There is this image that living the life of luxury means lounging around all day doing nothing as people do your bidding, but real luxury isn't about wasting your life, it's about enjoying all the small details of your life.
You can own a luxury car but if it is coated with dirt and filled with used tissues and discarded coffee cups you won't feel very luxurious when you are in it. On the other hand you can own a modest car in a favorite color that you keep sparkling clean and in excellent condition that you feel great driving. Add some details like tossing on a pair of driving gloves, some stylish driving sunglasses and a fun location to drive to and you will get that luxury feeling.
What are the luxuries in life that you really enjoy? Are you a foodie that thinks fine dining is the greatest way to enjoy life or would just having a amazing cup of coffee each morning be the perfect luxury for you. Do textures in clothes, sheets and towels make you feel luxurious or would you rather spend your time soaking in a bubble bath.
While advertisers try to push the idea on us that expensive luxury goods (cars, perfumes, exotic vacations) are the way to a luxurious life that's simply not true. You can feel luxurious wrapped up in a thick warm towel that you bought on sale for $10. The other truth is what one person finds luxurious might leave another person indifferent.
You need to find what you believe luxury to be. While at first thought you might think dining out is luxurious, try to hone in exactly what part of the experience it is that you truly enjoy. Is it the food, the restaurants decor, the romance of the candlelight, the company, or the fact that you don't have to do the dishes at the end.
Try to recreate the experience that you find most luxurious at home. If it is the food, start researching recipes, if it is the decor, study exactly what you like and try to find inexpensive items in thrift stores, Kijiji, Craigslist or outlet stores to re-create it, candles are easy and cheap to buy, friends can be invited over and you can learn to tidy up as you cook so your kitchen is clean by the time dinner is ready and the dinner dishes can then either be placed in the dish washer or quickly wiped and left stacked to wash latter.
Sometimes we just have too much stuff around us to enjoy luxury. How do you start your day? Are you digging through piles of dirty laundry to find something decent to wear? Do you have a make up bag that is crammed with samples from the drug store and 5 year old make up?
Simplifying your life could be the answer for you to enjoy greater luxuries. Chose the clothes (and any accessories or jewelry) that you are going to wear the night before, even if you are going to be at home all day. What ever situation that you are in, be it work in an office or working at home, it will be one less decision that you have to make in the morning so you will be able to enjoy other things. If you love clothes and they are one of your luxuries then choosing your outfits the night before can become a very pleasant ritual.
That means that you will have to be organized with your laundry so that fabulous black dress you know you look great in will be in your closet ready for you to pick out. If you want luxury on a budget then it means you will have to think of chores not as a burdens but a small necessity to enjoy the things you really love.
This simplification might be what you need in the rest of your home. You can have less things of better quality, so instead of having 10 chipped mugs find 6 good quality ones and dump the broken ones. Sometimes you can't find your "nice stuff" because you are holding onto things "that you might need someday" and anyone would fine it hard to feel luxurious in that type of atmosphere.
Are you mindlessly watching tedious television programs or surfing the internet when you could be using that time to pamper yourself? Sometimes to enjoy something you have to be a bit disciplined with yourself. You know that you love bubble baths but you find yourself night after night sprawled on the sofa. Give yourself a good shake and get in the habit of getting yourself to make the effort to do the luxurious things you enjoy.
Don't go chasing after the same luxury once you have achieved it. If you bought a luxurious bathrobe that you love (on sale of course) it doesn't mean that having 3 or 4 more will make you feel even more luxurious.
Don't start filling up your life with money sucking distractions, like buying several cups of designer coffee a day, when what you really crave is a cappuccino machine in your own kitchen.
When you really discover what it is that you want in luxury you will find that walking into a store is not the only way of achieving it. It might be something that you already have in your live but are not taking advantage of. For some simple ideas of affordable luxuries read 25 Inexpensive Ideas to Give Your Life Luxury and 25 More Inexpensive Ideas to Give Your Life Luxury.
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Copyright Ingrid Talpak 2010
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I really enjoyed reading this blog. My new years resolution is to be more organized and clean since I have 3 kids its a challenge. Thank you for your information. Im putting this in my favorites.