Girl closes deal on 3 houses by spending 35 thousand VND/day, 18 years of frugal living

The internet is abuzz with the story of a Japanese woman who has lived for 18 years on just 35,000 VND a day, spending extremely sparingly. This is the secret that helps her own 3 extremely valuable houses, admirable but still controversial.

A Japanese woman who became famous on social media for her frugal lifestyle and love of animals bought her third house for 37 million yen ($255,000) at the age of 34.

Portrait of a girl who saved for 18 years to have enough money to buy a house.

In 2019, Saki Tamogami, 37 years old and a real estate agent, appeared on Happy! Bomby Girl, a reality TV show about young girls who change their lives through hard work and effort in work and life.

On the show, Tamogami shared that she set a goal of owning three homes before she turned 34. She felt comfortable and secure saving money. "I was happy to see the money growing day by day," she said. After graduating from university, she worked at a real estate brokerage and carefully planned her spending with her modest salary.

She uses only 35 thousand dong per day to be able to buy a house.

To keep costs down, she cooks at home, with simple dishes like udon noodles, toast or daikon radish costing 50 yen ($0.35). Sometimes, the 37-year-old will change up her diet by spreading jam on toast or eating rice with a slice of salmon. She makes sure her daily food expenses never exceed 200 yen ($1.40).

Notably, she doesn't buy bowls and plates, but eats directly from the noodle pot. According to her, this saves her more money. For many years, this real estate agent has been faithful to the motto: "Never buy anything that isn't on sale."

Since setting a goal of buying three houses at the age of 19, she has stopped buying new clothes and only wears old clothes given to her by relatives. Sometimes she even picks up clothes from the trash to wear, according to SCMP.

Tamogami’s hair has never been dyed or permed. She sells it when it’s long enough for 3,100 yen ($20) a time. “That’s enough to get me through a month,” she said.

Thanks to her frugal lifestyle, she bought her first house in Saitama (Kanto region, north of Tokyo) for 10 million yen ($69,000) at the age of 27. She then rented out the house to pay off the mortgage and bought her second house (for 18 million yen) two years later. In 2019, she reached her goal of owning her third house for 37 million yen.

Tamogami said her motivation to live frugally comes from her love of cats. She adopted a stray cat as a child and is determined to build a cat rescue center in Japan. "They are my comfort in difficult times," she confided.

Now, her dream has come true. She opened a cat cafe called Cafe Yuunagi on the ground floor of her third house. This is where she takes in and supports many stray cats who are injured or sick. The cafe attracts cat lovers and helps her earn extra income to rescue more animals.

Despite being financially free, Tamogomi still maintains a frugal lifestyle and plans to use her rent and monthly salary to buy more real estate in the future. Her story was shared on social media and caused a lot of controversy. "She might get sick because of this austere lifestyle. Someone please advise her," one person commented.

"I'm speechless. I really admire Tamogami's frugal lifestyle and love for animals. It's not easy to persistently pursue a dream for many years," another person commented.