‘This is my whole life income’: Bengaluru couple shocks internet with staggering monthly expenditure
A Bengaluru-based content creator couple has revealed how much they spent in the month of August — and their eye-popping total has left millions shocked.
A Bengaluru-based content creator couple has revealed how much they spent in the month of August — and their eye-popping total has left millions shocked. Prakriti Arora and Ashish Kumar revealed their expenses in an Instagram video that has gone viral with over 5 million views and thousands of comments.
The married couple gave up lucrative career options to pursue content creation professionally and has been based in Bengaluru since 2017. “I began professionally pursuing content creation in April 2022, while Ashish recently quit his high-paying job as a software engineer earlier this year in February 2025 and joined me as a full-time travel content creator,” Prakriti, 29, told HT.com.
Getting into content creation
Ashish, 30, is a graduate of IIT Roorkee who worked remotely as a senior software engineer at a US based company called Course Hero – this is a position he gave up to get into content creation. “Meanwhile I quit the opportunity to pursue a PhD in English Literature at the University of York in London,” said Prakriti.
Expenses in August
In an Instagram video last week, Prakriti and Ashish revealed how much they spent as a married couple living in Bengaluru.
The couple shelled out ₹42,000 for rent as their biggest expense. Their second biggest expense was fitness – they both have personal trainers, while Prakriti also went for pilates in August. This brought their fitness budget to ₹40,000 for the month of August.
“To support our fitness journey, our monthly groceries bill was around ₹20,000,” Ashish added.
Next, they spent ₹10,000 on house help, utilities and streaming subscription services. Apart from this, they also spent ₹13,000 on eating out and ordering in.
For the travel influencers, travelling is naturally a major expense. In August, they booked two international and two domestic trips which together cost them a whopping ₹3.5 lakh.
Finally, miscellaneous expenses like cabs, grooming, gifting and insurance came to ₹15,000. The couple also kept aside ₹1 lakh for investments and SIPs.
This brought their August total to ₹5,90,000 – or nearly ₹6 lakh.
Instagram stunned
Viewers were stunned by the couple’s monthly spend, with some comparing the total to their annual CTC. Others asked for their sources of income.
“Their 1 month expense = our 1 year income,” wrote one person. “You called me poor in so many languages,” another quipped.
“This is my whole life income,” read a comment.
“I know these guys, they are ones asking for that ‘Is 50 LPA enough to survive in Bangalore’,” one Instagram user joked.
“Noooo... I don't want the tracking sheet... LOL. I wanna know how much u both earn and way to earn money to spend like this,” a viewer added.
Only ₹10,000 on house help, utilities?
Some raised doubts about the authenticity of their claims, wondering how someone could spend ₹40,000 on fitness but just ₹10,000 on house help, electricity and gas bills, and OTT services.
When HT.com asked Prakriti about this, she replied, “The cost of house-help, utilities and subscriptions might seem relatively low but that is because we only have house help for cleaning the house and she charges ₹4,500 per month. We prefer to cook on our own as per our dietary requirements.”
Besides this, their electricity and internet bills come to roughly ₹1,300 and 2,000 respectively. They get free Amazon Prime and JioHotstar subscriptions through Amazon Black. “Finally, other subscriptions like Netflix, YouTube Premium, Spotify, Gas connection add up to 10,000,” Prakriti explained.
Bengaluru couple’s earnings
With dozens of people wondering how the couple could afford to spend so lavishly, Prakriti and Ashish shared another video on their earnings.
They revealed their five major sources of income, with the first one being digital products and affiliates. “We have been monetising our experience and skill-sets to bring you the most well-curated DIY trips through eBooks and guides,” they explained. This brings them roughly ₹60,000 per month.
Next, they earn ₹45,000 per month through YouTube revenue – “Although we’re only able to re-share content on YT Shorts, it helps us meet ends,” they said.
Content licensing has become their third major revenue stream, earning them approximately ₹20,000 per month.
They also want to branch into trip hosting and planning services – although this has not brought in any revenue yet.
Finally, their biggest stream of income is brand collaborations. This, the couple says, is highly dynamic. “It can go down to zero or as high as 10–12L, it entirely depends on how many brands you sign up per month,” they explained in the video caption.
Approximately, however, they earn ₹3 to 4 lakh per month through brand collaborations.
