2024 Spending Wrapped

How I spent $19,063.91 this year in NYC

Dec 11, 2024

So far this year, I’ve spent $19,063.91 just on variable spending. I’m sure that by January 1st, that number will be closer to $20,000. This doesn’t include fixed costs like rent, utilities, and subscriptions.

That’s two years of in-state tuition to SUNY Albany, a 2017 Toyota Camry with 40,000 miles on it, or 10,000 bagels from my local bagel shop.

Since I’ve been tracking every penny of how I spent that nearly $20,000, I decided to do a spending wrapped this year:

This year, I felt a mix of anxious, confident, and happy with my spending. Anxious, because I sometimes felt a scarcity mindset around money; confident, because I feel like I’ve gotten better at investing my money; and happy, because I bought a lot of really great things intentionally.

For more context on my spending, if you’re new here—I live in New York City, and despite how easy it is to spend money when I leave the house, I try to spend intentionally.

Favorite way I earned money

At my side job at my local bar, a couple came in on a Sunday before opening and I queued up a few of their favorite love songs before leaving the bar so he could propose to her. It was the sweetest moment (she said yes!), and the guy tipped $80. They’d had their first date at the bar two years before.

A new way I earned money

I started using the Capital One Shopping plug-in and actually cashed out the rewards. I got a $6 pair of Athleta leggings a few weeks ago.

Best things I spent money on

Ticket to a Yankees playoff game ($84.84). This was my first MLB playoff game, and such a fun way to end the season where I really got into going to Yankees games. Even though we lost.
Ticket to Olivia Rodrigo’s concert at Madison Square Garden ($184.30). These tickets sold out so fast last year and I didn’t think I would get to go, until I got a random email in January that a few more tickets opened up. I scooped up two immediately and it was one of my favorite concerts this year.
Saucony sneakers ($200.99). I bought two pairs, both on sale, and these seriously changed the game for me with running this year, making it so much more enjoyable.

Honorable mentions: drinks, dinners, and coffees out with friends (impossible to pick just one time); some of my new favorite clothing items; and the entrance fee for Acadia National Park from this summer.

“On repeat” places I spent the most money

Whole Foods ($1,925.73): groceries
Trader Joes ($1,005.20): groceries
MTA ($1,206.55): subway, bus, and train rides
Target ($589.88): groceries and household items
Ticketmaster ($564.09): concert tickets

This, of course, doesn’t include rent, where I spent more than the total of all my variable spending.

Monthly spending

December 2024 spending is projected based on spending so far this month

I spent the most in January and the least in May.

Craziest money story

This has to be the saga of getting a rent abatement because my building didn’t have cooking gas (yes, no stove or oven) for 15 months. Ten months in, I was finally able to negotiate $100 off my rent each month, plus a $500 one-time abatement. I ended up getting $1,000 back total before the gas was turned back on.

Biggest money lesson of the year

Money comes and goes, but spending money on friends and family is the most important. I am blessed with a group of friends whose love language is gift giving, and next year, I want to be better at reciprocating that.