Five New Yorkers' Spending Diaries

You ever wonder how other people spend their money?  You ever look at someone and think, "how can he afford that?" or hear a friend or co-worker complain, "man, is it payday yet?  I don't know where it all went!"  and you think, "yea, what the heck do you spend your money on?"

Well, New York Magazine asked five New Yorkers to keep a spending diary for one week.  They profiled a grad student being subsidized by his folks, a junior professional who makes 54k, a mid-career fund raiser with a $150k income, an investment banker who lives on a hefty expense account and pulls in about $700k, and a Wall Street trader who brings in over a million bucks a year.

This is financial voyeurism at its finest.  Like other personal finance bloggers, I share my net worth every month.  For some that's already too much information.  But a lot of factors go into that balance sheet.  Unexpected income, wasteful expenses, cost cutting brown bag lunches, investment gains or losses, all mesh together to form a month end picture.  But, as we all know, the devil is in the details.  I would never display the transaction record from my credit card statement.  I certainly don't need, "I can't believe you would spend $xxx.xx on __________.  What a waste."

These New Yorkers were anonymous, but they bared it all.

We know that the 26 year old, $20k Grad Student spent $34.10 for dinner on a Monday night at a place called Bombay Talkie.  He spent $15.08 on Olive Oil and Mayonnaise from a grocery store called Gristedes.  $15.08?  And his parents pay for his $140/month gym membership.

We know that the $54k per year Junior Professional had soup and steamed vegetables for lunch at Angelica Kitchen for $19.  Saturday involved seeing the movie Marie Antoinette where he bought Milk Duds and bottled water for $6.50 (that's pretty reasonable, actually). No mention of tickets, so someone else must have bought the tickets.  Dinner was soup and grilled chicken at Cafe Orlin for $42.  This was followed by beer and smokes from a bodega on 2nd.  A bodega is a type of store.  I had no idea.  Beer at the Phoenix cost $15, and another dinner (is it only called "fourth meal" when it's at McDonalds?) of grilled cheese, omlette and potatoes from Moonstruck Diner topped off the night at $27.40.

The $150k mid-career fundraiser seemed to have a better handle on expenses than the other two guys.  His total for the week was $529.27.  Still a lot by most standards, but less than the $639.06 spent by the junior professional who makes a third of his income.  And only $75 more than the grad student who makes about a seventh as much.  The i-banker spent over three grand in a week, only $1200 reimbursed.  Her downfall is shopping.  Nearly daily trips to Ann Taylor or Nieman Marcus.

It's kind of nutty to see a week in the life of the budget of a 41 year old trader, stay at home wife and two kids with a seven figure household income.  In one week, they managed to spend over four thousand dollars.  Granted $1700 was to their contractor for some work they are having done to their four bedroom upper westside apartment.  Another $650 was for charity ball tickets.  The mind boggling one, $650 was their share of the check for dinner at Da Umberto.  That is some dinner.

How about you?  Do you keep a food diary?  What would we be surprised about if you displayed it for all the world to see?

Comments

[bluntmoney]

I posted our grocery spending for a month awhile back. I hadn't considered posting a transaction history, but that might be interesting too. I already know I spend way too much at the Olive Garden :P