5 Money Diaries: A Week Around The World On $30,000+ Salaries

Today, we're thinking about how women living on a salary in the $30,000 range spend their money in a given week. The U.S. median for personal income is $30,240. Food often eats up a significant amount of people's weekly or monthly budgets, as can the cost of transportation and healthcare. Let's not forget, either, how much of our incomes is dedicated to housing: According to the 2017 State of the Nation Housing report, more than 11 million renters spent at least half of their income on housing in 2015. And depending on your location, $100 might not get you very far. So depending on your situation, earning $30,000 or so can be doable, or it can feel overwhelming.

Ahead, we look at the spending habits of five women in and outside of the United States, from what they have to spend money on, to what they hope to spend money on in the future.

The first step to getting your financial life in order is tracking what you spend — to try on your own, check out our guide to managing your money every day. For more money diaries, click here.

1. Back-to-School Moms: Are you a mom preparing for the back-to-school hustle? Submit your diary about all that entails here!

2. School Daze: Are you a college undergrad? We want to hear from you. We'd love to read entries from women paying their own way, who are working full-time or part-time, have work-study programs, or simply want to share what it's like to be an undergrad today. Submit it to us here.