Tips for Living in Luxury for Less

Talk about being in a “no flex zone”, gone are the days when it was en vogue to live in the lap of luxury and brag about. Even humble-bragging is frowned down on nowadays. The Great Recession taught Americans a lot, mainly that can get by — and still be happy — while living on far less.

Naturally, this mentality has changed the face of the housing and rental markets. Large, restaurant-quality, professional-chef inspired kitchen featuring large appliances such as SubZero refrigerators are out. However, kitchens designed around entertaining and featuring high-efficiency appliances are in. It’s not that luxury is completely out of style, it’s just that Americans are taking a different approach to it.

For example, luxury city apartments, such as downtown, high-rise lofts for rent, are still luxurious, but in a more subtle and sustainable way. LED lighting, roof top solar panels, rain water collection bins, and local, sustainably sourced or recycled materials are all attractive — and luxurious — that can not only enhance the aesthetics of new luxury apartments, but make their practicality more attractive to prospective, environmentally-conscious tenants. After all, going “green” is in.

However, don’t let the word luxury throw you off. While most things that are considered luxurious typically aren’t affordable, luxury city apartments surprisingly are, which makes furnishing luxury lofts and apartments more affordable than ever. Remember, being frugal is trendy.

Thrift shopping is an excellent — and trendy — way to furnish a loft apartment, especially in larger metropolitan areas whose thrift and second hand stores tend to have a greater variety of goods. Many people find the entire process of thrifting and hunting for just the right piece for just the right price to be enjoyable. For the bold (or extremely frugal), dumpster diving is becoming an increasingly popular way to not only furnish an apartment, but to find all manner of items ranging from clothes and in some cases even food.

Combined with the affordable rental rates of luxury city apartments, thrifting (and maybe even dumpster diving if you dare) can allow you to live in luxury and still be considered cool More information like this.