The $400 Hermes belt was my cheapest lesson about lifestyle creep
I bought a genuine Hermes belt for $1,100 in Montreal back in 2019 as a treat for my first manager job, and it hurt. Three years later I got a real estate commission bump and suddenly I was eyeing $400 dinners and a $2,000 watch because hey, I already had the belt right? Then I tracked my spending for 6 months using an old spreadsheet and found lifestyle creep ate about 15% of my net income. The belt itself was fine, but it started a chain where I kept comparing myself to coworkers who made double my salary. I sold it on Poshmark for $700 and put that money into my TFSA, which now sits at $18,400. The weird part is I feel richer without it. Has anyone else got rid of a status item and seen their savings jump more than expected?