yeesh.
-$338 in utilities is extreme, especially for someone living in NY. Even in the worst of summer, when I was living in an apartment in my unMustachian days, the electricity and gas was never above $110/mo.
savings:
-cancel the monthly subscriptions
-stop eating out, stop buying coffee. if it's that important, buy a coffee machine...1 time expense that pays for itself very quickly if you're spending $7 a day on the stuff.
-you don't get to take dance classes while still in debt.
-stop taking uber. you work in downtown Brooklyn and live with your parents.
-Get rid of square cash/venmo/anything like that. These things just exist to profit off sharing money electronically with friends. "Square up" in cash.
-Making instagram videos about bad dating is nothing novel or interesting, keep the $40 next time. No one wants to hear about a stranger's dating fails in a way that would ever generate income to cover the cost.
-Astrology is stupid, if you paid to have the tea leaves read, stop.
-Stop buying stupid t-shirts. It just makes you look desperate when you wear them.
-You need snacks to be entertained? Snacks are for nourishment, not entertainment. Maybe get more out of your expensive meals out, or bring food?
-$43 on drinks and food to see a show? Jesus.
-$23 for a night out is fairly reasonable, especially at Turtle Bay (I've been there). How do you spend almost twice that at a show where you are mainly there to support your friend???
-Get a new phone plan. Mine at $60/month is decidedly unMustachian, how the hell do you spend $189/month on a phone???
-Not allowed to buy anything from iTunes till out of debt. Protip, if you want to listen to music, it's free on Youtube, why do you need to pay to download it???
-I've been to Fisherman's cove and never spent more than $10 there in one shot. Delicious jerk chicken, but at $13 that's enough to feed a family.
-$200 for a natural gas bill? WTH???
-More iTunes.
-Cell phone games are stupid and not worth spending money on. It's backwards evolution. You have huge HDTV's and video game systems, and we've reverted to playing games on a 7 inch screen...
-Stop loaning everyone money. Even if they pay you back, this is stupid. Maybe get better friends that don't ask you for money all the time. I mean, I've taken my friends out, they've taken me out, but it has never resulted in me giving them money cuz they're out of it and them owing me later, or vice versa, or one of us asking for a loan basically. I mean, at least not since the 7th grade...
UGH, that was PAINFUL!!!!
My first job was for 55K/year (WARNING: this is pre me learning about Mustachianism):
After 401k contribution (approx. 7500/yr) and taxes, my net was 1391.67 biweekly. I also worked a second job at the time as an independent contractor on weekends, which was good for about $100/month (83/month after taxes, which would be due at the end of the year since I didn't make enough to hit the threshold to have to file quarterly).
So 2866.34 monthly income approx. (actually slightly more, but it's just easier to double the bi-weekly amounts to do a budget, and then you wind up with 1-2 paychecks each year that are just completely yours!):
And I still remember most of my expenses:
-$400/month to parents to assist them with the costs of living at home
-$91 monthly Metrocard
-$600/month eating out, drinks out, volunteering travel costs, and volunteering meal costs (I know, most of that was pretty stupid but I don't regret the volunteering part at all)
-$1000/month student loans (monthly payment was 200 and change but I wanted to kill these as fast as possible so I always put extra towards principal - they were paid off in just about a year)
-Rest to savings.
I can't believe that pre-Mustache me blew this lady out of the water like that with savings. So many of her purchases are just downright stupid!!!