This thread really pisses me off. I make 1000$ a month in one of the most expensive areas in the world and I live better than you and have 0 credit card debt. I'm also a degenerate with an alcohol problem. All I read was the first page, all people seem to be talking about is groceries - but why in the **** do you have a car when you have the fortune of living in a city where a car isn't necessary? You seem like one of those clueless idiots that has a bunch of completely unnecessary things but you've managed to convince yourself that they are absolute necessities of life. The reality is not only do you not need a lot of the things you have, but you can get by just as well if not better without them. I think there's probably other expenses that you have that you're embarrassed to talk about, ie gambling losses.

Take the car for instance.. sell it, take a chunk out of your debt and ride your ****ing bike to work. Or if you're too lazy to do that take the godamn subway. And stop gambling. How people like you manage to survive is way beyond me.

Yes -- you can hang around other people's homes or in public parks. You can also wander around the street.

What? Honestly. 400 sqft? Do you have a bathroom? Obviously your living space is your bedroom but do you also have a kitchen with actual appliances?

No sane person would be happy living in 400 sqft. Jail cells are larger than that.

Excuse me? The title of the thread is "does earning 65k a year mean you're poor". Obviously its location dependent, which was why I posted what I did. This is not solely a NYC thread. 65k goes a long long way in some places. In others, not very far at all.

I agree taxes are probably going to be much higher in NYC. I think everyone has acknowledged that.

OP needs to save money where he can. Obviously groceries is one place where he could easily save $100-$200 a month.

Have we figured out if he chugs olive oil yet?

if only he'd stop buying olive oil, then he could find financial freedom at last.

OP, what do you do for work?

Well the anorexia helps.

I wanted to make a few points here that have yet to be addressed:

1) You can live like a king on 65k somewhere besides NYC
2) 800 a month on groceries seems high.
3) Why so much olive oil and cologne?
4) Maybe your gf should contribute financially

Hope that helps!

I get expensive stuff too, but I only use it for the raw stuff like salads, for cooking I use the cheap stuff cuz it doesn't really make a huge difference. Still pretty impressive to go through that amount in a month.

Henry - 6$ a month for hair gel is fine, it's the "Shampoo/Conditioner 20/month 20" that is more disconcerting. I have long hair and shower every day and my shampoo and conditioner lasts forever.

Groundbreaking development here.

****ing budgets, how do they work?

I totally missed Caramelldansen's comment. $100 a month. Are you one of those kids in Africa that we can help for just pennies a day?

Caramelldansen is a troll account with a weird pro anorexia gimmick.

I think I spend $200 a month on groceries, but I basically just feed myself and I tend to buy quasi in bulk and cook enough for a few days. If you aren't picky about what you want to eat, its doable, and no I am not referring to buying boxed and frozen food.

Monday: grilled chicken, 1/2 cup of rice, one tablespoon of ice cream
Tuesday:grilled chicken, 1/2 cup of rice, one tablespoon of ice cream
Wednesday:grilled chicken, 1/2 cup of rice, one tablespoon of ice cream
Thursday: grilled chicken, 1/2 cup of rice, one tablespoon of ice cream
Friday:grilled chicken, 1/2 cup of rice, one tablespoon of ice cream
Saturday:grilled chicken, 1/2 cup of rice, one tablespoon of ice cream
Sunday: Suicide

WHOOOOOSH....

You completely missing the point. Yes, you can do things the cheap way but thats only because you have to not because you want to.

Active social life cost money and arts & culture cost even more. What is Broadway show going to cost you these days? 300-400 for family of 3 ? What about Metropolitan or NYC Opera? $400-500. Off Broadway plays $100-200? Try to afford it when you only have $800 after bills. The idea is NOT to try to save extra $20 off your groceries but not to think about little petty things on the daily basis.

Don't get me started on education but by the time my kid graduates from HS i will end up paying at least 500k and possibly more. Once again, you do not have to do that and there is nothing wrong with public education but you mention education as one of the reason to be in NYC and the best education happened to be private and very expensive.

400 sq ft is a cell, it is not an apartment , ever tried bringing a date in your cell??? And no i don't need to eat out every night in a 3star restaurant but I'd like to have an option of taking my wife to a 5 star once a month and NYC have a lot of those and food is generally pretty amazing but once again you need money for that...
You can make ends meet in NYC on 65K but to truly enjoy EVERYTHING that NYC have to offer you need to make 250K+ and its not even debatable.

You can buy a weeks worth of chicken for probably $15-20, create variety by spices imo. Potatoes are cheap, veggies are cheap. You can eat sandwiches. Pasta sauces are cheap and you can add meat to them.

Maybe I've just programmed myself to be a cheap ass though. I seriously spend about that much on groceries a month. I do probably spend another 150 to eat out or so.

sounds about right

$800/mo for food/toiletries/misc items for two people is not that high, is it only shocking because 1/2 the posters ITT live in dorm rooms and live off ramen?

in all honesty i'm just jealous. i have a friend who spends very little on groceries and i think how much i'd save if i could spend as much as him but i'm such a spoiled little ****. i need fresh fish, steaks, etc. plus eating out. if i could have my taste buds removed and only eat for energy, i'd probably be a millionaire in 10 years with the money i save.

The Kingdom is not meant for your ilk OP. Move to dirty jersey and commute with the rest of the peasants.

yeah its really down to the person, but I think most people spend way too much for groceries probably without even realizing it. Fresh meat and things like seafood and steaks can add up. Fresh chicken is obviously better than frozen, but you can buy a whole bag of frozen chicken breast for 10ish. If you really want fresh, buy cuts like thighs or cuts like flank steak/flat iron etc and find good ways to prepare them. Everyone loves the rib eye, but you can ball on a budget with some other stuff

Fresh veggies and fruits are a different story entirely though, since they can be very price dependent based on geographic location. Some are grown locally and others aren't.

You can get by on cheaper groceries if you are a bit creative and willing to sacrifice some things. A lot of people don't want to sacrifice certain things, which is fine, but its costing them a lot of money. Your weekly grocery bill could go from $100 to $50 pretty easily if you tried hard enough. I guarantee it.

A decent example of what I meant in my earlier post. I bought chicken thighs and two bell peppers, plus tortilla's, cheese, and salsa for around $12-13 IIRC (Salsa and chicken were the most expensive) and I made enough chicken fajitas for about three days. But thats just for me, and I don't mind eating the same thing for a few days. You can get some cheap cuts of pork and cook them in a crock pot for like a weeks worth of eating too.

sous-vide machine is gonna pay for itself in weeks with some of you cats. Henry and back-censored in particular might wanna google. Just sear in a pan after you're done and the '****ty' cuts of meat you use will be the best steaks you've ever had in your life.