It’s all those ballroom dance lessons adding up there. If you compare this budget to the one I published earlier this year (linked at the top of the post), you’ll see that my expenses have increased slightly. She’s saving over 60% of her income, with “no extreme couponing, reusing Ziploc bags, or shopping bans in sight”. These are the average expenses for The Luxe Strategist. “I realized I spend way too much money on food and drinks, so I’m planning on cutting down on that now!” Living with a SO in Brooklyn: There’s a Two Cents post to go with this budget, too. Though living on my own would have its own set of benefits, living with my folks makes so much more sense financially.” For the tradeoff of chores and keeping it down late at night, I am living rent-free and predominantly bill-free. “I live at home and doing so has been a great boon for me financially.

Living at home with parents in Manhattan: Want to know more? Horace did a Two Cents post breaking down his NYC lifestyle. Overall, I’m hesitant about spending money growing up in an environment where money is scarce makes you hold on tight to the money you have… though NYC isn’t the best place to be young and financially prudent.” Also, I recently cut out dating and that helped bring down my expenses as well. “I tend to skimp on eating out and going out for drinks in order to save money, so I usually cook my own meals or take advantage of work funded happy hours. True costs do vary month-to-month and are entirely dependent on your specific situation.

Note: These are snapshot views and are intended as a close approximation or average of monthly expenses. If you’re trying to approximate your own cost of living for an NYC move, factor in those costs on top of the expenses provided below. The following expenses are of living costs only they do not include insurance, taxes, retirement, loan payments, savings, or anything else that typically falls on a case-by-case basis. I asked four other wonderful people to contribute their budgets for this post. After providing my personal budget breakdown, I wanted to create a more applicable resource for those who want a more realistic view of what it costs to live in NYC.

Single person personal budget sample