Bengaluru couple spends ₹9 lakh yearly on travel as biggest household expense, ₹60,000 on rent: ‘We’re not tracking…’

A Bengaluru household of two software engineers has made public a monthly budget of roughly ₹1.73 lakh, shared by Instagram user Shubhi Khandelwal. The couple lives together and pools expenses covering rent, groceries, commuting, shopping and an annual holiday fund, while separately holding investment portfolios in Indian and US markets.

What The Budget Shows

Housing is the largest fixed cost at about ₹60,000 a month, inclusive of rent and maintenance. The couple notes that rents in Bengaluru swing widely by locality and society, so comparable flats can carry very different price tags across the city.

Groceries and household essentials come to ₹13,000–14,000 monthly, with a significant share going to high-protein items such as whey protein, Greek yogurt and paneer. Domestic help for cooking and cleaning costs ₹8,000. Weekend outings and activities account for ₹10,000, fuel and cabs about ₹3,500, and shopping or miscellaneous items another ₹3,000.

The standout line item is travel. The couple sets aside roughly ₹9 lakh a year, or about ₹75,000 a month, based on two years of tracked trip spending averaged monthly. They describe tracking expenses to spend deliberately, without monitoring every rupee to settle who owes whom.

Why It Matters For Businesses

For employers and payroll teams, the numbers illustrate the compensation pressure in tech hubs, where housing and lifestyle costs shape retention and relocation decisions. For consumer-facing businesses, they point to where discretionary spending is concentrating among dual-income professionals: experiences, premium food and travel rather than routine purchases.

For tax and compliance professionals, the disclosure is a reminder that household cash flows increasingly span multiple investment jurisdictions. The couple invests in Indian and US markets individually, which raises familiar questions around foreign asset disclosure, reporting thresholds and the treatment of overseas holdings. Travel spending of this scal…