Thanks, it's an interesting read. I'm a high earner in NYC (and don't expect to be one for more than another 5 years), so that makes sense to me. One thing that's hard about living in NYC working 70 hour weeks with a business-leaning business casual job is that I don't really feel like i have a read on what my spending would be in different circumstances. Obviously I'd have more time to cook and exercise and not need suits/drycleaning/professional woman stuff... but would my health costs change? I imagine my transportation costs would jump if I left NYC (currently, what, ~900/year for subway + maybe $100 in cabs for the year). There are a lot of variables I don't feel like I have a read on anymore. I eat probably 5 meals a week at home because when I work til midnight I get free dinner here, I'm not sure how to account for that.
I know that I have lived (in non-professional jobs) on less than 20K, but that that hurt, and I was healthy single young 20s person. Now that I'm nearing 30 and pregnant, I don't think I'd be happy at that level, although it'd be doable.
It's not that hard actually.
Your biggest costs will often be
1- housing
2- transportation
This is for most people
The first step I recommend is keeping track
I know exactly what % I spent in each of a number of costs, in the last three years (since when I started budgeting and keeping track).
You don't need to be as paranoid as I am, as Buffett said "it's better to be approximately right than precisely wrong"
Because of the 80/20 rule, once you have a good estimate of your heaviest costs, mistakes become irrelevant, you only need minimal research.
