From the answers to your open-ended final exams, to the mixed signals of your most charming love interest, to picking the perfect fit for that day party everyone’s attending; as a transitioning young adult, you’ll want to have it all figured out. And if balancing all the academic, romantic and social quotas of college doesn’t make you question your adult(ish)hood, throwing in financial worries will easily send you running back home to mommy and daddy.
Taking a bite out of the Big Apple can take a bite out of your wallet. Oftentimes, taking a piece you simply couldn’t afford to loss. As a college student, whether the serving size totaled $20 or 20 cents overprice, every penny over your budget comes at the expense of your financial and mental stability. So, how do you budget your money in a way that will keep you from reverting to total parental dependency?
Born and raised in the lively festivities of Brooklyn, educated and soon-to-be degreed in the concrete jungle of Queens, this 21-year-old New York native knows a thing or two about making it in the Big Apple. While she closes the door on her college years with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management and Business, this St. John’s student rushes into the doors of a parental-independent life with her groom-to-be back in her hometown. As so much in her life changes, and in the middle of a global pandemic, so much remains the same. That so much, the need to effectivity budget!
Read on to see how this St. John’s University senior spends her coins with logic and balance to maintain an independent life in New York City.
Major: Sports Management and Business
Age: 21
Year: 2022
College: St. John’s University
How do you pay tuition and monthly fees?
I pay for my tuition using three revenues, scholarship funds, parental financial and student loans. The scholarship I earned because of my high school honorable academics covers the largest amount of my tuition cost. Followed by the support of my father. After my university factors those incomes into the cost of my tuition, I take out student loans to cover the rest.
I pay for my monthly fees using the income from my full-time job in Brooklyn, NY. It pays me bi-weekly and above minimum wage.
What are your monthly expenses?
After paying for my rent, personal care, food and household items (such as groceries, toiletries, etc.), my monthly expenses run me approximately $1,500. I know $1,500 isn’t a lot in monthly expenses, but I mean, we are still in a pandemic. Before the pandemic, I didn’t go out much. Besides dates nights with my man and cute outings with my closest friends, going out was never a financial concern for me. Since the pandemic started, I don’t go out much with friends, like at all. I do still regularly go with my man. We love date nights and visiting new places together, but he pays. My money goes towards helping maintain our apartment and my personal needs such as nails, hair, lashes, doctor visits, clothes and things like that.
How do you pay these expenses?
I pay these expenses through the bi-weekly paychecks I received from my full-time job at CityMD Urgent Care. This company has locations in many areas in New Jersey and New York, but I work at one located in Brooklyn. I started working there back in May of 2021 as the Spring semester was ending. I’m sure they’ve always had a lot of people coming in and out being smack in the middle of this coronavirus pandemic, they can always utilize my serves. I work a lot of 12-hour shifts.
How did you spend your money last week?
Last week was a typical spending week for me. I spent money on lunch, a few specific household items and groceries, takeout and my personal self-care. I’m daddy’s little princess and baby girl, so since I was little my self-care has also included pampering myself. Although, when I was younger, that only meant getting my hair and nails done. Now that I’m older, I get it all. I pamper myself from head to toe! Nails, toes, lashes, eyebrows, ear, waxes, everything. Of course, self-care isn’t only about my appearance, but in financial context, self-care mostly means maintaining myself in that way.
I do not spend money on transportation because my job supplies me with a MetroCard to get around.
How did the pandemic affect your spending?
The pandemic helped me out a lot. Because of the pandemic, I am smarter with my spending. I pretty much only spend when I need to and how I need to. That includes my self-care. Since the pandemic limited my whereabouts, I have extra money to really take care of myself the way I want and need to. Spending in my means just comes easier now.
The only struggles I sometimes deal with is not wanting to take public transportation. Although my job basically supplies me with free public transportation in NYC, because of the COVID-19 outbreaks and NYC public transportation hassle, I usually just want to call myself an Uber.
How did you spend last week?
Sunday, September 5
Rent: $900
Salad for lunch at work: $12
Household Items and Groceries: $50
Monday, September 6
Salad for lunch at work: $12
Tuesday, September 7
Salad for lunch at work: $12
Wednesday, September 8
Salad for lunch at work: $12
Take-Out: $25
Thursday, September 9
No money spent
Friday, September 10
Self-Care (Nails, Toes and Eyebrows): $100
Shopping: $50
Take-Out: $25
Saturday, September 11
No money spent
Spending Breakdowns:
Transportation: $0
School Supplies: $0
Household Items and Groceries: $50
Take-Out: $50
Other Foods: $50
Personal care: $100
Personal Shopping: $50
Rent: $900
WEEK TOTAL: $1,200 (only $300 excluding the monthly cost of rent)
How do these breakdowns influence your spending habits?
These breakdowns don’t influence my spending habits because they all are necessities. I really do spend within my means and on things that help me to live a healthy life. Maintaining a home for me and my man, selective eating, personal maintenance, using public transportation, these are all things I can afford and that keep me mentality, physically and financially stable. So, when I say that they don’t influence my spending habits I mean that no matter what I will always spend money on my necessities. My necessities influence my spending habits, not the other way around.
The Takeaway
As the pandemic restlessly continues with no definite end in sight, the minority of young-adults financially able to live independently proceeds to an all-time low since the Great Depression. With most young adults, college graduates included, unhappily living at home with their parents, the way you budget can help separate you from dependent the crowd. Displayed through the spending habits of this young adult, if you couple up, work and spend responsibility within your means, your pockets will never need to call out to mommy and daddy for financial stability again … at least not now.
A Week in the Wallet of a College of Staten Island Student