Keluarga kami bahu-membahu menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga setiap bulan.

Our family works together to save on household expenses every month.

Breakdown of Keluarga kami bahu-membahu menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga setiap bulan.

• setiap: every
• menghemat: to save
• keluarga: the family
• kami: our
• bulan: the month
• bahu-membahu: together
• pengeluaran rumah tangga: the household expense

Questions & Answers about Keluarga kami bahu-membahu menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga setiap bulan.

In keluarga kami, why do we put kami after keluarga, and can we say kami sekeluarga instead?

Keluarga kami literally means our family:

• keluarga = family
• kami = we/us (exclusive “we”, not including the listener)

Putting the pronoun after the noun (Noun + Pronoun) is the normal way to show possession in Indonesian.

You can also say kami sekeluarga, roughly we as a whole family. It’s more like “we, the whole family,” with a bit more emphasis on the group as people, not the family as an abstract unit. Both are correct, but:

• Keluarga kami sounds more neutral/formal.
• Kami sekeluarga feels a bit more conversational/emphatic.

Why is it kami and not kita in keluarga kami?

Both kami and kita mean we, but:

• kami = we (excluding the person being spoken to)
• kita = we (including the person being spoken to)

Keluarga kami implies the speaker is talking about their family and the listener is not counted as part of that family group. If you said keluarga kita, it would mean our family including you, which is only correct if the listener is also part of that family.

What exactly does bahu-membahu mean, and is it a verb, adverb, or what?

Bahu-membahu is an idiomatic adverbial expression meaning “shoulder to shoulder; working together; cooperating closely.”

Literally:

• bahu = shoulder
• bahu-membahu (reduplicated) gives the idea of shoulders side by side → working together.

In your sentence it modifies the verb menghemat and describes how the family saves money:

• Keluarga kami bahu-membahu menghemat…
  → Our family saves (money) by working together / in cooperation.

So grammatically, think of it as an adverbial phrase of manner (“together, cooperatively”).

Can I leave out bahu-membahu and just say Keluarga kami menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga setiap bulan?

Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct.

• Keluarga kami menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga setiap bulan.
  → Our family saves on household expenses every month.

Without bahu-membahu, you lose the nuance of everyone cooperating / helping each other. It becomes a simple factual statement that the family saves money, without emphasizing teamwork.

Is there any difference between bahu membahu and bahu-membahu with a hyphen?

In standard writing, the correct form is bahu-membahu with a hyphen, because it is a reduplicated expression forming a single idiomatic unit.

You will see bahu membahu without a hyphen in informal texts or social media, but dictionaries and formal writing generally use bahu-membahu. Meaning-wise, they are the same; the hyphen is a matter of correct spelling and clarity.

What is the difference between menghemat and berhemat? Could the sentence use berhemat?

Both are related to saving/economizing, but:

• menghemat = to save, to economize on something (usually takes an object).

  • Kami menghemat pengeluaran. → We reduce/suppress expenses.

• berhemat = to be frugal, to live economically (more general, not focused on a specific object).

  • Kami berhemat. → We live frugally.

Your original sentence:

• Keluarga kami bahu-membahu menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga…
  → focuses on actively reducing household expenses (clear object).

You could say:

• Keluarga kami bahu-membahu berhemat dalam pengeluaran rumah tangga setiap bulan.

This is also acceptable, but menghemat pengeluaran is more direct and natural when you want to specify what is being reduced.

Why do we say menghemat pengeluaran? Isn’t that like “saving the expenses,” which sounds redundant in English?

In Indonesian, this pattern is normal:

• menghemat (to economize/save) + a noun that represents what is being reduced.

Pengeluaran = expenses / spending (from the verb keluar = go out).
So menghemat pengeluaran literally is “to economize (on) spending,” which is natural in Indonesian.

Similar patterns:

• mengurangi pengeluaran = to reduce expenses
• menghemat listrik = to save electricity
• menghemat uang = to save money

So this is not considered redundant from an Indonesian point of view.

What does pengeluaran rumah tangga mean exactly, and why is the order like that?

Pengeluaran rumah tangga = household expenses.

Breakdown:

• pengeluaran = expenses, spending
• rumah tangga = household (literally “house” + “household management/family life”)

In Indonesian, modifiers usually come after the noun they modify:

• pengeluaran (main noun)
• rumah tangga (modifier, telling you what kind of expenses)

So pengeluaran rumah tangga is “household-type expenses,” which corresponds to English “household expenses.” The order is noun → modifier, which is the normal pattern in Indonesian noun phrases.

Does rumah tangga mean the same as keluarga?

They are related but not identical:

• keluarga = family (the people)
• rumah tangga = household; domestic sphere (the unit and its running, including finances, chores, etc.)

So:

• keluarga kami = our family (the members)
• pengeluaran rumah tangga = household expenses (bills, groceries, utilities, etc.)

You generally would not say pengeluaran keluarga when you mean regular bills and domestic spending; pengeluaran rumah tangga is the more standard phrase.

Can setiap bulan be placed at the beginning of the sentence instead of the end?

Yes. Both are correct:

• Keluarga kami bahu-membahu menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga setiap bulan.
• Setiap bulan, keluarga kami bahu-membahu menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga.

Placing setiap bulan at the beginning emphasizes the time frame (“Every month…”). At the end, it sounds more neutral and is probably the most common position for short time expressions in Indonesian.

There is no tense marking in menghemat. How do we know it means something habitual like “every month we save,” not just “we are saving”?

Indonesian verbs generally do not change form for tense. Time and aspect are shown through:

• Context
• Time expressions like setiap bulan (every month), kemarin (yesterday), besok (tomorrow), etc.
• Optional markers like sudah, sedang, akan.

In your sentence, setiap bulan clearly indicates a habitual or repeated action:

• menghemat
  • setiap bulan → “save (money) every month” / “are in the habit of saving every month.”

If you wanted a progressive “right now we are saving,” you might say:

• Sekarang kami sedang menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga.
  (sedang = currently, in the process of)

Why don’t we need adalah or “to be” after keluarga kami?

In Indonesian, you only use adalah when the predicate is a noun phrase or sometimes a long descriptive phrase:

• Keluarga kami adalah keluarga sederhana.
  → Our family is a simple family.

But when the predicate is a verb, you don’t use adalah:

• Keluarga kami menghemat…
  → Our family saves…

In your sentence, bahu-membahu menghemat pengeluaran rumah tangga is a verb phrase, so no “to be” word is needed.

Could you say just Keluarga bahu-membahu menghemat pengeluaran… without kami?

You could, but it would sound incomplete or odd in most contexts.

• Keluarga by itself just means “family” in a very general sense. Without a determiner or possessor, listeners would wonder “which family?”

In normal conversation, you would specify:

• Keluarga kami … = our family
• Keluarga mereka … = their family
• Keluarga Andi … = Andi’s family

So Keluarga kami bahu-membahu… is the natural, clear form.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral in tone?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal:

• Vocabulary like menghemat, pengeluaran rumah tangga, bahu-membahu is standard and appropriate in writing (articles, essays) and in semi-formal speech.
• It is not slangy or very casual, but you can still say it in everyday conversation.

In more casual speech, people might simplify:

• Keluarga kami sama-sama ngirit pengeluaran tiap bulan.
  (using ngirit instead of menghemat, tiap instead of setiap)