Work & Money

TikTok trend ‘loud budgeting’: no more taboo that you want to spend less money

By Tessa Heinhuis | #!29Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:45:22 +0100+01:002229#29Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:45:22 +0100+01:00-12Europe/Amsterdam2929Europe/Amsterdam202429 11pm29pm-29Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:45:22 +0100+01:0012Europe/Amsterdam2929Europe/Amsterdam2024292024Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:45:22 +01004512452pmSunday=9#!29Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:45:22 +0100+01:00Europe/Amsterdam2#02-11-2024#!29Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:45:22 +0100+01:002229#/29Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:45:22 +0100+01:00-12Europe/Amsterdam2929Europe/Amsterdam202429#!29Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:45:22 +0100+01:00Europe/Amsterdam2#

Whereas you used to stammer, a little embarrassed and with the red on your cheeks, that you ‘couldn't manage this month for a while’, saving money is no longer a taboo these days. This is thanks to the TikTok trend of ‘loud budgeting’.

It's OK to say out loud that you're watching your pennies for a while. It's fine not to go to a dinner where you can easily shell out 90 euros in one evening on some overly trendy pasta and wine. You take it easy on your money and that's fine. The idea behind the trend is that you just tell your friends and family honestly. ‘I want to save a little more money for a while so I'm watching what I spend it on.’ That needn't be weird, right? Saving is actually quite normal, and even a good trait, right?

Yet it seems a bit embarrassing when we are honest about our income and especially expenses. After all, we all want to come across as the one who has everything in neat order, who has plenty of money for a 450-euro Celine cap or a Dior lip gloss of almost 40 euros. But sometimes it's just a scant month. You get blue letters. Something needs to be done in your house. Your car to the MOT. Whoop, gone is your savings. And being in the red is no fun at all.

If you tell others that you are saving and living frugally, even if temporarily, everyone is going to take notice. So it's easier to meet at home instead of those coffees and cinnamon buns out of doors. Drinking a cappu together at home might cost you 80 cents, in a coffee shop it will cost you as much as 20 euros. Good morning.

The financial hype, which is making its rise on TikTok and circulating as a trending topic, has the advantage of making it increasingly easy to end the shame surrounding austerity. You can just say that you're struggling right now. Or that you just want to have saved 20k by the end of the year. Stop feeling uncomfortable about it, there is nothing wrong with it. You are not a vulture and no one will like you less, mind you. It's a trend, so go for it, right now.