With rising rents, food prices and transportation costs, living in is often considered expensive for young professionals. However, a government employee has gone viral on social media after sharing how she manages her monthly expenses in the national capital while spending significantly less than her take-home salary.
Kritika, who works as an Assistant Section Officer, recently posted a video on Instagram detailing her monthly budget. The breakdown quickly attracted attention online, with many users discussing her spending habits and savings potential.
“I know it’s a bit less, but this is how much I spend as a 28-year-old government officer living in New Delhi,” Kritika said in the video.
Rent Takes The Largest Share Of Her Budget
According to Kritika, accommodation is her biggest recurring expense.
She lives in a two-bedroom apartment with a flatmate in Delhi, helping her split housing costs. Her share of the rent comes to ₹11,500 per month, making it the single largest component of her monthly spending.
By sharing the apartment, she is able to keep her housing costs relatively manageable compared to renting an entire flat independently.
Cooking At Home Helps Reduce Food Costs
To simplify daily chores and meal preparation, Kritika and her flatmate employ a maid who cooks food and assists with household work.
The service costs ₹5,000 per month in total, with Kritika contributing ₹2,500.
She also said that she keeps spending on restaurant meals and food deliveries under control, limiting it to around ₹2,000 every month because she prefers home-cooked food.
In addition, she spends between ₹4,000 and ₹5,000 on groceries and household supplies. This amount includes purchases made through quick-delivery platforms such as Blinkit and Zepto.
Daily Commute On A Scooty
For transportation, Kritika relies on a scooty instead of cabs or public transport for most of her daily travel.
She said her monthly petrol expenditure is approximately ₹1,500.
Kritika also mentioned that she does not pay an electricity bill and thanked the Delhi government for it.
Apart from this, her utility expenses remain limited. She spends around ₹1,000 per month on services such as WiFi, cooking gas and RO maintenance.
Shared Subscriptions Keep Entertainment Costs Low
Unlike many young professionals who pay for multiple streaming platforms, Kritika said she avoids separate spending on OTT subscriptions.
Instead, she uses shared access to entertainment services such as Netflix through family members and friends.
For personal shopping, however, she sets aside a separate budget. She estimated spending between ₹3,000 and ₹4,000 every month on clothing, beauty products and other personal purchases through platforms such as Myntra and Nykaa.
Total Monthly Spending Around ₹25,000
After accounting for rent, food, groceries, utilities, transport and shopping, Kritika said her regular monthly expenses add up to roughly ₹25,000.
She clarified that the figure only covers recurring costs and does not include occasional expenses such as vacations, furniture purchases, travel plans or major household items.
Salary Details Shared In Comments
As the video gained popularity, many viewers were curious about her earnings and government job profile.
Responding to questions in the comments section, Kritika disclosed that she receives ₹90,000 as her monthly in-hand salary.
She also shared that she cleared the SSC CGL examination in 2022 and currently works as a Level 7 government employee.
Internet reacts
The post triggered conversations around financial discipline, urban living costs and long-term savings.
A user wrote, “25k is actually a decent amount for one person, mine comes around less than 20k.”
Another user wrote, “That’s really a huge amount of savings with that much salary in percentage wise…. The real question is not about how much you save… But how you invest and grow your wealth for future matters the most as you are disciplined enough in savings…”
“Ma’am, I don’t even get that much salary,” the third user wrote.