30 Chic Days - Day Eleven

Day 11: Enjoy low-cost luxuries

I may not be rich enough to spend a month staying at the Ritz Paris, or eat in silver service restaurants each evening. But I can have one or two nights at a beautiful hotel in my home town a few times a year, dine on petite pieces of eye fillet steak once or twice a month and sip Moet or Veuve Clicquot once in a while.

I have found that you don't need to have tons of money to live well. My husband and I often have this conversation. He concludes that the things we enjoy doing, we can do on a small budget. Yes, we want to buy a house one day, and we are saving hard.

But in the meantime, why live like a poor person? Why not put aside a small amount of money each payday to feed the soul?

Aside from the ones mentioned above, here are my favourite low-cost luxuries, to be enjoyed every so often. Having them all the time would ruin the fun.

A barista-made coffee.
A thick, glossy magazine. I bought October's The World of Interiors recently with Anna Wintour's rural retreat. Divine!
High-cocoa content chocolate.
Having my hair highlighted, trimmed and styled. The head massage while shampooing makes my toes fall off.
A macaron or other French pastry from a fancy boulangerie.
Browsing in an upmarket store, and sampling fragrance and hand-cream on the way out.
A blissfully early night.
A long shower where I do everything (hairwash, facial exfoliant, body scrub, legs shaved) and then smooth on thick body cream.

I feel like there are a million more things that could be on my list. Will you help me? What are your favourite low-cost luxuries?

In the photo above I am reclining in our luxury suite at a fancy hotel last month. It was my 40th, so why not? In my dreams, my ideal French girl's apartment is very different to this (more rustic and sparse, even though it is in Paris), but I wouldn't mind it if my Parisienne maison was decorated like our suite.