luxuries

Best Money Tips: Enjoy Life's Luxuries Without Breaking The Bank

Ashley Jacobs — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 10:00:43 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on enjoying life's luxuries without breaking the bank, fabulous freebies, and trading in your car.

5 Ways to Live Like a Celebrity on a Budget

Christian Rudolf — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:00:24 +0000

Everyone has been tightening their belts during our most recent economic slowdown. Some people have been forced to cut all luxuries out of their lives completely. It is possible, however, to live like a celebrity and retain a bit of luxury even when you're cutting corners and trying to save money. Here are tips to look, live, eat and drive like a celebrity without spending huge amounts of money. (See also: Choosing a Luxury Eccentricity)

1. Be a smart shopper

It's possible to look like you spent a lot on your clothing when you actually didn't. Brick and mortar stores like as Marshall's and TJ Maxx often carry designer clothing at drastic discounts. Usually, these stores receive closeouts or overstock items from major designers, which allows them to sell these designer frocks for much less than full price.

Other options abound on the Internet. Sites such as Amazon, Smartbargains, and Overstock often offer great deals on designer names that are out of season. Amazon, for example, is a great place to buy designer name accessories for half price. They sell Gucci designer sunglasses, which regularly retail for over $300, for just $124.75. You can pair those sunglasses with a summer dress from BCBG Max Azria on Bluefly.com, which normally retails for $147 but sells there for just $79. Ebay.com is another option, but beware of fake designer labels. Unless you know how to spot a counterfeit, you might be sold a $5 knockoff Gucci watch for $105.

This doesn't just apply to shopping for women's clothing, either. You can find great designer bargains for men's clothing and accessories online. For example, check out the suits by Joseph Abboud at JCPenney that sell for $120, a fraction of the cost of a $3000 Armani suit. Shop4brand.com carries discounted Dior sunglasses and other brands. A pair of Dior aviator like Clive Owen wears in "Duplicity" regularly retails for $230 but can be had for just $119.

2. Get a celebrity hairdo for less

Even though your budget probably won't allow for a Sally Hershberger cut or a Canale hair coloring session, it is possible to get fabulous hair for less. (And no, you don't have to go to the bargain basement chop shops. Remember, if you shell out just $10 for a haircut that's what you'll get — a $10 haircut)

If you happen to live near a major celebrity salon, you can sign up to be a model for their students. For example, Bumble and Bumble has its own university, where it trains stylists. Often, students will work on your hair for free or for half of their regular charge. Thus, a $300 hair coloring session would cost you just $150. The trick here is to have enough confidence in the student's ability not to make you look like a freak. There's little chance of that happening, as all work is constantly supervised. Call one of the high-end salons near you and ask about their training nights or student sessions.

Another option is to go to a nearby beauty school and sign up to be a model. Here, work on your hair is usually free, and as with the high-end celebrity salons, it is closely supervised to prevent hair accidents. Search on the Internet for the beauty school nearest you and contact them to inquire about becoming a model.

3. Buy, or rent, a celebrity's home at a discount

With the real estate market still favoring buyers over sellers, it is possible to purchase a celebrity's home for much less than you would have spent on it even five years ago. If you have the money, you can buy Kourtney Kardashian's home in Calabas, California for $795,000 — $34,000 less than what Kardashian paid when she bought it in 2006. The home has three bedrooms and three bathrooms, hardwood floors, granite countertops, vaulted ceilings…you get the picture. It's a real steal and a great way to live like a celebrity for much less.

If you're not in the market for such pricey real estate, or you're just not ready to commit to living like a celebrity full time, you can rent a celebrity's apartment for your next vacation. HomeAway.com lists vacation apartments for rent, many of which are in the same buildings as the apartments of famous celebrities. For example, you can rent a three bedroom, three bathroom, 3000 sq. ft. apartment in the Murray Hill section of New York City for $875 per night or $4200 per week. Even better, CyberRentals.com lists many smaller (usually one bedroom, one bathroom) Murray Hill apartments that rent for just $1200 per week.

4. Dine like a celebrity without waiting in long lines

So, you want to get into that trendy new restaurant, but there's a two to four hour wait just to get a table. Suddenly, you see George Clooney or Sarah Jessica Parker breeze right in and get a table!

This is the time when greasing palms works. Simply slip a $20 to the maitre d' and you'll get the best table available without the long wait. It has been proven that offering "bribes" to those in authority in trendy restaurants and night clubs will get you much faster service. Just don't do it in plain sight. Pass the money to the maitre d' nonchalantly while asking him or her if there's anything they can do to help you get seated more quickly. You might have to pay more than $20 depending on the restaurant, but it's usually no more than $50. If done correctly, you'll be sitting at the table and dining with the stars in no time.

5. Drive like a celebrity for less

When you think of celebrity vehicles, what often comes to mind are high-end cars like Lamborghinis, Bentleys, and Maseratis. However, many celebrities are turning to more economical and eco-friendly cars. For example, the ranks of celebrities driving the Toyota Prius is ever-increasing, and has included Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Leonardo diCaprio, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, and Kirsten Dunst. While the Prius isn't the cheapest hybrid car in the world (at a starting price of $22,800) it isn't nearly as expensive as most celebrity vehicles.

If you really just have to have one of those expensive celebrity rides, another option is to buy one used. There are some automotive search sites that will help you locate a pre-owned luxury car that's right for you. LocateMyLuxuryCar.com carries all of the pre-owned major luxury brands (Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, Lamborghini and more) for sale across the United States.

You can sometimes find good deals on used luxury cars on Craigslist.com and in your local classified ads as well, but be careful when dealing with a private owner. Unless you know a lot about luxury cars and are confident that you won't get taken for a ride, it's best to avoid purchasing something of this magnitude from a private owner who can claim his or her car has less miles than it really does or runs "great" when it actually runs like crap.

Guest Post Blurb:

This is a guest post by Christian Rudolf. See more like it at letitflow.com – your one-click stop for all the latest news on celebrities, fashion, high-tech gadgets, luxury cars, exotic travel destinations, and much more!

This article is from Christian Rudolf of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

On Choosing and Defending Your Luxuries

Philip Brewer — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:58:22 +0000

Spend any time reading personal finance blogs and you'll come across a particular kind of equal-and-opposite post: lists of luxuries. Half the posts will advocate giving up a few specific luxuries to live more cheaply. The other half have titles like "Three things I won't give up" or "Five luxuries that are worth the money." Both kinds of articles miss the point of luxuries — they're indefensible (and I mean that in a good way).

This came up when I was being interviewed by a reporter from the local paper who was doing a feature on me and my writing for Wise Bread. She asked "What do you do without," in order to live cheaply? I was quickly able to tell her a couple of things — we only have one car, we live in a small apartment instead of a house — but then I got stuck. I really don't think of myself as doing without. Rather, I've given a lot of thought to exactly what I want and have arranged my life so that I get all of it. (See also: Choosing a Luxury Eccentricity)

It was kind of embarrassing. I'm sure she thought it was an easy question, but I was simply at a loss. After a minute, though, I thought of another way to approach the question. I could tell her all about the luxuries that we don't go without. People could then assume that we had all the necessities plus our short list of luxuries — and know that we "went without" whatever it was that wasn't on the list.

The first things I came up with — NetFlix subscription and fitness center membership — I immediately spotted as classics from lists other people had made of the "things you can do without," and at the same time also classics from the lists of "luxuries I think are worth the money." (Other classics of both kinds of list: cable subscriptions and fancy coffee drinks.)

It goes without saying that you don't need any particular luxury — it's kind of the defining characteristic of a luxury. You could go so far as to go through your budget and line out every non-necessity. It's worth noting, though (and it kind of goes to my point here), that it's a lot easier to do that to someone else's budget than to do it to your own.

That's why you see articles of this sort. It's easy to tell other people to go without stuff. (Especially stuff that you've decided to go without!) And, at the same time, people feel a certain impulse to defend their own luxuries.

I don't want to dis articles of this kind too strongly, because they do provide a useful service, as long as you don't pay much attention to the specifics: They model the correct way to think about the issue.

It's a worthwhile exercise to go through your budget as if it were the budget of someone else — someone who's short on money and whom you don't really like very much. What would you mark out if that guy had to cut his spending by 20% (or 50%)?

What would that guy say when you suggested that he could get by with orange juice from concentrate and store-brand coffee, that his kids didn't really need Tai Kwon Do lessons, that he could get by with one less car, move to a cheaper apartment, and cancel his vacation?

Well, what could he say? He'd say that he really liked the premium orange juice and all that other stuff. Does that cut any ice with you? You knew that to begin with — that's what a luxury is.

So, then, how do you defend your luxuries? Easy: You defend them to yourself, not to some other guy. You defend them by figuring out how much you can afford and only buying that much. You defend them by making tradeoffs between having things now and having more and better things later. Most important, you defend them by thinking deeply about what you really want and figuring out that you can happily leave all that other stuff out of your budget.

If you do it right, you may find yourself in my situation: Someone will ask you what you give up to live so cheaply, and nothing will come to mind.

This article is from Philip Brewer of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: