Live Lavishly on a Dime

When you aren't making the dough to shop at Anthropologie for clothes and Haverty's for luscious furniture, you don't have to lose hope. You can look ultra couture by making some simple style decisions and using your cash wisely.

Clothes

Avoid the mall. That's the number one rule for looking chic. Here's why: when you're running low on cash and go to the mall, you're severely limited in the items you can purchase. You may find yourself slinking into some store like Aeropostale, the sales section of Gap, Pac-Sun, or American Eagle. Purchasing all of your clothes from here while you're on a budget, will make you look like you're on a budget. A better option is to buy jeans from Forever21 and you can also purchase a few must-have accessories or items from other mall stores. However, you're going to want to do the bulk of your shopping in thrift stores. Why? Thrift stores have everything from fur coats to leather shoes! You can buy a pair a cute leather boots for $2, where else are you going to find a deal like this? How about a real fur coat for $100 (of course, this would be a splurge and by no means should you make purchases this big on a regular basis while being on a budget). You can also find leather handbags, gorgeous beaded dresses, amazing jackets, jeans. Everything you need for fashion can be purchased at a thrift store.

If you don't know how to put items together, that's okay, this takes practice. Try going on a style blog website such as lookbook.nu for inspiration on how to fashionably dress. I think you'll find that an outfit consisting of real leather boots, skinny jeans, a silk blouse, and over-sized blazer looks way better than a plain t-shirt and shorts. Remember to wear things you'll look comfortable in, because at the end of the day, rocking what you wear is the most chic!

Home Decor

Just because you don't have oodles of cash does not mean your house has to look like a college dorm room. Again, furniture can be purchased via thrifting. However, you're going to need to distinguish between trash and treasures. Look at the item and see if you could refinish it, replace the glass, or whatever. Things that need to be reupholstered are too much of a hassle unless you know how to do it, so skip those items. I've found an $8 Japanese-style coffee table and a $10 emerald green wing back chair while thrifting, so good finds are possible and easy to find. You can even find silver candlestick holders and platters for a few bucks! For dishes, try hitting up the dollar store. Just get some plain white ones if nothing else catches your eye. This can look very chic and any meal you serve will look like it's straight from the chef's kitchen.

When it comes to art, I wouldn't splurge on mass-produced reproductions. Instead, meet some artists. Nearly every town or city has an art district and every town has an artist. So get to know people and ask around. Buying a one-of-a-kind original painting is way nicer than going to World Market and picking up the same art piece 15,000 other people have. Remember in your shopping, uniqueness is key.

You can also go to a textile store and get fabric for making your own curtains and pillows. If you don't have a bookshelf, make your own shelves with supplies from home depot. You can even purchase Ikea furniture then spray paint it to match the rest of your decor. Never underestimate the power of a can of spray paint! It can change something lackluster into something spectacular.

My secret in decorating is to buy cheap, then when I find something absolutely amazing that will make my decor look 10x more expensive, I splurge. For example, I purchased a $10 white lamp from a thrift store, but I'm saving my money so I can splurge on this incredible lampshade from Anthropologie. This isn't totally necessary, but when you mix your inexpensive but chic finds with some truly expensive finds, it makes the whole thing look expensive! Keep this is mind.. it makes decorating way easier.

Food

As a girl who loves food, even on a budget, I can't resist my sushi, smoked salmon, mimosas, and imported European cheeses. So, the key to eating delicious food while on a budget is learning how to cook. There are plenty of dishes that are so expensive when you go out to eat, but are really cheap if you stay in. For example, I taught myself how to make sushi and found that when you make sushi at home, not only does it cost less (because you get multiple uses out of the nori, wasabi, rice, ginger, and soy sauce), but you also get WAY more. You can also learn how to cook pad thai or Peking duck. These dishes are exotic and tasty, but also easy to fit into a budget. Curry is always a good choice because the ingredients are so inexpensive! Buy curry powder once and you'll reuse it over and over. I also like to keep a can of coconut milk in the pantry in case I want to make a spicy coconut curry. Rice is cheap and filling so I generally use it a lot in my cooking.

If you don't like Asian food, pasta is a great direction to go in. Stuffed manicotti is a simple dish. Just buy some marinara, shells, ricotta, and spinach! I then go ahead and mix some spices and a little bit of milk in my cheese mixture, but it turns out delicious every time. When it comes to cheeses, I buy these less often, but if you use them sparingly in dishes, aged cheese completely changes the taste of a meal when used in place of cheap cheese. Also, you can buy $3 champagne!! Whenever it goes on sale at CVS or Walgreens, I get a few bottles because you never know when you'll have company or a reason to celebrate. And the morning after the celebration, you'll get to treat yourself to a yummy mimosa while reading the paper.

Another really inexpensive meal is chili! Just buy an onion, a can of stewed tomatoes, two cans of whatever beans you like, and chili powder! It tastes really good and it's very hearty. Also, try making your own soups. Vegetables are inexpensive, it tastes way better than canned soup, and (bonus!) you can freeze the leftovers and eat it later!

You don't have to sacrifice taste when on a budget, you just have to change where you're shopping and what you're buying. I've noticed that people who shop at thrift stores for clothes achieve a look very close to the models in Anthropologie catalogs, yet they spend less money than people shopping at the mall who wish they could shop at Anthropologie! It's so easy that anyone who wants a chic lifestyle can achieve it and should!