In this article, Small expenses, big losses: how to save more than 4,800 CHF per year in Switzerland. I'm going to share tips on how to save small amounts of money each month. But these will significantly increase your savings rate 😉

Saving is essential to becoming a frugalist

A good savings rate is essential for a frugalist😉

And to save money, you have to avoid small daily expenses.

👉 In this article, we will analyze small, regular savings, in order to properly manage your family budget.

Concerning the major economies, I am in the process of writing a personalized article for each major expense. 😉

housing

In the housing, There are 3 aspects where we can save if we reduce our consumption:

• Rent
• Electricity
• Heating

Regarding the rent, I will write a detailed article.

Regarding heating and electricity, you can save money with simple actions, for example:

1. By slightly lowering the temperature of your thermostat, you can reduce your energy consumption while maintaining acceptable comfort in your home.
2. Turn off the lights in unoccupied rooms and use LED bulbs, which consume much less electricity than traditional bulbs.
3. Closing the curtains at night can also help to retain heat.
4. Good window and door insulation will prevent heat loss.

🔍 With these techniques, you can save hundreds of CHF each year without compromising your comfort.

Leisure

Leisure activities are very expensive. However, they are essential to maintain a good quality of life.

There are many ways to have fun without spending a fortune. Here are a few tips:

• Invite friends home rather than outside

We invite friends to bars and everyone buys a round. It's fun once in a while! On the other hand, inviting friends over is more social, quieter (depending on your friends 😁) and above all cheaper.

• Walking in the natural places

Les lieux naturels sont magnifiques et souvent gratuits !
I would rather spend a day in the forest than shopping (even with an unlimited budget).

When I go for a walk in nature, It's a feeling of freedom and calm. There are so many beautiful places near us that we forget to visit. Financially, the only cost is transportation. 😉

• Prefer water over other beverages

Water is the most economical and healthiest drink. Yet, we often choose options like soda, alcohol, or sugary drinks 😶 These drinks can harm our health in the long term and strain our budget.

To visualize, I created a simple table to estimate the price differences of a drink for daily consumption.

In this example, imagine that the person consumes 2 glasses of 0.25l of each drink per day.

	(tap) water	sweet drink	Alcool
Bar / Restaurant	0 CHF	5-7 CHF	6-10 CHF
Outside (example, purchase in a supermarket)	0 CHF (from a fountain)	3-4 CHF	3-5 CHF

Now, a table showing the monthly price of 2 drinks per day outside based on the prices of the old table.

	(tap) water	sweet drink	Alcool
Outside	0 CHF per month	90-120 CHF per month	120-150 CHF per month

I didn't count 2 drinks per day in a bar or restaurant, because it's too expensive and not very frugal.

As can be seen, drinks other than tap water are very expensive in the long run. There may be a difference of 150 CHF per month 😶

🔍 These small consumer expenses cost a lot! For example, a croissant and a soda per day for 7 CHF. That's 210 CHF per month. 2,520 CHF saved per year.

• Fast food and restaurants

⚠️ Fast food and restaurants are expensive for the leisure budget.

For example, 2 kebabs a week at 10 CHF a sandwich. That’s 960 CHF a year. 9,600 CHF in 10 years.

When it comes to restaurants, expenses add up even faster.

🔍 For example, 2 restaurants a month at 50 CHF per meal. That’s 1200 CHF spent per year.

Gadgets

We tend to buy gadgets that we later realize are not essential for our use 😶

👉 According to Mustachian's book, An average Swiss spends around 50 CHF per month on non-essential gadgets.

🔍 That’s about 600 CHF a year spent on “bullshit”. That’s a shame.

Sport

👉 Sport is essential for health ⛹️

I understand that those who play a sport or who like fitness have a membership.

However, the majority of people do not need a fitness membership.

For example, doing weight training at home with a Youtube coach or running outside is already very beneficial for our health.

In the book “what makes you truly happy”. Ryan Nicomendus reveals … that he only does the same exercise from home for 18 minutes a day. That’s enough according to his book.

🔍 A fitness center costs around 80 CHF every month¹, it is 960 CHF per year

The subscription of the television

👉 With internet, everyone can be entertained or informed without going through the television.

In addition, Swiss channels are available for free on the Internet (in Switzerland).

🔍 For example, A television subscription (not including wifi) costs about 25 CHF per year. That's 300 CHF spent per year.

Economical gestures which make the difference

You should not think that I have written down all the small expenses to optimize.

👉 In reality, in order to save money, every simple and quick gesture is good to take to save and earn more money. For example:

• Reduce dishwasher washing time
• Delete subscriptions you don't use
• Replace an old bulb with an energy-saving LED bulb
• Walk instead of taking public transport

In conclusion, every frugal gesture will allow you to make big savings in the long term!

Conclusion

➡️ We see that small economies are becoming very important in the long term.

Here is a table with a summary of some examples of possible savings. In order to help you save money and control your budget😊

expenditure	Savings per month	Savings per year
heating	20 CHF	240 CHF
1 croissant + 1 soda per day	210 CHF	2520 CHF
Non-essential gadgets	50 CHF	600 CHF
Fitness	80 CHF	960 CHF
The subscription of the television	25 CHF	300 CHF
Simple, economical gestures	20 CHF	240 CHF
Total	405 CHF	4'840 CHF

Although I have only given a few examples, You can easily save more than 4,800 CHF per year 😉

About 1 month of savings per year!

➡️ Note that for a large proportion of Swiss people, CHF 4,840 is the equivalent of a monthly net salary. This means that we lose 1 month of salary for easily avoidable expenses. That is 1 salary in 12 😶

👉 Furthermore, in most cases, this consumption does not make us any happier!

In reality, these are small, avoidable expenses that we make out of habit, reflex, convenience or laziness. 😐

In addition, most of the advice I've written also helps to avoid waste.

And you, what savings do you expect to make?

Small expenses, big losses: how to save over 4,800 CHF per year in Switzerland

FAQ: Small savings and budget – How to save more in Switzerland?

Why do small expenses have such a big impact?

Because a small, repeated expense quickly becomes significant over several years.

For example :

10 CHF per day represents:

• 300 CHF per month
• 3,600 CHF per year
• 36,000 CHF in 10 years

The problem is often not the amount.

It's repetition.

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How much can be saved with small changes?

It depends on the lifestyle.

But in the examples in this article, some simple optimizations can save around 4,800 CHF per year.

For many Swiss residents, this represents roughly one net monthly salary.

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What are the most expensive small expenses?

Often underestimated expenses include:

• drinks purchased daily
• fast food and restaurants
• gadgets rarely used
• forgotten subscriptions
• expensive leisure
• heating and energy

These expenses seem small individually.

Added together, they become significant.

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Should we eliminate all leisure activities to save money?

No.

The goal is not to eliminate pleasure.

The goal is to optimize spending that brings little value.

For example :

• inviting friends over
• enjoy nature
• practice a free sport
• prioritize simple activities

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How to start reducing your expenses?

Start by analyzing:

1. Recurring expenses
2. Subscriptions
3. Impulse buying
4. Automatic expenses

Often, the easiest savings are already in the current budget.

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Does frugality mean being stingy?

No.

Frugality mainly consists of:

Spend intentionally.

The goal is not to buy less.

The goal is to buy better.

Small expenses, big losses: how to save over 4,800 CHF per year in Switzerland

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How does this blog live?

Overall, this blog lives on sharing a frugal and minimalist lifestyle.

For a question of transparency towards the readers. All recommended products are in order to make life cheaper, simpler and to promote the essentials.

Basically, my only income with this blog comes:

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About me

I decided to create this blog to develop and help readers who are looking for a simpler and more economical life.

Compared to before, I was a person who consumed a lot until the day I realized that my consumption made me sadder and poorer 😑

Now I prefer the minimum of my needs to be happy and achieve my financial freedom.

Without realizingI started to focus on saving and investing to depend on a boss for as little time as possible and to speed up my personal projects.

For several years I have felt happy and I have become richer in a way that I would never have imagined given that I have an average salary in Switzerland.

It is for this purpose that I decided to create this blog. In order to share and learn with other people who seek freedom and simplicity 😉

Are you rather minimalist or frugal Jonny?

I am as minimalist as I am frugalist. However, there are situations where I lean more towards an art of life.

To conclude, I think the most important thing is to feel comfortable in your lifestyle 😊

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Small expenses, big losses: how to save over 4,800 CHF per year in Switzerland