I always considered myself a rather frugal person. No car, cheap lunches while my working colleagues regularly go the restaurants, optimizing all regular spending by looking out for good deals etc.
Splitting up with my GF and moving out increases my costs by 1.2k/month. But still it seems rather odd that I can only save 1.6k/month on a 8k/month gross salary. Is my lifestyle far away from being frugal?
My expenses are very similar to yours, except for SBB and tennis (clear transport need and specific sport you like - so still all reasonable), and vacation.
To me vacation sounds a bit much and the only room for saving opportunity (but hell if you enjoy it - spend it, you earned it).
The rest - youâre good.
900 for food seems a bit high for a single.
Do work out a lot and need lots of food? Then could be fine.
In comparison, Iâm an athlete and I am at 500-600 / month, and I eat about 3000-4000 kcal a day.
I do however shop 80% at Lidl and if there are special offers for meat I stock up my freezer etc.
Also generally buy lots of stuff in bulk online or on offer.
Rent seems okay-ish for a single.
Tennis you need to have memeber ship + pay each time playinz probably?
I guess you play a lot?
Not critique here, I approve of sophisticated sports activity. It costs what I cost, what can you do.
Gifts 100/month seems high? What do you gift whom all the time?
Houeshold insurance, do you really need it? Is your houshold expensive enough that itâs worth it to cover?
I only have private liability for 60/year.
Rental deposit insurance, due to no caution?
Vacation at 8400/ year is also rather high to me. But Iâm single currently so not much vacation pressure 
Mind you this comes from a pretty frugal person.
Overall nothing too crazy and not that much to optimize. But I do think you could get an extra 5-10K per year from optimizing food/vacation/gifts
8 K gross, 1 K tax, 1.6 K savings and 700 CHF per month vacation means you are spending 4.7 K per month on your actual expenses and 700 CHF on vacation.
4.7 K sounds very reasonable. I wouldnât worry about it. In fact I donât know many people who spend less than that.
700 CHF per month on vacation is quite high but thatâs totally dependent on what you consider normal. But if you ask me, frugal people will never spend such money on vacation.
Last point -: 20% savings rate on Gross income is not really so bad. Bonus would be in addition I guess, you can technically save all of it.
P.S -: I am not frugal even though my friends say I am ;). So maybe my observations are from POV of an average person.
You can compare to mine: Budget after retirement (normal retirement age)
I see some big differences e.g. your food budget is almost as high as ours for a family of 5. Your holiday budget is about 3x what we have for a family of 5. Bringing these 2 line items down to 10k will increase savings by 50%.
In the end, Switzerland has high fixed costs, so the key is to increase your income to benefit from a kind of âoperational leverageâ. Doubling your income can lead to 5x savings. So rather than cut back, maybe focus on increasing income through career and additional income streams.
Seems fine. You can always squeeze out 100 chf somewhere, but âŠ
dont forget to live! You could get hit by a tram tomorrow, then whatâs the point?
I spent a lot of money on travelling in the last 7-8 years. Probably around 50k, but I donât regret one single CHF. I have seen so many places and had so many great experiences. Itâs just something I love doing and Iâm not sure if cutting this in half and saving an extra 4k/year would be worth it. I would get to FIRE sooner for sure, but I might regret holding back there. I know too many people (also clients) that are telling me âwhen Iâm retired, Iâm going to travel the worldâ. Well who says that youâll still be able. Health shouldnât be taken for granted.
But of course there are several things one could argue I guess:
your budget is good. The only thing that i consider interesting is your health insurance (go for a higher deductible) and SBB. You shouldnât be spending 4k with SBB. Other than that, I think you are fairly gooâŠ
Try to push your income sideâŠ
8k is not much for banking (in zurich?)
Just go on monday and explain why you deserve 20% more. See what happens.
Already discussed this with my boss. He admitted that my current 96k base salary is on the low side for Wealth Management and that he plans to increase that to at least 120k in steps, starting in the beginning of 2025. My total comp for 2024 is 132k including bonus, so I guess itâs fine. But I aim to increase this to 160-180k within the next couple of years. Have to be patient.
Send applications to competitors to determine your market value
It doesnât matter if other people think you are frugal or not. What matters is what you want from life.
The beauty of being members of this forum is that we understand the trade off. We can plug savings into a spreadsheet and understand the likely impact of current spending decisions on our FI date, then decide.
If you are looking for ideas where to cut back I agree with the previous comments. Regards tennis and gym costs, did you look into the combination with supplementary health insurance and whether there is an option to pay a higher monthly premium but they reimburse sports ? SWICA pay me 800 CHF/yr plus ~250 CHF/yr in vouchers for activity tracking
Your tennis and gym costs are fine I think.
Obviously, you cannot project exactly how much physical activity reduces your risk of mortality/illness but it sure does. (that means that you do actually save in contrast to someone who doesnât do any excercise)
Could you get 3 pairs of running shoes and have the same amount of activity or even more? Sure, but if youâd enjoy running youâd already do that.
I would do some calculations here. If you check the Halbtax Plus (even the highest tier where you pay 2k and get 3k), it could make quite a difference in the end. I wouldnât stick to the GA only because of convenience but mainly because it makes financial sense. There are also daily Spartickets for ~60 CHF where can enjoy GA life if you do super long trips.
â if you however need a streckenabo from Rheinfelden to Baden, I agree with your GA conclusion. Streckenabo itself would be like 3400 CHF yearly.
Smaller points I see (but wonât make huge difference):
-Smartphone: I assume you mean the subscription? Then there would be cheaper options (I pay 11.- for unlimited in CH and 1GB roaming) for likely a similar offer. If it includes phone amortization it sounds good though. 
-Health insurance: I donât know your age, but if I assume 30y in Rheinfelden you can get basic insurance for ~280.-/month. Thats 100.- per month! Given that you are okay with some models like calling a free hotline before you go to the doctor etc.
All the basic insurance covers the same, so personally I change them yearly to the cheapest one.
-Electricity: Donât know the price in Rheinfelden, but 80.-/month for a single household seems very high, unless you run mining rigs, lots of freezers (or A/C), using the oven long and often etc., no?
The rest looks good to me! Not hardcore frugal, but reasonable spendings while still enjoying your life! 
The dont worry much. Youâll double/triple your savings rate that way essentially
Regarding public transport I have several options (half tax is paid by employer):
One daily TNW ticket (going to Basel and using the trams there) costs CHF 13.10 and a single fare trip to my brother and back would be CHF 8.40. I would do this quite regularly to be honest, 1-2x in winter and 2-4x in summer. So I think option 1 would cost me more than option 2. Iâm not sure about option 3 though. If I start dating someone in Zurich for example, GA would be definitely worth it.
Smartphone: I already tried Sunrise (and Salt many years ago). Network coverage just isnât good enough for me as why I reverted back to Wingo.
Health insurance: I need the 300 CHF option. Donât want to get into many personal details, but everything else would be more expensive. I just checked and Rheinfelden would be even slightly more expensive than now.
Electricity: Just a guess on current consumption and expenses. I think Iâm going to use around 2000 kWh and that would be CHF 70 per month in Rheinfelden.
I might need less for food & groceries. Aldi, Lidl, REWE, DM, Swiss Paket, H&M, Deichmann are all there within 1.5-2.0km. I need 5min with my E-scooter. Germany prices and you get the MwSt back.
Like others, Iâd say your budget is mostly fine. My few remarks:
Apartment: 2k is on the higher side of it in my opinion, but location impacts it and it is very important in life to feel well where we live. Iâd not save too much there and given the floor plan of the appartment youâve provided, this is probably fine.
Food: 900.- is not frugal, even for bulking up. For a frugal bulking budget, Iâd aim at 350-400.- with mostly cooking and meal prepping at home. Internet/youtube searches can yield plenty of cheap bulking up recipes. The extra expenses may be worth it to you, though.
Tennis+Gym makes sports rather high but itâs also very worth it. With time, I may try to save on the tennis coach and do tennis with friends instead (there again, the coach may be worth it to you).
Clothes: 100.- is not frugal in my book but you do have to present well at work so itâs probably fine given your situation.
Vacation: 8.4k/year is not frugal, there are plenty of ways to travel for cheap and reduce that budget if you do wish it. There again, it may be totally worth it to you (as you state it).
I wouldnât worry too much: 1.6k/month is what you save on your base salary. That means all of your bonus, potential 13th and 2nd pillar savings contributions are extra savings on top of it. If your purpose is FIRE ASAP, I would cut on varrying expenses. If your purpose is healthy savings while still keeping a balanced life, your expenses seem pretty fine to me.
Everyone is saying how this is totally fine, which it is, there are people burning through more than 10â000 per month and racking up debt. Who am I to deny them their choices?
But for what is possible in Switzerland, we could also notice that Budgetberatung Schweiz (German) states that around 2500 is realistically doable for a single person. This is in line with my experience.
This is without the more esoteric options of saving money (e.g., sleep in a tent or on the street). For example, I once spent a grand total of 20 CHF on food for 5 days to see how low I could go. I had pizza, spaghetti, bread, cheese, tomatoes, carrots, and apples.
These extreme measures are not required, but you could still spend double on vacation and save even more if you started cutting. Not that you have to, but you certainly could, if you wanted.
Main areas for cutting (in stark contrast that nothing can be done):
Edit: Suggestions ninjad by others.
Put the difference in Total Market ETFs, become lower level rich in your lifetime, or do the RE part of FIRE. Anyway, not needing much will make you free from many things, and free to do other things, just not free to spend most of the money you have for consumption.
A lot of valid points so far. Some things canât be changed (I obviously already got the apartment and also want to keep it), but there are things I could clearly spend less.
Limit restaurants to max. 2-3 times per month. Use Lidl/Aldi/DM in Germany to buy most of the food and Coop/Migros for some things that I consider worth it (especially meat). This could reduce food & groceries down to CHF 500 per month and increase savings by CHF 400.
My younger brother will also register at the tennis club in Rheinfelden. We agreed to play once a week together. Maybe I could stop with coaching and just play with him. Would save me another CHF 200 per month.
Spend slightly less on clothes and gifts, could save another CHF 50 per month.
Maybe slightly reduce my vacation budget as I stopped enjoying all inclusive hotels and started exploring more (will visit Thailand again in January 2025 for 3 weeks). So 6.6k might be sufficient which would save another CHF 150 per month.
Total savings would increase from CHF 1â600 to CHF 2â400 per month (+50%).
