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People who are happy with their lifestyle, how do you spend your day?
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I'm currently trying to establish a daily routine and find the right balance for my day. I'm curious, for those of you who are happy with your lifestyle, how many hours on average do you allocate to various aspects of your life like work, fitness, self-care, leisure activities, chores, planning, social life, and any other suggestions you might have? I'm looking to get an idea of some good practices to incorporate into my own daily routine. Any tips or insights you can share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!
Top Comment: I’d say this current phase of life is the happiest I’ve ever been. Possibly the biggest thing is identifying what makes you happy or fulfills you, and then prioritize that. For me, it’s being active. Switching from a “training” mindset to an “active” mindset has been huge. Just need to get some movement in. It looks different day to day, but it’s become so important for my quality of life.
How do I start living a healthy lifestyle?
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I recently turned 30 years old (F) and I truly want to start living a healthy lifestyle. I'm very overweight. I'm 5'4 almost 200lbs. I don't workout because I don't enjoy going to the gym. I've struggled with my weight for the past 10 years. I never had a healthy diet despite being very thin in my teen years. I drink soda and juice more than water. I don't plan meals. I eat out every single day. I have sweets every day.
I've been off and on diet programs but I really want to change. I still live with my parents as I'm finishing my master's degree and they don't have healthy diets either. We never cook at home. It's getting embarrassing for me. I don't want to be overweight anymore. It doesn't make me feel good.
What are some baby steps I can take to start living a healthier life? I feel like I have a lot of bad habits that I need to break.
Top Comment: Hmmm. Well for me everything clicked when I realized that eating healthy and eating organic just made sense from a logical perspective. And when I realized that eating real clean and healthy foods made me feel better. I grew up on all junk food too and there was admittedly a time where my taste buds had to adjust, but it was also fueled and motivated by genuinely wanting to nourish my body and give it the right type of fuel. I would focus on cutting out all soda and juice. If you could replace your liquid empty calories with water, preferably alkaline if you can find it, or filtered somehow (tap water is such a travesty) that would be a great thing to work toward. If you drink more soda and juice than water, that alone could probably help you shed unwanted pounds without trying. Also, focusing on eating the rainbow in fresh fruits/vegetables. Focus on fiber, which is filling. I’m going to be straight up, I rarely eat out because it just makes me question why I would spend more money on a less quality meal than I could make at home, especially when I don’t know what’s in it. It’s such a wonderful feeling to know that you know exactly what is going into your body since you made it. As your taste buds acclimate, you will get a good idea of what types of spices and flavors you like!! The possibilities are truly endless. Truly nourishing yourself can be amazingly empowering and working toward a masters? Way to go!! That takes a lot of effort and I am sure there are moments when you are stressed. Honestly eating healthier is just something that has ripple effects in your life. Given that you are already pursuing a goal (masters), eating healthier will only help you in achieving that goal by giving your brain the proper nutrition (don’t forget healthy fats that are a powerhouse for brain health! Think walnuts, rich organic pastured egg yolks, coconut, ghee, avocados, etc. chia seeds and other nuts are great too.) to get there. Also you will notice improvements in your sleep and if you focus on eating real organic whole foods, you will notice your body becoming satisfied in a way that it just can’t be with processed foods.
What's the point of a 9-5 lifestyle : r/Adulting
Main Post: What's the point of a 9-5 lifestyle : r/Adulting
What is considered lifestyle creep & what is considered just raising your quality of life to the level that you desire?
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I keep seeing discussions about lifestyle creep. And I find that as I make more money, my expenses do increase.
But if I wasn’t fully satisfied with my previous standard of living, is that lifestyle creep?
My ideal lifestyle is living in a nice safe place that’s well decorated and has the space I need (without roommates), driving a car that has the comfort features I want and is reliable, being able to go to a variety of workout classes on top of my regular gym membership, eat healthy and delicious food, hang out at cafes, spend time in nature going on adventures, and travel as often as I can afford. I would REALLY love to be able to hire a cleaner once and month and get my nails done, but I can’t yet. I’d also love to own the place I live one day.
I don’t even have all of these rest of the list fully covered. If I’m still saving & not spending more than what I make, is it really so bad if my expenses increase when my income does to try to get to this lifestyle?
Top Comment: At the root I’d argue it’s the same. But lifestyle creep implies a level of ignorance - that you unintentionally increased your expenses. For example if you were living by paycheque to paycheque before - now earn a lot more but still living paycheque to paycheque people would assume lifestyle creep. Wanting to increase the quality of your life sounds very much intentional. It’s absolutely not a bad thing. Life is for living and money is for spending. It’s just you also want to ensure you have safety nets and some investment in your future
How do I make healthy long term lifestyle changes?
Main Post: How do I make healthy long term lifestyle changes?
What are some of the best instances of lifestyle creep that you've allowed yourself?
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Money-oriented communities always caution about "lifestyle creep," which is the concept that the more money you earn, the more money you spend. However, as someone who is now making my dream college kid salary, I have allowed myself small bits of lifestyle creep that have made my life so much better. Some of my examples are:
- Changing to the $45/month nice gym that is within walking distance of my apartment. I used to pay $25 for a gym that was a 20 min drive away but the convenience is well worth the extra $20/month.
- Buying small containers of pre-packaged berries. It's not as economical as buying the larger tubs that I have to wash and prep myself but I can't eat them fast enough before they go bad. Thus, I'm willing to pay $7/week to eat all the ones I buy.
- Staying in nicer hotels when we travel. I will still fly a budget airline, but I will no longer bunk in shared dormitories with 15+ people. I like having my own bathroom and really I think I just outgrew the young party culture that was prevalent in hostels.
- Hiring a monthly house cleaner. I hate moping and cleaning my bathroom so outsourcing this labor and freeing up a weekend spent cleaning has been amazing!
I'm curious to see what other people have deemed worth the lifestyle creep!
Top Comment: 1000% having someone in to deep clean once a month. It is my absolute favorite thing to come home to.
Lifestyle creep
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What IS lifestyle creep? How do you define it from finally living life like you wanted? What's the healthy midpoint between still arguing with cashiers over an expired coupon (edit: good lord, commenters, this was HYPERBOLIC, I'm not out here arguing with a person whose job I used to have) being the asshat with a Bugatti?
Retiring next year from job at 49 with 6.5MM diversified, probably still bringing in $100k with consulting jobs after for another 10 yrs.
Top Comment: Lifestyle creep is my spending going from 120k a year to over 300k slowly over the span of a few years and I’m not even entirely sure how it happened.
Can someone talk me out of the lifestyle creep?
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I’m a 30F physician about to finish residency/fellowship training.
I am considering signing a lease for an apartment that is $4k/month. I love the building and the location but it’s definitely a splurge. My current rent is $2.3k for a nice one bedroom. There is nothing wrong with it but the new place has a 2nd bedroom for storage/guest room, a balcony (which I’ve dreamed of having since covid) and is in a cooler neighborhood. I’m struggling because I definitely don’t need a nicer place but I do want it!
I have been making under $100k during residency/fellowship and have around $25k in a HYSA and I think around $20k in 403b/roth accounts.
I signed a contract for a job that will pay $390k/year with a $20k signing bonus. I’m estimating my post-tax income at $19k/month with $1k going to car related expenses (payment, insurance, gas, parking), $4k for food/fun with a goal of saving/investing $10k/month, which means I can afford the rent, just not sure if I should.
I had anticipated owing around $500k total for my student loans at this point in my life but due to the interest rate deferments related to covid, I currently owe $275k. My current payment is $0/month until spring 2025 due to the recent recertification date pushback. In the future I will have to pay $3k/month so I am planning to put money aside this year to be ready when my payments start. My new job does qualify for PSLF, I think I have completed 55 payments of the 120 required for loan forgiveness during residency/fellowship. It will be nice if I qualify for loan forgiveness but I don’t want to be forced to stay at a job I hate just for loan forgiveness so I do want to be prepared to pay off the loans in full.
What do you guys think? Is it reasonable to let myself upgrade or should I keep my head down for a few more years until I have a decent amount of money saved? Thanks!!
Edit: Thanks everyone! These replies are so helpful! Lots of great points that are helping me make my decision.
To answer some questions, I live in Southern California. And yes, I am aware that $4k for food/fun is a lot, I currently spend much less but figured I should over estimate expenses when budgeting. Also, I know some people think that renting is throwing money away but I’m not ready to deal with buying at the moment.
Top Comment: You’re quadrupling your income. You can less than double your rent. Stay frugal in every other way you can and you’ll be fine.