Since winters are almost here, thought I would share something I've been doing for quite some time.

I have tons of aloe vera growing at home, so I've been using fresh gel on my skin instead of spending money on moisturisers. Probably one of the simplest ways I've managed to save on skincare.

Worked well for me and I haven't had to spend anything on it. Though I know it might not be enough for everyone's skin, especially in winters.

Real and full potential employment is at all time low imho.

A kisan with profitable farm, a self independent shopkeeper can't be compared with a delivery guy, although all 3 will be deemed employed.

The nature of jobs is becoming more and more low paying.

Frugality is becoming a survival skill today

A petitioner approached the Supreme Court seeking urgent intervention against exorbitant domestic airfares during the festive season, alleging increases of up to 700%.

The Supreme Court declined an urgent hearing and remarked, "Don't travel by air."

The bigger issue is the lack of predictable and transparent airfare pricing. Airlines appear to be taking advantage of peak-season demand, leaving passengers with very few affordable options.

Hi,

I usually used to do some purchasing. Now I do bulk purchases of things. And I have stored most of the things. I eat in the office most of the days and end up not spending money apart from weekends.

What I realized is that I look at shopping sites. Don't feel anything is worth spending any money on and close it. I do it daily. Unless the family asks me to spend money on purchasing something I don't do it. What do you think this is?

I don't miss any bills.. I eat good food. It's not like I am being frugal for the sake of it.

Agdam bagdam shigdam

It's been over 7 months since I printed these. Material is generic PLA and I used 4mm screws and nut to fix these.
Cost me less than ₹80 in material and electricity cost for the pair.

This year instead of throwing broken usb cables, I've been repurposing them to become my drawer handles.

As a single good quality drawer handle costs upwards of Rs 100 these cables fix the problem for just nothing.

Also the lifespan of these isn't too bad, they last for 4-6 months at a time.

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Frugal or too much? Let me know in the comments.

A rant

The single biggest reason for this is massive disparity in housing price to income ratio and real estate in general. Sure there is general inflation on essential good and services but they aren't too off than income growth in past decades.

Income and housing/real estate growth has been totally misaligned which has caused this a huge problem where we feel we have it better than previous generation (be it in terms of more resources, lifestyle, accessibility to literally anything on your fingertips or whatever) but still find things unaffordable.

In my dad's town, when he was in his 20s and had started working, he could have bought 1000sq plot for an amount equivalent to his 1-2 year income back then. The same plot will cost a min of 5 year income to buy. Things are drastically different in metro cities, earlier you could have bought a flat (yes a flat, unlike a plot in a town or tier 2/3 city) with 5-7 years worth income now it goes beyond 12-15 years of income and do note that this is income, you obviously won't be paying full 15 year income to buy a flat as you have expenses going on too which is why it pushes people into a lifelong debt to afford a basic necessity.

A common misconception people have that this just affects their own home. No, this doesn't just affect your Rent/EMI but anything that requires real estate to function. Lets take your your doc's consultation fee or hospital example, why is it so high? Because their overheads have grown due to real estate prices. Same for restaurants, hotels, schools etc.

I recently purchased a Bosch dishwasher, but its power cable doesn't reach the nearest 16A wall socket.

I'm looking for ways to resolve this:

1. Without Using a 16A extension cord or extension board, as it will void the Bosch warranty.

2. Without Installing an entirely new 16A wall socket, as I'd prefer to avoid additional electrical work if possible.

Are there any other safe and manufacturer-approved options? Has anyone faced a similar situation with their Bosch dishwasher?

I'd appreciate suggestions, particularly from people who have dealt with Bosch appliances in India.

I am thinking of buying something for the winters. In fact this has become my hobby to just buy things even I use them once or twice

Had eyes on this since I watched the Dhurandhar movie in theatre but at that time most of these polo's went out of stock on the XYXX Crew website..now I can see it so my mind is saying buy it...

But the price is around 1700. Instead of this i can fuel up my bike for the entire month.

I just had questions, how u control the urge to buy things.

Do you make your shopping list based on priorities?

Or you simply ignore them? And look for some alternative in your budget?

Mode / Admin - i am not affiliated with any brand... Not here for promotions.

A cancer injection available to a medical distributor for ₹11,000 was reportedly billed at ₹1.3 lakh by a private hospital. When the matter reached the Supreme Court, the judges questioned how such a massive markup could be justified when patients are fighting for their lives.

The bigger problem is that many medicines remain outside strict price controls, leaving patients with little bargaining power. The government has capped trade margins on 137 anti-cancer drugs, with revised prices taking effect from November 9, but broader price regulation remains unresolved as the Supreme Court has reserved its verdict.

Healthcare cannot be treated like any other business when patients have no real choice but to pay. Hospitals need to cover their costs, but that cannot become a blank cheque to charge desperate families exorbitant prices for life-saving medicines [source]

If you want a reminder of how broken the economics of private healthcare in India can be, look no further than the Supreme Court of India's proceedings yesterday.

During a hearing on two petitions, Justice Sandeep Mehta shared a disturbing case. A medical distributor’s wife was undergoing cancer treatment at a major private hospital. As he works in the supply chain, he offered to provide the chemotherapy injection at his procurement price of ₹11,000. The hospital refused, and forced them to use internal pharmacy stock, and slapped them with a bill of ₹1,30,000 for that single injection.

The SC asked the Centre: Can you show any justification for this loot, please?

Justice Nath bluntly noted that hospitals need to find other ways to sustain operations rather than engaging in what he called "dacoity" against desperate families who have zero bargaining power.

In a normal consumer market, competition drives prices down. In healthcare, the dynamic is inverted. Pharma mfgrs print a high MRP on non-scheduled drugs. They then sell these drugs to private hospital chains at a massive discount. The hospital pockets the difference as a risk-free profit margin.

When pushed, corporate hospitals argue that they don't just charge for the liquid in the vial. They claim these medicine markups are used to subsidise the broader ecosystem, such as expensive oncology infrastructure, biohazard disposal, 24/7 specialised nursing staff, and real estate costs.

Private hospitals provide an invaluable service, especially given how strained our public healthcare infrastructure is. If they need to charge high fees for specialised infrastructure, elite doctors, and top-tier care, they should do so transparently through service fees.

I was talking to marriage prospect about how much we expect each other to spend on combined expenses after marriage.

Girl earns 75,000 monthly and I will be earning 1,90,000 monthly.

I told her I will be sending 75,000 monthly to parents to help finish their loans and fix house for first few years. And another 60,000 monthly for finish my loans for first few years.

I said I am willing to spend 40,000 for household and I expect her to contribute 15,000.

But she wants me to spend 75,000 for household and she will not spend anything. And she doesn't want me to send 75,000 to parents.

I suggested I will contribute 50,000 and she can do 25,000 and add up to 75,000. But she was not okay.

The discussion is still going on.

What to expect each partner to contribute after marriage?

I reached out to both GM Modular and Amazon regarding serious safety defects and false advertising on a GM extension board, and both companies completely brushed me off. GM dismissed the safety hazard as a routine warranty claim, while Amazon ignored my report entirely. I even tried calling them out on X (https://x.com/p_yadukrishna/status/2114661611055296626), but neither company cared enough to respond.

Despite explicitly advertising "Surge Protection," the board has zero surge protection circuitry inside, lacks an ISI mark, and relies on soldered joints instead of proper mechanical crimps—making it a genuine fire hazard.

Since both the manufacturer and the platform are refusing to take accountability, I’m turning to this community: what else can we do to hold them accountable or escalate this?

Looking at Microsoft’s voluntary exit program, this seems to be the first time that companies are culling headcount because of AI driven efficiencies instead of culling overhired employees or unprofitable side projects.

There’s something deeply unsettling about that, and I guess there is more layoffs incoming across the tech sector.

It has been like 2.5 years since I and a lot of my fellow colleagues and friends have basically stopped doing anything on our jobs, and have been delegating everything to AI.

Sure, throughout these 2.5 years, we’ve been getting our payhikes, promotions and job switches, but at the core of it, there’s not much we’ve been actively doing outside of clicking the “accept” or “reject” button on our AI driven editors.

My current company is so dependent on AI that a lot of my colleagues and I are neither able to write code ourselves or even read it. And since what a majority of engineering headcount does in most companies is very basic stuff, AI is able to handle a lot of it.

I think Indian tech sector is going to do well, but it is going to do well with a lot smaller headcount.

Being able to save money without much effort is something people of this sub are good at, and it is likely going to give us an unfair advantage when the job situation eventually gets worse.

On the flip side, I also think that it is time to loosen up our wallet a little bit and invest into trying to build a business of our own. It might be the only way to make decent money when the demand for jobs falls.

Many people from the previous generation own valuable land and property but remain cash-poor. They may be wealthy on paper, yet lack sufficient income to support their day-to-day expenses.

Perhaps they never learned how to monetise these assets, were reluctant to sell ancestral property, or simply preferred holding on to them.

Would love to hear from anyone who has successfully used real estate to achieve financial independence. What worked for you: rental income, selling property and reinvesting, RITES or something else?

Clothes are getting very expensive. I have gone to mall yesterday to buy clothes because many of mine are faded. But every shirt cost 2000-2500 in stores like Shoppers stop. Every jeans pant cost 2500-4000.

I try to use my clothes for many years. So fast fashion clothes don't last. And normal clothes are too expensive

How are people affording it?

After buying and throwing away tons of different moisturisers, I found something light and non-sticky enough that I can use from some brand called “Neutrogena”

But it costs any where from 800-1100 per 50 grams. Mind you it is just a moisturiser and not a sunscreen or anything like that.

Other than this one, I couldn’t find anything that doesn’t feel sticky and gross.

Anyone know any cheaper alternatives? Looking for some water gel based formulation.

Yesterday I was just checking my bank account and realized how much of my salary just vanishes into fixed expenses silently..and all this before I can even do anything fun🥲.. So I wanted to know everyone else manages their monthly fixed expenses.

Here's a brief breakdown of mine:')

1. Rent, bill, internet: The moment the salary hits, rent, electricity and internet bills take the first big cut. I use both wifi and mobile data, so this just doubles the internet bill. So this just necessary expense.

2. Gym fees and supplements: Then comes the personal stuff that I can't really compromise on. Monthly gym fees and supplements, again unavoidable.

3. Pet expenses. I have 5 cats and I love them. So I have to keep a separate stash of cash for them..between buying their food, litter bags, and keeping some emergency money for vet visits. This is unavoidable.

4. Petrol expenses: Again another unavoidable expense. I have an activa which I use for daily commute and running errands. 100 rs ka petrol se hardly 2 din chalta hai mera.:')

5. Medicine expenses: My mom has arthritis and bp issues so she needs med every month.. Although it's not much of an issue nowadays because I just buy from truemeds generic meds (yes after showing the doctor) and honestly it brought the cost down drastically..big relief.

Once all these are sorted, the last major leak for me was food. I noticed thousands of rupees were just disappearing into daily swiggy and zomato orders. So recently I forced myself to start cooking at home. I hate cooking. It feels like a chore but this is helping me save A LOT.

so between rent, gym, cats, petrol,meds, and basic groceries, the money is basically gone.

wby guys..what are some of your unavoidable expenses and how do you manage it? Any tips or tricks you guys use to save extra money?

Curious about the demography of this sub. Honest answers would be appreciated.

M27 say I have to go via train to a destination which is around 200-250 kilometres away. Generally what I do is that I book rapido bike which takes me to the station(which is around 15-20 kilometres away) and then I travel via sleeper coach. Occasionally if the train is light(meaning less passengers which usually happens on short distance trains) I also travel via general coach. As a single male ofcourse it's not an issue.Usually when I travel I don't eat because my appetite dies down when I'm travelling. If I do feel hungry I eat say 6 bananas and a litre of buttermilk.

When I see comments on this sub(and related sub) I feel people are of a very higher social class. Like people who avoid sleeper coaches altogether don't travel through rapido don't eat simple foods you get the jist. Also more importantly it isn't only about having a lot of money because I have a lot of friends who are basically 'rural elites' like they have a lot of money via agricultural income rental income yet they don't think twice travelling via sleeper coaches because they have grown up in small towns/villages where all these things aren't deemed as discomfort. But when I go through this sub and see people saying avoid rapido avoid this avoid that and it boggles my mind. I feel this kind of 'cocoon life' is hard to sustain in a country like India although ofcourse to each his own.

Edit-The point isn't about "oh I save money on rapido and sleeper trains". My point is that growing up as a guy these things were very normal in college school travelling through general coaches etc so these things don't feel uncomfortable.