When saving is also… noisy

Meatless meals on social media

After the pandemic, the economy became more difficult, many people suddenly lost their "interest" in showing off their houses, cars, and "checking in" at fancy places... Those who like to "watch" also lost their passion for enjoying "virtual life". At that time, TikTok gave birth to the trend of "noisy saving". Instead of saving quietly, today many people show this off as an achievement.

Don't pretend to be okay like Scarlett

At this time, many groups specializing in practicing thrift have sprung up on Facebook, attracting thousands of members, for example "Group sharing experiences on saving money" with 9,588 members; Public group "Secrets to saving money" with 13,070 members; "Clever" group with 497,572 members... According to information from "Group sharing experiences on saving money", the person who gave birth to "noisy saving" is Lukas Battle, a 26-year-old comedian, writer, and TikTok creator living in New York (USA).

In late December 2023, Lukas Battle said in a TikTok post that he came up with the idea of ​​“noisy saving” after overspending on a night out. Celebrity chasing and extravagant spending habits have led to serious financial consequences for young people, so the “noisy saving” movement could help people feel proud of their financial goals and savings, rather than feeling uncomfortable or ashamed.

In the novel “Gone with the Wind”, the young lady Scarlett O'Hara, who was in a state of decline, still used a blue curtain to sew beautiful clothes to visit Rhett Butler in prison. The famous blockade runner captain praised her for her beauty, but when he looked down at the beautiful Rhett Butler's hands, he discovered the truth: She was poor and had to do hard manual labor. Being "exposed", Scarlett felt ashamed. If a young person today were put in Scarlett's shoes, they would not hesitate to hide their reality, and would even "flex" the way they tried to fight against difficulties.

Meritorious Artist Quyen Linh shows off his "fortune" of honeycomb sandals

In groups discussing savings, many accounts are not afraid to ask for advice on spending or escaping poverty. For example, “My salary is 4 million but I still want to save 1-1.5 million, what should I do?”. Another account asked: “I keep my husband’s money, so how much should I give him each month? Is 2 million too little?” (This woman also introduced her husband, he rarely goes out drinking and comes home after work).

Some people wonder how to refuse when their colleagues keep asking them to go out to eat: "I work in an office, there are 7 of us in my office, the highest salary is around 8 million, the lowest is 6 million (me). But once a month, they ask me to go out to eat once, sometimes twice, each time costs 100-300k, not to mention asking me to eat bubble tea, birthdays, or when I earn extra money, my friends all discuss taking that money to celebrate, everyone is excited to go except me."

This story received many "solutions". Surprisingly, many accounts commented that the girlfriend just said directly: "I don't have money. If you invite me, I'll go, if you share (contribute), I won't. If I refuse too tactfully, people will think I'm really busy"; "Say it bluntly, I'm still saving for my old age"; "I told you I'm out of money, if you invite me, I'll go"... If I encountered the above ridiculous situation, the person who came up with the "noisy saving" Lukas Battle would reply: "Sorry, I've run out of budget for restaurant meals this month".

There is an account that exclaimed when reading the story of a person with a salary of 6 million VND who was always “entice” to go out to eat: “It’s exactly like my case, and I was also branded as stingy. While I have never borrowed money or messed with other people’s money.” Therefore, don’t think that everyone is “following” the trend of “noisy savings”. If you keep showing off your savings plan, people might laugh at you and secretly criticize you.

Saving or trick?

Singer Ho Van Cuong shows off his kitchen scene making a popular dish

The most popular way to show off savings on Facebook now is to show off buying food, preparing fresh and delicious food that doesn’t “hurt” the wallet. Looking back and forth on the internet, you can only see good and diligent women. Lazy and careless women are “rare”. The meals that attract attention online are often the simple ones that are startlingly expensive.

Before the “noisy thrift” trend was born, someone showed off a 15,000 VND meal with sardines, water spinach, and tofu stewed with tomatoes. She listed in detail: “Sardines 5,000 VND, tofu 5,000 VND, tomatoes 2,000 VND, water spinach 3,000 VND”. As a result, in addition to compliments on her ability and cleverness, she also received a “basket” of unpleasant comments: “Too ridiculous, this price would have been believable 10 years ago”; “Where did the fish come from that cost 5k for 2, were they given away?”. Some accounts even said that she “drawn” a cheap meal to get “likes”.

There are accounts that boast that the couple's income is only over ten million, but they still saved up to buy a house and a car. Many people praised and many criticized, like: "Buy a house and a car at a fake shop?". In the "Ven nghe" group, there are people who are excited because they got a raise in July: "My husband works at a water plant, I work as a school health worker. The salary has increased a little, but my husband and I are both happy and sad. When we found out about the salary increase, we sat down and recalculated the expenses."

They decided that their salaries would increase, but their expenses would remain the same. If they got a raise, they would have a surplus of 3-4 million VND per month. Finally, they came up with a shocking savings figure: "In 20 years, when my husband and I are both over 50, we will have saved more than 4 billion VND." It turned out that they calculated a profit of 14%.

At this point, this account asked: “Do you think it is feasible? Or should I just save? Saving 4-5% is not enough for me.” Some accounts commented: “Are you telling a fairy tale?”; “How wonderful”; “Calculating while waiting for the right moment”; “Like Messi’s first professional contract with Barcelona”…

Waste of life?

15,000 VND meal causes controversy

Responding to the trend of “noisy saving”, some people boasted about how to save water and save phone bills by: Taking advantage of the time at work to shower and make phone calls. Others were happy: Never spending money on newspapers because they always “steal” them from work to bring home. They forgot the lesson from their childhood: Do not take public property for your own. Going against that lesson, you lose more than you gain. First of all, they lose the respect and love of their colleagues.

Saving is a long journey and does not mean being frugal. There are people who have been “saving” for a long time, suddenly feeling that life is no longer worth living. One person told his story: “In the past, I used to be very stingy with myself. I wanted to save money so I didn’t dare eat, I ate less than 50,000 VND a day, I drank tap water, I didn’t want to go out with friends because I was afraid of spending money, so relationships gradually fell apart. At one point, I got sick and it cost even more money.” Someone showed off a photo of themselves reading by the window in dim light, taking advantage of the street lights shining in. One account commented sarcastically: “Why not learn from Mac Trang Nguyen (Mac Dinh Chi) who caught fireflies and put them in eggshells to get light for reading?”

A 70-year-old woman also followed the trend of “noisy savings”. She said that in the past, she liked to take out her savings book to look at whenever she felt down. With another savings book, she wished to live a few more years to see 1 billion VND: “I tried to save up to have that amount of money, because I had never touched a billion before”.

The reporter asked: "What would you do with a billion dong?". She laughed: "It's not for anything, I just like it. I can't take it with me when I die." Recently, her son gave her a smartphone. The old woman in her 80s knew about the "noisy savings" trend, so she often showed off her savings book to her acquaintances and relatives, then proudly told stories about how hard she had tried to save. Hearing the story, a neighbor commented: "Too frugal. Not knowing how to enjoy life, what a waste of life."