A life of luxury for less

by Penny Golightly on 14 May 2010  |  2 comments
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If you fancy treating yourself, here's how to do it without breaking the bank!

While I’d never encourage anyone to spend beyond their means, I do firmly believe that everyone deserves a treat every now and again. A little bit of what you fancy does you good, as they say.

We each have our own ideas about what luxury means to us. Personally, I don’t really buy into the idea of the ‘bling’ lifestyle and all its trappings, and prefer to have just a few good quality, understated things around me that make everyday life slightly more pleasant.

When it’s time to buy or replace anything, I love the words of master craftsman, William Morris: ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’ The man had style.

Here are just a few of my favourite treats and luxuries that you can buy for less.

Quality bedlinen

You spend around a third of your life in bed, so why not make it somewhere as comfortable and welcoming as possible?

I save up and wait for the seasonal sales in department stores such as John Lewis and Debenhams, and hunt down any offers on Egyptian cotton and Supima cotton sheets and pillowcases. It’s cheaper if you’re prepared to buy slight seconds as well, but check to make sure any defects aren’t too noticeable.

Thread counts of 400 and above feel like hotel quality, and really give your boudoir some ooh la la. They also seem to wash well and last longer. Buying everything in plain white or plain cream means that you can mix and match linens from different shops, and it looks really clean and crisp too. The only drawback is that you may never want to get out of bed.

Great clothes

Whatever your budget, it’s never been easier to find clothes that fit and flatter you. I’m sure you’re all experts at finding voucher codes, or shopping on eBay or in charity shops already, so let’s keep it to a quick look at high street collaborations and sample sales.

Most ‘celebrity-designed’ high street clothes ranges strike me as little more than an excuse to slap an extra tenner on the price of a garment, but there have been some surprisingly successful collaborations between the chain stores and certain real designers.

For me, the +J womenswear and menswear collections by Jil Sander for Uniqlo have been the best value for money so far this year, with well-cut, versatile pieces that I’ve worn over and over again. If you don’t live near a store they’re available online, and regularly turn up on sale.

I should also mention the Sonia Rykiel collections for H&M and the new Pierre Hardy shoe designs for Gap.

Another way to find designer clothing for less is to hunt down a sample sale. These tend to be based in big cities, and I’m a regular at ones in London. You can find discounts of up to 90%, but there’s no way of knowing exactly what will be on stock on the day and you do have to be prepared to turn up early and sift through everything.

Old favourites of mine include the Secret Sample Sale and Designer Warehouse Sales. If you’d like a quick guide to getting the most out of a sale, there’s one on my site www.pennygolightly.com, and I mention them regularly on Twitter too (@PennyGolightly).

If you don’t live anywhere nearby, don’t worry, you’re more than catered for by boutique sale websites such as Brandalley and SecretSales.

Good food

Life is too short to eat bad food. If you fancy a change from all those 2-for-1 restaurant offers, excellent though they are, then you could get cooking at home instead. I like to buy food that’s in season because it’s at its best, and also because there are sometimes gluts where lots arrive at the market all at once, lowering prices.

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There are also many fancy ingredients that I never buy at the supermarket because I can grow them at home for only a few pence. Even if you only have a small windowsill to spare, you can give your cooking a real gourmet lift with home-grown herbs, chillies, baby salad leaves, pea shoots, veg sprouts or microgreens, which are all really quick and easy, and need no special care or equipment.

I started my windowsill garden off with a couple of £1 multipacks of seeds and a bag of compost from Poundland, and some 27p Leo brand dried peas from Asda. So for less than the price of two pre-packed supermarket salads I’ll have home grown freshness all summer long. Bon appetit!

When you have a few pounds or pence to spare, do you have any favourite treats-on-a-budget of your own? Use the comment boxes below to let us know!