I was in £100k debt but now have £183k saved thanks to my cheapskate hacks – but trolls say my frugal life is depressing

The Sun

25-06-2025

A SELF-PROCLAIMED ' frugal freak' was once in over £100,000 of debt, but now has more than £183,000 saved in the bank, thanks to his cheapskate hacks.
Bradley, 32, now earns cash through a number of different side hustles and while he has enough money to live lavishly, instead, he opts for an incredibly basic lifestyle.
2
The content creator lives in a 'cute' and 'cosy' studio home in Connecticut, USA and not only does he only own one plate and never turns the heating on, but he also claimed that he is 'too busy to spend money.'
For Bradley, who has chosen not to share his last name, keeping tight control over his finances is incredibly important.
Over a decade ago, at the age of just 21, he found himself in more than £100,000 worth of debt, and thought his 'life was over.'
After studying at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York and receiving his £104,150 debt bill, 'everything changed'.
Upon hearing about his £1,120-a-month debt, Bradley, who has 'never once bought trash bags' and instead asks friends for their old bin bags, told Metro: 'That was the birth of the frugal lifestyle.'
Now, Bradley has candidly opened up on how he turned his life around thanks to money-saving hacks, leaving social media users stunned.
Posting online, Bradley shared behind-the-scenes clips of a typical day in his life, as he said: 'Spend a no spend day with me as someone who's frugal and has $250,000 [£183,846] saved in the bank, but would rather save my money than give into consumerism and over consumption.
'And let me just say, before you say my life 'seems depressing' and 'may this life never find me' - shut up. You probably have credit card debt that you're paying the minimum balance on and I would never wanna be you.'
Bradley started his day by making a 'frugal breakfast burrito' which costs him less than $1 [74p] - and instead of oiling his saucepan with a silicone brush, he instead just used his hand.
Not only this, but rather than using three or even four eggs, he then added water to 'water them down.'
I've lived outside permanently for five years and eat roadkill, people are disgusted but it's saved me £65k
Later in the clip, Bradley, who earns at least £8,000 per month through multiple jobs - including TikTok content creation, dog sitting, answering calls on a crisis hotline, cleaning houses and mowing lawns - confirmed: 'I do have a new side hustle, which is cleaning up someone's driveway when it snows.'
But rather than forking out cash on the equipment, he borrowed some from his parents, as he added: 'I hate the cold and I hate the snow but I'll do anything for money so whatever, I just suck it up and deal with it.'
Following this, after getting home and cooking dinner, Bradley sat down to watch some YouTube, but confirmed: 'I don't have any subscriptions, I've never paid for subscriptions, I think it's stupid.'
Money saving challenges
Here's some of our favourite money saving challenges.
Weather saving challenge - Save the amount equal to whatever the highest temperature was that week. £1 = 1C.
1p challenge - save 1p a day for everyday of the year, but it increase the amount by 1p each day. So day one you save 1p, 2p on day two and 3p on day three. When you reach 100 days you start adding a £1 coin each day too, while this increases to a £2 coin each day plus pennies at 200 days, and £3 each day on top of pennies at day 300.
20p a day challenge - Start by putting 20p in savings, then increase the amount by 20p every day. For example, the first week will look like this: 20p, 40p, 60p, 80p, £1, £1.20, £1.40.
£5 a week challenge - Like the 20p challenge, put aside £5 a week and increase it by a fiver each week. Eg £5, £10, £15, £20
Round-up challenge - Every time you buy something, round up the purchase to the nearest £1 and put the difference in a savings account. Eg. You pay £2.60, so you put 40p in savings. You can use an app such as Monzo or Starling to do this.
Bingo challenge - Here you have a bingo card with different numbers on it and you tick them off when you've put that amount in your savings account. It can be ad hoc but you have to tick them all off by the end of the month.
Monday to Sunday challenge - With this challenge, you simply save £1 on Monday, £2 on Tuesday and so on until the weekend where you don't save on Saturday or Sunday.
365 day challenge - Every Sunday you put aside £1, followed by £2 on Monday, £3 on Wednesday and so on. On Saturday you'll put away £7, and then the process repeats and you'll put aside £1 on Sunday as the new week begins
Social media users react
The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @ baddie.brad, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly gone viral and amassed 5.8 million views, 652,200 likes and 5,595 comments.
But social media users were stunned by his 'crazy' way of living and eagerly raced to the comments to express this.
Let me just say, before you say my life 'seems depressing' and 'may this life never find me' - shut up
Bradley
One person said: 'Water in the eggs is crazy.'
Another added: 'May this life NEVER find me.'
A third commented: 'My dude I'm great at saving money but this ain't it... I'm all for saving as much money as possible but you also need to enjoy your life.'
Meanwhile, someone else begged: 'Please just buy a silicone brush, you can use everyday for the rest of your life. It is not expensive.'