Dec 21, 2008

The Spending Diaries

Ok, so I'm about two years late to post this, but it's still fairly relevant. NY Magazine did a series in 2006 called The Spending Diaries about 6 different people at different income levels, with a breakdown of where their money goes each week and how much they spend.

It's a bit annoying that their "poor" representative is a MFA candidate whose parents pay for his tuition AND housing. He's getting by on $20k just fine in various income sources above and beyond a free education and apartment.

Crazy how much all of them spend per week. I dream of being a millionaire, but if I was, I can't imagine spending as much as these people do.

Then again, I don't live in New York.



3 comments:

Clairew said...

Wait - this is an amazing article!!

I just had to post about you putting up!

MEG said...

WOW. That was really interesting. The crazy thing is that every one of them - even the grad student making $20K - eats out multiple times a DAY. NO groceries were purchased during that week by ANY of those people (except the once the grad student picked up $14 of items).

Besides that I was impressed that the person making $700K keeps fixed costs so low and seems relatively frugal. And the wife of the guy making over $1MM took the bus one day. But still, having to track your income changes what you buy; I'm sure all these people are usually a LOT worse than even this shows.

Anonymous said...

What happens when the money goes away?

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