The Frugalitarian™, an innovative blog on living for less, featured Showhomes recently. The Frugaltarian’s mission is to teach people that by changing the way they spend their time and money, they can live a way of life with multiple payoffs. Take a look at what they wrote:

Luxe Living Arrangements for Less

Unique living arrangements are a fantastic way for Frugalitarians^TM to live well on less.  And you have more opportunities than you might think.  If you’re beyond the apartment complex, done with duplexes and ready to live in a house, but not own it, here’s something you should know:  you can live in a gorgeous home – even a mansion – for what you might be paying for an average apartment.  Showhomes is a company that connects sellers with vacant homes on the market with people who want to live very well without the full commitment of a house.

Showhomes Home Managers

With more homes going into foreclosure and other homes languishing on the market for months, money is being lost.  One creative solution for homeowners who have had to move on is to fill their vacant homes and recoup at least the costs of insurance and utilities until their homes sell.

Here’s how it works: homeowners, or banks in the case of foreclosures hire Showhomes to find trustworthy people with nice furniture.  The company screens what they then call home managers – to live in homes.  Get this!  Showhomes then pays professional movers to move you and sends a professional stager to arrange your furniture, art, etc., in a way that emphasizes the home’s most attractive features and minimizes its less appealing qualities.

What’s the catch?  No catch.  But you do have to do your part – pay on time, treat the property respectfully, oh – and keep the home in show condition at all times.  So if messy is your M-O, maybe this isn’t the arrangement for you.

Showhomes has franchises all over the U.S.  So for more information go to www.showhomes.com.

And certainly, there are other creative ways to live in a lovely lodging for less.  I lived in a masterfully refurbished farmhouse and fed a small herd of sheep and some free-range chickens in exchange for lower rent.  We have friends who shovel snow and clean the hallway of a fourplex and, in exchange, pay monthly rent of just a few hundred dollars a month.

It’s true that landlords want responsible, reliable tenants.  Just think about what you can – and are willing – to do for them and make a proposal.  You’d be surprised what can happen when you simply ask for a creative living arrangement.  Your humble abode could be a splashy residence that exceeds your wildest imaginings.