I'm starting this thread because I feel like I'm suffering from a form of lifestyle inflation/keeping up with the Joneses/frugal-muscle-weakening/whatever and I'm hoping others on this board can (1) relate and (2) help to keep me on the straight and narrow!
I recently started a new job working for a media start up. The company is based in TX, but I get to work from home in MA. Overall, it has been great except for one thing...my boss. He's actually a friend who I met in grad school and although I enjoy working for/with him in many respects, his unfrugal ways are rubbing off on me, I fear. He comes from a family with multi-generational wealth, I do not. Although my significant other and I retired in 2010 at the ages of 36 and 42, respectively, it was through a combination of hard work, frugality, and perhaps a few lucky breaks. We both retired early because we were totally burnt out from working all-consuming jobs for 15+ years and have now both happily returned to work that we consider to be play. So, in my new job, I travel to TX monthly for various meetings and special projects. I always stay with my boss because (1) he has a huge house with multiple guest rooms and we're a start-up so it's smart financially, and (2) because it facilitates our working long hours because we basically just get up in the morning and work for about 14 hours straight when I'm there.
So where's the problem? Spending time at his house, which was built in 2010 and is absolutely beautiful, means that when I come home I suddenly see all the things "wrong" with my house that I want to change. In addition, he and his wife don't clean their own house, but rather have "maids" (three of them!) who come 2x per week to clean and do laundry. At one point he actually apologized to me saying, "I'm sorry, I feel like our house is always such a mess every time you come to visit." I responded, "Your house is fine -- besides, you have your cleaning service there every other day." He looked at me and with a serious tone said, "No, they only come twice a week. Why? How often do your maids comes?" I had to suppress my laughter when I said, "Never. I clean my own house." Of course, I got home and realized that my house is never feels truly clean (largely due to the fact that we have 3 dogs and 2 cats!) and thought, maybe I should hire a someone to clean my house. Seriously? I've never considered hiring a cleaning service -- I'm able-bodied and perfectly capable of cleaning my own house. Maybe not to Martha Stewart's standards, but I'm hoping that when people come to visit me they are coming to visit me, not to inspect how clean my house is. And, trust me, our house is *clean* it's just not *spotless*. But still, I actually went on Craigslist and responded to several postings of people who clean houses. What?!? It would cost me $75 per week minimum to have my house cleaned.
This is just the tip of the iceberg...I've got several other examples to share, but I thought I'd just get things started. Hoping others will share stories and offer support and strategies for how to not get sucked in to these un-frugal behaviors!