Five Hacks to Living a Champagne Life on a Lemonade Budget*

Lets face it, the temptation to live outside your means is always there. We all want a better life but on the rubbish wages we receive and the general cost of living it’s hard to be happy with a modest life. As a mother I always want the best for my child but being a single mother who is self employed sometimes that’s really hard.. but fear not, I’ve come up with six hacks to get more out of life than what you can realistically afford without putting yourself into debt. Some times these take a little work but in all honesty, they’re worth it.

Buy Second Hand and Upcycle
Oh, you like that chalk painted bookcase in Next? It’s £499?! Imagine if you could get your own for a quarter of the price? Well you can! Hit up a second hand furniture store or browse Gumtree, pick up a bookcase cheap and buy the paint from a DIY store. My cousin did her whole house like this and it cost so much less than buying everything new from a store. Not only that, but you can feel like a total rock star doing it all yourself!

Use Discount Sites & Outlet Stores
You like living a designer life, then head to the outlet stores, they sell designer with huge disocunts. Most huge cities have a trading estate outside the bypass that will have huge stores and a lot of them are outlet. Or if you can’t get to them, use discount sites like http://cheapvinyl.co.uk/ which is perfect for getting those rare records at a cheaper price.

Use Cash Back Sites for EVERYTHING
My dad introduced me to getting cash back while I was doing my Christmas shopping and it’s been amazing. When I get my cash out later this month I’ll be able to put a deposit down for our Walt Disney World holiday. In 4 months I’ll have got over £300 in cash back from everything to doing my grocery shopping to booking train tickets and buying DVDs. My favourite is Top Cash Back but I’m a member of a few to make sure I cover all the bases.

Book Everything Separate for Trips
Book your flights during the sales, use Hotels.com for hotels as they weekly offer a discount code. I’ve found your holiday can cost up to half if you book everything separate rather than buying a package especially a package through a travel agent as you have travel agency fees to pay. These days with the internet it’s so easy to put together your own package and avoid those pesky fees. Who’s up for an extra round of cocktails?

Eat our at Restaurants that Offer Buy One Get One Free
Eating out is expensive but who doesn’t love it? Whenever we go out we always pick to eat somewhere that does by one get one free, be it on drinks, main meals or a kids eat free offer. It makes it more affordable and seem worth while. Even though it’s not, we could just stay in but where is the fun in that?