NYC Biglawyers - How is your monthly expenditure? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 3L who is going to work in NYC post graduation, and for personal/family reasons I'd like to start formulating/planning a budget now, especially formulating a rent budget. I made a general poll, but it would be really helpful if you guys could break down your monthly expenses in anon posts. Given your monthly expenditure, how do you live? Do you basically go out/eat out whenever you want, or do you feel like you're penny pinching? Etc.

Expenses includes rent, travel, vacations, things, etc. Excludes investments, student loans, savings, etc.

[Anonymous User]

Perhaps not the most helpful answer, but plan on spending 40-60k a year all in. YMMV depending on if you choose to live alone or roommates (this is the biggest one), how often you go out drinking and eating with friends, if you're dating anyone, number of flights you have to take that year for trips/weddings, etc. I have friends on both ends of the spectrum, really depends how you like to live your life and events that pop up (trips, weddings, bachelor/ette parties, etc.)

[Anonymous User]

4th year associate living in Manhattan. I'm trying to better budget going forward so thought I'd write this down and share as a sample point:
- Rent: ~$2800 (for a (large)studio!)
- Gym: $300
- Subway: $121
- Food: I buy coffee and lunch every weekday (and sometimes a fast casual dinner) and generally try to keep this to $20-25 a day. Add in the few grocery trips and various dinners where I pay and I'd guesstimate that I spend $750-$1000/month.
- Clothes, etc.: Maybe $600/month on average?
Rest goes to savings, 401(k), etc.
Overall I would say that I don't feel like I'm penny-pinching at all (obviously I could cut down on my spending a lot). No loans or kids though, and I'm trying to stay in big law for as long as they'll have me.

[gogurts]

1st year living in manhattan:

rent/utilities: $2300 (1 br walk-up, hell's kitchen)
food: $500
medical: $50-100
discretionary (clothing/movies/concerts/stuff for my cat): $200-$300

I think food is the one area I could really afford to cut down on - I almost never buy groceries and live off lunch carts, take-out and leftovers from overtime dinners.

[Yugihoe]

1st year living in manhattan:

rent/utilities: $2300 (1 br walk-up, hell's kitchen)
food: $500
medical: $50-100
discretionary (clothing/movies/concerts/stuff for my cat): $200-$300

I think food is the one area I could really afford to cut down on - I almost never buy groceries and live off lunch carts, take-out and leftovers from overtime dinners.

How is your medical so low? Pay like $350/month in insurance. Unless you mean expenses from net pay.

[gogurts]

1st year living in manhattan:

rent/utilities: $2300 (1 br walk-up, hell's kitchen)
food: $500
medical: $50-100
discretionary (clothing/movies/concerts/stuff for my cat): $200-$300

I think food is the one area I could really afford to cut down on - I almost never buy groceries and live off lunch carts, take-out and leftovers from overtime dinners.

How is your medical so low? Pay like $350/month in insurance. Unless you mean expenses from net pay.

yeah sorry, i mean expenses from net pay. so $50-100 per month on top of insurance

[Yugihoe]

I try to stick to the following budget per month. But according to mint, my monthly average for the last 12 months was $2295 for a total spend of $27,545. I traveled a lot though last year, and had a sick bar trip so shrug.

Rent (1050) (live in outer borough with roommates)
Public transport (120)
Food and going out (500)
Shopping (100)
Gym+haircut (30)
Travel (200)

Total (2000)

I build in the $200 travel amount so that I can come under on some months, and come way over on other.

[RaceJudicata]

I try to stick to the following budget per month. But according to mint, my monthly average for the last 12 months was $2295 for a total spend of $27,545. I traveled a lot though last year, and had a sick bar trip so shrug.

Rent (1050) (live in outer borough with roommates)
Public transport (120)
Food and going out (500)
Shopping (100)
Gym+haircut (30)
Travel (200)

Total (2000)

I build in the $200 travel amount so that I can come under on some months, and come way over on other.

This is about as low as one can go w/ expenses. Also, $30 for gym + haircut = impressive (or a bad gym/haircut).

[Yugihoe]

This is about as low as one can go w/ expenses. Also, $30 for gym + haircut = impressive (or a bad gym/haircut).

Planet fitness is like $10/month but kind of sucks. I like blink (which is $15/month). Haircut in Chinatown. Idk I think I look pretty good, with respect to both, but self bias lol

[Anonymous User]

3rd year

Rent - $3500 (1 br - first apt was $2600 my first two years)
Utilities - $120
Gym and haircut - $75
Laundry - $80-100
Food and Booze - $900-1300 (depends on how social I am)
(Semi) Recurring entertainment costs (website subscriptions, Spotify, movie rentals, books, etc.) - $100
Odds and Ends (toiletries, OTC meds, etc) - $50
Transportation - $150

I don’t budget responsibly for irregular costs (travel, clothes and moving costs come to mind) but I would recommend doing so.

To close out the loop I’m also maxing my 401k, $300 a month in insurance (I’ve been fortunate to have had no meaningful medical costs in several years) and student loans are ~$3k a month with 8 years left (they’ve been refied so PAYE truthers can simmer down).

Obviously the above doesn’t leave me with much for savings or investment but i made the choice early that the added stress of a strict budget on top of job crap wasn’t something I wanted to deal with. It definitely gets better from 3rd year on as our comp accelerates and I expect to be able to invest quite a bit over the next couple of years I have left in the rat race.

[jarofsoup]

I spend about 6 thousand a month on cocaine

[TheatreofDreams]

4th year associate living in Manhattan. I'm trying to better budget going forward so thought I'd write this down and share as a sample point:
- Rent: ~$2800 (for a (large)studio!)
- Gym: $300
- Subway: $121
- Food: I buy coffee and lunch every weekday (and sometimes a fast casual dinner) and generally try to keep this to $20-25 a day. Add in the few grocery trips and various dinners where I pay and I'd guesstimate that I spend $750-$1000/month.
- Clothes, etc.: Maybe $600/month on average?
Rest goes to savings, 401(k), etc.
Overall I would say that I don't feel like I'm penny-pinching at all (obviously I could cut down on my spending a lot). No loans or kids though, and I'm trying to stay in big law for as long as they'll have me.

Curious to hear how you spend $600 a month on clothes? Or is that a few thousand dollars but if averaged out is $600?

[Anonymous User]

Wow. Surprised no one has any student loans to repay...

[Anonymous User]

4th year associate living in Manhattan. I'm trying to better budget going forward so thought I'd write this down and share as a sample point:
- Rent: ~$2800 (for a (large)studio!)
- Gym: $300
- Subway: $121
- Food: I buy coffee and lunch every weekday (and sometimes a fast casual dinner) and generally try to keep this to $20-25 a day. Add in the few grocery trips and various dinners where I pay and I'd guesstimate that I spend $750-$1000/month.
- Clothes, etc.: Maybe $600/month on average?
Rest goes to savings, 401(k), etc.
Overall I would say that I don't feel like I'm penny-pinching at all (obviously I could cut down on my spending a lot). No loans or kids though, and I'm trying to stay in big law for as long as they'll have me.

Curious to hear how you spend $600 a month on clothes? Or is that a few thousand dollars but if averaged out is $600?

That's my rough estimate on average per month. May be higher.

[Anonymous User]

Wow. Surprised no one has any student loans to repay...

OP stipulated no loans, the tight budgets generally would suggest everyone ITT has them

[ughbugchugplug]

2500, commute from Hudson county NJ into NYC

1116 for rent
25 for food (cook my own)
200 for commute
133 for gym
200 in flights/trains (visit long distance S/O once a month)
Then I spend the rest on Christmas presents, going out, etc.

I’m forgetting a lot, but some comes out of my paycheck directly, like commute and health, dental etc. I’ve found the easiest thing is to just have a checking account where you deposit 1250 a paycheck and never let yourself draw money on living expenses from anywhere else.

240,000 in loans:
I pay like 200 on my student loans cuz I’m on REPAYE, and I dump the rest into index funds. I put about 5k away post tax each month. I believe this is a better plan than repaying my loans direcrly but YMMV

[RaceJudicata]

2500, commute from Hudson county NJ into NYC

1116 for rent
25 for food (cook my own)
200 for commute
133 for gym
200 in flights/trains (visit long distance S/O once a month)
Then I spend the rest on Christmas presents, going out, etc.

I’m forgetting a lot, but some comes out of my paycheck directly, like commute and health, dental etc. I’ve found the easiest thing is to just have a checking account where you deposit 1250 a paycheck and never let yourself draw money on living expenses from anywhere else.

240,000 in loans:
I pay like 200 on my student loans cuz I’m on REPAYE, and I dump the rest into index funds. I put about 5k away post tax each month. I believe this is a better plan than repaying my loans direcrly but YMMV

I hope $25 per month on food is a typo.

[ughbugchugplug]

2500, commute from Hudson county NJ into NYC

1116 for rent
25 for food (cook my own)
200 for commute
133 for gym
200 in flights/trains (visit long distance S/O once a month)
Then I spend the rest on Christmas presents, going out, etc.

I’m forgetting a lot, but some comes out of my paycheck directly, like commute and health, dental etc. I’ve found the easiest thing is to just have a checking account where you deposit 1250 a paycheck and never let yourself draw money on living expenses from anywhere else.

240,000 in loans:
I pay like 200 on my student loans cuz I’m on REPAYE, and I dump the rest into index funds. I put about 5k away post tax each month. I believe this is a better plan than repaying my loans direcrly but YMMV

I hope $25 per month on food is a typo.

It's actually not. Everyone I tell this to thinks I'm insane, but here's how you spend virtually no money on food:

Buy several 10 pound bags of rice
Buy chicken in 2-3 10 LB containers, wrap each breast individually
Buy 100-200 cans of tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and black beans

That costs about 200 bucks.

Then every two weeks, buy jalapeno peppers, spinach, broccoli, and onions. Costs like 10 bucks a month.

Cook all together. Gradually increase the amount of jalapenos you use to avoid getting used to the taste. Replace jalapenos with kalamata olives if you get bored.

Then for breakfast, eat granola bars (you can buy a 60 pack for 8 bucks at bulk stores) smothered in peanut butter.

Buy bulk instant coffee.

Finally, try to work past 8 and use seamless to buy two meals.

[omar.comin]

.

[Toubro]

2500, commute from Hudson county NJ into NYC

1116 for rent
25 for food (cook my own)
200 for commute
133 for gym
200 in flights/trains (visit long distance S/O once a month)
Then I spend the rest on Christmas presents, going out, etc.

I’m forgetting a lot, but some comes out of my paycheck directly, like commute and health, dental etc. I’ve found the easiest thing is to just have a checking account where you deposit 1250 a paycheck and never let yourself draw money on living expenses from anywhere else.

240,000 in loans:
I pay like 200 on my student loans cuz I’m on REPAYE, and I dump the rest into index funds. I put about 5k away post tax each month. I believe this is a better plan than repaying my loans direcrly but YMMV

I hope $25 per month on food is a typo.

It's actually not. Everyone I tell this to thinks I'm insane, but here's how you spend virtually no money on food:

Buy several 10 pound bags of rice
Buy chicken in 2-3 10 LB containers, wrap each breast individually
Buy 100-200 cans of tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and black beans

That costs about 200 bucks.

Then every two weeks, buy jalapeno peppers, spinach, broccoli, and onions. Costs like 10 bucks a month.

Cook all together. Gradually increase the amount of jalapenos you use to avoid getting used to the taste. Replace jalapenos with kalamata olives if you get bored.

Then for breakfast, eat granola bars (you can buy a 60 pack for 8 bucks at bulk stores) smothered in peanut butter.

Buy bulk instant coffee.

Finally, try to work past 8 and use seamless to buy two meals.

Brutal, but this is still $218, not $25? It's moot because I could never eat like this, but that's not the point here I guess. Just curious.

Also when you say you spend on "going out," unless this refers to just alcohol, some of that $$ is probably meals?

[Aergia]

Tagging bc you guys in the <3 and 3-4 k range are inspirational, and I'll need some blueprints in the future.

[ughbugchugplug]

2500, commute from Hudson county NJ into NYC

1116 for rent
25 for food (cook my own)
200 for commute
133 for gym
200 in flights/trains (visit long distance S/O once a month)
Then I spend the rest on Christmas presents, going out, etc.

I’m forgetting a lot, but some comes out of my paycheck directly, like commute and health, dental etc. I’ve found the easiest thing is to just have a checking account where you deposit 1250 a paycheck and never let yourself draw money on living expenses from anywhere else.

240,000 in loans:
I pay like 200 on my student loans cuz I’m on REPAYE, and I dump the rest into index funds. I put about 5k away post tax each month. I believe this is a better plan than repaying my loans direcrly but YMMV

I hope $25 per month on food is a typo.

It's actually not. Everyone I tell this to thinks I'm insane, but here's how you spend virtually no money on food:

Buy several 10 pound bags of rice
Buy chicken in 2-3 10 LB containers, wrap each breast individually
Buy 100-200 cans of tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and black beans

That costs about 200 bucks.

Then every two weeks, buy jalapeno peppers, spinach, broccoli, and onions. Costs like 10 bucks a month.

Cook all together. Gradually increase the amount of jalapenos you use to avoid getting used to the taste. Replace jalapenos with kalamata olives if you get bored.

Then for breakfast, eat granola bars (you can buy a 60 pack for 8 bucks at bulk stores) smothered in peanut butter.

Buy bulk instant coffee.

Finally, try to work past 8 and use seamless to buy two meals.

Brutal, but this is still $218, not $25? It's moot because I could never eat like this, but that's not the point here I guess. Just curious.

Also when you say you spend on "going out," unless this refers to just alcohol, some of that $$ is probably meals?

I don't eat through several bags of rice, 10lbs of chicken, and 100 cans of beans and tomatoes in a month. That lasts like 5-6 months. Prob I end up exceeding 25, but its in that range.

Yeah, true, but I don't generally eat when I go out. I guess maybe I should revise my monthly food costs up to 75?

I honestly don't see this as a sacrifice. I genuinely enjoy my meals - I really look forward to the day I cook (every 4-5 days) because that's when the meal is the most spicy. But I also have lifted weights and competed in sports for most of my life, so I see food more as a means to an end than most people do.

[1styearlateral]

2500, commute from Hudson county NJ into NYC

1116 for rent
25 for food (cook my own)
200 for commute
133 for gym
200 in flights/trains (visit long distance S/O once a month)
Then I spend the rest on Christmas presents, going out, etc.

I’m forgetting a lot, but some comes out of my paycheck directly, like commute and health, dental etc. I’ve found the easiest thing is to just have a checking account where you deposit 1250 a paycheck and never let yourself draw money on living expenses from anywhere else.

240,000 in loans:
I pay like 200 on my student loans cuz I’m on REPAYE, and I dump the rest into index funds. I put about 5k away post tax each month. I believe this is a better plan than repaying my loans direcrly but YMMV

I hope $25 per month on food is a typo.

It's actually not. Everyone I tell this to thinks I'm insane, but here's how you spend virtually no money on food:

Buy several 10 pound bags of rice
Buy chicken in 2-3 10 LB containers, wrap each breast individually
Buy 100-200 cans of tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and black beans

That costs about 200 bucks.

Then every two weeks, buy jalapeno peppers, spinach, broccoli, and onions. Costs like 10 bucks a month.

Cook all together. Gradually increase the amount of jalapenos you use to avoid getting used to the taste. Replace jalapenos with kalamata olives if you get bored.

Then for breakfast, eat granola bars (you can buy a 60 pack for 8 bucks at bulk stores) smothered in peanut butter.

Buy bulk instant coffee.

Finally, try to work past 8 and use seamless to buy two meals.

Brutal, but this is still $218, not $25? It's moot because I could never eat like this, but that's not the point here I guess. Just curious.

Also when you say you spend on "going out," unless this refers to just alcohol, some of that $$ is probably meals?

I don't eat through several bags of rice, 10lbs of chicken, and 100 cans of beans and tomatoes in a month. That lasts like 5-6 months. Prob I end up exceeding 25, but its in that range.

Yeah, true, but I don't generally eat when I go out. I guess maybe I should revise my monthly food costs up to 75?

I honestly don't see this as a sacrifice. I genuinely enjoy my meals - I really look forward to the day I cook (every 4-5 days) because that's when the meal is the most spicy. But I also have lifted weights and competed in sports for most of my life, so I see food more as a means to an end than most people do.

jfc that's breathtaking. No one's saying you need to eat caviar for breakfast but geez when you make $200k/year one would think you'd be able to live a little.

[smokeylarue]

A lot of the extreme frugal people (<$3000k/month) have opined in this thread, I'm curious to hear about the other side of the spectrum. For those people that responded >$7000k/month, what are you spending on?!

[thisismytlsuername]

Brutal, but this is still $218, not $25? It's moot because I could never eat like this, but that's not the point here I guess. Just curious.

Also when you say you spend on "going out," unless this refers to just alcohol, some of that $$ is probably meals?

I don't eat through several bags of rice, 10lbs of chicken, and 100 cans of beans and tomatoes in a month. That lasts like 5-6 months. Prob I end up exceeding 25, but its in that range.

Yeah, true, but I don't generally eat when I go out. I guess maybe I should revise my monthly food costs up to 75?

I honestly don't see this as a sacrifice. I genuinely enjoy my meals - I really look forward to the day I cook (every 4-5 days) because that's when the meal is the most spicy. But I also have lifted weights and competed in sports for most of my life, so I see food more as a means to an end than most people do.

This is also not possible if you live in New York City proper (or LA/SF, I'd guess), as it requires a huge amount of storage space, a large kitchen, and a large fridge. Plus, if you lived with roommates they would probably kill you.