I’m 32 and earn up to £16,000 a month but I’m an extreme cheapskate – I reuse tissues and only charge my phone at work so I can save money
A US TikTok creator has revealed how he chooses to live an extremely frugal life – despite earning a significant wage.
Known as Bradley (he keeps his surname private), the 32-year-old earned some £16,000 last December.
However, while he could easily afford to splash the cash, instead, he chooses to spend his money wisely. In December, for example, his outgoings were £1,026.
Among his expenses are rent (he spends £600 a month on a studio apartment in Connecticut. Another of his bigger expenditures was groceries. However, as a fan of home cooked meals, he spent just £147 over the whole month.
He has shared a number of money-saving tips with viewers, revealing that he hangs on to as much of his cash as possible by never turning the heat on, unplugging his appliances when going out, and repeatedly eating the same meal (one the single plate he owns).
In a video on his TikTok channel, where he calls himself Bradley On A Budget and has more than 800,000 followers, he described some of his frugal living tips – asking his viewers if they would do the same.
Speaking in the clip, he said: ‘I’m frugal and will do anything to save money.’
He then welcomed viewers to another episode of his series titled Extreme Cheapskates, continuing: ‘I’ll show you everything I did to save money last week. I sometimes forget to mop my floors […] however, I always reuse the cleaning pad.
Bradley (pictured) earns up to £16,000 a month, but chooses to live a very frugal lifestyle, spending little money
‘I don’t know if that’s normal or not, but I don’t see any reason to throw it out when you could just rinse it and reuse it. So I’ll typically get like, five uses out of it before I actually end up throwing it out. I don’t know to me, it makes more sense to get multiple uses out of something instead of throwing it away after one time. ‘
His next tip was somewhat more high tech.
He explained: ‘Next I’ll try to charge my stuff anywhere. Literally charge battery packs and my shaver at work.
‘I’ve charged stuff at orchestra practice, or at the gym – anywhere there’s an outlet.’
Bradley then explained that he doesn’t use heat in his apartment, which keeps bills down, though he had a tip to help with any potential cold.
He explained: ‘Sometimes I’ll crack my door open to let the heat in from the hallway, not for long, maybe like 10 minutes, but it’s literally warmer in the hallway than my apartment.’
The next way Bradley saves money is to cook all his meals every single day.
He added: ‘I always make sure that I clean my dishes at work. Can’t imagine this is controversial. It just makes sense to me, if there’s soap and sponges at work, you might as well utilise your resources.
The frugal fan saves money by always eating at home instead of buying meals out, which is more expensive
‘If I could use someone else’s hot water and soap to save a little money, I’ll do it. That’s what being frugal is all about. And then also, anytime I dry off my dishes or I dry off my hands, I’ll just keep the paper towel.
‘I don’t throw it out again […] I don’t know why you would throw a perfectly clean paper towel just because it’s a little damp […] I let it air dry, and then I just use it at my apartment. Sometimes I’ll grab one from the gym before I leave, and I’ve been able to build up quite the stash over the past few years. I’ve never had to buy paper towels.’
He has taken this further, as he explained, saying: ‘I was out with friends, and I saw this toilet paper just chilling in the bathroom.’
Bradley took the toilet roll home for his ‘toilet paper scrap bin’.
Then, moving onto what he described as what would likely be one of his more ‘controversial’ tips, he explained that he ‘reuses tissues’.
He explained: ‘Just hear me out. I find tissues to be pretty big, so instead of throwing [one] out after one use, I will just use [keep the] part of the tissue that was not used.’
Discussing how he saves on utility bills by unplugging his appliances.
‘I had a dog sitting gig last weekend,’ Bradley said in the video. ‘So you know, I unplugged my fridge because there’s no reason to run my fridge for a week if I’m going to be away, just like how you wouldn’t leave a lamp running when you go on a vacation.’
Charging electrical devices whenever he is out and about helps Bradley keep his electricity bills down
He also revealed another way he saves money on his electric bill.
‘I will keep my fridge set as low as possible,’ he explained. ‘It keeps things just cold enough, at a safe temperature.’
Moving onto his next tip, Bradley described it as ‘kind of random’.
‘I heard if you don’t put full pressure on the gas pump, you’re filling your tank,’ he said.
‘You’re putting less air into your tanks. You’re getting more gas that way. That makes sense.’
Among his other tips, he revealed that rather than using an scanning service at a copy shop (at $1 per page) he used his phone and sent each page through email, which was ‘a pain in the b***’ but saved him money.
Next, he advised viewers: ‘Always bring Tupperware to work, because you never know when there’s going to be a meeting with snacks.’
Monitoring the temperature of his fridge is another way Bradley saves money on his electricity bills
There were so many leftovers after one meeting that he took them home for dinner instead of having to cook himself.
Another way to pinch the pennies is to shower at the gym, wash hair in the sink instead of in the shower in order to save money, and to always pick up random items found on the floor like paper clips and rubber bands.
‘I always like to have a few on hand in case I need them,’ he said.
‘Because why waste money on that stuff when you could just find it for free? Like, look, $4 for a pack of paper clips. That’s stupid.’
When it comes to making the most of items, he said: ‘I also make sure I do not throw anything out until it is absolutely empty. I squeezed for dear life to get all my toothpaste out.
The TikTokker revealed that he has taken toilet paper home on one occasion, as he does not like waste
‘Then my lotion bottle felt like it was empty, but after I opened it up, there was still so much left in there just wasn’t coming through the nozzle. But I always want to make sure I’m getting my money’s worth and nothing’s going to waste.’
He also saves money by doing jobs himself rather than paying others.
Bradley explained: ‘My car has become as salty as my haters, but instead of paying for a car wash, I knew I was going to go over to my parents house, and I honestly ended up just washing the car at their house.
‘Of course, I asked them if it’s okay, because if they said no, I wouldn’t do it. I just take a couple trips, filling up the bucket with water and then rinsing off my car. Trust me, it’s fine because I refuse to pay for convenience, and that’s it.’
He added that while some people think the way he lives is for ‘rage bait’, he has been living frugally since 2013, adding: ‘Believe it or not, I’m very happy this way, and honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t want to live any other way.’
