A Week In Nashville, TN On A $80,000 Salary

Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.

Today: a systems engineer who makes $80,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on oven-bake clay.

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Occupation: Engineer
Industry: Manufacturing
Age: 22
Location: Nashville, TN
Salary: $80,000
Assets: HYSA: $13,000; investments: $15,000; checking: $4,000; emergency fund: $3,000; travel fund: $1,200; Roth IRA: $24,000; employer 401(k): $2,000.
Debt: $0
Paycheck amount (2x/month): $2,291
Pronouns: She/her

Housing costs: $2,000
Loan payments: $0
Utilities: $50-$60 
Valet trash: $30 (non-optional for my apartment, sadly).
Apartment amenity bundle: $55 (includes wi-fi and water).
Car insurance: $117/month (paid in six-month bundle).
Solidcore Pilates: $165 (8+1 class membership).
My parents are still listing me as a dependent on health insurance and they also help to pay for my phone and cover the family Netflix plan. I keep pretty close track of my expenses so at the end of every month I will try to add at least $100 to my travel fund and emergency fund, and the remaining to my savings/investments. I elected to have 12% go directly into my 401(k) since I’m trying to max out employee contribution and save as much as possible while I’m young.

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, my parents are both immigrants who came to the US for better opportunities including education and work, so they always impressed on me the value of higher education and upskilling myself. I went to a mid-size private school where I studied engineering; my parents paid for the tuition and room/board. The expectation in my family is that I would do the same for my children and that if I were to choose to pursue a graduate degree or other education, I would pay for that myself as a working adult.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
When I was very little, we lived in apartments and scrimped and saved by eating at McDonald’s or only eating leftovers. I never worried about basic needs such as shelter and food but didn’t grow up with the myriad of extracurriculars that we were able to afford towards the end of high school. My parents taught me to value experiences (generally free, such as hiking or flying kites in the park) rather than material goods. Of course, this didn’t stop me screaming and crying over a $100 American Girl doll, but it did instill in me the value of finding fun things to do that don’t require lots of money.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was in high school, teaching an older lady how to use her computer and Facebook, which is how I got patience for teaching all things related to engineering and technology. I also tutored briefly and found random little jobs to have some extra spending money.

Did you worry about money growing up?
No. I was lucky to be sheltered from discussions about money while understanding about things that were too expensive and not worth the extra money.

Do you worry about money now?
No, except kind of as an addictive hobby since I got big into reading up about personal finance on Reddit. I think I was extremely lucky since in one of my first internships during college, my boss bought me the book The Psychology of Money, which made me think about saving and investing very differently. I think that sometimes I worry a bit just because I’m new to adulting expenses and have no idea how much things cost (moving to new cities is $$$$) but overall, I think I keep myself in check while still having fun.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I just graduated so at 22 I became financially responsible for myself with my first job (yay!). I am privileged to have a financial safety net in my parents and I could always move back in with them if I went through financial hardship.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
In my culture, it’s tradition to receive red envelopes with money in them. I would estimate that I’ve received ~$1,000 from grandparents, parents, family etc. over many years.

8 a.m. — All those cheesy slogans about taking coffee through an IV or being unable to function without it are about me: I crawl out of bed today needing coffee. Hit my face with some water and sunscreen, throw on an old T-shirt and shorts and head to the library cafe (a converted home of sorts with each room filled with books and beautiful vintage furniture. I love local coffee shops like this, despite their steep price tags). I grab a large iced latte, throw myself onto a green armchair and pretend I’m in one of those Victorian movies where the heroine reads and is romanced and doesn’t have to work to support herself. I read Jennette McCurdy’s book, I’m Glad My Mom Died, and cry in public (just a few glistening tears on my cheek, very demure and mindful or whatever that trend is). I think about sad children and am sad. I get up and continue my day. $7.11

12 p.m. — One of my friends is coordinating an international food crawl where we split different ethnic dishes on Nolensville Pike and hop from restaurant to restaurant. Today she has planned for three different restaurants for lunch over three hours and I’m incredibly hungry. We start with Osh and the Turkish meats, rice and soups melt in my mouth. We ruminate over what spices we think they might have used and discuss our favorite restaurants in Nashville ($14.80 after we split it five ways). Next, we hit Deg Thai (a Thai place that is on Yelp’s Top 100 in the US) and get some amazing pad Thai. Finally, we stop at Eggholic, an Indian place with delicious desserts and egg-based dishes ($15 for both restaurants, after splitting five ways). We end in the afternoon extremely full and part ways. $29.80

6 p.m. — I sell my ancient Nespresso Pixie machine on Facebook Marketplace having recently watched a documentary about minimalism. I want to eventually live in a van with next to no items and this machine takes up valuable counter space. I load it into some guy’s truck with my new $20 bill scrunched in my hand and wave goodbye, forlornly. I head over to K&S Market, an international grocery store that I love, to grab my week’s meal prep groceries. My partner is working remotely from my apartment next week so I need to double up (I get ground beef to make this delicious Korean dish off YouTube, vegetables to stir-fry and some chicken breasts and thighs to air-fry). The total comes out to $90, which I split two ways. I head back to my apartment to quickly meal prep everything before I go pick up my partner from the airport. $45

8 a.m. — I decide to get an eight-day trial of a bougie coworking space called Switchyards — they have these beautiful, warm spaces with free coffee and tea and it’s pretty cheap to try it at least. Typically, I would work more in the office so I have every intention of canceling after this trial but my partner works long hours and I hope that they can work here so they don’t get sick of my apartment. $12

8:30 a.m. — I grab a large iced latte and a cookie from the coffee shop next door as I start with a few meetings about a new project. I’m fairly new so I have no clue how to do most things but I’m attempting to take most days one step at a time (for instance, one of my to-do items is to download some software). $10.83

12 p.m. — I eat oven-baked salmon with broccoli, carrots and rice with my partner as we catch up about our work and our lives. Long distance is...not so fun but worth it for the right person! I wash my dishes by hand because my dishwasher requires some specific pods that I probably will never buy.

3 p.m. — I take some time to catch up on emails and see an invite to a company book club for a book called Speak Up, Sister. I’ve been looking for more ways to connect with people at the office since my main team is remote and I love to read so I sign up right away. Go STEMinists! $19.97 (expensed).

8 a.m. — My partner grabs my large iced latte for me. I thank him profusely even as he builds me an Excel sheet to calculate that yes, I spend $100 a month on coffee, which amounts to $1,200 a year. I just love coffee and coffee shops too much (maybe I am that brand of hipster where I spend a lot of money but I support local shops — am I a patron? How fancy!). I get lost in a few daydreams while I’m meant to be paying attention to a training video.

12 p.m. — I eat my meal-prepped meal again (same salmon with veggies). It’s not particularly interesting but you know, sustenance and all that. I hop on a casual call about artificial intelligence, which I love to chitchat about. I think that prompt engineering (figuring out how exactly to ask AI what you want to get an answer that’s relevant using examples and specificity) might develop a new “language” of sorts among our generation. For instance, it’s always been difficult for literature or liberal arts-minded individuals to communicate with engineering folks, who might seem less open-minded or are looking for very specific technical requirements, but now maybe they can have a full conversation using only questions. Will AI change the way we ask questions to each other? It’s nice that talking and thinking are free because I do a lot of that. Sometimes more talking than thinking.

5:30 p.m. — I hit a Solidcore class, which is a bit like Pilates but more strength training-focused. It’s tough and the air con is broken in the room, which I gripe about with a new friend (we pay so much! We didn’t sign up for hot yoga!). I feel good after the class and eat a popsicle while I make pasta for dinner. I eat with my partner while discussing some morbid “would you rather” questions that you can only ask when you have known someone for at least a year. I end the day by watching Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE and crocheting at a rapid pace because I just found out I got into an art market and want to make some items for it.

7:30 a.m. — I head into the office and grab some coffee and catch up with some of my coworkers. Today we have a paid lunch for networking with seniority, which I find somewhat informative and very stressful. In my opinion, office furniture-makers need to stop making long rectangular tables because it’s a bad design for communicating (I can’t hear you from way over here) and too formal (a physical structure for the head of the table). I find myself in the middle of this table that stretches from one side of the room to the other, talking to people right across from me and not attempting to chat with those to the right or left of me, like a horse wearing blinders.

1 p.m. — I purchase some pistachios because I need to stress-eat something. I fall into a rhythm with Excel, analyzing the data and creating pretty graphs, and the rest of the day passes relatively quickly with a blur of meetings and work to do before Labor Day weekend. I picture that one scene from High School Musical where everyone’s yelling “summer summer summer” and I feel like the equivalent of that in Corporate America is our silly little long weekends. $1.62

7 p.m. — I eat some of my meal-prepped chicken and vegetables at home with my partner before I head out to my coworker’s birthday celebration at a cool bar. It’s one of the bars which looks a bit sketchy from the outside but is super cool and renovated on the inside (is this a modern speakeasy?) and I celebrate with a little pink cocktail. We take pictures as girls do when they are on a rooftop with drinks. $16.30

10 p.m. — I rideshare to the bar and back home ($12.76 for both trips), which is a pretty short drive thankfully. I fall asleep pretty soon after finishing a few rows of crochet on my new sweater in front of the TV. $12.76 

8 a.m. — I grab coffee and some food with my partner at a local coffee shop before working the day in the coworking space, which proves to be quite cozy (but perhaps not worth $100 a month when I’m already paying an arm and a leg in rent). I take a break by googling old vans on Facebook Marketplace and daydreaming about van life. $21.85

12 p.m. — My partner treats me with Italian beef sandwiches from Little Hats, an Italian market and restaurant that is my favorite. The garlic aioli and the peppers are just MMHMM excellent. I feel that eating out is much more exciting when most of your meals are meal prepped — almost like a scarcity mindset so you appreciate it more.

7:30 p.m. — I joined a local pickleball league and have a few games to play on the rooftop of the gulch. I’m a beginner so I hit a lot of poorly placed shots where the other team looks disappointedly after the ball skittering away but I get rapidly better #growthmindset. I learn to play in the kitchen (closer to the net) and in the last game, we hold them at 8-2 for so long that everyone else has left. I find this extremely encouraging, though we lose again.

9 p.m. — I come back to find that my partner went to Kroger and bought a few things to make tacos and a mystery sauce. It’s so nice to come home to a meal that’s made. I dig in as I recount some of my best hits in the matches, then take a well-deserved shower. (This is not my first shower of the week, I just forgot to mention them previously.) I’ve been on a big sustainability kick recently so I switched to refillable shampoo, conditioners and natural soaps from The Good Fill in Nashville. Their business model is they charge by the ounce but you can refill glass or other containers and it’s pretty cheap (relative to always replacing plastic bottles).

8 a.m. — We decide to explore a new coffee shop and grab some coffee and brunch-type food ($43). I finish up some of my projects and it’s the end of the month so: payday! I spend a little bit of time sorting out my budget for this month and moving around my pay towards my different funds and paying off my credit card. I’m helping to organize a financial planning workshop at work so I send out a few emails and texts related to the logistics of that event. $43

6 p.m. — I drag my partner to another Solidcore class with me and we struggle together. The instructor is impressed by his form but little does she know I drew diagrams and taught him before we came to the class (ha!).

8 p.m. — My partner treats me to burgers and beer at a local bar where it is karaoke night. I slowly convince him to do the karaoke with me because “We don’t know anyone here” and “Why not?” — classic persuasion techniques. We choose “Grenade” by Bruno Mars, which proves to be exceptionally difficult to sing and not as easy as we remembered it being. We have a good time though and we agree to tell everyone that we were received with a standing ovation and pats on the back after our performance. $5

9 a.m. — My partner and I have an exciting Saturday planned (pending his work schedule) and we start with some drinks and food at a coffee shop downtown. Parking is free — phew — and we take the opportunity to walk to a record store nearby and browse some music, too. $19.25

11 a.m. — We head over to the Lane Motor Museum ($15 entrance fee), which has cool antique cars, motorcycles and other kinds of automobiles on display. My partner is big into cars so I try to ask a lot of questions to be an engaging date, although most of my commentary is that I like that color or the fabric of the seats. We talk about how past eras valued art and aesthetics more and subsequently my Instagram overhears me and populates my reels with similar opinions. We browse the gift shop and find little pull-back car keychains. We each buy one ($7) and plan to race them later. $22

4 p.m. — My partner and I watched an Instagram reel with an idea to create oven-baked clay magnets and paint them, which seemed budget and extremely fun. We decide to buy online with Michaels, which has a Labor Day 40%-off sale for online purchases, but when we get to the store to pick everything up the saleslady tells us our purchases won’t and can’t be ready for a few hours. We sadly cancel our online purchase and buy everything in person (three pounds of oven-bake clay, clay tools, magnets, glue, five colors of paint, Mod Podge). I mostly like to do dates like this (artsy quality time) rather than going out and drinking because I love to make things with my partner. $57.03

7 p.m. — We end the day with some Thai food and iced teas as takeout and eat outside where the weather has cooled down a bit with some rain. We go for a little digestive walk after dinner because we are so stuffed, then get ready to make magnets. There is a bit of a learning curve with using this clay and what looks good (we range from a refrigerator magnet for the fridge — super meta — to a lobster magnet). We bake one tray but realize it smells bad and google toxic effects of oven-bake clay for about 10 minutes before deciding it’s probably okay. When we open the oven for our second tray, there’s smoke which sets off our fire alarm, which sets off our apartment’s fire alarm. It is quite awkward when the facility manager checks on us and we apologize profusely. After all’s said and done though, the clay magnets are adorable and we head to bed late but happy! $46.87