A Week In NYC On A $90,000 Salary

Occupation: Analyst
Industry: Financial Services
Age: 23
Location: New York, NY
Salary: $90,000 + bonus
Paycheck Amount (2x/month ): $2,050 after all taxes and deductions

Monthly Expenses
Housing Costs: $1,050 ($2,250 total , BF pays $1,200)
Loan Payments: $300 (student loan repayment)

All Other Monthly Expenses
ClassPass: $75
Blink Fitness: $25
Cell Phone: $120
Spotify: $10
Netflix: $10
FabFitFun Box: $49.99 quarterly.
Utilities, TV & Internet: My BF pays for all of them. I usually try to give him money for it, but he never takes it.
Health, Dental & FSA Contribution: $88 (already taken out of paycheck)
401(k) Contribution: $562.50 (15% already taken out of paycheck)

7:25 a.m. — I make it to the office after a chaotic morning, but I'm late for the morning meeting with sales and trading, so I decide to dial in and enjoy my coffee from my French Press ($0). I feel bad about being mean to my BF this morning and text him that I'm sorry for freaking out at him. He responds that he understands, tells me he loves me, and bids me a good day at work. The Boyfriend Of the Year prize should go to this man for putting up with me.

9 a.m. — After catching up on email and news, I head down to our cafeteria for some breakfast. I decide to skip the order line and go to the breakfast bar where I get a sausage patty and some scrambled eggs with spinach and tomatoes. $2.46

12:30 p.m. — Getting hungry but also feeling tired, I head to La Colombe for a cup of coffee ($2.50 + $1 tip) and then to Sweetgreen for a salad ($11.27). While I wait in the never-ending line, I set up appointments to see a few apartments downtown. $14.77

7:45 p.m. — I make it home and I have a massive headache, so instead of going to the gym like I planned, I turn on Netflix and watch the new season of Grace and Frankie. My BF recently changed jobs and now works in TriBeCa instead of Midtown. His commute to work has gone from 15 minutes to more than an hour — not great for someone who already works about 15 hours a day. I start to get hungry and realize that I forgot to eat dinner. I'm tempted to order something from Seamless, but then I suck it up and make soup with veggies and Vietnamese beef meatballs I have in my fridge.

7 a.m. — I get to work and quickly read the news before heading to my morning meeting. I'm not very hungry, just tired, so I skip breakfast and drink coffee I brought from home.

9 a.m. — I've been feeling so sluggish, so I decide to book myself a Barry's Bootcamp class for this Friday. Booking the class ahead of time makes me accountable and forces me to go, plus Friday is Full Body day. I book directly through the website instead of through ClassPass because ClassPass only offers a limited number of spots at select times for only some studios — and the time and location I want are booked up. $35.53

11:30 a.m. — I get hungry from not eating breakfast, so I pull on my rain boots and brave the pouring rain to find food. I start heading to Hale and Hearty for soup, but I end up going to Open Market instead. I hit up the hot food bar and get myself some broccoli, mushrooms, a piece of grilled chicken, and a few pieces of shrimp. My eyes wander towards the fried chicken, but I walk away before I have a chance to cave. I have a tendency to get carried away when I have too many options. $8.59

4 p.m. — Walk around the corner to see an apartment real quick, and on my way back to the office I stop at a café for an afternoon pick-me-up. I order a skim milk cappuccino and get the beautiful almond croissant staring at me. $10.94

8 p.m. — I finally get home. After seeing six different apartments today, I am exhausted and cooking is out of the question. I order Thai boat noodles from a place around the corner and add on chive pancakes to meet the delivery minimum. I am not leaving my apartment. $22

8:30 p.m. — As I'm waiting for my food, I look through my spring FabFitFun box that just arrived. I love the items that came in the spring box. I have a quarterly subscription, and they auto-charged my card ($49.99) last week.

9:30 p.m. — My parents call me and tell me they need to renew their small-business license, but they don't know how to navigate the site. I tell them I'll take care of it, and I log onto the website and pay for the renewal myself. My mom told me to call her back for her credit card number, but I decide to pay for it with my card. It seems like a small thing to do in light of all they have given me. Plus, every time I go home, my parents always throw money at me even if I don't want it. $308

5:30 a.m. — My alarm goes off but I snooze for a bit before I get up and get ready for work. BF makes me coffee while I am in the shower and puts it in my to-go cup, which is amazing because I probably wouldn't have time to make it myself. Making coffee at home has saved me quite a bit of money these past weeks. I remember reading a Refinery29 article about how millennials spend more money on coffee than they put in their 401(k), and I'm determined not to do the same.

11:30 a.m. — I'm starving by this point because I skipped breakfast. I initially plan on going to Terri's for a vegan sandwich, but then I remember that someone mentioned Groupon has a deal. I go on and buy two $10 certificates for $12. I also have a 50% coupon that I can apply to one of the certificates, so I only pay $9 in total — but after I print them, I realize that I've accidentally bought certificates for the Midtown location, not the FiDi one. Epic fail of the day. After all that, I just decide to go with my coworkers to get a poké bowl ($11.98) for lunch. $20.98

7:30 p.m. — I make it to my barre class at Physique 57 and find out that my ToeSox won't work for this class, so I need to buy full-coverage socks there. I don't ask how much the socks are because I just assume they can't be more than $10. When I get home later and check my email, I find out they cost $14. Still, this is my first time taking a barre class at Physique 57, and I have to say I loved it; I struggled way more than I thought I would. Shout out to Kerrie Schroeder at Physique 57 for making my buns burn and my whole body sore. She has so much energy, enthusiasm, and is just so nice. $14

9:15 p.m. — I'm starving! I see that we still have buffalo wings in the freezer. I pop a few of those bad boys in the oven and take a shower while they bake. I also sautée some Brussels sprouts in olive oil with salt and pepper. I was tempted to order out for dinner, but given that I just bought a pair of $14 socks, I eat my wings and Brussels sprouts in peace.

6 a.m. — I sleep right through my alarm. (Thank god I took a shower last night before bed.) I try to rush getting ready, but I'm so sore that I can't really move that fast. The BF is a bit late, so neither of us has time to make coffee at home. I rush to the subway.

8:15 a.m. — I head to La Colombe to buy coffee since I didn't make any this morning. ($2.50 + $1 tip.) Then I go to our cafeteria to get a muesli bowl with blueberries, strawberries, Greek yogurt, honey, almond milk, and a banana. ($5.25) At this point I'm carrying five different things, and I drop the banana as I'm getting on the escalator. Banana down! Picking it up is so hard since I'm still sore from barre class and also lack a free hand. $8.75

2 p.m. — Find out the last applicant for the apartment I want didn't pass the application process, so I speed to put my application in. In order for it to be complete, I have to get my BF to do the same. Finally, after what feels like forever, he responds and sends me all his info. I submit all of our documents and pay the application fee for the both of us. $150

8 p.m. — I get home to about 15 people standing outside for a viewing of my current apartment; I let them in and log into work remotely to finish. I order pad see ew and chive pancakes from my favorite Thai place for dinner and continue to work. I'm waiting on an offshore in India to finish up their job so I can go to bed. $23

5:30 a.m. — I'm up before my alarm because I've been checking my email for confirmation from the offshore all night; I didn't sleep much at all. I email again to find out what is going on and then also email my manager about the situation. I can't call her from my cell phone, because she's in India and my international calling is blocked.

9 a.m. — My issues are finally resolved, and I head down to La Colombe for coffee. I get a small coffee and an almond croissant. $7.25

12:30 p.m. — It is Friday, and that means no meat for Lent. I'm not one to be too strict about that, but I decide to go to Terri's for a vegan portobello mushroom sandwich. The cashier tells me they can honor the Groupon I bought earlier in the week, but I don't have the app on my phone, so I decide to use it another day. $12.58

5:45 p.m. — I head to my 6 p.m. SoulCycle class in TriBeCa since I have one class left in the package I bought and need to use it before it expires. I am so tired from not sleeping last night and I really regret booking this class, but I can't cancel it now. The worst part is that I was feeling ambitious and booked a Soul Survivor class, which is 60 minutes instead of the normal 45 minutes. ($3 for shoe rental + $2 for water) $5

7:15 p.m. — I'm exhausted and feel like I'm going to pass out. I walk next door to Whole Foods and wander around the store, not really knowing what to buy. I end up getting ice cream, fruit, cheese, and vegetarian items from the hot food bar. It's an expensive trip given I didn't even really buy anything. $45.76

8 p.m. — I walk to my BF's office to meet him as he's getting out of work. It is raining so hard that my umbrella is barely doing anything to protect me from getting wet. We decide to get a cab home. My boyfriend offers to pay, but I insist since I get triple points for travel on my credit card. (I have $300 worth of travel credit.) $37.80

9 p.m. — For dinner, we have the vegetarian food I bought from Whole Foods, and gnocchi with red sauce we have in the pantry. We watch Sully and eat some of the ice cream I bought. I fall asleep while watching the movie.

12 p.m. — We lose out on the apartment unit we applied for, and head downtown to see a different unit that is supposed to be similar. We like it and decide to put our application towards that unit. Then we head out for brunch.

1:30 p.m. — We're in walking distance of Chinatown and decide to go for dim sum at Jing Fong. The place is packed as usual, but the wait is no more than 15 minutes. We are starving at this point and order a bunch of dishes, about 10 in total. The plates have small portions, but it's more food than either of us could stomach. The cart with the brunch drinks comes around, but we both gave up drinking for Lent so we pass. My BF pays the bill, which only comes out to $45 after tip.

3 p.m. — We stop at an Asian grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner tonight. We get half of a roasted duck and a bunch of other items. I drank a lot of tea at dim sum and regret not going to the restroom at the restaurant. I leave my boyfriend to wait in line and go the tea shop around to corner. I buy a Thai iced tea, just so that I can use the restroom. The BF meets up with me afterwards in the tea shop. $3.50

7 p.m. — We eat a dinner of roast duck in bao buns with a side of blanched bok choy. I crack open a fresh, young coconut I picked up today downtown ($2.50); the coconut water is so refreshing! We are both too tired to go out and do anything, so we snuggle up and watch episodes of Grace and Frankie for the rest of the night. $2.50

11 a.m. — I eat some of the overnight oats I made yesterday for breakfast while my boyfriend makes himself eggs and bacon. We make coffee for both of us in the French press. After breakfast, my BF heads downtown to his office to finish some work, and I stay at home and start to pack. After packing up all of our books, I decide to make myself a cappuccino using our espresso machine. I get overwhelmed with packing and do some studying for my CFA instead.

7:30 p.m. — I sautée shrimp and chicken andouille sausage we have in the fridge with fra diavolo sauce. I also make the rest of the gnocchi in the pack we opened from Friday's dinner, and add that to the dish as well. My BF gets home from work just as I'm finishing up. He bought fresh basil from the store, and I top off our dishes with that and shredded mozzarella cheese.

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