Frugal Luxuries: Here’s How I Live as Luxuriously as I Can

You don't need to spend money to appreciate, maintain, and add luster to the simple pleasures around you. (Mariia Boiko/Shutterstock)

Frugal Luxuries That Make Me Feel Rich Even Though I Live on a Budget

When you’re frugal and living beneath your means, it’s easy sometimes to get frugal fatigue. You have been at this money saving lark for years on end and you could, if you’re not careful, overspend and be back to running up overdrafts then debts and it’s all a very slippery slope. If you have to stick to a budget then it’s best to do it as comfortably as possible.

How I Live as Luxuriously as I Can

I like to pick flowers from my garden and have them somewhere in my house. My garden is mainly wild but this year so far, I’ve had ox-eye daisies, pink campions and buttercups and I like to pick them and pop them in a little vintage jug and those flowers brighten my day.

I love the luxury of crisp fresh bedding. I might have bought my duvet covers and sheets from charity shops but there is nothing like line dried crisp fresh sheet when I get into bed. I change the bedding every week and keep some lavender in our linen cupboard so everything smells heavenly.

A good pot of tea or coffee is a treat to be savoured. We invested in a Moka pot which means we can make really good strong coffee, that we have with hot milk to make a café crème in in the morning and I like to get a vintage tea pot out in the afternoon and make an afternoon tea. We don’t buy expensive tea or coffee but we know what we like and a break in the day for a proper brew is a treat worth taking time for.

It always makes me feel comfortable and like I’m walking on air in a well fitting pair of shoes or boots. My hiking boots are old now but they’ve travelled with me over moor and coastal path and I’ve had the best of times in them. It’s worth having a good pair of shoes if your feet are going to do a lot of miles in them. They were not expensive but the best quality I could afford and I bought them for comfort.

When I want my house to feel like I have new furniture, I move what I have around. I sometime do the same with curtains, pictures or ornaments and move them from room to room or to another area of the same room. When I move things around, then I can give every where a deep clean too.

Some of us grew up in times where we didn’t have showers and a bath was for a Sunday night with sink washes in between. Now, we can shower when ever we want at very little cost. So, contentious I know but a great luxury at low cost is lovely shower gel. I usually buy a supermarket own brand but the French really know how to make shower gel smell much more expensive that it actually was and those frothy bubbles are so delicious.

Next luxury for me, is stepping out of the shower and having a pile of clean fluffy towels even though most of mine have come from charity shops, they were like new when I bought them. We might be skint but we are clean and comfortable. Lastly, something I like to do at a very low cost which reminds me how luxuriously I live is that I can give. I choose to often give what I don’t need to charity shops and to shop within my budget whenever I can to give to our local Foodbank. What about you?

What makes you feel luxurious on a tiny budget? What makes your feel special?

This article was originally published on Frugal Queen in France.