I earn £8,000 a month but I’m a ‘frugal freak’ who reuses bin bags and only has one plate
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To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. In December alone, Bradley, 32, earned a staggering £16,067. He has enough money to live lavishly, buying the latest tech, designer clothes and enjoying Michelin meals.
![[Man living on a frugal budget]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234762934-db45-e1735814457620.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
But instead, he opts for a rather more frugal lifestyle. In the same month, he spent just £1,026. Bradley’s biggest expense was £600 rent for his ‘cute’ and ‘cosy’ studio in Connecticut, USA. He spent £147 on groceries and cooked all of his meals at home as he thinks going out to eat is ‘expensive and stupid’.
![[Man living on a frugal budget]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234762936-8d30-e1735814537217.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
He unplugs all of his appliances when he leaves the house, eats the same meal every day (on the one plate he owns) and never, ever turns the heating on. But for Bradley, who has chosen not share his last name, keeping tight control over his purse strings is important. At just 21, he found himself in more than £100,000 worth of debt, and says his ‘life was over.’.
![[Picture of Bradley's dinner which he cooks and eats at home every night]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234762932-8d8f-e1735814663791.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
After studying at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York, Bradley learnt he had a £104,150 debt bill. Unlike in the UK, student loans in the USA come with high interest rates and require repayment regardless of income. ‘They were showing me the numbers, and they were telling me I was gonna owe £1,120 ($1,400) a month,’ Bradley tells Metro. ‘It was at that moment when everything changed for me. That was the birth of the frugal lifestyle.’.
His loan payments, while lower than initially estimated, were still a hefty £640 ($800) a month, forcing him to cut back on ‘fun’, groceries, buying new clothes for himself and other everyday expenses that most people wouldn’t think twice about.
