A Week In Los Angeles On A $75,000 Salary

Industry: Media
Age: 28
Location: Los Angeles
Salary: $75,000 a year
Paycheck (every 2 weeks): ~$2,266
Number of roommates: 2 Monthly Expenses
Rent: $1,025/month
Loan payments: $435/month
Utilities: $100/month
Transportation: $60/month (gas), $50/month (Ubers)
Car payment: $300/month
Phone bill: $145/month
Health insurance: $120/month
Website hosting: $10/month
Adobe Creative Cloud subscription: $29/month

Day 1

10 a.m. — Coffee: $3.27 2:30 p.m. — Go to lunch in Pasadena with my friend (and ex-boyfriend). Poké bowl and coconut water cost $11.50; his treat. 3:30 p.m. — Fill up the tank for a 2015 Honda Fit. $22.34

Daily Total: $25.61

Day 2

10 a.m. — I'm planning to write at my favorite coffee shop, but I hate their food and I'm hungry. I stop by Starbucks first to eat — a sausage breakfast sandwich and a new bagel hole thing — a French toast Bantam. $5.20

10:15 a.m. — Cold brew from Found Coffee in Eagle Rock: $4

6:30 p.m. — Eat a Trader Joe’s pizza for dinner from my freezer.

8:30 p.m. — Meet up for a first date at a wine-and-beer bar. Sierra Nevada, $6, but he pays. 9:30 p.m. — We go to another bar close by, Little Joy, for a stand-up show. I buy two whiskey gingers, my treat. Then we run into friends and have another round, his treat. $16

11:20 p.m. — Go to another bar, down the road, The Lost Knight. We have another round (it's fuzzy). He pays. 12:30 a.m. — Tipsy, and riding down Sunset Boulevard to my house in an Uber: $5.55

Daily Total: $30.75

11 a.m. — I go to a doctor's appointment and pay for parking. $6. Co-pay: $15. Total: $21

12 p.m. — Party City for some balloons for my roommate's birthday party. $9.99 each for two huge Mylar "8" balloons, because he was born in 1988. Get it? Yeah, no one did either, but it looked cute. $21.78 1:15 p.m. — Lunch. Big Mac and French fries from McDonald’s: $5.48 1:30 p.m. — I buy a special introductory package at Pop Physique, five classes for $45. I book my first class for Sunday at 11 a.m. (Note: I slept through it.) $45

8:30 p.m. — Cupcake mix and frosting (on sale). I make these at home and crush up some near stale Oreos that I had in the pantry to put on top. It's really good, promise. $3.62 9 p.m. — Roommate orders Thai food, $16.58, his treat. We both haven't eaten and people are coming over, and I am still baking cupcakes, so we get a chicken pad Thai to split and an appetizer. Daily Total: $96.88

Day 4

11 a.m. — $4 cold brew from Vita, my friend Riley's treat. 4 p.m. — Groceries for the week from Trader Joe's: one cucumber, Sriracha chips, unsalted butter, coconut water, cold-brew concentrate, organic spaghetti, seafood mussels in white wine, roasted wasabi seaweed strips, a bell pepper, two Minneolas, pesto, organic ketchup, four avocados, three bananas, a bag of russet potatoes, penguin gummies, a bag of arugula, one chicken pot pie, a pack of three bell peppers, breakfast latkes, boneless chicken thighs, smoked salmon with capers dip, cut cheddar Irish Porter cheese, a pre-made salad with chicken, strawberries, and a garden bouquet. $73.89 6 p.m. — Eat the pre-made salad for dinner and shove Sriracha chips into my mouth. 9 p.m. — I go to the screening of Punch-Drunk Love at the Ace Hotel with my friend Peter. He buys drinks; I have white wine, and I think he has vodka. It's about $20. I tip $10 cash kind of on accident because it is connected to other bills. I'm not even drunk at this point. $10 11 p.m. — One beef dip, one lamb dip, and fries from Cole's. Peter has never had a Cole's beef dip before, so I buy him one and try a lamb one myself. $29.06 11:30 p.m. — Terrible time to take an Uber, but I accept a 2.8x surge. #regret $19.50

Daily Total: $132.45

Day 5

11 a.m. — Eat a banana and yogurt. 11:30 a.m. — I left my computer charger at a coffee shop, so I have to go pick it up. I don't really need the coffee, but I feel awkward and I'm just really happy to get my computer charger back. $4

6 p.m. — Make dinner for myself and my roommate: rosemary chicken with roasted potatoes. Daily Total: $4

Day 6

1 p.m. — My sister is in town from Chicago, so I take the next two days off work. It's not going to be a great example of my everyday life, but here it is. We go to lunch at Guisados, my treat. Yummy tacos. $22.35 2 p.m. — Student-loan payment, $150 (counted above in monthly expenses). 3:30 p.m. — We go to a Korean spa, but I won't say which one because it's a steal. We grab some mochi first: $5 4 p.m. — Reflexology massage, my sister's treat: $50. 8 p.m. — Uber to Bootleg Theater for a free comedy show. $8.11 9 p.m. — Two drinks for us, my treat. $13

10 p.m. — We Uber to another bar to meet up with that cute boy who I went on a date with on Thursday and his squad. $5.15

11:30 p.m. — Pick up Uber back to my neighborhood, $9.15. Drinks for myself, my sister, and cute boy, who my sister delightfully points out looks like her ex-roommate who trained his pit bull to attack people. No chill, no chill. $32. Total: $41.15

1:20 a.m. — Go home and drunkenly cook latkes. Daily Total: $94.76

Day 7

11 a.m. — Yogurt and banana. 11:30 a.m. — Get a coffee, bottled water, and Danish from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: $6.30 11:45 a.m. — Go golfing with my sister at the cheapest course we could find; her treat. $5.50 2:30 p.m. — HomeState Tex-Mex restaurant — we have amazing tacos and loaded queso. $17.15 8 p.m. — We make stuffed peppers for dinner.

Daily Total: $23.45