What does your monthly expenses look like? what % do you spend on rent and how much do you end up saving?

The Social Lounge
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Returning to Bengaluru after two years for work and so was figuring out what my monthly expenses would look like, and its throwing off my budgeting a little. The city seems to have gotten more expensive and i feel like its competing with mumbai on rent prices :melting_face:

I wanted some perspective on how others are managing their expenses in the current economy or what they should be like, I did find this thread posted earlier this year but it seems to be a poll with no results and there wasn’t much discussion underneath, so here here is a separate one

For some context, the following would be my breakdown in terms of % of my income:

  • 30% ➔ rent next to office in HSR
  • 10% ➔ utilities / househelp services / groceries
  • 10% ➔ other expenses / purchases
  • 50% ➔ savings, both short & long term

I did find places in the 2-3km circle with rent costing 20%, but it is offset by the commute charges for either public transport or renting a bike with fuel charges, bringing it back to almost the same breakdown. Plus the extra time wasted on bengaluru commute is its own cost in itself.

But is this on par with everybody else living in the city or in similar metro cities? Or am I just poor at planning and should hunt for better properties. What does the breakdown of your expenses look like? How much are you saving?

be an adult they said it’ll be fun they said, what a scam

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About 1/4th of my take home goes away in rent (I am in Mumbai).

Around the same amount goes away in necessary monthly expenses (food, transport, utilities, fees, maids etc).

This leaves approx. half the salary for either savings, investment or enjoyment. The choice varies …

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I tried budgeting, I bought a ynab license in 2013 which I still use today. It’s supposed to help you save money and build a financial buffer over time. You’re supposed to assign a certain amount towards a certain expense and whatever is leftover is what you end up saving.

It has never worked for me, I live my life one impulse purchase after another. There’s always something else I can do or buy or eat.

But that has nothing to do with what you’re asking.

Yes, city life has become expensive. You trade time for convenience and the difference today is far less than it was a couple of years ago.

Try and simplify. Like using as much public transport your sanity allows. I usually park at malls and take the metro.

Not making every meal a party. It’s okay to eat bland foods, the rest of the world does.

I’ve recently adjusted my food intake to one staple and one protein, it’s saved me thousands. Chapati or rice with one dish. No appetizer, no dessert, never chapati and rice together.

And you know what? I’m still fat. I have more money leftover though, which is amazing.

I make my own coffee too, it took about 20 or 30 cups but I got proportions just right so that I don’t miss my latte from CCD.

Earlier my thinking was, okay, I’m going to earn 1500 today, so that Rs 150 B1G1 latte is worthy business expense, since I can freeze the other one for tomorrow. Over time, the price of that latte crept upto 250 for one.

Now with my own coffee machine, each cup costs less than Rs 50, with CCD’s own grounds.

Similar with ice, I love ice in every drink but I was spending Rs 50 for bags of ice almost every day. Now I make my own.

For rent, If you spend the majority of your time away from home, it’s worthwhile to rent a cheaper place. Rent is probably the second worst expense anyone has, after food. Meaning, it doesn’t make sense to splurge on rent or food if you have any kind of monetary goal for savings/retirement.

Rent is money you’ll never see again, so it make sense to minimize it as much as you’re able.

Commute isn’t bad if you find a way to make it comfortable and productive. I write all my notes and ideas and calculations while in the metro.

Ha, I’ll stop my rambling here.

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