A Week In New York, NY On A $90,395 Salary
Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.This week: A project manager working in housing who makes $90,395 per year and spends some of it on a first-ever purchase of a raw, whole chicken! If you’d like to submit your own Money Diary, you can do so via our online form. We pay $150 for each published diary. Apologies but we’re not able to reply to every email. Please note: We are legally unable to publish any diaries that have been written with the use of AI. This Money Diary was written at the start of 2026. Occupation: Project managerIndustry: HousingAge: 31Location: New York, NYSalary: $90,395Joint Income/Financial Setup: I live with my partner, E., whose income is $87,000. Our expenses are mostly separate, but we have a joint account that we contribute to monthly for our rent and a few other shared expenses. We use Splitwise to track our spending and settle up with each other each month.Assets: 401(k): $78,134 (including current job and all previous jobs)Roth IRA: $11,973NYC Employee Pension: $11,151 (more on this later)High-Yield Savings Account: $394. (This was hovering around $30,000 for the past several years, and the majority of it recently went to my share of a down payment for the apartment my partner and I are working toward purchasing! We’re in contract and hoping to close on it any day now.)Debt: $0Paycheck Amount (every two weeks): $2,140 (This is after deductions for union dues, FSA plan, tax and retirement savings).Pronouns: She/herMonthly ExpensesHousing Costs: I contribute $1,925 to our shared account each month. This covers my share of our rent, utilities, internet, our shared subscription to a local news source, and a small ‘slush fund’ for other shared expenses.Loan Payments: $0Other monthly expenses:Tidal music streaming: $10iCloud storage: $2.99Contribution to my local public radio station: $5Contribution to my goal of donating 10% of my salary to charity each year: $75Other reoccurring expenses: Chewy order of food and litter for our cat: $114 (every seven weeks)Annual Citibike membership: $240 (reimbursed by my healthcare!)Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?Yes, my parents both attended college and worked hard for my brother and me to attend it at no cost to us. I qualified for financial aid and held a work-study job throughout college. I can’t overstate my gratitude for graduating debt-free and hope to provide the same for my kids one day, though that seems to be getting much harder to achieve in today’s economy! I went back to school for a Master’s degree, which I paid for myself with savings, scholarships, part-time work during school, and a loan that I have now paid off. I feel proud of myself for accomplishing that on my own.Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?We didn’t talk much about money, and I wish we had done so more! However, I do remember learning from my parents how to write checks and balance checkbooks as a kid, how to save over time for bigger expenses, and how to establish a good credit score after I graduated college and got my first credit card. What was your first job and why did you get it?I worked at a snack shack at a local country club the summer after my senior year of high school. It paid minimum wage and helped me to build up some savings for things like books, laundry, and fun activities as I started college. I borrowed my mom’s car to get to and from the job.Did you worry about money growing up?No, and I recognize the enormous privilege that comes with that. My parents settled in the city where they both grew up, which has a very low cost of living. They’ve told me they struggled with money before I was born and when I was young, between IVF treatments, fixing up their old house, paying for our Catholic elementary school and activities, etc., but their earnings had increased substantially by the time I went to college. I had the privilege of attending an independent private school on a half-tuition scholarship for middle and high school.Do you worry about money now?Yes! New York City is SO expensive. I use my partner’s subscription to the software You Need A Budget (YNAB), which helps me keep track of everything. It will be a huge win and relief for us to — hopefully! — close on this apartment soon, which we are only able to afford because it is regulated by the City essentially as ‘affordable housing for the middle class.’ But it will be a substantial increase to our monthly housing costs, the apartment needs work, and I worry about how we will pay for things like a wedding and childcare in the future. At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial
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Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.
This week: A project manager working in housing who makes $90,395 per year and spends some of it on a first-ever purchase of a raw, whole chicken!
If you’d like to submit your own Money Diary, you can do so via our online form. We pay $150 for each published diary. Apologies but we’re not able to reply to every email. Please note: We are legally unable to publish any diaries that have been written with the use of AI.
This Money Diary was written at the start of 2026.
Occupation: Project manager
Industry: Housing
Age: 31
Location: New York, NY
Salary: $90,395
Joint Income/Financial Setup: I live with my partner, E., whose income is $87,000. Our expenses are mostly separate, but we have a joint account that we contribute to monthly for our rent and a few other shared expenses. We use Splitwise to track our spending and settle up with each other each month.
Assets:
401(k): $78,134 (including current job and all previous jobs)
Roth IRA: $11,973
NYC Employee Pension: $11,151 (more on this later)
High-Yield Savings Account: $394. (This was hovering around $30,000 for the past several years, and the majority of it recently went to my share of a down payment for the apartment my partner and I are working toward purchasing! We’re in contract and hoping to close on it any day now.)
Debt: $0
Paycheck Amount (every two weeks): $2,140 (This is after deductions for union dues, FSA plan, tax and retirement savings).
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing Costs: I contribute $1,925 to our shared account each month. This covers my share of our rent, utilities, internet, our shared subscription to a local news source, and a small ‘slush fund’ for other shared expenses.
Loan Payments: $0
Other monthly expenses:
Tidal music streaming: $10
iCloud storage: $2.99
Contribution to my local public radio station: $5
Contribution to my goal of donating 10% of my salary to charity each year: $75
Other reoccurring expenses:
Chewy order of food and litter for our cat: $114 (every seven weeks)
Annual Citibike membership: $240 (reimbursed by my healthcare!)
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, my parents both attended college and worked hard for my brother and me to attend it at no cost to us. I qualified for financial aid and held a work-study job throughout college. I can’t overstate my gratitude for graduating debt-free and hope to provide the same for my kids one day, though that seems to be getting much harder to achieve in today’s economy! I went back to school for a Master’s degree, which I paid for myself with savings, scholarships, part-time work during school, and a loan that I have now paid off. I feel proud of myself for accomplishing that on my own.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?
We didn’t talk much about money, and I wish we had done so more! However, I do remember learning from my parents how to write checks and balance checkbooks as a kid, how to save over time for bigger expenses, and how to establish a good credit score after I graduated college and got my first credit card.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I worked at a snack shack at a local country club the summer after my senior year of high school. It paid minimum wage and helped me to build up some savings for things like books, laundry, and fun activities as I started college. I borrowed my mom’s car to get to and from the job.
Did you worry about money growing up?
No, and I recognize the enormous privilege that comes with that. My parents settled in the city where they both grew up, which has a very low cost of living. They’ve told me they struggled with money before I was born and when I was young, between IVF treatments, fixing up their old house, paying for our Catholic elementary school and activities, etc., but their earnings had increased substantially by the time I went to college. I had the privilege of attending an independent private school on a half-tuition scholarship for middle and high school.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes! New York City is SO expensive. I use my partner’s subscription to the software You Need A Budget (YNAB), which helps me keep track of everything. It will be a huge win and relief for us to — hopefully! — close on this apartment soon, which we are only able to afford because it is regulated by the City essentially as ‘affordable housing for the middle class.’ But it will be a substantial increase to our monthly housing costs, the apartment needs work, and I worry about how we will pay for things like a wedding and childcare in the future.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I started renting my own apartment (with my dad’s co-signature) at 22, and got my own healthcare plan at 26. My parents still pay for my cell phone plan, and I’m lucky to know they would support me if I absolutely needed it, but I prefer to be financially independent.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
No.
Day One: Thursday
9 a.m. — My partner, E., and I wake up groggily from our friend’s birthday-slash-NYE party last night, which was awesome and involved a long subway ride from Brooklyn back home to Manhattan in the wee hours. But we have to rally, because it’s time for our annual New Year’s Day hike in the Hudson Valley with our friends M. and C.
E. makes us coffee and puts it in our thermoses (we have our home coffee system down to a science, delicious and it saves us a fortune). I feed our beloved rescue cat, and we head to the subway (covered by my pre-tax transit benefit card that I contribute $66 to every two weeks).
10:30 a.m. — We make it to Grand Central on time, thanks to some very lucky train timing and a bit of running (how does this always happen to us?). We stop at our favorite bakery in the station, and E. grabs us each a croissant sandwich for breakfast. $9
11 a.m. — E. buys our tickets for the train to the Hudson Valley, and I’ll buy our tickets back home. We find our friends and grab seats. It’s super cold out, but always beautiful to ride along the river up to a cute town. When we get there and walk uphill through the town to the trailhead, E. buys us a couple of hiking snacks (I choose an apple and a Clif Bar). I assume those will make their way to Splitwise eventually.
3:30 p.m. — Yikes, that hike was rough! Usually, we climb a small mountain and get a great view from a fire tower at the summit. This year, the whole trail was covered in ice, and we were woefully unprepared. We make it about a quarter of the way up and half tiptoe, half slide on our butts back down. Morale is low during the hike, but we make our way to our traditional Thai place to defrost and start to find some humor in our misadventure. We share a couple of apps, and I get Massaman curry with chicken and a Thai beer. E. puts his card down and charges my $47.66 to Splitwise. $47.66
5 p.m. — Feeling much better, though still freezing, we make our way back to the train. I charge the $35.50 for our two tickets to my prepaid transit card, which has some leftover funds in it since we were out of town for Christmas. We take the subway back home from Grand Central (another charge to my transit card), do some cleaning, watch Gilmore Girls with popcorn, and pass out.
Daily Total: $56.66
Day Two: Friday
9:30 a.m. — It’s a work-from-home day for me, and it feels slow and weird after we had yesterday off. I enjoy lounging in bed for a while before logging on. E. makes coffee and heads to his office. I feed the cat and play with him, then settle in with my laptop, taking some breaks for much-needed vacuuming. I make a late breakfast with leftover chicken, kale, and garlic sauce from a dinner out earlier this week, and scramble an egg into it to make it feel breakfast-y. It’s also payday(!) so I assign a chunk of my earnings to our upcoming closing costs for the apartment and put the rest toward other line items in YNAB.
12:30 p.m. — I head out into the freezing cold for a short run and some errands on my lunch break. I signed up for my first half-marathon in nine years(!), and today’s plan is three miles at an easy pace. I turn on Strava and meander my way through Central Park, winding up at my fabulous local pharmacy to pick up my prescription. They are a small business run by sweet people who really know their stuff and care about me personally — what a concept compared with Duane Reade or CVS! I love them so much that, when they told me the copay on my SSRI prescription wasn’t enough to cover their costs, I bumped up my payment by a couple of dollars so that I could keep getting it from them. It’ll be reimbursed later by my FSA plan that I pay into annually through work. I joke with the staff about our epic icy fail of a hike yesterday and wish them a Happy New Year. $10
1 p.m. — I’m SO COLD, but I power through to Trader Joe’s since it’s right across the street. Since it was closed yesterday, it’s craaaazy crowded. I get an avocado, a bag of butter lettuce and radicchio, and flowers that I know are cat-safe. I grab cinnamon rolls for both of us to make for breakfast sometime soon, and get E. a couple of packs of frozen gnocchi with sauce and chicken tikka masala for quick lunches, and a couple of bottles of his probiotics. The total comes to $52.70, but most of that was E.’s stuff, so I charge him $40.69 in Splitwise. $12.01
2 p.m. — Back home and time to warm up! I get back into work mode and pause to make salmon patties for lunch while listening to a podcast. They’re made of canned salmon, onions, peppers, crushed-up crackers, an egg, mayo, and spices. They don’t stick together super well, but at least they taste great when I fry them up. I eat them on a bed of the butter lettuce and avocado I just bought and put sweet chili sauce on top, plus a big glass of water and some salty dark chocolate. Not shabby!
6:30 p.m. — I put on a sweater-dress and my usual look: fun earrings, watch, face lotion, mascara, Burt’s Bees tinted lip balm, and a touch of RMS Beauty coverup. I’m running a little late but catch some lucky subways (transit card again) and make it to our 7 p.m. reservation at a Dim Sum place in Chinatown. It’s our friend D.’s birthday! We try all sorts of dumplings, buns, noodles, meats, and greens, plus a bunch of interesting desserts and some BYOB wine. D. and his wife E. live in our neighborhood, and we’ve become great friends with them after meeting through mutual friends last year. It’s nice to get to know a bunch of their friends who we haven’t met before as we pass around all the different bites. E. and I. each Venmo them $45 for our share of the feast. $45
9:30 p.m. — We wander to the Lower East Side in search of a chill bar, and find one at last with enough room for us all. I get a great cocktail with gin and lemongrass, and we chat with everyone some more in the back corner. We head for the subway home (transit card once more) a little before 11 p.m. and head to bed when we get home. $18
Daily Total: $85.01
Day Three: Saturday
10 a.m. — It’s so nice to have no plans ’til this evening! We have a slow morning, hanging out in bed and then making the cinnamon rolls I got at Trader Joe’s yesterday. E. makes coffee, and we enjoy it with orange juice (and for me, some persimmon) while listening to podcasts and records on the couch. We spend the afternoon relaxing and catching up on chores, and E. does some work for one of his many volunteering gigs while I start research for a trip we’re hoping to take to Quebec this winter.
1:30 p.m. — My good friend, C. had a family member pass away unexpectedly this holiday season, and her family has generously offered to help her loved ones afford a trip to the Midwest to join her for the celebration of life later this month. I make arrangements to stay with my cousin, who lives in the area, then book my flight. C. reimburses me the $237 on Venmo. It’s not a trip I had expected and that feels a little overwhelming, but it means a lot to me to support my friend through this and it’s so generous of her family to make that financially possible.
3:30 p.m. — The breakfast of carbs and caffeine is catching up to me, so I warm up more of the salmon patties (in the oven, so as not to be evil and stink up the microwave!) and have them over more of the butter lettuce, avocado, and sweet chili sauce. I snack on Dot’s Pretzels and have more dark chocolate and water. Chocolate after lunch is the key to life, in my opinion.
4:30 p.m. — Our friends K. and I. are coming over for dinner and a movie tonight, and I head out to the nearby Whole Foods to grab what we need for the recipe we decided on. I buy canned tomatoes, a lemon, an onion, kale, sausage, and Parmesan cheese, plus some chicken from the hot bar and another frozen gnocchi for E. I split the $33.41 bill when I get home, and my share comes out to $9.96. $9.96
6:30 p.m. — K. and I. come over with wine, cheese (I warm up some frozen mini baguettes to pair with it), and tortellini and basil to finish off the recipe. I ask I. to brown the sausage while I prep everything else, and we sit down to a lovely creamy tomato tortellini soup. It’s hard to squeeze in a dinner party in our little apartment, but it always feels nice. We decide to run back out to grab some dessert and snacks for our movie — K. and I. buy some Sumo Citrus, and E. and I. split a tub of vanilla ice cream from Target to go with the brownie mix we have at home. The movie is an intense documentary, so the dessert and the antics of our cat bring some much-needed levity! Our friends head home around midnight, and we clean up and get ready for bed. $2.80
Daily Total: $12.76
Day Four: Sunday
11 a.m. — Winter hibernation is real! I roll out of bed and start to mentally prepare for today’s run: six and a half miles, the farthest I’ve gone in years. I feel a little nervous as I sip on the coffee E. made me before heading out, and have a slice of toast with peanut butter and some fancy jelly a friend brought to our holiday party a few weeks prior. I stretch a little, get dressed, and head out. It ends up feeling great, and it’s finally sunny out! I end up way uptown and take the subway back home (using my transit card).
2:45 p.m. — I ravenously eat the Clif Bar I didn’t need on our failed hike, a brownie, water, and the rest of my coffee before I take a nice hot shower. E. and I have offered to stop by the birthday party at friends D. and E.’s apartment in the neighborhood, to clip their cat’s nails before the birthday boy heads back to his current job out-of-state. We have become cat nail pros in our first six months of cat parenthood and are eager to spread the love. We arrive and get the task done (with some squirming and scratching), then hang out for a few hours, play with the cat, and enjoy D.’s birthday cake leftovers with tea and milk.
7:00 p.m. — I catch up with my childhood friend on FaceTime for a while, and then we have to decide what to do for dinner. Neither of us is feeling very motivated — I think with the holidays over, seasonal affective disorder is starting to hit. I rally for yet another quick grocery trip (perks of living two to three blocks away from several stores!) and get chicken, prosciutto, arborio rice, an onion, and tortellini to supplement the leftover broth from yesterday’s soup. It comes to $27.34, split evenly between me and E. I put on a podcast and make our favorite risotto recipe, which keeps really well for leftovers to bring for office lunches. We watch a show about the history of jazz for a while, then head off to sleep. $13.67
Daily Total: $13.67
Day Five: Monday
8:30 a.m. — It’s another work-from-home day for me, whereas Tuesday through Thursday I’ll be going into the office. E. makes coffee as usual before heading to his office, and I feed the cat and settle into work. I have some yogurt and granola, one of my favorite breakfasts, though this time the granola was made by E.’s mom and brought home from our Christmas visit instead of being made by me. I catch up on emails and take a couple of meetings in my cozy sweater and fleece pants.
1:30 p.m. — At lunchtime, I grab four tickets for myself, E., and our friends A. and me to go ice skating on Sunday! I’m obsessed with ice skating, like the born-and-raised Upstate New Yorker that I am. I pay the $50 for four passes and one pair of rental skates (E. is the only one who doesn’t have his own), and everyone pays me back. I’m so glad we’re going to the brand new rink that has opened in the northern part of Central Park. $10
2:oo p.m. — I’m getting bored with my salmon patties and decide to reinvent them a bit for today’s lunch. I fry up a package of Trader Joe’s Thai Wheat Noodles — a major pantry staple for me — using soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, chili crisp, garlic, ginger, and a touch of maple syrup. Then I toss in the salmon patty mixture. Much more interesting than the same thing for a third time!
7:00 p.m. — E. gets home, and we get ready to meet our friend, A. for dinner in the neighborhood. She’s from Germany and now that she’s back from a long visit home for the holidays, we are belatedly taking her out as a thank-you for watching our cat while we went on a short trip this past fall. We meet up at a French place where I reserved us a table, but we learn that they’re closing early tonight and decide to walk over to a Mexican restaurant instead. It’s great catching each other up on the past few months of life over chips and salsa, tacos, and enchiladas, and E. and I each get a margarita with Tajin. A. tries to contribute when it’s time to pay, but we insist that we’re glad to treat her and part ways on the corner. Then E. and I bring physical books/magazines to bed for a change — I would love to do more of this and less scrolling, we’ll see how we do — and we fall asleep early. $68.40
Daily Total: $78.40
Day Six: Tuesday
8:00 a.m. — Our alarm goes off, in tandem with a light gradually turning on and the local public radio station playing classical music (this elaborate setup was E.’s doing, and I’d say I’m a fan). I get up a bit groggily, since the cat decided to choose chaos and be whiny last night. I do my usual routine of washing my face, cleaning my retainers, and taking my SSRI before getting dressed for the office. E. makes coffee in a thermos for me and I pack it up with some granola with milk and a leftover Sumo Citrus that our friends bought at Whole Foods for breakfast, and more of my salmon noodle concoction for lunch.
10:00 a.m. — I walk to the express subway and swipe in (using my transit card). I head to my office and get to work.
2:00 p.m. — I eat my packed lunch at the office, then head out for my usual lunch break walk. Then back to work I go.
8:00 p.m. — I stay at work til about 6 p.m., then hop on the subway home (transit card). It felt nice to get back to the office, but I’m glad to have some introvert time at home now while E. is grabbing dinner out with a friend. I put Yoga with Adriene on the TV and move along with her while trying to dissuade the cat from his mischief. Then I simmer the tortellini into the leftover soup broth and enjoy it with some boxed red wine and an old John Oliver episode.
Daily Total: $0
Day Seven: Wednesday
7:30 a.m. — I actually get up with my alarm for once, rather than lounging for a while, because I’m on a mission to run before work! I get ready and eat a bit of peanut butter, then head out to Central Park. Today, I’m tackling some hills, which is rough but good preparation for the hilly half-marathon course that awaits me next month. I make my way up and down for 25 minutes or so, then head back home to shower and get ready for work.
9:30 a.m. — I remember I froze a banana a while back, and make a smoothie with it in my immersion blender along with milk, peanut butter, and cocoa powder. I pack that along with the rest of my tortellini, an apple, and E.’s coffee. I swipe my transit card and head downtown.
1:00 p.m. — I heat up my tortellini — still great! — and eat it at my desk. Later, I head out for my beloved lunchtime walk again. The unusual warmth today is doing my soul good, for sure.
6:00 p.m. — My original plan was to go to the diner near my office with my work bestie for grilled cheese, but she’s out sick today. I pivot to yet more grocery shopping and swipe my transit card to head to Wegmans. Having grown up in Upstate NY, Wegmans is life! I stock up on a whole bunch of things: oat milk, shredded cheese, yogurt, ice cream, chili crisp, miso, Better than Bouillon, French fried onions (E. is obsessed with these), cooking wine, a chicken, ground beef, floss for E., apples, onions, potatoes, and a couple of the cookies we always buy when we shop here. It comes to $101.49, and my share is $44.24. $44.24
7:30 p.m. — Argh, the item we needed most desperately (soap) was out of stock at Wegmans! I have a rough transit journey home, involving a local train, an express train, a bus across town, and a walk. I’m eager to put my bags down, but I have to head back out to Target. Thankfully, it’s two blocks away and has the soap we need, so I buy a bunch and head right back home. $16.97
9:00 p.m. — While I cook a French onion skillet meal from the wonderful Jenn Eats Goood site, I call my cousin, whom I often talk to while we’re both cooking (how sweet is that?). I’m really happy with how the recipe comes out and enjoy it while watching more John Oliver reruns. After cleaning up, E. comes home while I’m talking to my friend K. about our hopeful apartment purchase! We both tell her all about it — the stress of being in contract but not sure yet if it’ll all work out, the upcoming co-op board interview, and all the rules and regulations involved. She and her partner own a home in the Pacific Northwest, and she is very confused by all these New York-specific rules! We watch another episode of Gilmore Girls and head to sleep.
Daily Total: $61.21
The Breakdown
Conclusion:
I’m happy with all the cooking I did this week, though we still had plenty of fun seeing friends and going out now and then. I’ve been joking that we need to be “in our scrimping era” while we attempt to purchase this apartment, and we’re doing what we can to live up to that.
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A Week In New York City, NY On A $105,000 Salary
