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TLDR: -Rent: $620 with all utilities included.

I'm assuming you live with 4 other people? What's that like?

If you don't mind me asking, which school are you at that's paying less that CUNY?

It’s fine. I have a mini fridge in my bedroom to save the trouble of sharing a fridge. 1 bathroom is shared between me and 2 other roommates. The other is shared by the landlord and his mother, but they lend it to us when the other is occupied. I don’t rly talk to my roommates, tbh. We keep to ourselves. One of them is rly dirty with maintaining the bathroom so I don’t keep my toiletries aside from toothpaste, soap, and cheap shampoo in the bathroom. Otherwise, I rly enjoy it when my bedroom door is closed and I do whatever I want.

Edit: the only people who use the kitchen are the landlord, his mother, and myself. One of the roommates is a restaurant worker and presumably gets all food needed at either work or at their partner’s place (this roommate goes out a lot). The other roommate (the dirty one) orders Uber eats all the time. How they can afford it, beats me. I’m not complaining, though. 3 people sharing a kitchen is reasonable.

Pls PM me if you’re rly interested.

What's an example of meals you might cook in a week? I'm curious after seeing your budget and fridge situation.

Which street corner was most popular?

So it's possible to live on minimum wage in NYC as long as you share a living space with strangers and don't UberEATS avocado toast everyday? Checkmate, capitalists.

I make a lot of sandwiches because they’re easy. For extra protein I’ll put cheese, chicken or tuna meat, and a fried egg. I’ll have instant noodles with an egg and veggies once in a while, no more than once a week.

When I crave fries, I’ll cut up potatoes and boil them for 4 min. Then I keep them in a container in the fridge for easy pan-frying with butter.

Pastas and soups with meat/veggies are also quick and easy.

I also eat a lot of yogurt and fruits.

Once in a blue moon, a free food event at school will have a lot of leftovers are at risk of ending up straight in the trash. I keep a plastic container in my bag juuuuust in case.

>One of them is rly dirty with maintaining the bathroom so I don’t keep my toiletries aside from toothpaste, soap, and cheap shampoo in the bathroom.

Wait. So when you need to do your business in the bathroom, ie. doing #2 do you take the TP from your room to the bathroom everytime or you just don't care & just leave the TP in the bathroom?

Nice job.

Is the internet included in the utilities or are you just using your Spectrum unlimited data?

Honestly not sure if I understand your joke. “Don’t uber eats avocado toast every day” sounds like a jab at young adults with a silver spoon in their mouths, but “..as long as you share a living space with strangers” sounds like a typical millennial criticism of the cost of living in NYC.

And here you thought tax breaks were for only the rich!

Yes it’s included. I got very lucky here.

No different than any of us workers.

Lol most of the time I leave it in the bathroom but I know for sure that roommate (the dirty one) steals it sometimes. I’ll put it back in my bedroom if I know I’ll be gone from home in a while. Yesterday, I noticed that a wad of tp was missing so I removed my roll before I left for school and when I came back, my roommate finally put their own inside.

That rent is def necessary to make it work on 23k. But if their rent was 1500, they could have the same exact budget by making 35k, which is still a really low number.

And people will still have audacity to say "iS It PoSsIbLe tO liVe in NyC wiTh $100k sAlArY?!?"

Nah, you'll be eating ramen noodle with that salary

I'm also curious about the school..can you DM it to me?

I'm not trying to flex at all but I made 72K last year. I see your wages and I just feel bad. I'm an idiot without a bachelor's and I'm fairly young. I'm sorry that our system doesn't treat you better.

> and a fried egg. I’ll have instant noodles with an egg

You're really pushing your budget buying such luxury items like eggs.

Taxes differ from 23k to 35k a year.

Nah don’t feel bad for me. I agreed to do this knowing I’d be on a low income. Everyone has a choice. I’m rly happy that you made it to $72k without a bachelors!

I mean, having 4 roommates isnt ideal for everyone.

Does it never happen that you get home tired and you're like "fuck it I'll just get tacos?"

Also, were you ever tempted to just pick up some side gig-work or you just don't have the time for that?

I think you can go even lower on your living expenses if there are bunkbeds and you don't mind sleeping in the room in shifts. Not kidding. This happens all the time in immigrant communities.

Obviously you are not starting from the bottom. What electronic devices, furniture, assistance, clothing, savings ect did you receive before this?

Honestly its all relative, many would think the same of you @ 72k.

72k isn't a flex lmao

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Yes. I save on fast food with McDonalds and Taco Bell mobile apps. They have pretty significant discounts and have good rewards systems. McDonald’s is the only place I’ll get a Diet Coke because they still charge $1 for a large. When I’m in midtown, I get $1 pizza slices. There are also some food carts or cash-only small restaurants with ok-priced menus.

Btw, unfortunately I don’t have time for a side gig.

Yeah, the problem with that for me is that that food's so unhealthy. In the long term but also in the short term crap fast food always messes with my stomach. So my lazy takeout option always ends up being chipotle/tacos etc, which is nowadays in the 15 dollar range.

Electronic devices: Dell laptop from 2014 and iPhone SE (2016) purchased by my parents. iPad 9th generation purchased by myself.

Clothes: my mom was kind of a shopaholic buying from thrift stores when I was in high school, so I had more clothes than I needed. I took pieces with “classic” styles.

Furniture provided by landlord.

Almost no savings. My undergrad tuition was fully covered by a scholarship. Parents covered living expenses for 3 years of undergrad. I took on my own expenses starting my senior year of undergrad.

True it’d be like 1350 rent to make it even at 35k salary

"Lived" more like "survived"

I hope you get to 50 this year at least. Good luck, man.

I feel like you seriously underestimate the tax diff between 23k and 35k

Iirc, something like your first 10-12K is 100% untaxed, and after that is very low. The taxes on 30-35K are sizeably higher than, say, 20-25K

Thank you!

Like I said, I wasn't trying to brag. But 23k is waaaaaaay below the poverty line. I think the OP should be making more money than me.

I buy eggs on Amazon fresh. They’re cheaper than in local stores. But I try to buy local otherwise.

I know...so what's a flex for you? 🧐🧐🧐

I guess I’m lucky to be built to handle cheap fast food!

Also keep in mind this person's in a FIVE-person unit.

Depending on the field they're in, they're likely going to make a lot more than 72k a year once they're done with their grad degree.

They are, I checked on smart assets New York calculator tool. 23k gross is 19k post tax, which the OP confirmed. 35k gross is 27.5 post tax, so 8.5k higher.

8.5k more means 700 more per month. 620 is OPs starting number so that gets you to 1320

I have lived off of $24k or less for most of the last 12 years in NYC, sometimes by choice in order to pay down debt, save up for an apartment downpayment, sometimes due to having shitty jobs/being underemployed. It is doable for a single person, and I have what I consider to be a good lifestyle.

This is like surviving more than anything because you literally have no safety net for investments so I hope people don't try this and end up homeless with no future especially since majority of folks don't have the same ability to micro manage finances like you.

Sounds like a living hell.

I hope so. OP seems like great person.

I lived on like $27k last year and cleared about 10x that after taxes, and it wouldn't be that difficult to get down to $24k.

$1300 rent+utilities, splltting a 1-bed with GF

$200 phone (I pay for my parents)

$300-400 food

$30 laundry

$80 gym

~$200 subway/clothes/concerts/toiletries

$20 for youtube premium and peacock

I'm just lucky in that I was not well off until about 30 so I never got used to material or finer things. My hobbies are super cheap in basketball and guitar which I already have everything for, maybe the occasional video game. I also have a full wardrobe which I don't really buy for anymore because I bought good clothes a few years back . Even going out is fairly cheap when I just have like 2-4 beers and jazz shows are not that bad.

I do have the luxury of working from home and health insurance covered. Also live near Trader Joes so I ust cook a big meal like 2-3x a week and have the leftovers for lunch. Occasional splurge $100 at a restaurant but I'm also down for the occasional $1 box mac n cheese dinner to even things out.

I did splurge a couple months back and got a 2-bed with my own office so almost doubling my costs but obviously I can afford it, but my budget has always been like $1500-2200 a month since I can remember before that.

edit: should also acknowledge I'm childless and that is an entirely different can of worms

I hope you are in a field that Wall Street or Big Tech likes to recruit from. Because otherwise that's going to be your adjuct salary for forever.

Has the definition for slaves changed? How is this person a slave?

You know of many 1 bedroom apts that go for 1320 in NYC?

People argue that the system was rigged so no one but the already-rich, or someone born into wealth, can make any difference in this country or even rise up to a higher income bracket. Think you saved up? Tax time. Think you earned enough to cover that too? Lost your job.

I honestly don't see how your future can be sustainable. What about taxes? What about social security? What about any emergencies?

Hey I know you know this, but please watch out for fast food- it can genuinely lead to lots of health issues.

"I got hot sauce in my bag" energy. People never think to do that but a lot of situations you could take advantage of extra food laying around like that. Few things better than keeping food out of the trash x saving money.

OK so the system is rigged. How does that make this person a slave? Slaves don't have independence and mobility. They can't do whatever they want with their time. They are someone's property. They work and don't get paid.

That’s a different question. My point was just that extremely extremely low rent is not necessary to make a very low gross income work. I wouldn’t advise anybody making 35k to spend 1350 on rent, it’d just a hypothetical, and no one is talking about one bedrooms.

35K is above min wage

Any person who works full time should be able to afford a 1bdrm

What are you looking for me to say? You made a great point about the taxes, my initial number of 1500 was too high, the number is really 1320. I agree with your second sentence there as well, but that is a different conversation.

The amount of time it would take to Uber eats avocado toast you could just make it yourself

You know what would help someone on a similarly low income?

Can you hook us up with this "600 dollar rent" thing?

This is me. $1200 in rent. 35k a year dog walking. I don’t save though and I’m not exactly living in luxury.

Tip to cut some more expenses:

Checkout T-mobile connect. They have a $15/plan. Another bonus is that you can buy refill cards at Target on sale and not pay tax. My phone bill nets out to $13/month with that.

Not sure if you already do this but powder detergent has more bang for the buck (and is also more environmentally friendly). .

I wanna know where they are finding a 5BR house for ~$4k?

Yea word lol

Well, it’s rare these days. I started living there in 09/2021 and my landlord hasn’t increased my rent (he was initially planning to raise it to $650) because we’re on good terms.

Unless you pull some serious connections, it’s simply not gonna happen in desirable neighborhoods like Midtown, LIC, or Williamsburg. You’re gonna have to look up lesser desired areas with longer commute times in Queens, Brooklyn, or The Bronx.

My suggestion is to not use conventional renting websites. The reason being is that you’d normally have to pay realtor fees. Craigslist and Spare Room are the ones I know of.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Thanks!

What’s your major

Thanks for sharing! That’s very nice of you to support your parents’ phone bill!

Thanks for the warning. I try to cook more.

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Well, I’m in my early 20s. I don’t have substantial debt but in the case of a legit emergency, I can borrow up to $20k/yr in federal student loans. And I stated my take-home pay after taxes in the post.

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Apex technical school.

I get the point that it’s doable but this is not living.

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That is a little under what I pay. It is possible though you do have to get very lucky.

That is a little under what I pay. It is possible though you do have to get very lucky.

r/theydidthemath

Young enough maybe.

You made $270,000 dollars last year? What do you do with the rest of the money?

Ah I missed that.

Well I hope things look up for you! Make sure you're studies and skills and abilities are needed at employers in the future, and invest in time/resources to learn them now. Find ways to destress if you run into problems.

Imagine having to own and maintain a car to get around anywhere. People claim NYC is expensive but if you take out the car ownership/maintenance/gas/insurance you have a lot of extra money lying around.

It takes a lot of discipline to stick to a budget consistently, good job!

You said your hobbies include video games. Are you meaning to tell me you spend $0 on your setup initially? And bought 0 new games, accessories, etc?

I do T-Mobile connect and also let it lapse a few days sometimes when I don’t have any meetings or meetups planned. The savings are small but feels oddly nice given I used to spend 60 a month postpaid for the same service

The person is in grad school and in their early 20s, living like this isn’t a permanent thing.

And yet somehow I feel broke on $130k living here, sharing an apartment with my gf and dog

/r/budgetfood

What do you consider a good lifestyle, though? Honestly curious. I scrimped and saved for years too, but as I got older, it was exhausting. Evaluating every dollar spent and living with roommates in your lates 30s is not fun. Neither is saying no to dinner invites or anything that’s gonna cost more than like $20. To each their own, but I was absolutely miserable.

r/theydidthemonstermath

MTA: $127 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Well I know plenty of idiots with bachelors working in finance making double what you make.

It’s all relative but what’s 100% certain is that I’m the biggest idiot of all.

broooo https://www.affordableconnectivity.gov/

Free online games of Steam and the App Store. I also downloaded DS and PS2 emulators.

welcome to being young adult in the USA bro

Though at $1,500, it'd be be really hard to find a landlord willing to rent to you (or a tenant looking for a roommate) if you don't have a sizeable savings to at least attempt to show you're not a risk of falling behind.

Room share options are a lot easier to get for someone making very little.

You can easily live in NYC without roommates for $100K.

Yeah I always think it’s a bit over exaggerated to state you can’t “live” here on less than $100k. Sure life looks very different, but there are ways to do it if you’re determined.

I lived here in my early 20’s on $40k by similarly finding a shitty cheap room to rent for $700, taking the subway everywhere (no cabs), eating on the cheap by cooking / buying in bulk, and I still has a blast! It wasn’t luxury but I still managed to go out a lot (early ticket admission, cheap happy hour deals, pregaming instead of purchasing drinks etc)

I mean, Wi-Fi is already included in my rent tho lol

You can rent games from the library. And if they're on a play station 4, it could be one they've had for a very long time. Plus they said they allocate $75/month in misc. It may very well be one game they play all the time, so they only needed to buy it the one time. Or for a game like Destiny 2 that has new DLC type releases every ~3-4 or so months, it's easy to squirrel away money to cover any new purchases.

The best/worst thing is world of warcraft where if you know what you're doing you can essentially play for free.

or something else that has a long dynamically generated campaign type experience. I could probably buy one Football Manager game and play for 5-6 years without needing to buy anything else if it came to it, same as I can pay for my WoW subscription for zero dollars through WoW tokens.

And presumably you can play games on the laptop you have for school if you got something decent before moving to NY for school. It's not like you consider the things you own to be part of your monthly expenses unless you just live life on credit.

OP is a full time graduate student. They’re getting free education and health insurance and will hopefully have a good salary after graduation.

So people don’t “try this”? I’m sure no one is choosing to live on so little and they’re just putting it out there for others in similar situations

Super impressed. Nice job. This is only the beginning. You won’t live like this forever.

Can I ask what you do?

Always nice to get some perspective.. appreciate it and count your blessings

I think splitting things like rent and food with your GF helps a lot.

these kinds of budgeting skills you learn in grad school will both exhaust you but also serve you well in life.

source: me! i did something similar when i went to grad school, but back then the dollar also went further. still a cheapskate 25 years later.

Thanks for this post, it's thorough and this is legitimately useful information for people that are struggling out here. It's disheartening to see so many people in this sub so eager to shit on you. Good luck out there.

Yes I'm aware but I'm just saying there a lot of threads about moving in NYC with XXX low salary with meagre savings by potential NYC seeking hopefuls and try to hustle it out here with basically no contingency which is definitely not recommended. I get it he's a student so he technically has contingency and not worry about his future finances (In my opinion, you start as early as possible if you plan to have a family or whatnot) with family maybe even though he's self-dependent currently.

I'm an FSD. It stands for Fire Safety Director. Basically I monitor the fire panel that's found in almost every high rise building in the city. It's a process to get but you can find steady work and decent pay with it. It sounds waaaaaaay fancier than it actually is and I do almost nothing most days except for when the FDNY is here for a pop up inspection. FSDs are legally required by the NYC fire code as its currently written.

Think he’s in the smallest room. Prolly more but proportional to size/amenities?

Um I'm not trying to be negative but I know a few people who graduated with degrees personally. One was stocking shelves at a Western Beef, another ended up as a cashier at Barnes & Nobles (this was a couple of years ago so she could've found something better by now), a good friend of mine graduated with a degree in music and he's currently waiting tables. Not trying to shit on anyone. We do what we must to survive.

Thanks for sharing!

How did you track your expenses?

I’m surprised to see Amazon Prime is your one subscription. How much do you spend on Amazon in a month? When I have Prime I find it tempting to over-spend on Amazon junk.

Also your laundry expense is quite low! I spend $30/mo on laundry, excluding soap.

I have my own room(big enough for a closet, queen size bed, table and chair and still have enough space for a yoga mat workout) for 812$/month. I share a bathroom with only 1 other guy. Utilities excluded, which does not cross over 50$ per month for me. (4b2b apartment, washer dryer included) in Brooklyn

My living expense also never crosses 1300$/month, which includes an occasional(bi-monthly) treating myself to a fancy restaurant (About 30-40$ meal). But this is excluding my tuition fees. Even I'm a research assistant but I still have to pay over 30k$ per year...

You’re lucky you didn’t have any unexpected medical expenses, I’m thousands of dollars in already this year

Lol

There are poor people here, obviously you don't need $100K to live. It's may be possible to live in NYC with $0K salary, but not the way most people would choose to live.

I live on about half of that ($1k/month) just outside Boston, although I do get food stamps and free health care. Fortunately our landlord hasn't raised the rent since we moved in almost 7 years ago, mostly because we take care of the building for him so he never has to come by. We do all the mowing, shoveling, trash, and anything else necessary. So each month I pay $533 for my own bedroom, $120 average for utilities, $50 for my phone, about $50 for transportation, about $100 for weed, around $30 for meals out of the house, maybe $25 for clothes/shoes, $25 for hygiene products, and have about $70 left over for everything else. It's not easy, but I make it work.

We lived on $35,000 as a family of 4 for couple years, tough but doable. It’s annoying to hear people making 6 figures complaining how they’re living paycheck to paycheck, as if it isn’t something totally subjective.

Do you have health insurance?

Judging by his user name he’s an open source dev.

That and $30 a month for toiletries give me the impression that they're male.

This is what I never understood. I had friends blowing most of their income to live in “nice neighborhoods” after college. I chose bushwick and it was great. Cheap food, cheap bars, friendly folks…the only negatives was that the L was barely running, and there are no good parks.

Who wants to live next to 13th step, 3 sheets, or the stumble inn

… so you have approximately $75 + $6.26 in terms of actual money for yourself that’s not considered “necessities”? Damn, that sounds miserable 💀 I hope you can get a higher paying job mate

Also, $620 rent with utilities?! Where in the city are you living, there are people who’d kill for that rate!

But damn OP, I genuinely hope your situation improves because I’m pretty sure $23k/year is below the poverty line 😢

With a bidet he could probably cut that down to $10

Cool thanks! How did you end up finding that job?

That's like what, 40-50 trips? Bro probably hops the turnstile.

Living on nothing helps you figure out what actually matters. My wife and I came from similar backgrounds, but I roughed it and she didn’t. What matters to her and me are pretty far apart.

Sound like you don't go out ever. You don't drink? Edibles?

No karaoke? No club night?

Do you only do free things? No ice skating? No concerts? No plays? No movies?

Do your friends have birthday dinners/parties? Do you buy them birthday gifts?

Do you go out and/or drink?

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Existed

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I’m on Medicaid MetroPlus. I got it in 2020 and somehow keep qualifying. My SO is a paperwork wizard and does all that for me. I pay $0 a month, it’s crazy. From what I’ve read in the news it sounds like I’ll be kicked off soon though.

> What about taxes?

They get big refunds and tax credits.

> What about social security?

I'd worry about that if I were older.

> What about any emergencies?

If you mean medical emergencies, people who make less than 27k I believe qualify for zero-cost health insurance through the NY marketplace. You can literally have surgery and pay nothing.

Monthly unlimited.

I myself am poor, and I buy the weekly unlimited. Because I work 6-7 days a week and I'm scared if I buy the monthly I'll misplace it and Die.

Everyone I know at work just jumps the turnstile to save money, though.

Edit: if you live in NYC you are dumb if you don't have a monthly, shit there should be a yearly!

Sincerely, a New Yorker of over 30 years in the city.

Yup this is close to what my life has been like except a lot more weed to cope with never knowing if I’ll suddenly have no money.

If you're low income, you shouldn't be in the thousands. There's literally zero cost plans for low-income people in the NY health marketplace. I was one.

Hope I’ll make it like you someday!

I use to be a security guard at NBC and there's this guy surrounded by screens on the first floor. I still remember his name is Vinny. I asked him what he did and gave me a rundown of his title and duties. Then I met AL Sharpton's personal assistant and started talking to him about how he ended up doing that and he too was an FSD before becoming AL Sharpton's personal assistant. He said he made more money being an FSD than he did being Sharpton's assistant. That was good enough for me and one thing led to another. Like I said you need to jump through some hoops to become and FSD but IMO it's worth it. Now I'm working on becoming a building engineer. And none of those require college. These are all city certification jobs.

PS: Sharpton is a colossal asshole.

Thank you!

Thank you for the kind words!

Yeah I’ve been living under 25k for about 10 years and always had roommates. The money ebbs and flows, sometimes I can go out and drop money and sometimes I have to reel it in. It is terrible for your mental health BUT nyc offers free healthcare to anyone making under that much. Bc it’s not a terrorist state like those that refuse to accept the ADA. Which means I have a PCP, a psych and a therapist.

What I get in return is time.

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$270k after tax, not counting potential dual income from the gf and also no kids. Lol. If this is true then we found a unicorn.

I pay for most things via credit card, review the bill at the end of each month, and put expenses in a spreadsheet. I also include cash withdrawn. Btw, I pay my credit cards in full every month. One of them gives 1.5% flat cash back, the other gives 3% cash back on gas/transit and restaurants.

Amazon prime comes with multiple things, including video and music. But I don’t use it much tbh.

Honestly, buying from Amazon is a turn off knowing how many sellers just drop-ship. I only use it when I need something in a pinch, or when Amazon has a promo. Also, as mentioned in a previous comment, I use Amazon fresh occasionally because honestly their groceries are sometimes (not always) cheaper than local.

I rarely drink and when I do, I share a bottle purchased in the grocery store with friends. I’ve been invited to 2 academic events last year serving free alcohol to those over 21

Not interested in karaoke or clubs

Honestly I don’t have a lot of friends (and some of them have moved out of NYC) but I do buy them small birthday gifts.

Rarely. When I do, I buy a bottle from the grocery store and share with friends.

Thank you!

Chemistry

But installing one is expensive.

MTA trips are $2.75/way.

I wonder why this got removed?

i know that. However, there's a lot of people who aren't in grad school and living like this. It's not right.

probably because it doesn’t fit a certain narrative.

The fact that op is saving $2500 a year is not ideal. Smart financey people say you should probably try to save about a third of your income.

OPs in grad school, temporarily making 23k a year, and in their early 20s. Id say saving 2500 is incredibly impressive all things considered. Soon enough OP will be making double in income at the very least and can start to save normally