BEIJING, Dec 2 — In China, a growing trend of frugality has taken hold, with young people taking on money-saving challenges and proudly sharing their experiences on social media.
Known as "proudly stingy," this movement is driven by rising living costs, economic uncertainty, and a tough job market.
Despite food in China being far cheaper than in places like the United States, many are finding ways to reduce their expenses even further.
Some are even aiming to spend no more than 500 yuan (about RM315) a month on food, documenting their daily meals and costs on platforms like Xiaohongshu, which has at least 300 million active users.
For many participants, the challenge is not about sacrificing quality of life but adopting a more conscious approach to spending.
Xue Yang, a 28-year-old from Shanghai, gave The Washington Post a personal example of how this trend is taking off.
After losing her well-paid job as a financial adviser in the midst of an industry-wide recession, Xue found herself living on severance pay and savings.
With the job market looking bleak, she decided to join the challenge of spending just 500 yuan a month on food.
“I feel I’m spending two-thirds less than when I had a job,” Xue was quoted as saying.
“Ordering delivery for two meals a day used to cost at least 60 yuan [$8], which now can last three to four days in my money-saving mode.”
She’s learned to cook and scours the internet for the best deals on meat and vegetables.
Even once she finds a new job, she plans to stick with this mindset: “I will be more conscious of saving and try not to live from paycheck to paycheck again.”
Similarly, Zhao Yongfang, a 32-year-old engineer, told The Washington Post the she embraced the challenge while working in Beijing, a city known for its high living costs.
“At first, I thought it wouldn’t work: How could I possibly live with less than 20 yuan [a day] in a first-tier city?” Zhao was quoted as saying.
But soon, she discovered it was feasible, especially as her boss covered her work meals.
She learned to cook cheap dishes like tomato soup, fried rice, and DIY hotpot, and found simple ways to keep her dinners affordable, such as cereal with a cucumber or banana.
Zhao sees the experience as an opportunity to rethink her lifestyle: “I don’t see it as a challenge of being stingy: Experimenting with a tight budget made me rethink how I can make my lifestyle healthy and my diet cost-efficient.”
This shift toward saving and being mindful of spending is a stark contrast to the lavish consumerism that dominated China in recent years, when luxury brands and big-ticket items were flaunted by the wealthy.
In fact, sales for LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company, recently dropped for the first time since the pandemic, partly due to a slowdown in demand in China.
Now, more Chinese are embracing a simpler, more cost-conscious lifestyle, choosing to cook at home, reduce spending, and focus on saving for long-term goals like buying a home or financial stability.
As Zhao put it, experimenting with a tight budget has made her rethink how to live a healthier, more cost-efficient life, a sentiment shared by many in the current economic climate.
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