Were the Spartan's actually all that "spartan"?
Bertrand Russell in "A History of Western Philosophy" refers to the ancient philosopher's view (and I'd assume our modern view) on Sparta as stemming from a "myth of Sparta". In short, the myth of Sparta is filled with desirable ascetic qualities, but in actuality Spartans were as greedy, etc. as anyone.
Here is a reading of the chapter in question. I think the book is downloadable online, but I wasn't sure of the legality of that so I didn't link it.
The part in question is about halfway through, but the whole chapter is interesting, and I'd be curious of its veracity.
Can't help you myself, but u/XenophonTheAthenian has an excellent writeup about this exact question in this post.
I highly encourage you to read it, and then come back with follow-up questions if you have them. The answer I linked deals mostly with military matters, but I seem to recall the same user writing elsewhere that Sparta's reputation for asceticism, brutality, etc. was similarly constructed after the fact, but I'm afraid I can't find the exact post.