Living a Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget This 2023*

January is the worst month, for so many reasons, but for me it’s the fact I feel practically bankrupt especially since I have a certain someone with a birthday right at the end of the month (planned that one well, didn’t I?) It just makes it so hard to stretch your budget! I feel like January is a month when the rug is pulled from under me. Being self employed I have my tax and national insurance to pay, it’s so cold meaning heating and electricity bills high (especially this year) and as I always suffer from serious January anxiety so I comfort eat. The year feels like a big black hole, as a pessimist this terrifies me so to add the worry of not making enough to be financially stable and I’m pretty much a basket case.

I don’t want to give up all the lovely comforts I worked hard, I want to go out for lunch, or have that Costa coffee. I want to be able to treat my daughter here and there so she doesn’t drown with me. But without a doubt, I have to pull my belt in and there really is nothing else to it. And this year, we are planning to move house at the start of Summer which will be a huge expense!

Thankfully, over the last few years I’ve come up with a few ways to continue living that Champagne lifestyle during those times you can barely afford lemonade.

Be Money Savvy

As much as I don’t want to be an adult now, I know I am and that means making adult purchases. As I mentioned above, my partner and I are moving in the summer and we want to put money aside for that, as well as for our future. That means being money savvy. Using a savingscalculator.org really helped me understand how compound interest worked and how much I should be putting away each month. You can easily change it to your own currency and it works out how your initial deposit plus monthly input really adds up. Going from a duo, just myself and my daughter to adding an extra person has definitely encouraged me to make long term plans for my money and i feel so much better for doing so. I’m looking forward to having money for big ticket life events in the future.

Have a Clear Out

I know I preach this in every single money saving post, but it’s my favourite way to stay afloat when money is tight. So many households in the UK make unnecessary purchases when they’re flush with cash, but then never look at them again. This month I had a massive clear out and divided it between selling on eBay, Facebook groups and websites like Vinted. I’ve made nearly as much money selling stuff as I have through work (anyone else having a dry January?) Old baby toys, clothes my daughter has grown out of, books and DVDs I’ll never use again.

Shop the Sales

If you need to make purchases in January, like if you child has a birthday, try and shop during the January sales. You can honestly save a fortune! There are people out there who do all their Christmas shopping in January when everything is so much cheaper and if I had the space to store it, I would too. I do generally pick up a few bits for my daughter’s birthday, along with Christmas items for next year such as decorations and even a tree! I’m a firm believer in shopping the sales and be sure to always keep an eye out for discount codes as well as using cashback websites like, Top Cashback!

No body likes to feel the pinch and give up luxuries they love. But if you’re savvy enough, that doesn’t have to be the case. Just hold your heard high and do a little research.

How do you save money when times are tight?