Frances Cook is a journalist who writes about personal finance.

OPINION: When money gets tight, a lot of money advice turns to what you need to cut back on.

It’s time for fewer lattes, to cancel the gym, to say goodbye to holidays.

But what if the better question was, how could you live well without going broke?

Yes, the cost of living has been cooked lately. But the good life doesn’t have to be about designer handbags, or dinners with a side of several $40 cocktails.

It can be about joy, freedom, and moments that make it feel like you’re actually living, not just surviving.

So here are five ways to live a good life when you’re on a not-so-luxury budget, using tips pulled from some of the smartest guests on the Making Cents podcast.

1. Hostlike Martha, spend like Kmart

Skip the five-star budget when you’re looking to create a five-star social experience.

A bit of planning and a dash of Pinterest can get you over the line, instead.

Sabby Jey has mastered the art of this, turning it into a viral social media series that she’s dubbed “boujee on a budget”.

One of her secret weapons? Hosting at home.

“You want to still give your friends that treatment, but how you treat people can come from a place of thoughtfulness, instead of just paying.”

For celebrations, birthdays, or just bringing people together, she’ll skip the restaurant and offer up her home instead.

It can feel fancy just with small touches like sparkling water and lemon from your own tree, and supermarket macaroons put out on a nice plate.

Nice crockery sourced from a secondhand store can elevate simple dishes.

Where she turns for inspiration? “Just watch the OG Martha Stewart.”

Add candles, music, incense, and you’ve created an experience that people want to talk about for weeks, without maxing out your card.

2. Treat yourself, but with a spreadsheet

If you want something nice, it’s time to get strategic.

Jey admits that she often has her eye on high-end clothes or homewares, but she ensures that she’s living like a queen without going into debt.

To make it happen, she keeps a detailed spreadsheet of everything she wants to buy, divided into tiers: essentials, mid-range, and luxe.

Seeing it written down reminds her that an impulse buy of something she’s not so invested in, could actually be robbing her of the treats she really wants.

That keeps the motivation going to keep up her savings, until she hits a goal, and can buy the treat with cash.

3. You don’t need to be perfect, you need systems

Most of us try to use brute force to browbeat ourselves into being “good with money”.

But psychologist Dr. Brad Klontz says willpower and discipline is not only overrated, it’s often totally unsustainable.

“The brain is a cognitive miser,” he explained on Making Cents.

It’s just trying to figure out how to expend the least amount of energy. That’s why habits are so powerful.”

Rather than trying to micromanage every spending decision, Klontz recommends automating as much as possible.

That includes creating autopayments so that your savings happen straight after payday, as well as designing your environment to make good choices easier.

“I don’t have dessert in my house. Because I’ll eat it. And so that’s an example of making it easy to be healthy,” says Klontz.

Same goes for your money. Set up the system, then step back.

What you do once doesn’t have much impact on your money. But what you do over and over, can change your money life.

Create a good foundation, drop some of your mental load, and watch how it becomes easier to make good decisions with your money elsewhere.

4. Borrow, don’t buy

Community is an underrated factor in doing well with your money.

So if you have the option to make use of friends and family, go for it.

Nick Gentle managed to retire early at just 30, thanks to a combination of frugal living, and investing as much as he could.

His golden rule for spending? Spend on what you’ll use often and borrow the rest.

“Stuff I use all the time, I tend to invest in,” he says.

“But I don’t buy stuff for one-off use. I tend to borrow.”

It’s a mindset shift that can be applied to many areas.

Hosting a themed party? Borrow the costume.

Fixing something in the garden? Ask a mate for the hedge trimmer.

5. Heading on holiday? Dodge the ATM sting

Save your holiday cash for maitais and momentos, by making sure you don’t get caught out with nasty fees like the ATM or currency conversion.

Kiwibank senior product manager Hayley Tito ran into this herself, on a family trip to Australia.

She thought she’d be clever by using local accounts. But best laid plans changed when she ran out of funds and used her New Zealand card at an ATM. The fees gave her a nasty surprise

“I think I got a couple hundred dollars cash out and it cost me $15 in bank fees at the time,” she says.

“I knew I was going to be hit with a few charges from my New Zealand bank, but what I wasn’t aware of was that the Aussie banks over there also take a clipping.”

If you have to hit the ATM, check the fees, and try to do the necessary transactions all in one go, so that you’re only paying once.

Even if you’re just tapping your card at the counter, watch for one crucial decision: which currency to pay in.

If the terminal gives you a choice, you should almost always pick the local currency.

“Visa or MasterCard… generally have better rates than what the retailer can offer you,” says Tito.

Avoid those fees, and you’ll keep more money for the things that actually make a holiday feel rich.