Lifestyle inflation is the process of how we adjust our spending when we suddenly have more money than we are accustomed to.  Although lifestyle inflation can be handled responsibly, most of the time people refer to it as reckless spending and the habits created.  I get it.  It feels great to be able to reward ourselves by allowing us to do the things we deprive ourselves of.  Buying lunch while at work, purchasing a new tv or even getting a massage in Veilstone City.  If we don’t catch it early, these little rewards become part of our everyday lifestyle and can slowly damage our finances like a sand tomb.
 
We are going to run into lifestyle inflation no matter what, and it is our job to prepare for it.  Back in September, I received a $3/hour raise with the requirement to work a 40 hour week.  This gave my weekly paychecks an approximate $100 boost, after taxes.  Having an additional $400 a month to spend led to a sudden battle with lifestyle inflation.  The way I battled and caught lifestyle inflation in five steps was to relax, aspire, reflect, strategize and stay calm.

The final piece of advice my cross-country coach gave me before he passed was, “Start your 401k as soon as can and put in as much as you can.”  It was my first year in college and it made no sense to me.  He tried to explain it to me.  I caught that involved working and retirement.  I did my best to follow his advice and keep an eye out for it.  The first and only time I have encountered the possibility of starting a 401k at work was five years ago.  Their business manual mentioned they would pay into one after working there for 6 months, but I never met that requirement.
 
At the time, I missed the moral of his advice.  Time is an important aspect of life and younger people need to catch as much of it while it’s abundant.  Time becomes rarer as we age and that’s why older people value it so much.  Time is a useful tool that us younger folk need to realize we have available to us.  Like how time helps timer balls catch pokémon, it also helps our finances by using rollout, leech seed, pin missile, return and stockpile.

My first introduction to the modern smartphone was the pokégear when I was traveling in Johto as a schoolboy.  It gave me access to the time, a map, music and the ability to call mom and other trainers, like Youngster Joey.
​
Now, it’s 17 years later and my smartphone can do much more than that original pokégear.  My phone is my notebook, dictionary, email inbox, news source, trainer, and entertainment.  There are countless ways to use a smartphone, and today I want to share with you all the few ways I use mine for my personal finances.