Dadvice Weekly #14 / Lifestyle Creep
Dadvice Weekly - #14
One of our favorite questions to ask close friends over dinner is:
“Where have you had some lifestyle creep?”
It’s a weird question, but it always leads to great conversation.
“Lifestyle creep” is a weird phrase, but as soon as you read this paragraph, you’ll know exactly what it means. It is the subtle increase in your expenses as you move up the corporate ladder. You start paying for things like services, memberships, and conveniences that your 22 year old self would’ve called superfluous.
Some of the most popular answers we hear:
Hiring a housecleaner
Paying for lawn service
Upgrading to a premium gym
Exploring country club memberships
Elite dog boarding
Here’s the thing. Lifestyle creep isn’t inherently bad. But unchecked lifestyle creep can hinder your personal finance goals.
I’m halfway through The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel, and the best nugget so far is this:
“It’s okay to say yes to things—just know why you’re saying yes.”
Everyone spends money in a way that makes sense to them. But when people reflect later in life, they often say the best money spent did one of two things:
1. Created memories with family and friends
2. Reduced stress and gave them capacity to be present
My wife and I talk about this all the time. I’d encourage you to do the same.
If joining a country club gives you meaningful time with loved ones, that’s fantastic. If it’s an escape from them, maybe pause and ask why.
If hiring a housecleaner helps you and your spouse release some mental load to have a better weekend with your kids, then that’s great. If it’s to project an image of cleanliness to others, there’s probably a deeper conversation the two of you need to have.
My challenge to my family is to be intentional about what we opt into. We have goals that we want to achieve. If we have the finances to do it, I want to ensure the spending will bring life, enjoyment, and memories. -SW
Target Mudroom Hack
We don’t have a mudroom, so we made one following this TikTok. This 6-cube organizer from Target ($35) plus these octopus hooks ($3 each) turned our entryway into an easy drop zone for our school-age kids. Each one gets their own cube for shoes and a hook on the side. No more last-minute hunting for shoes or backpacks. When they walk in, shoes go in their cube, bag on their hook. Done. It’s also become a quiet primer on responsibility. Some days they still forget, but most days it works. -KC
Toilet Bowl Cleaner - Pumice Stone
Everyone hates cleaning toilets. I don’t know how universal this is, but at our house we have hard water, and it leaves behind a stubborn ring in the bowl. You can scrub with a regular toilet brush and it’ll look fine, but if you get audited by your spouse, it’s like: “It’s clean… but why’s there still a ring?”
So I did a Reddit deep dive and came across this pumice cleaning stone with a handle. Its basically a magic eraser for hard water stains. I bought a pack of these and they’ve absolutely delivered. No chemicals, no drama, just a little elbow grease and the ring is gone.
If you’re ever on toilet duty, definitely grab one of these. It’s one of those weird little tools that makes a gross job way less frustrating. -SW
Costco Chicken Noodle Soup
Every October Costco brings back their seasonal chicken noodle soup, and it’s become something our family genuinely looks forward to. They use their rotisserie chicken in it and thick egg noodles that hold up perfectly even after reheating. The 5-pound container runs about $18 or so, which feels steep for soup, but we easily get several family dinners out of it. It freezes beautifully too, so we’ll portion some out for those rough weeks when everyone’s under the weather and cooking feels impossible. –KC
Magna-Tiles
Magna-Tiles have become a toy that gets near-daily use in our home. Our four-year-old builds incredible structures, like castles, Hot Wheels parking garages, spaceships, and the like. We started with Picasso Tiles, which work perfectly for about half the price, but we upgraded to Magna-Tiles in time. They’ve essentially replaced our Duplos. There’s something about the translucent colors catching the morning light while the kids build quietly at 7 a.m. that makes the initial investment (around $120) worth every penny. –KC
Just for Dad: Empower Personal Dashboard - The Ultimate Personal Finance Tool
When I graduated college at 22, I knew very little about personal finance beyond a few Dave Ramsey principles. That changed when I read Investing in Your 20s and 30s for Dummies, which emphasized budgeting, understanding financial accounts, and leveraging compound interest early in life. I started using budgeting apps, opened savings and investment accounts, and over time developed a deep appreciation and passion for personal finance.
The Empower Personal Dashboard has stood out as the most impactful in my journey. It’s the best budgeting and monitoring software I’ve ever used, and here’s why:
Custom Categorization: You can hard-code transactions from specific vendors into the right categories like assigning Costco (specifically) gas purchases to “Gas” instead of “Groceries,” or routing golf expenses from Patty Jewett directly to “Golf” rather than “Entertainment.” This gives me a clear picture of where our money goes and to custom categories that I care about.
Powerful Reporting: It offers filters to view spending by month, quarter, or year. My wife and I use it annually to review income, spending, savings, and progress toward goals like college savings for our daughter, giving to church, buying our next home, and how much we are saving towards retirement.
Net Worth Tracking: It aggregates all assets and liabilities (retirement accounts, home value using a Zestimate, mortgages, etc.) into a live dashboard. I don’t obsess over net worth, but I do track its growth year over year as a measure of progress.
Completely Free: Empower is a financial services company. I’ve received some emails from them asking if I want to set up a meeting with one of their advisors. I have never done it, but just know the tool is free and you might get asked to do the same.
This tool has helped us be strategic about lifestyle creep, enabling us to say “yes” to meaningful experiences while confidently saying “no” to things that will hinder our financial goals. It’s shifted our conversations from “can we afford this?” to “do we want to prioritize this?”
In short, this tool has given us clarity, control, and confidence in our financial journey. I will talk more about this in a December issue for how to use the tool to have a meaningful conversation with your spouse as you set the tone for the new year. -SW
Dadvice Weekly is Kyle and Skyler—two friends in their thirties, living in Colorado, settling into fatherhood and trying to stay sane. Every Tuesday we share what’s working in our homes: gear we use, routines we’ve tested, ideas we’re trying. It could be a recipe, a product that solved a problem, or just what we’re thinking about as dads.
If you have a tip, tried something we mentioned, or just want to say hi, reply to this email or message us on Substack. We read everything, and we’re always looking for what works. Glad you’re here.