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

You paid off debt, you built savings, you're finally gaining momentum. But now you notice something creeping in. New expenses, expensive upgrades, a little more here and a little more there.What if lifestyle creep is quietly stealing your freedom? Well, let's talk about how to protect your progress and keep building forward on today's show.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial financial shame with confidence. Hey there and welcome back to your Financially Confident Christian. I am Ralph, and I'm so glad you're joining me today.This is the show all about answering that one transformative question, how can I become a financially confident Christian? And we're continuing our series today, beyond the Budget. Finding financial freedom through intentional living.Yes, this is all about living intentionally. Now, yesterday we explored your financial legacy, what you're going to leave behind for God's kingdom.And if you missed it, I'm going to encourage you to go back and check it out. Because let me just tell you right now, it was an impactful episode. A lot of people have sent me emails and say, Ralph, we really got that man.We're working on that. But today we're going to tackle a more subtle threat to your freedom. We're going to talk about this guy called lifestyle creep.Yeah, he's a real creep. So let's defend your progress together on today's show. Picture this, if you will. You got a raise. Hey, fantastic. You're making more money.Or maybe for you, you paid off that lingering car loan suddenly. Yeah, wonderful. You paid it off. And then you look around and suddenly now you're upgrading. You paid off 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 getting new clothes. You, you've ordered extra subscriptions and a little bit more splurging.Well, just because. And before you realize it, when you look around, your savings haven't grown and all of a sudden that debt hasn't budged.You're not paying that debt down like you were before. Your lifestyle quietly crept up and stole the margin you worked so hard to create. Well, that right there is lifestyle creepy.It's not a nice creep to be around. And unfortunately, it's subtle, it's slow, and it is spiritually draining. It's not just about money, it's about intentionality.So here's the thing I want you to understand today. Lifestyle creep feeds on complacency. It feeds on not paying attention to what's going on. You want to talk about what it feeds on? A lot.It thrives in this belief that I deserve this moment. So let's look to scripture, because scripture gives us a powerful reminder. Let's look at the Book of Proverbs, chapter 4, verses 23. And it says this.Talk about hitting a home run. Scripture just nails it above all else. Guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. Pretty straightforward, wouldn't you say?Let's look at first Peter, chapter 5, verse 8. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. That's pretty straightforward.Be alert and be of sober mind. Because the devil prowls around like a luring Ryan looking for someone to devour. Now let's apply that to our finances. You've worked so hard.You've worked hard to build that margin. But just as you worked hard to build it, you got to work hard to protect it. Because this is both financial stewardship and it's spiritual warfare.Like, Ralph, I wasn't expecting you to talk about warfare. But that's what we're talking about today. So ask yourself, how do I respond to that?When you're under attack, you stay alert, you stay disciplined, and you stay purpose driven. And that's what we're going to talk about here in a moment.We got to redirect those new income sources towards freedom, not just mindless consumption. And trust me, I'm right where you're sitting. I've done the same thing myself. So I can talk to you with some level of clarity about this.So what do you do? How do you battle that creep? How do you beat that creep? Well, here's the solution. And it's not very complicated.You just have to put the time in to do it.I'm going to encourage you to regularly review your spending habits and proactively, proactively with a mission, redirect any new income 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.But you can stop it with clarity and intention. So here's your one action step for day. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to start by conducting a creep check in. Yeah, creep check in.I want you to pull out your budget. I want you to look at two or three flexible spending categories from the past few months and ask yourself these two questions.Number one question, has anything crept up without me noticing?As you're looking at your budget, you notice, I didn't realize my subscription line had grown a little bit or my or eating out or entertainment spending has creeped up a little bit. And then ask yourself this question. Am I 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. But ask yourself that question, am I spending more just because I can?So start there, look at your budget and look at those flexible spending categories. And then I just want you to identify one or two creep areas. I want you to find your creeps. Here's some common culprits.And listen, I'm directing this magnifying glass at myself. Common culprits. Number one, dining out. Are you eating out more? Are you doing more takeout subscriptions? Hey, that's a big one.I look at this on my credit card, like, where in the world do I get so many subscriptions? Here's what a lot of people don't think about. But have you upgraded your grocery a little bit? Are you not cutting coupons like you used to?Are you not looking for those sales? Not buying the off brands as much as here's one that gets me every time, and that's tech and gadgets. I'm a techno nerd.I love the tech, I love the little gadgets. And for many of us, this one is huge, common culprit, impulse buys. So look at your spending, look at that budget.Then identify one or two of these what I call common culprits. And then I want you to dust to the next step. And that's allocate future margin. You'll be saying, Ralph, you lost me. What do you mean by that?Here's what I mean by that. Plan ahead. Allocate your next raise, or when you pay off a loan, 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% of that margin to, hey, you know what? I'm going to pay down debt. I'm going to take this opportunity. I'm going to boost my savings. Hey, here's a radical idea. Increase your giving.Find new ways to build God's kingdom or invest it in God's kingdom, aligned goals.So allocate that future margin, plan for that plan for that raise, plan for that time when you pay off that loan or when you free up some monthly cash. And then I want you to set up a creep prevention rule. Yeah, this is the key. This will creep the key. This will keep to creep at bay.Here are some examples. I love this one. 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 one dinner out per week, max. Hey, I'm not going to break my rule. Right? Here's another great one. No new subscriptions unless I cancel one. One for one.So you see, hey, I've got to get this new streaming service. Well, your rule says no new subscription. So I guess I got to go find one to cancel. And I love this one. And I would encourage all of us to do this.It's intentional and it's planning ahead. But any raise gets split 50% to savings, 30% to debt, and 20% to lifestyle. You're still getting the benefit of the 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. You might 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 to protect that hard earned financial margin. If you do these things, it's going to protect it. You're going to look at your budget, you're going to find those areas where that creep is creeping.In a silly way to say, but it's true. It turns your new income into real progress because you've already got a plan in place. Yeah, I'm working hard. I want to get that raised.I want to pay off those loans. But it allows you to put that into place ahead of time.One of the things it does, just like weight living, it strengthens your self discipline, muscles and your spiritual focus because you're really looking at, what am I doing? Where's my money going? Do I, am I following my creep rules big picture? It keeps your finances aligned with your mission and your purpose.Because you're thoughtfully, you're being intentional about that raise, intentional about paying off those debts. How about we pray together? Father God, thank you for the blessings and increase you've entrusted to us.Forgive us for the times we've let our spending drift without purpose, Lord. Yeah, we sometimes grow complacent, Lord, and we forget that every dollar is a tool for your kingdom.And we just ask that you would help us to be alert, Lord. Help us be faithful and most of all, help us to be intentional.Give us wisdom to spot that lifestyle creep early and the strength to redirect our resources wisely. Lord, let us use every financial gain for your glory and your growth. And we ask this with boldness and confidence. In Jesus name, amen.Friend, listen to me. You've worked too hard to lose ground to lifestyle creep. So today I want to encourage you. Do your creep check in.Pick one small step that protects your progress. Because listen to me, every raise, every payoff, every gain, every one of them is a chance to build something eternal.And now I want to ask you to do something for me. I want to ask you to share this show with somebody. There's a lot of people out there who are battling this lifestyle creep.Maybe you know somebody in your life, a friend, a family member, an acquaintance. You're like, you know, they talk about this all the time. I see how their, their life is.I don't want to judge them right, but I see how their life is, is affected by this creep.I just got to encourage you, send them an email, send them a text and just send them a link to the show financiallyconfidentchristian.com and just say, hey, I listen to this show every day. It's fantastic. You might benefit from it. And while you're there, I'm going to encourage you to get a free copy of my book.It's called mastering your finances.It's a brief book, but man, I'm going to tell you right now, it is super impactful to helping you build that, that financial plan to keep that financial creep away. And you get to it by going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/master.Now tomorrow on the show, we're going to be talking about adapting when life changes because, hey, constant in life change. I don't know about you, but I've seen that myself in my almost 53 years.But that's what we're going to talk about tomorrow, adapting when life changes and how to keep peace even in financial uncertainty. Yes, we're going to talk about financial uncertainty.So I just want to encourage you right now, let's all go out there and be financially confident Christians. You can do this. I truly believe in you, believe in yourself, stay alert, stay intentional and, and stay financially savvy.God bless you and you have a great day.