t. It’s convenient. Paying to save time, effort, or mild discomfort. The mistake is thinking you’ll fix it later when you earn more. Later never comes; the habits just get more expensive. I knew people who got a pay raise and bought another phone because they wanted two, which wasn’t needed and was quite expensive.
🌟 Before you go
If you’ve ever wondered why your money never seems to stick in London, it’s probably this. I write about money from a normal London perspective, no extremes, no hustle nonsense. If that sounds useful, you’ll find the rest on my profile.
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