How Do I Actively Combat “Creep” So It Doesn’t Steal My Progress?

Lifestyle creep is sneaky, and it might be robbing you of the financial freedom you’ve worked so hard to achieve. We’re diving into how those little expenses can stack up and steal your hard-earned progress. Trust me, it’s like a slow leak in your budget that you didn’t even notice until it’s too late. Today, we’ll share practical tips to keep your finances in check and ensure that your new income doesn’t just disappear into thin air. So grab your budget, and let’s get ready to tackle that creep together—and answer the question: How Do I Actively Combat “Creep” So It Doesn’t Steal My Progress?

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Gaining financial momentum is a big deal, and we’ve all been there: you’ve paid off debt, built up savings, and everything seems to be cruising along nicely. But here comes that sneaky little gremlin called lifestyle creep. You know, the one that whispers, 'Hey, you can afford to eat out more and upgrade that old car!' Before you know it, your expenses have ballooned and your savings aren’t growing as fast. In this episode, we dive deep into how lifestyle creep can stealthily steal the freedom you’ve worked so hard to achieve. We discuss practical tips to keep your financial progress on track, including regular budget check-ins and intentional spending. It’s all about staying alert and redirecting those new income sources towards your long-term goals instead of letting them slip away into mindless consumption. Let's face it, nobody wants to be a victim of their own success, right? So grab your favorite drink and let’s break down how to defend your financial progress together!

Takeaways:

• Lifestyle creep is a sneaky little monster that can steal your hard-earned progress without you even noticing it.
• It's super important to regularly review your spending habits to keep lifestyle creep at bay and protect your financial freedom.
• When you get a raise or pay off debt, make a plan to allocate that extra cash wisely instead of just splurging it.
• Setting up a creep prevention rule can help you stay disciplined with your finances and avoid unnecessary expenses.
• Be intentional with your money by redirecting new income towards savings, debt repayment, and generous giving.
• Don't let lifestyle creep drain your financial gains; stay alert and keep your spending in check.

Links referenced in this episode:

• financiallyconfidentchristian.com
• financiallyconfidentchristian.com/master

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You paid off debt, you builtsavings, you're finally gaining momentum.
But now you notice somethingcreeping in. New expenses, expensive
upgrades, a little more hereand a little more there. What if
lifestyle creep is quietlystealing your freedom? Well, let's
talk about how to protect yourprogress and keep building forward

(00:21):
on today's show. This isFinancially Confident Christian,
your daily dose of gospelgrounded insight and faith driven
tips to help you break thecycle of financial financial shame
with confidence. Hey there andwelcome back to your Financially
Confident Christian. I amRalph, and I'm so glad you're joining
me today. This is the show allabout answering that one transformative

(00:44):
question, how can I become afinancially confident Christian?
And we're continuing ourseries today, beyond the Budget.
Finding financial freedomthrough intentional living. Yes,
this is all about livingintentionally. Now, yesterday we
explored your financiallegacy, what you're going to leave
behind for God's kingdom. Andif you missed it, I'm going to encourage

(01:04):
you to go back and check itout. Because let me just tell you
right now, it was an impactfulepisode. A lot of people have sent
me emails and say, Ralph, wereally got that man. We're working
on that. But today we're goingto tackle a more subtle threat to
your freedom. We're going totalk about this guy called lifestyle
creep. Yeah, he's a realcreep. So let's defend your progress
together on today's show.Picture this, if you will. You got

(01:27):
a raise. Hey, fantastic.You're making more money. Or maybe
for you, you paid off thatlingering car loan suddenly. Yeah,
wonderful. You paid it off.And then you look around and suddenly
now you're upgrading. You paidoff that car. You got a new car.
Hey, it's a beautiful new car.Fancy. You notice you're eating more
dinners out, you're gettingnew clothes. You, you've ordered

(01:50):
extra subscriptions and alittle bit more splurging. Well,
just because. And before yourealize it, when you look around,
your savings haven't grown andall of a sudden that debt hasn't
budged. You're not paying thatdebt down like you were before. Your
lifestyle quietly crept up andstole the margin you worked so hard

(02:13):
to create. Well, that rightthere is lifestyle creepy. It's not
a nice creep to be around. Andunfortunately, it's subtle, it's
slow, and it is spirituallydraining. It's not just about money,
it's about intentionality. Sohere's the thing I want you to understand
today. Lifestyle creep feedson complacency. It feeds on not paying

(02:40):
attention to what's going on.You want to talk about what it feeds
on? A lot. It thrives in thisbelief that I deserve this moment.
So let's look to scripture,because scripture gives us a powerful
reminder. Let's look at theBook of Proverbs, chapter 4, verses
23. And it says this. Talkabout hitting a home run. Scripture

(03:01):
just nails it above all else.Guard your heart for everything you
do flows from it. Prettystraightforward, wouldn't you say?
Let's look at first Peter,chapter 5, verse 8. Be alert and
of sober mind. Your enemy, thedevil prowls around like a roaring
lion looking for someone todevour. That's pretty straightforward.

(03:27):
Be alert and be of sober mind.Because the devil prowls around like
a luring Ryan looking forsomeone to devour. Now let's apply
that to our finances. You'veworked so hard. You've worked hard
to build that margin. But justas you worked hard to build it, you
got to work hard to protectit. Because this is both financial

(03:47):
stewardship and it's spiritualwarfare. Like, Ralph, I wasn't expecting
you to talk about warfare. Butthat's what we're talking about today.
So ask yourself, how do Irespond to that? When you're under
attack, you stay alert, youstay disciplined, and you stay purpose
driven. And that's what we'regoing to talk about here in a moment.
We got to redirect those newincome sources towards freedom, not

(04:11):
just mindless consumption. Andtrust me, I'm right where you're
sitting. I've done the samething myself. So I can talk to you
with some level of clarityabout this. So what do you do? How
do you battle that creep? Howdo you beat that creep? Well, here's
the solution. And it's notvery complicated. You just have to
put the time in to do it. I'mgoing to encourage you to regularly

(04:31):
review your spending habitsand proactively, proactively with
a mission, redirect any newincome or margin towards your long
term goals. Because here's a.I said this a couple times already.
Creep is subtle. It's subtle.It just sneaks up on you. That's
why I call it the creep. Butyou can stop it with clarity and

(04:52):
intention. So here's your oneaction step for day. Here's what
I want you to do. I want youto start by conducting a creep check
in. Yeah, creep check in. Iwant you to pull out your budget.
I want you to look at two orthree flexible spending categories
from the past few months andask yourself these two questions.
Number one question, hasanything crept up without me noticing?

(05:12):
As you're looking at yourbudget, you notice, I didn't realize
my subscription line had growna little bit or my or eating out
or entertainment spending hascreeped up a little bit. And then
ask yourself this question. AmI spending more just because I can?
Yeah, Ralph, I got a raise.Things aren't so tight anymore, man.
We're living a life now. Butask yourself that question, am I

(05:35):
spending more just because Ican? So start there, look at your
budget and look at thoseflexible spending categories. And
then I just want you toidentify one or two creep areas.
I want you to find yourcreeps. Here's some common culprits.
And listen, I'm directing thismagnifying glass at myself. Common
culprits. Number one, diningout. Are you eating out more? Are

(05:55):
you doing more takeoutsubscriptions? Hey, that's a big
one. I look at this on mycredit card, like, where in the world
do I get so manysubscriptions? Here's what a lot
of people don't think about.But have you upgraded your grocery
a little bit? Are you notcutting coupons like you used to?
Are you not looking for thosesales? Not buying the off brands
as much as here's one thatgets me every time, and that's tech

(06:16):
and gadgets. I'm a technonerd. I love the tech, I love the
little gadgets. And for manyof us, this one is huge, common culprit,
impulse buys. So look at yourspending, look at that budget. Then
identify one or two of thesewhat I call common culprits. And
then I want you to dust to thenext step. And that's allocate future

(06:36):
margin. You'll be saying,Ralph, you lost me. What do you mean
by that? Here's what I mean bythat. Plan ahead. Allocate your next
raise, or when you pay off aloan, or when you free up some monthly
cash. Decide right now, hey,when that happens, I'm going to redirect
50% of it or 70% or 80% ofthat margin to, hey, you know what?
I'm going to pay down debt.I'm going to take this opportunity.

(06:59):
I'm going to boost my savings.Hey, here's a radical idea. Increase
your giving. Find new ways tobuild God's kingdom or invest it
in God's kingdom, alignedgoals. So allocate that future margin,
plan for that plan for thatraise, plan for that time when you
pay off that loan or when youfree up some monthly cash. And then

(07:20):
I want you to set up a creepprevention rule. Yeah, this is the
key. This will creep the key.This will keep to creep at bay. Here
are some examples. I love thisone. One dinner out per week, max.
That's the, that's the rule.That's the creep prevention rule.
I'm only going to eat onedinner out per week, max. Hey, I'm
not going to break my rule.Right? Here's another great one.

(07:41):
No new subscriptions unless Icancel one. One for one. So you see,
hey, I've got to get this newstreaming service. Well, your rule
says no new subscription. So Iguess I got to go find one to cancel.
And I love this one. And Iwould encourage all of us to do this.
It's intentional and it'splanning ahead. But any raise gets
split 50% to savings, 30% todebt, and 20% to lifestyle. You're

(08:05):
still getting the benefit ofthe race. It's just not a hundred
percent of it, just 20% of it.But 50% to savings, 30% to debt,
and then 20% to lifestyle. Youmight be saying, Ralph, I get it,
but why does this work? Well,here's why it works. I talked a few
minutes ago about trying toprotect that hard earned financial
margin. If you do thesethings, it's going to protect it.

(08:26):
You're going to look at yourbudget, you're going to find those
areas where that creep iscreeping. In a silly way to say,
but it's true. It turns yournew income into real progress because
you've already got a plan inplace. Yeah, I'm working hard. I
want to get that raised. Iwant to pay off those loans. But
it allows you to put that intoplace ahead of time. One of the things

(08:46):
it does, just like weightliving, it strengthens your self
discipline, muscles and yourspiritual focus because you're really
looking at, what am I doing?Where's my money going? Do I, am
I following my creep rules bigpicture? It keeps your finances aligned
with your mission and yourpurpose. Because you're thoughtfully,
you're being intentional aboutthat raise, intentional about paying

(09:10):
off those debts. How about wepray together? Father God, thank
you for the blessings andincrease you've entrusted to us.
Forgive us for the times we'velet our spending drift without purpose,
Lord. Yeah, we sometimes growcomplacent, Lord, and we forget that
every dollar is a tool foryour kingdom. And we just ask that
you would help us to be alert,Lord. Help us be faithful and most

(09:34):
of all, help us to beintentional. Give us wisdom to spot
that lifestyle creep early andthe strength to redirect our resources
wisely. Lord, let us use everyfinancial gain for your glory and
your growth. And we ask thiswith boldness and confidence. In
Jesus name, amen. Friend,listen to me. You've worked too hard

(09:56):
to lose ground to lifestylecreep. So today I want to encourage
you. Do your creep check in.Pick one small step that protects
your progress. Because listento me, every raise, every payoff,
every gain, every one of themis a chance to build something eternal.
And now I want to ask you todo something for me. I want to ask

(10:18):
you to share this show withsomebody. There's a lot of people
out there who are battlingthis lifestyle creep. Maybe you know
somebody in your life, afriend, a family member, an acquaintance.
You're like, you know, theytalk about this all the time. I see
how their, their life is. Idon't want to judge them right, but
I see how their life is, isaffected by this creep. I just got
to encourage you, send them anemail, send them a text and just

(10:39):
send them a link to the showfinanciallyconfidentchristian.com and
just say, hey, I listen tothis show every day. It's fantastic.
You might benefit from it. Andwhile you're there, I'm going to
encourage you to get a freecopy of my book. It's called mastering
your finances. It's a briefbook, but man, I'm going to tell
you right now, it is superimpactful to helping you build that,
that financial plan to keepthat financial creep away. And you

(11:01):
get to it by going tofinanciallyconfidentchristian.com/master. Now
tomorrow on the show, we'regoing to be talking about adapting
when life changes because,hey, constant in life change. I don't
know about you, but I've seenthat myself in my almost 53 years.
But that's what we're going totalk about tomorrow, adapting when
life changes and how to keeppeace even in financial uncertainty.

(11:24):
Yes, we're going to talk aboutfinancial uncertainty. So I just
want to encourage you rightnow, let's all go out there and be
financially confidentChristians. You can do this. I truly
believe in you, believe inyourself, stay alert, stay intentional
and, and stay financiallysavvy. God bless you and you have
a great day.