Big purchases this year though: Apple Watch, treadmill, and 2 AC units (not shown here because it was in July).
What app is that you're using?
this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2026
208 points (96.4% liked)
Frugal
6129 readers
1 users here now
Discuss how to save money.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
https://apps.apple.com/au/app/money-manager-expense-budget/id560481810
this one by the looks
That’s correct!
OP want it secret ?
Sure
925 rent? Yeah that would help.
They have 2 roommates. So the total cost is 2,775 for the rental. If we assume 3 bedrooms that's average outside of the major metros.
Gotta get roommates to get rent that low
Roommates are spouse and children and they don't pay nuthin towards rent.
I’m forever alone
load more comments
(1 replies)
Have you considered eating the cat?
Have you considered giving up the housing, car, gym, dining, TCG and entertainment and spending it all on the cat?
Why does this comment sound like it was written by a cat..
I just spent $1000 on two AC units mostly for my cat tbh
Umm have you SEEN my cat? I could never
Not yet. Send pics :3
Good gods that's a glorious beast.
Princess donut?
Ahem. Grand Champion, Breed Winner Regional, National Winner Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk is a tortoiseshell persian.
You know how I feel about people that don't know the colour of cats Carl. Mongo is appalled.
No shame on you OP, it's not your fault, your cat looks wonderful.
This is an outrage!
Heres one
Fashion the leather into a hat!
Wow I'd blow through your grocery budget in 3 months.
Helps to be small and eat the same thing every day
And I'm going to guess you're single without dependents?
Correct! No gf to make me spend more than I need to lol
Car, Car insurance, and Gas makes the "Car" look cheap. How about a Cargo-bike?
Depending on your living situation and your utility rates you maybe be able to save some more there.
My utility offers time of use rates, so between 7pm and 7am is nearly half the price as mid day peak use. I do most of my energy intensive stuff during that time such as laundry, using the oven, and even my hot water tank. I live alone so i am easily able to micromanage the demand for hot water. Its not major savings but the more you do the more it adds up. An hour or two of running the tank in the evening is enough for a shower that evening and ill still have some hot water for dishes in the morning. I turn off the tank before showering.
If you want to be more conservative with water some things you could try include -letting the toilet mellow, especially when urine isn't particularly stinky (you can save more by using grey water like mop water to flush, some people go as far as to collect dish water in buckets) -navy showers where water is off for lathering shampoo, shaving etc -using rain barrels if you have outside irrigation or water needs. You could even refill the toilet tank with rain barrels if things line up conveniently for that. I'll admit i don't always do these things as my water rate and use is already fairly cheap but i do some when feeling especially frugal. I've also routed my sump pit to irrigate some cedars I planted.
For gas/heating/cooling I keep my house as cold as my furnace will let me (in my case my furnace recomends no colder than 60 F for incoming air). Currently i cool at night with windows and fans but will be installing a heat pump soon as the noise pollution from a nearby road is a little too much sometimes. I will likely only be cooling after 7pm as i am rarely home before 5 pm anyway. I can also crunch the numbers and see if a smart thermostat is worth it to micromanage when a heat pump should heat and when the furnace should.
For grocceries I'm sure you're already shopping sales but don't be afraid to overbuy some stuff. I like a good quality cheese brand and when its on a good sale I will buy a lot and fill my freezer with it as it freezes very well. The same is true for many essentials. I drink a litre of milk a day so even if its a dollar off I will buy several jugs of it, as much as i can reasonably fit in my fridge, as it has a relatively long expiration date and will be consumed before it. I will also freeze 40% off discounted meats and cheese if they still seem fresh enough, especially higher quality cheeses which really just get better past the best before dates.
Turns out I’m not THAT frugal lol. Some good tips here though. Thankfully I don’t pay for water.
I’m not sure about utility rates changing depending on the time of day where I live. But my showers are only 5 minutes long anyway. And laundry / cooking / dishwashing is almost always done after 7pm anyway. I have 2 roommates so I can’t control what they do though. Unfortunately I do have AC running when I’m at work for my cat. And my roommate insists on heating the house warmer than I’d like. I feel like 65 during the day and 60 at night is fine though.
I don’t shop sales cuz I almost exclusively shop at Aldi (they don’t do sales). But I should still look into stocking up on stuff that freezes well if I ever go anywhere else.
You're still doing really well. You have about a 24% income surplus. I would recommend adding an expense under the "savings" category and make regular contributions as if they were bills if you feel you have enough surplus spending money still. Part of being frugal for me is acting more poor than I am which frees up money for savings or big expenses. I try to prioritize saving cause i do okay in stocks on average and make meaningful profits, certainly enough to outpace current inflation.
I did that for a little bit, but i prefer to see my actual expenses at a glance. My savings is just income minus expenses.
Unfortunately the income includes $3K tax return. So I’m really only saving like $190/month. But at the end of the year I get a profit sharing bonus. 100% of that is saved.
do people really keep the shower on while lathering and cleaning? Is that not default?
Most people keep the shower on the whole time they are in there. I have a friend who will run the shower 10-15 minutes before getting in just to steam up the bathroom a bit.
If im showering in cooler water in the summer I'll often stop the water to lather but in the winter i keep it on the whole time. This is partially due to the cold temperature in my house during the winter.
Letting the water run when ur not even in the shower is insane. I would have a problem with that. In fact if they were my friend, finding that out about them would be the beginning of a declining friendship.
load more comments
(2 replies)
TIL there are companies that offer sensible off peak periods. I usually see shit like 3AM to 6AM.
My utility does also offer ultra low 7pm-7am, like 1/10 the price of avg use. But the on and mid peak use is significantly inflated on that plan. They also offer a tiered use where the first 600 KW are a lower rate then the rest is a higher rate. Theres a few options but standard time of use tends to be the most cost effective for most residences. We have a lot of hydro power so a lot of it is about evening out the demand over 24 hours.
Congrats!
I need to find a place with lower rent. My yearly rent is above 1/3 of your current spendings.
Roommmates is the way… my rent is $2775 but I split it 3 ways.
How does $33,300 / 3 equal $5,500? Is your rent only for 6 months?
The whole spending is for 6 months currently based on the dates at the top.
Ha, well aren't I an idiot. Cheers
They're under $1k a month in rent for two people, that's pretty reasonable for much of the US.
Looking good from where I'm sitting. It's tough out there right now, and keeping track like this is a perfect way to keep a handle on things!
Love this!
Thought that was monthly rent at first though
I track mine via a google sheet. Leaving off the amounts, here is everything that is >= 1% of my income
Category | Pct of Spending | Pct of Income | Memo
Government - Japan | 33.64% | 28.83% | Various taxes, health insurance, and pension
Entertainment | 16.53% | 14.17% | Anything related to eating out, vacation, and non-required stuff.
Bills - Mortgage | 11.72% | 10.04% | House payment
Grocery | 8.98% | 7.69% | Groceries with the occasional home good or take-out sushi from the grocery store I can't be bothered to separate
Wife allowance | 6.65% | 5.70% | wife (dependent)'s phone and life insurance payments + spending money
Bills - Electricity | 4.83% | 4.14% | this will be a higher percentage by the end of the year
Home Goods | 2.45% | 2.10% | caulk, paint, tools, furniture, or whatever.
Auto - insurance | 2.37% | 2.03% | car + motorbike
Insurance - Life | 2.12% | 1.81% | nothing interesting here
Auto - Other | 2.03% | 1.74% | not insurance, fuel, nor tolls so anything else.
The other categories are as follows
Work (will be reimb) | things I pay then expense and get back from work
Auto - ETC | tolls
Bills - Septic Service | yearly
Bills - Internet | what I'm typing this from
Medical | including dental and vision
Gifts | gifts
Auto - fuel | for both bike and car
Clothing/Hair | this poor category sees little
Farm | when I pay cash for stuff for my farm business
Bills - Water | no sewer
Transportation | generally just topping up my transit card for trains/busses; I might do something different next year
Bills - JP Visa Fee | yearly CC fee
Bills - Phone | phone
Bills - Google Services | pay for extra storage, but migrating away from google slowly
Bills - Youtube Premium | yt
Education | gotta keep learning
Other | anything not obviously something else
Government - US | tax-related (I never have to pay since I don't make that much) and overseas voter stuff
view more: next ›