What to do when you get promoted

I was blessed to be raised the way I was. While my parents did an amazing job with instilling values that have allowed me literally to see the world, they weren’t the only people I looked to for guidance. Per usual, children and parents bump heads as they grow up and the child thinks they know everything and parents don’t know a thing. In those times of being a prodigal son, my older cousins were my role models. Each of them very different but ironically all the same. As an adult I realized my cousins were raised with the same morals and values that were instilled in me due to the fact our parents grew up in the same household. Most of the time when I speak to my mentors I just listen after I ask an initial question. One of my cousin, who we will call Crazy Panther Fan (CPF), I do most of the talking. This cousin isn’t much of a talker, he’s a thinking man. And I’ve realized that if I say something off course, he’ll give me a look followed by a Jesus like rhetorical question to make me rethink my previous stance.  So rewind to five years ago, I was just starting my career and spending a lot of time around CPF. I mentioned how I was expecting a raise and how it was going to make things a lot easier for me move around with the additional money. What CPF said to me is one of the reasons I started this blog for my quest for financial knowledge. Looking me dead in my eyes he said “You made it through last year on your current salary, so do you really need the extra money?”, “Save your raise. Treat it as if you’re still working off your old salary”. As I drove home once again I realized he was right. I didn’t really need the money sure it’s nice receiving that raise but I didn’t really need it to survive. What I needed to do was figure out how I could improve my life style on the prior year’s salary. And ladies and gentlemen that’s what I’ve done. I created an auto debit for every pay increase that goes right to my savings. I don’t even let the money take a pit stop in my checking account. My savings account is with a different banking system, which I don’t see regularly so I don’t get tempted to spend it. Am I hurting for anything?? Nope. I go on more vacations than 1 human being should be allowed to take. I say that to say this, just because you have the money doesn’t mean you have to spend it. Just because you aren’t spending your raises doesn’t mean you’re not living life. You just have to get creative with your spending and explore where you can cut corners.