How to Live the High Life for Less
Looking for ways to live it up in a sluggish economy? Do you love the good life and a healthy savings balance too? There are many different strategies and savings tips to help get the job done. Here, we focus on four general categories of cost shaving where people typically expend greater amounts of cash, and provide simple paradigm shifts to help you spend smart and come out ahead.
The Mobile Career
Whether you work from the road sporadically for business, have career as a cyber nomad that allows you to submit projects from your crackberry and laptop, or are working your way around the world getting paid to live in glamorous regions, having a mobile career comes with its share of perks. Who doesn’t want to work where they can tour some of the best museums in the world after work, catch unforgettable sunrises over the rim of their morning cup of java, or catch world class performance or wine tour in between meetings? And when it comes to brown bagging it with style, noting beats picnicking in places like Pisa or Petra. International jobs are particularly attractive for their tax benefits, covered transportation costs and paid living expenses. Looking to reduce costs even further on the road? Check out this article on frugal and free transportation tips from the Frugal Duchess you can use in major cities throughout the United States, as well as a few destinations abroad.
Explore Gourmet Options at Home
Part of living the high life includes having access to fabulous options for food and drink. According to Smoking Hot Chef James Moore, one major trick to pulling that off for yourself is knowing how to shop like like the pros do. Restaurant owners take bulk buying to an entirely new level, making their cost per plate insanely low. So pitch in with some friends to get lower costs overall on expensive ingredients like beef and balsamic, shop for warehouse deals on affordable gourmet ingredients and start dressing up your soups and salads to make dinner at home the experience you’d rather have anyway. Need some help with wine shopping? Check out these articles on simple tips for buying great affordable wine, and wine pairing ideas for spicy foods.
DIY Doesn’t Have to Be Labor Intensive
We all know doing things ourselves saves money. The problem is carving out the extra time from our already busy schedules. The answer? Being seriously selective as to what we take on, and choosing only those do it yourself projects that can be done in less time than it would take to price compare and shop for anyway. Itinerant Tightwad Myscha Theriault suggests framed advertising art made from high quality calendars, or using a draped length of fabric over a damaged table for a cheap decorating trick. Another of Theriault’s favorite style elements? Industrial shelving. It can be brought home in a flat box with a couple of add-on drawers and bar racks. With little more than a rubber mallet and a bottle of wine, you can assemble a shoestring gourmet kitchen station or great spa bathroom storage space.
Embrace Power Shopping
No, I’m not talking about maxing out the credit cards for a quick fix, telling yourself you’re doing your part to stimulate the economy. But the fact is we all need to shop, and knowing savvy ways to spend and save when we do so can put us all back in the driver’s seat. Any percentage rate you would be thrilled to receive on your savings account is also worth your while to pay attention to with regards to a sale. Of course an item you don’t need isn’t a bargain at any price. But if you need new hosiery and a couple of dress blouses for work, and know there’s a fifteen percent sale coming in a few days, it is worth your time to wait. Knowing annual sale trends and loss leader patterns are two other great ways to take bargain shopping to the next level.
Looking to learn more about living the high life for less? In addition to staying tuned for our future webisodes, think about shaving costs in areas where it won’t necessarily show. Two articles to consider would be How to Be a High End Cheapskate and this piece dealing with thrift on the sly. See you soon!
Photo Credit: TrekHound.Com
