What Is ‘Loud Budgeting’ on TikTok?

Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images

Great news for anyone who has ever sat nervously at a group dinner scanning the menu for the cheapest option (soup — it’s always soup!) and praying no one wants to split the bill: Quiet frugality is over and “loud budgeting” is in. The phrase — which means exactly what it sounds like — was coined by TikToker Lukas Battle in December. “Loud budgeting is a new concept I’m introducing for 2024,” he announced in a video that now has more than 1.5 million views. “It’s not ‘I don’t have enough.’ It’s ‘I don’t want to spend.’”

The difference is that you’re owning your cheapness. “If you know any rich people, you know that they hate spending money. So it’s almost more chic, more stylish, more of a flex,” explained Battle. Even if you’re budgeting out of necessity like the rest of us (let’s be real), it’s now acceptable — encouraged! — to claim it as a lifestyle choice, just as you would talk about your weekend plans or your dog. It’s assertive, a healthy boundary, not a restriction. It’s sharing wine with your friends in the park because it’s fun, not because you can’t afford the drinks at a bar. (Sure, maybe you can’t. But who cares! You’re having fun.)

The timing was perfectly executed. Loud budgeting hit the internet as “no-buy January” was taking off and the whole world was recovering from an era of wild spending. “We all had this YOLO, seize-the-day mentality with money coming out of COVID,” says Jenny Park, who posts about personal finance as @mohaewithjennypark. “We did that for about a year and a half, and now reality is setting in. People are like, Wait, I need a sustainable way to continue living my life, and also pay my student loans. How do I manage this?”

Unlike conventional budgeting, which is traditionally associated with spreadsheets, anxious math, and hushed lectures from your parents, the “loud” version is out and proud — you’re comfortable telling the world what you’re willing to spend and what you aren’t. It’s also well suited to sharing on social media. Search #loudbudgeting on TikTok and you’ll turn up thousands of people talking about what they spend in a week, how they save on groceries, their 75 Hard Style Challenge (don’t buy any new clothes for 75 days; document your outfits the whole time), and other money hacks.

In many ways, this is a positive development. People who are socialized to talk about money are often better at managing it, research shows. Natalie Fischer, 25 — better known as @investwithnat on TikTok and Instagram — says that her desire to be open with her own finances grew out of the fact that so many people, particularly in her parents’ generation, consider it taboo. “I get comments from some older people who are like, ‘Why do we need to be loud about our budget? That stuff is private.’ But for our generation, we need that community,” she says. “We value transparency. That’s how we’ve held each other accountable.”

The concept is resonating. Natalie has been making videos about saving money for over two years, but when she started to change the verbiage in her content — “here’s how I’m loud budgeting” — she says she saw an uptick in viewership and comments. “I think it’s a great label to help people rally against overconsumption,” she says. “It’s basically rebranding the idea of budgeting.” Which can be a tough sell, especially for younger people, she adds. ”Our generation is more impulsive with our spending because we’re always online. So we really need this.”

Fischer’s own loud-budgeting strategy has involved cleaning out her closet and creating a capsule wardrobe of neutrals that she rewears regularly, even in her own content. “I had a lot of one-time outfits because it looked good for Instagram, but I’m cutting back on that and I think a lot of other people are too,” she says. She’s noticed that many of her peers are doing the same or renting outfits on FashionPass instead of buying them. There’s less pressure to wear a new outfit in every photo and video; if anything, it’s cooler not to.

Jenny Park points out that it’s powerful to destigmatize a topic that many people find shameful or awkward. “My hope is that people see this as an opportunity to have transparent…