A Week In San Francisco Bay Area On A $91,000 Salary

Refinery29

5 days ago

Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We're asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we're tracking every last dollar.
Today: a grant writer who makes $91,000 per year and who spends some of her money this week on 'Risk it for the brisket' baseball caps.
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Occupation: Grant writer
Industry: Higher education
Age: 24
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Salary: $91,000
Assets: Checking: $14,000 (this is used for recurring bills as well as any spending throughout the month); Roth IRA: $27,000; brokerage account: $24,000
Debt: $0
Paycheck Amount (2x/month): $2,400 after deductions.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing Costs: I live with two other young women in a three-bed, two-bath apartment. Our total rent is $4,895 per month, of which I pay $1,800. This does not include utilities (which are included below).
Loan Payments: $0
Gym Membership: $205
Horse Boarding: $630
Internet: $10 (my third).
Electricity: $25 (my third).
Utilities: $100 (my third).
Netflix: $19
Amazon Music: $12
Amazon Prime: $15
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Education was a very high priority in my family. My parents are both highly educated and there was always an expectation to earn a four-year degree. There was also an expectation to attend graduate school at some point, although there was less of an emphasis on a graduate degree than on a bachelor's degree. I have a bachelor's and master's degree, both in public policy. Because of how much my parents prioritized and valued higher education, they paid the full cost of attendance for me to attend college and graduate school.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Growing up, my parents emphasized the importance of saving money. They always reminded us that although we were comfortable financially, money was typically spent either on the essentials or put away in savings to be used on something meaningful later on. Along those lines, they also instilled in me the importance of using my money to give back to my community or to those in need, if I was in a position where I was financially able to. My parents often discussed with my sister and me which local organizations they donated money to and made sure we understood the value of donating extra money (and saving it) rather than spending it on luxury vacations, expensive cars, etc. My parents also educated me about finances — essentially all my financial knowledge comes from them. They helped me open my first checking account and credit card, and they explained how different accounts work, how to be smart about credit card usage, and so on. My dad also helped me open my brokerage and Roth IRA accounts and still sits down with me usually once a year to discuss investment strategy and help me invest money into both accounts.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I worked at a summer camp teaching children and teenagers how to ride horses during the summer after my senior year of high school and before I started college. I had volunteered at the camp during several summers prior, and I finally reached the age where I transitioned into a paid staff member (18+) instead of a volunteer (15-17 years old). I wanted to have some spending money saved up by the time I started college. Even though my parents generously paid the cost of attendance, it was my responsibility to pay for transportation, entertainment, food that didn't come from the dining halls, etc — anything that wasn't captured in the cost of attendance.
Did you worry about money growing up?
No, growing up I was always under the impression that we had enough money to cover the necessities, plus more. I understood that my parents were smart about saving and had enough money put away that if any financial emergencies arose, we would be able to handle them.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes, I live in an extremely high cost-of-living area and don't make enough where I am able to pay all my expenses and save a good amount of money each month (which I consider to be very important, given what my parents taught me and how they saved money when I was growing up). I track all my expenses and try to budget but regardless, every month I barely save any money and don't have much room for unexpected and unplanned expenses. I've had a lot of unexpected or unplanned expenses come up recently, such as vet bills for my horse and medical bills for myself, but I don't have extra income each month to be paying for these expenses. Significant yearly raises and large bonuses at my job are very rare, so I know that there is almost no chance that I will be making more money all of a sudden. I am constantly worrying about what I'll do if I get hit with even more unexpected expenses, because I will not be able to pay for them and really want to avoid going into debt.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I would say that I became almost fully financially responsible for myself around the time that I got my first career job (about a year and a half ago) and started paying my housing costs. Throughout college, my parents generously paid my housing costs, and in the half-year between graduating college and getting my first full-time job, I was living in a condo owned by my parents, so I didn't pay rent. Since I got my first full-time job, I've paid for everything myself except my phone bill (I'm on a family plan) and car insurance (which my parents pay for to ensure that I always have coverage). I know that if I lost my job, my parents would help with some basic living expenses (although I'd be expected to find a job in the interim, or use my savings to cover things like paying for my horse), so I do have a financial safety net, although I always do my best not to rely/fall back on that.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
No.
Day One: Monday
6:15 a.m. — On the days that I work from the office, I always wake up early to take care of my horse before work. I eat a quick breakfast, gather everything for my work day, and make it to the ranch by 7 a.m. to get my horse exercised and feed her grain and supplements. On this particular morning, I lunge her instead of ride for her daily exercise, since I was out of town over the weekend and hadn't ridden her in a few days.
8:30 a.m. — I arrive at work around 8:30 a.m. and spend about an hour going through emails and preparing for our weekly team meeting. After our team meeting, I have a pretty typical day of writing stewardship reports and working on grant applications. Around lunchtime, I walk with a coworker to a coffee shop nearby and discuss some work-related topics on the way, and she generously buys me a smoothie to enjoy on our walk back to the office. I leave work around 4:45 p.m. to get to the gym.
5:30 p.m. — I arrive at the gym for a workout class. I pay a monthly membership for an unlimited number of classes. I do CrossFit, and I always try to make it to one of the later afternoon classes. Class was pretty typical today — a mixture of running, lifting, and skill work. Each class is approximately one hour, so we wrap up around 6:30 p.m. I stick around to stretch and roll out, and socialize with other gym members, before I leave the gym around 7 p.m.
7:30 p.m. — I play in an outdoor sand volleyball league on Monday evenings on a team with several other young adults. Today we have a game at 7:30 p.m. It's warm out tonight, and still light when we started playing, which was a nice change from the darker and colder games that we'd been playing most of the winter. We don't play very well tonight, only winning one of three sets in our game, but it was nice to be able to enjoy the warmer evening by being outdoors. These games typically last about an hour, so I leave around 8:30 p.m.
9 p.m. — On my way home, I stop by the ranch again to feed my horse some extra hay — she's fed in the morning and afternoon by the feeders at the ranch, but I always stop by to give her a little extra at night so she doesn't go for too long of a period of time without eating. Horses are evolutionarily and biologically wired to be grazing almost constantly (before they were domesticated, they were constantly eating the grasses and other plants in the areas in which they lived and roamed), so I make sure that my horse has access to food as often as possible. Once I get home, around 9 p.m., I eat a quick dinner, shower, pack my lunch for tomorrow, and go to bed.
6:15 a.m. — I work from the office Monday through Wednesday, so I'm up early again to take care of my horse before work. I follow the same morning routine — eat a quick breakfast, gather everything I need for work and the gym, and head out the door to arrive at the ranch a little before 7 a.m. This morning, I do ride my horse, and we have a good ride before I have to leave for work.
8:30 a.m. — I arrive at work around 8:30 a.m., my typical start time. Today also is a typical workday, and it looks similar to Monday, although we don't have a team meeting in the morning. I have no meetings on my schedule today, and several of my coworkers who I usually eat lunch with are out sick or on vacation, so I just spend the day working on my stewardship reports and grant applications before leaving around 4:30 p.m. for the gym.
5:30 p.m. — Traffic is usually quite bad on Tuesdays, so it takes me about 45 minutes to drive to the gym, even though it's only about 10 miles from my office. I participate in both the 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. classes tonight — the 5:30 p.m. class was a specialty class where I was able to work on some particular CrossFit skills and movements that I need more practice with, and the 6:30 p.m. class was the workout of the day. It's a tough one, with lots of lifting and cardio. I stick around for a short amount of time to stretch and roll before leaving to go home.
8 p.m. — I stop at Costco to get gas after I leave the gym. Gas is really expensive in the Bay Area, and Costco always has the cheapest gas in the area, so I try not to buy gas from anywhere else. $48.27
9 p.m. — On my way home, I stop at the ranch to feed my horse and also to pick up dinner from an Asian fusion restaurant near my apartment. I order through DoorDash (for pickup), and because I have a gift card from a while ago as well as several promotions from DoorDash, I get my dinner for free. Once I get back home, I eat dinner, shower, pack my lunch for tomorrow, and go to bed.
Daily Total: $48.27
Day Three: Wednesday
6:15 a.m. — Same morning routine as the previous two days — wake up early, eat breakfast, and ride my horse. Nothing unusual or exciting happened this morning (which is always a good thing with horses!) so I head to work as soon as I'm done riding.
8:30 a.m. — Today is a busy day, with four hour-long meetings on my calendar. I have my first meeting at 10 a.m. — a weekly one-on-one with my boss. We talk about the projects that I'm currently working on and she gives me several more projects to work on. After we finish our meeting, I go out for coffee with the newest hire on our team. We walk to a new coffee shop that just opened close to the office, and I try a cherry blossom latte (covered by my work). It was quite good. When I return to the office, I eat a quick lunch of leftovers from last night and get back to work before my afternoon meetings. I have two afternoon meetings with larger groups of colleagues, and use the last hour of my day to continue writing my reports until I leave for the gym around 4:30 p.m.
5:20 p.m. — I arrive at the gym shortly before my CrossFit class. It was another fun workout with lots of heavy lifting. I only stay for one class tonight and head home around 6:45 p.m.
7:15 p.m. — On my way home, I stop at the grocery store for a much-needed grocery trip. Since I've been out of town for the last two weekends, I haven't been grocery shopping in a while, and my fridge and pantry were empty. My grocery bill typically isn't quite this high, but because I have almost no food at home, I spend more than usual tonight. My cart is filled with a variety of items, including chicken, ground turkey, eggs, milk, cheese, lots of vegetables, yogurt, cottage cheese, and some other snacking foods. I buy enough food to make meals later this week and also next week, so I hopefully won't have to go back to the store for another two weeks. $161.14
8:15 p.m. — After leaving the grocery store, I go to the ranch to feed my horse her nighttime hay before going home. Once I get home, I throw a frozen dinner in the microwave (I'm too tired to cook anything that I bought tonight), put my groceries away, and clean up my kitchen. Once everything is tidied up, I shower and go to sleep.
Daily Total: $161.14
Day Four: Thursday
7:30 a.m. — I finally get to sleep in today — I work from home on Thursday and Friday, so I often ride my horse in the afternoon, not the morning. I eat breakfast and start work earlier, shortly before 8 a.m., and work on my typical stewardship reports and other pieces of writing. Again, today is another typical workday without too many meetings or other things, so I'm able to be productive and wrap up several reports.
3 p.m. — I log off work early today because my horse has a chiropractor appointment. Yes, it sounds ridiculous, but horses do get chiropractic care, and they often benefit from it. I'd been noticing some stiffness in my horse's neck while we were riding so I scheduled this appointment to try to make her feel better. The appointment is quick (they'll send me a bill for this in due course), so I have time to take her out for her daily exercise before going to the gym. Since I am a little short on time, I lunge her again today instead of riding.
4:30 p.m. — I forgot my gym clothes so I have to drive home to grab them before going to the gym. I make it just in time for 5:30 p.m. class, which is another specialty class, this time focused on Olympic lifting. I also stay for the 6:30 p.m. class, which is an endurance class, so 45 minutes of cardio. I used to run competitively, so I really enjoy these classes. I hang around socializing for a while before heading home.
8 p.m. — On my way home, I stop, as usual, at the ranch to feed my horse. In addition to giving her extra hay, I take her out of her stall to let her graze on some of the fresh grass for about half an hour. Since she's not in a pasture right now, she doesn't have access to fresh grass, so I try to let her graze for about half an hour several times a week. Once she's had her fill, I bring her back to her stall and head home to make myself dinner, shower, and go to sleep.
Daily Total: $0
Day Five: Friday
7:30 a.m. — I get to sleep in again since I'm working from home again. My morning routine is the same on Thursdays and Fridays, usually — a quick breakfast before starting work around 8 a.m. It's a light day at work because I finished several projects yesterday. I work on addressing edits to a few reports that my supervisor looked at and returned to me as well as wrapping up any outstanding tasks for several other reports.
12:30 p.m. — I decide to take my horse out in the early afternoon since I have a light day at work. Before I leave for the ranch, I check my personal email and see that the vet clinic has already sent me a bill for her appointment yesterday, so I pay that before going to ride. I try to make things quick today, since it's the middle of the work day. Once I'm done riding, I head home to finish up my work day. $349
4 p.m. — Traffic isn't as bad on Fridays so I leave around 4 p.m. to make it to 4:30 p.m. class at the gym. Friday is usually the last day of each week that I work out, and I take both weekend days off from a CrossFit workout, so I do both the 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. classes tonight. The first is another workout with heavy lifting and some cardio, and the second is another specialty class, again focused on Olympic lifting. This week of programming included a lot of lifting!
6:45 p.m. — I leave the gym and go back to the ranch to spend some more time with my horse. Since I took her out for a short ride earlier in the day, I decided to take her out for about 45 minutes to let her graze again. She's pretty focused on the food in front of her during this time, so I spend this time going through my personal email inboxes on my phone while keeping an eye on her.
8:30 p.m. — Earlier today, I realized that I had forgotten a couple items at the store last night (I should've made a shopping list, knowing it was going to be a large grocery haul). I stop at the grocery store on my way home to pick up strawberries, blackberries, cilantro, and frozen vegetables. Once I get home, I put my groceries away, do a little more cleaning in the kitchen, shower, and to go sleep. $27.70
Daily Total: $376.70
Day Six: Saturday
10 a.m. — My friend M. and I had made plans several days ago to go shopping on Saturday; the stores that we want to shop at are about 45 minutes away. He picks me up around 10 a.m. and we stop at Starbucks on the way. He pays for my drink.
12 p.m. — The first store that we stop at doesn't have what I need — I wanted to buy a new pair of riding boots, but this store didn't have a style that I liked in my size. Probably a good thing, considering that everything here was very expensive.
1 p.m. — The next store we stop at is so I can buy some food for my horse. I buy three bags of alfalfa cubes for $61.77 (to supplement her daily hay) as well as matching baseball caps for my sister and me — which I didn't plan to buy, but they caught my eye ($20). Buying bags of food is not too regular of an occurrence, as I don't give my horse too much extra in addition to her hay, so thankfully I don't spend that much money each month on extra food for her. M. buys a new grill at this store. $81.77
2 p.m. — M. and I stop at Panera Bread for lunch, and I cover both our meals since he paid for my Starbucks earlier in the day and also is driving his car. We both ordered from their you-pick-two menu. Panera is always my go-to when I need a fast but relatively healthy meal. $37.59
3:30 p.m. — We go to one more store to see if they had any shoes that I wanted to buy. I find a pair of nice riding boots, and they are on sale! I also decide to buy a new jacket for the colder winter days at the ranch, which I was not intending to buy, but it was on sale and looked like it would be very warm, so I decided to go for it. M. also buys a new pair of boots and several shirts. We both decide that we've spent enough money for the day, so we start our drive home. $144.84
5 p.m. — I finally make it to the ranch to take my horse out. I decide that she can use a day off (I usually give her one day off each week) so I take her for a long walk around the ranch instead of riding or lunging today. I also run into one of my friends at the ranch, who's helping take care of some other horses, so I help her finish up her horse chores before it's dark out.
8 p.m. — I'm finally done with everything horse related that I needed to get done today, so I stop by a friend's house for dinner. He cooked a delicious chicken pasta dish, which we eat and then hang out catching up for a while. I leave around 10:30 p.m. to go home, shower, and go to sleep.
Daily Total: $264.20
Day Seven: Sunday
9 a.m. — Sundays are always a slow day for me. After I wake up and eat breakfast, I spend most of the morning going through my email inboxes that are not related to work and responding to emails that I missed during the week. I also spend some time cleaning my bathroom, vacuuming my room, and organizing my desk in my bedroom.
2 p.m. — I head over to the ranch to get my horse out. It's colder and windy today, which sometimes makes the horses act up, so I decide to lunge her today instead of riding. She's well-behaved, and I let her graze for about half an hour before putting her back in her stall. Someone else I know from the ranch had asked earlier in the day if I could fit a horse for hoof boots, so I do that quickly before I leave.
5 p.m. — On my way home, I stop at Target for shampoo, conditioner, and laundry detergent. These household items have become so expensive, so I don't like buying them until it's absolutely necessary, but I was running very low on all three, so it was time to spend the money. I'm trying to be smart about spending money only on the essentials, so this is one of the few times where I did not leave Target with ten times as much stuff as I intended to buy... $30.29
6 p.m. — Once I get home, I start meal prepping for the week and use up about half of the groceries that I bought earlier in the week. I make breaded chicken, a southwestern quinoa salad dish, a potato and vegetable dish, and egg bites. I planned to make banana bread but my bananas did not ripen quickly enough, so that will have to wait until next week. Meal prepping always takes me several hours, so by the time I am done and clean up the kitchen, it is time to shower, pack my food for work tomorrow, and get into bed.
Daily Total: $30.29
The Breakdown
Conclusion
'I'm surprised that I managed to keep my spending under $1,000, given that I paid vet bills and went shopping for myself (which I almost never do — maybe a few times per year). I'm also surprised at my food and drink spending. I made my semi-weekly grocery run (plus one extra small grocery run to buy a few things that I forgot) and bought food at a restaurant once, yet food and drink still made up nearly 25% of my weekly spending! I am pleased that there were a few days where I spent $0 or only made one purchase, which I think is pretty typical during an average week and also makes me feel confident that I am not spending money every day on impulse purchases or frivolous things. Writing this diary really opened my eyes to just how expensive the Bay Area is (see: food and drink spending) but also actually made me feel somewhat better about my spending habits and financial situation.'
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