The INSIDER Summary:
• A 21-year-old trans man from Brooklyn works as an Admissions Assistant.
• Meal-plan dollars, homemade food, and Tupperware are great money-savers.
• Even with prescriptions and transportation costs, there's enough money to buy presents for his brother and niece towards the end of the week.
Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. But we realize that money — and how we spend it — affects everyone's lives, regardless of gender identity. So we decided to start asking millennials of any gender to see how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we're tracking every last dollar. (Thanks, New York mag, for the inspiration.)
Today, a trans man in Brooklyn, visiting his partner in New Jersey and celebrating a few extra meal-plan dollars.
Industry: Higher Education (Admissions Assistant)
Age: 21
Location: Brooklyn, NY (home); New York, NY (work)
Salary: $26,000 yearly
Paycheck Amount (2x a month): $801.40 per paycheck, 2x a month
# of roommates: 2
Monthly Expenses
Rent: $600 (we rent out the living room to the third roommate to keep it affordable)
Loan Payments: Currently not paying loans (still a student), but I am paying back an overdue bill I had at my university from before I started working there full time. Minimum of $100 a month, but I try to pay $250 monthly.
Utilities: $40 on average
Transportation: $25-30 added to MetroCard every week
Phone Bill: $60
Health Insurance: $60 taken from paycheck
Gym: $10.45 monthly
Savings
Current Savings: $900 in savings currently. I put in between $25 and $50 in savings monthly.
Other: Small 403(b) from work. I put 5% of my paycheck towards it.
Day One
10:15 a.m. — My partner is visiting me for the weekend; they go to school in New Jersey. They decide to wake me up to breakfast in bed and make delicious spinach and sunny-side-up eggs and chorizo. The spinach and eggs were already in my fridge and they bought the chorizo. I also make coffee at home.
2:26 p.m. — After spending the morning watching Netflix, we take the train to WTC so they can go back to school in New Jersey. On my way back to catching my own train, I put money on my MetroCard so I don’t have to worry about it tomorrow morning. $30
3:08 p.m. — I get off the train one stop early to head to the gym. I got a membership not too long ago after I realized using the gym at school didn’t offer me the flexibility or accessibility with my schedule.
6:31 p.m. — I go do laundry. I have a dollar and change on my laundromat card so I add $5. After putting my clothes to wash I run to the Family Dollar down the block. I am in charge of getting toilet paper for the apartment, so I pick that up, plus my weekly snacks of wafer cookies, knockoff Fig Newtons, and sunflower seeds for $10.49 ($3 for the snacks). They're my treat to myself.
7:45 p.m. — Since we bought pizza at Little Caesars last night, I have that for dinner/lunch. It’s not the best choice after the gym earlier today, but I’m starving.
8:36 p.m. — I head to the grocery store. Last stop on my busy day. I’ve already picked up some essentials that I needed earlier in the week, so I just grab everything else. Since I pack my lunch, I also grab the things I need for that. Shopping for sales, like always, I manage to pick up eggs, broccoli, hot sauce, mac and cheese, spinach, apples, kiwi, Rice-A-Roni, yogurt, hot dogs, cereal, bread, and sugar. I’ll probably stop by later this week to pick up more milk and mushrooms, but for now, it’s all I need. $29.56
9:15 p.m. — After cleaning out the fridge and reorganizing it, I cook a few meals for lunch to last me until Wednesday, when I'll cook the second half of my lunches for work. This week, I have roasted broccoli and cauliflower with a side of rice for lunch.
Daily Total: $75.05
Day Two
7 a.m. — I wake up after ignoring the first two alarms so I can head to the gym. Today, I go in a little late to work so I can sleep a little more. I go to the gym for an hour, shower, have one cup of coffee, and grab a couple elephant ears before heading to work.
10:12 a.m. — I get to work and have my breakfast. I have instant coffee and sugar at my desk (I grew up on one brand of instant coffee and I’m loyal to it, so I have no qualms with it). I have the elephant ears with my coffee. I head to a meeting and hope the first coffee kicks in.
1:58 p.m. — Lunchtime is coming up, so I pull out the Tupperware meal I have for the day. I also have an apple and yogurt, but I fill up too fast, so I put the yogurt in the office fridge. I’ll have it before class tonight.
5 p.m. — The end of the day, so I’m just finishing up. I check to see if my gym has taken out the monthly dues ($10.45). It has. That’s not too bad. I also have my yogurt from earlier to snack on before class.
9:48 p.m. — Finally home after class. I make a hot dog and fries for dinner. Not really “healthy,” but it’s quick and easy enough for me to relax with. I watch Netflix while I do this and then I go chat with my partner over Facebook Messenger.
1:14 a.m. — I can’t sleep.
Daily Total: $0
Day Three
8:07 a.m. — I ignored three alarms and now I’m running behind on my morning schedule. Fortunately, I live close to the train and it’s only a short bit to work. I grab my pants and throw on a T-shirt. I can put a nice sweater over it when I’m at work and throw on my loafers under my desk. I’ll look professional enough. I grab my lunch from the fridge. Run to the bathroom, brush my teeth, and get my hair to look decent enough. I’m out of the house by 8:24.
9:06 a.m. — I’m settled in my desk now with my computer on and programs I need running. Time to make coffee. I don’t have “breakfast,” so I grab some raspberry cookies from the snack cabinet and use those as an excuse for breakfast.
12:07 p.m. — Time for me to have lunch. I have more veggies and rice today and a vanilla yogurt. I also do my homework for tonight's class. It’s just a few tutorials for a 3-D design program we’re about to start using. Once I’m done, I spend some time doing research for an online article for the school newspaper so I can finish it after work.
2:08 p.m. — I have another coffee. I’m so sleepy after and I have class tonight. I need it to keep myself awake for the afternoon. To be honest, I’ll probably have another one later tonight.
4:20 p.m. — I eat the apple I brought from home, because I know I’ll get hungry before class tonight and I don’t really want to pick up anything from the cafeteria. Turns out, I’m still mildly hungry, so I grab some pretzels from the snack cabinet in the office. They’re filling and really salty, so I finish them off with water. Off to class I go.
10:11 p.m. — After getting home, I make dinner and I finally sit down for a bit. Tonight's dinner is composed of shrimp Top Ramen, but I add spinach and egg to make it a little heartier. I chat with my partner for a bit before showering and passing out.
Daily Total: $0
See the rest of the story at Business Insider