Hello, and welcome to Big City, Small Budget!

This blog is dedicated to discussing all things relating to personal finance, from the perspective of a millennial living in New York City on a pre-tax income of around $38,000/year.

I moved to NYC in 2015 to pursue my dreams of working in the theatre industry. The prospects of working in an industry not exactly known for its fat paychecks (especially for those just starting out) in a city not exactly known for its low cost-of-living (to put it mildly) were daunting. I spent my first few months in the city working a full-time internship that offered a $100/week stipend, staying afloat through a mixture of part-time work and supplemental dips into the small amount of savings I had accumulated prior to the move. It wasn’t long before the stress of making ends meet became grueling, and I realized that I was going to need more than my Broadway dreams to build a life that was balanced, enjoyable, and fulfilling.

So, I decided to start taking control of my finances. With so little coming in, I needed to be acutely aware of what was going out. I began immersing myself in the worlds of budgeting and personal finance; I read books and blogs, watched YouTube videos, listened to podcasts. I began tracking my spending and tried my hand at creating a budget. It wasn’t easy, and I tried every method under the sun—handwritten, spreadsheets, apps, cash envelopes—but I eventually found a method that worked for me.

As I continued tweaking my budget and honing my financial acumen, I discovered something exciting: my dream life in NYC no longer seemed out of reach. I didn’t have to choose between paying my bills, saving money, or having fun; by harnessing the power of budgeting, I was able to do all three. In 2019, my take-home pay not only covered my monthly expenses, but also saw several thousand dollars distributed to my savings accounts—all without significant sacrifices to my quality of life.

I’m certainly not the first person to talk about personal finance, nor am I the first person to blog about it. I’m also cognizant of the privileges I carry, and the ways in which they have shaped my conceptualizations of and experiences with money. But if I’ve learned anything from the blogs and podcasts and videos of other budgeters and members of the #debtfreecommunity, it’s that everyone’s stories are different, and everyone’s experiences are worth learning from. Big City, Small Budget is my story, and I hope it’s able to provide you with something worthwhile as you seek to take control of your finances and build a life that’s yours on whatever your budget may be.