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#52: Imagine transitioning from making $8.50 per hour and sharing a crammed apartment\xa0with 5 people, to becoming a six-figure business owner doing what you love. \xa0 That's the journey that\xa0Julia Kelly, caricature artist\xa0and founder of\xa0JK Expressions, took. \xa0 Sounds great, right? \xa0 Well, as they say, more money = more problems. \xa0 When Julia earned $25,000 - $30,000 per year, she had fantastic money management skills. She had no debt and plenty of savings. \xa0 But when her business started making six figures, she began ignoring her finances, stopped saving money .... and racked up thousands in personal credit card debt. \xa0 Why? \xa0 Some of us write this off as life getting more expensive as\xa0we\xa0get older, but it's actually a classic case of lifestyle inflation -- when you make more, you spend more. \xa0 After Julia began earning six figures, she decided she was no longer happy with $12 haircuts from Supercuts. She happily splurged for $75 salon style cuts instead. \xa0 She started paying for convenience. One-click Amazon order? Check. Ordering an Uber or Lyft so she didn't have to deal with parking at the airport? Check. Eating out? Check. \xa0 She became lazy about saving money, assuming that she could always earn more. Money was coming into her bank accounts at an unprecedented pace \u2013 so her finances would take care of themselves, right? \xa0 Wrong. \xa0 As Julia discovered, when you "upgrade" certain aspects of your life, you may find it difficult to downgrade. You keep spending more and more, trapped on a consumer treadmill. You\u2019re forced to work to fuel your spending addiction. \xa0 Left unchecked, this saps every ounce of freedom from your life.\xa0 \xa0 Ouch. \xa0 In this episode, you'll learn: \xb7 Why you shouldn't take lifestyle inflation lightly \xb7 How to stop lifestyle inflation before it happens \xb7 What Julia regrets buying \u2026 and what she doesn\u2019t \xb7 The easiest, most effective antidote to lifestyle inflation \xb7 How Julia differentiates between saving time vs. wasteful convenience spending \xb7 What Julia's advice is to those who are increasing their income, but don't want to succumb to lifestyle inflation -- Paula \xa0 Resources Mentioned: \xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2022\xa0\xa0 \xa0Gretchen Rubin's episode,\xa0The Power of Habit Formation \xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2022\xa0\xa0 \xa0Julia's story on the Afford Anything blog\u2028 \xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2022\xa0\xa0 \xa0Cal Newport's episode,\xa0The Incredible Value of Deep Work, Instead of Distraction \xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2022\xa0\xa0 \xa0Julia's site,\xa0JKExpressions.com __________________________ I also want to take a moment to thank\xa0the sponsors for this episode. First, huge thanks to Nerdwallet. Their new app lets you have one-on-one conversations with financial advisors. You can chat about anything related to money, such as retirement, investing, insurance, or paying off debt. You'll get personalized, one-on-one advice --\xa0available at no cost to you.\xa0Check it out at no cost to you by visiting nerd.me/paula. _________________________\n If you've been listening for a while, you've heard me interview many best-selling authors. Before I interview these guests, I need to read or refresh my memory of their books.\n Sitting down to physically read the books can take a long time. That's why I listen to their audiobooks, thanks to my\xa0subscription to an audiobook service called\xa0Audible. If you want to give them a try for free, head to audible.com/trynow for a free 30-day trial. _________________________ For a full list of show notes, visit http://podcast.affordanything.com/52-how-to-combat-lifestyle-inflation-with-julia-kelly\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices