Got a massive student debt you reckon you may never be able to pay off? Enjoy being showered with gifts? Then why not start dating sugar daddies?
It's certainly not for everyone - but it is for Billie Lade.
The 24-year-old, from California, USA, began regularly dating older men after she got tired of scrolling through apps looking for people who spoke her 'love language'.
She said: "I have been using online dating off and on since 2014. When I was in college, it was easiest to use Tinder or Bumble, since most of the college guys I wanted to date also used those apps.
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"Since graduating and coming to the Bay Area though, I've had much less leisure time to endlessly scroll through people I wanted to date.
"My love language is gift-giving and receiving, and I wanted to be efficient in my dating. I only wanted to date men who were willing to talk to me in a way that made me feel wanted and loved, for example through gifts."
Billie - who works full-time as a special education teacher - hasn't looked back, earning enough through sugar dating to pay off her student loans.
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She said: "I don't keep a solid record of all the gifts and presents sugar daddies have given me, but I have been able to pay off my undergraduate student loans of $8,500 (£6,893), which has been such a life-changer, and has made it so much more exciting to plan for the future.
"I know what I want, and I know what I have to offer, and I'm able to surround myself with like-minded individuals. Sugar dating is not for every person, but it certainly works for me."
Beyond all the gifts, fancy meals and ski trips, Billie has also found a romantic partner through sugar dating, and has spent lockdown in his cabin near Lake Tahoe.
She said: "He is the only man I have a romantic and physical connection with now.
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"I would not consider him a conventional nor stereotypical sugar daddy since he's a lot younger - also in his twenties, like me - than most of the men I have sugar dated.
"I call him my romantic partner rather than my sugar daddy. He does all the same things though: treats me to delicious food on dates or dishes he has made himself, takes me on fantastic weekend getaways in the Bay Area or while we are travelling, and buys me gifts that are meaningful and beyond my own budget, such as sexy clothes."
Billie and her partner/sugar daddy hybrid are still very much active in the sugar game though, but have vowed to be sexually exclusive.
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She said: "He's totally supportive of me pursuing my social connections with other people, but we established that we were going to be exclusive in our romantic and sexual relationship. We're super open about our communication and expectations, which is so refreshing and exciting.
"Sugaring is consuming, it takes more mental effort than regular dating, but for me, the rewards have been so worth it.
"Being in control of my dating life while meeting my goals and feeling cared for has changed my life for the better."
Featured Image Credit: Jam PressTopics: Interesting, Community