TT: yeah I am starting to wonder on that too: all the negative maybes seem to be coming to fruition in some fashion which will drag on the market.
Pizza: well guess it isn’t the time to say I did get that additional gig.
Probably will be gone from the forums most of April just won’t have time to spend any time online... but if the market starts being strange I may just try to power my way out of debt.
I know I can’t hold it together long, technically it only lasts a month but there are so many projects they have and while it isn’t as tawdry as some places I have worked they aren’t going to get people beating down their doors for a job... but I get my weekends back after this one so maybe I will be able to stay sane... but more saliently if I were to ignore the arbitrage play and the mortgage interest deduction and nuke the debt from orbit so to speak, the 2700ish extra post tax that I could drop out of my monthly spending is starting to look more appealing.
Certainly on the auto loan a guaranteed 3.85% return might not be a bad deal, better than treasuries for no-risk investing.
Pizza: well guess it isn’t the time to say I did get that additional gig.
Probably will be gone from the forums most of April just won’t have time to spend any time online... but if the market starts being strange I may just try to power my way out of debt.
I know I can’t hold it together long, technically it only lasts a month but there are so many projects they have and while it isn’t as tawdry as some places I have worked they aren’t going to get people beating down their doors for a job... but I get my weekends back after this one so maybe I will be able to stay sane... but more saliently if I were to ignore the arbitrage play and the mortgage interest deduction and nuke the debt from orbit so to speak, the 2700ish extra post tax that I could drop out of my monthly spending is starting to look more appealing.
Certainly on the auto loan a guaranteed 3.85% return might not be a bad deal, better than treasuries for no-risk investing.
Ugh. Great. Another article that confuses me on whether I am Gen Z or a Millennial. Thanks a lot. All joking aside, my rent is nearly equal to the entire category average for the under 25 crowd. Yikes...
@Anonymous wrote:For myself, I usually lived on one pay check a month and the other checks(s) are do whatever I want to money but, certainly not everyone can do that (income with retirement set asides was in the six figures annually). Will add that where a person lives geographically will affect monthly expenses greatly as you have shown living in southern California (sister lives in the New Port Beach area and it ain't cheap).
True confession is that I live near the edge of civilization and the cost of living for housing (House Payment $582, Auto $311, Property Taxes $70, Auto Ins $90, Property Ins $65 for a single family residence) and are lower than some areas of the country. However, I still stick to the fact that Baby Boomers do not have the resources to support the $49K reported as an annual expense or $135 a day total.
This was a good read and I am glad you found it and brough it to us for consideration. Sure have me thinking on the subject!
(for proper context, I turn 31 in a few months)
Great minds think alike! 
I make maxing out my 401k my top priority, and I'm also lucky enough to have no expensive hobbies or any large expenses outside of rent (paid cash for my car) to make squeezing by on one paycheck a possibility (as long as I don't go crazy binging Indian buffets lol ).
Looking at my budgeting spreadsheets for the past 6 years, I'm getting these numbers:
2013: $95.54/day
2014: $86.59/day
2015: $74.56/day
2016: $82.17/day
2017: $119.55/day
2018: $95.55/day
2019: $69.32/day (up to March 27)
(rent went from $900/mo in 2013 to $1200/mo in 2016, yet somehow I managed to decrease my daily expenditure. Yeah I had to make some major cutbacks in certain areas, don't ask...)
The strictly mathematical average from 2013-2018 seem to center around $92.33/day. At this point, I just take pride in the fact that I can still manage to live more frugally than even Gen Z'er's during some of my "good" years, despite me living in the SF Bay Area aka one of the most expensive areas in the US. 
Now to be fair, let me point out a few things from this table below:
| Average Daily Spending by Americans 25-34 Years Old | |
| Groceries | $10.89 |
| Housing (Rent/Homeownership) | $34.78 |
| Utilities | $8.89 |
| Health Insurance | $6.19 |
| Charitable Donations | $2.60 |
| Education | $3.38 |
| Gasoline | $5.52 |
| Vehicle Insurance | $2.36 |
| Eating Out | $9.36 |
| Alcohol | $1.57 |
| Entertainment | $7.24 |
| Cellphone Service | $3.12 |
| Clothing/Apparel | $5.59 |
| Pets | $1.24 |
| Overall | $208.77 |
1. I'm extremely fortunate to have done my tertiary education in Canada, and my entire college cost for my BS and MS (tuition+room & board) came out to $72k CAD. As a result, with scholarships + part-time jobs + handouts from parents + stipends/fellowships in grad school, I managed to graduate with 0 debt.
2. While rent in the Bay Area is certainly going to far exceed the national average of ~$1040/mo, I always live with roommates, thus after splitting the rent, it comes out to around $1250/mo, which isn't too bad.
3. The mild weather in the Bay Area means my utilities cost never exceeds $100/mo even during the coldest winter months, and can get as low as $45 during spring and fall. (and this cost is split with another person no less!!)
4. My employer provides me with an excellent HDHP, and I literally pay a dollar a day ($1.05 to be exact) for health insurance. Doubly good since my HSA is tax deductible and rolls over each year.
5. I ported my number to Google Voice, and use T-Mobile's $10 for 2GB data monthly plan for my phone, meaning I spend 33 cents/day for phone service.
5. Being the cheapskate that I am, charitable donations is a big fat $0.
6.I realized after driving 35 miles one way to work in 2017, that I just can't cope with hour long commutes. So my gas cost is probably $1.5/day at most.
7. I'm a lab rat, so I have no need or desire for expensive clothing. Thus my clothing cost is probably $1/day if even that.
Yeah really the best benefit I found too in budgeting was where I was wasting money.
These days I know pretty well what I am spending for bills, and around the rest of my life... and then I just kick the remaining to either the brokerage account or towards accelerating a loan repayment.
It’s working for me currently but admittedly my income for me is just stupid right now and I wasn’t doing that badly before even.
It is taking it’s toll though, not getting enough downtime and it is starting to catch up to me... badly cranky right now and I am not executing that well anywhere, though I think the gig at the bank is now going to come to an end in 2 months and I can gut it out that long.
I was basically the only one telling my new executive not to go pick the fight with the security group about our site’s DDoS solution and even explained all the reasons why and off he goes tilting at windmills anyway.
I guess if a company was truly competent they wouldn’t need to hire me, meh.
These days I know pretty well what I am spending for bills, and around the rest of my life... and then I just kick the remaining to either the brokerage account or towards accelerating a loan repayment.
It’s working for me currently but admittedly my income for me is just stupid right now and I wasn’t doing that badly before even.
It is taking it’s toll though, not getting enough downtime and it is starting to catch up to me... badly cranky right now and I am not executing that well anywhere, though I think the gig at the bank is now going to come to an end in 2 months and I can gut it out that long.
I was basically the only one telling my new executive not to go pick the fight with the security group about our site’s DDoS solution and even explained all the reasons why and off he goes tilting at windmills anyway.
I guess if a company was truly competent they wouldn’t need to hire me, meh.
@Revelate wrote:
Yeah really the best benefit I found too in budgeting was where I was wasting money.
These days I know pretty well what I am spending for bills, and around the rest of my life... and then I just kick the remaining to either the brokerage account or towards accelerating a loan repayment.
It’s working for me currently but admittedly my income for me is just stupid right now and I wasn’t doing that badly before even.
It is taking it’s toll though, not getting enough downtime and it is starting to catch up to me... badly cranky right now and I am not executing that well anywhere, though I think the gig at the bank is now going to come to an end in 2 months and I can gut it out that long.
I was basically the only one telling my new executive not to go pick the fight with the security group about our site’s DDoS solution and even explained all the reasons why and off he goes tilting at windmills anyway.
I guess if a company was truly competent they wouldn’t need to hire me, meh.
... or got'ta love having a 'scape goat' ... 