Susan Boyle doesn't spend big

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Susan Boyle isn't a "big spender" and her biggest luxuries are taking the bus and buying cottage pie.

The 58-year-old singer has amassed a multi-million pound fortune in the 10 years since she shot to fame on 'Britain's Got Talent' but she tries not to splash the cash too much because she remembers how "miserable" it was to be poor.

Asked how she treats herself, she said: "I like to take the bus to my local supermarket.

"I meet people there and have a good old blether.

"I'm not a big spender, because for 47 years I didn't have any money and I struggled to pay the bills and buy food. It was pretty miserable.

"But now I can buy luxuries I could never have afforded before, like cottage pie. And things like lipstick and perfume I'd never had before. I've got quite a few now. I could probably sell you a few and work out a decent price?"

But Susan - who still lives in her late parents' former council house in Scotland - has had some extravagances, including a £300 coat and two days at a spa, and her favourite luxury is flying business class.

She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Business class was something else. I can sit back and watch a movie. That was a big transition. The closest I ever got to that was going on my bike to a friend's house to watch a film on their big telly."

The 'I Dreamed a Dream' hitmaker likes to spend more time on her appearance now she's famous because she believes she needs to be the "whole package".

She said: "I thought, 'if I don't do myself up, no-one will like me'," she says.

"I have to be the whole package. I can't look like a dolly bird because of my age, obviously. So I just have to do the best with the looks I have. If I crack a mirror, it's not my fault.

"I've had a bit of help in how to hold myself. It's something I've had to learn over the years. Because in the beginning I was like a cow with a gun."