You know that saying, “Mo money, mo problems”? It might have been a catchy rap lyric back in the nineties, but honestly, it still feels uncomfortably relevant today.
I want to tell you about the time I finally, yes finally, received a significant promotion at work, and how it almost changed my spending in a way I didn’t actually need or even really want.
This wasn’t one of those small raises where you think, “Okay cool, I can grab an extra latte now without stressing about it.” This promotion genuinely mattered. It was a real lifestyle shift. The kind of income increase that actually changes what’s possible in your life.
When I shared the news with a good friend over lunch, she smiled genuinely and said, “That’s amazing! Congratulations. Now you can finally upgrade your apartment.”
At first, her comment sounded completely reasonable. Like obvious next-step logic. Why not, right? A new place. One of those apartments with the shiny stainless steel appliances. A little more space to breathe. Maybe a better location. A fresh start that matches this new chapter.
I actually started looking almost immediately. I toured three different apartments in my area. Beautiful places. I genuinely loved the layouts. I caught myself mentally arranging where my furniture would go. I even mapped out how long it would take me to walk to that trendy new grocery store nearby that I’d always wanted to live closer to.
I was ready to sign a lease.
And then something stopped me. A feeling I couldn’t quite name at first.
I sat in my current apartment one evening, just looking around. And it hit me with total clarity.
I loved my apartment. I genuinely loved living there.
There was nothing actually wrong with it. It wasn’t falling apart or too small for my needs or holding me back in any tangible way. It wasn’t like a car with way too many miles on it that needed to be traded in for something more reliable. The new apartments I’d toured would technically upgrade my lifestyle on paper, sure. But they would also add an extra thousand dollars, maybe more, to my monthly fixed commitments.
That’s when I made myself pause. Really pause, not just the quick mental check we usually do before big decisions.
I realized the real reason I was seriously considering this move wasn’t because I had outgrown my current home or because something about it wasn’t working for my life anymore.
It was because I felt like I was supposed to upgrade now that my income had increased. Like there was some unwritten rule that more money means you immediately find more expensive ways to spend it. That staying in the same apartment when you could afford better somehow meant you weren’t properly enjoying your success.
Once I actually understood my why, once I got honest about what was driving this decision, the choice became surprisingly clear.
I stayed put in my apartment that I already loved.
And I decided that extra thousand dollars every month would be much better placed in the hands of my future self. Building wealth, creating options, funding goals that actually mattered to me instead of just checking the box of “upgraded living situation because I got promoted.”
That pause, that moment of getting honest about why I was about to make a major financial change, might be one of the best money decisions I’ve ever made.
Not because upgrading would have been wrong. But because upgrading for the wrong reasons, just because I could and felt like I should, would have cost me so much more than just money.
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