A Week in New York City: Spending Habits Revealed

Taylor spends $4,766 weekly in Manhattan, NYC, including $730.68 on rent and $1,243 including non-trivial expenses.

### A Week in My Life: Exploring New York City and Tracking My Expenses
* 🗽 Taylor, a 26-year-old full-time Creator living in Manhattan, New York City, documents her week of **spending and activities** in a vlog-style video.
* 🍽 She visits various East Village spots, such as **Apollo Bagels**, **Cafe Mogador**, and **Book Club**, and enjoys **meals and drinks with friends**.
* 💸 Taylor uses accrual accounting to accurately track her expenses at the point of consumption, not payment, and shares her total weekly expenses of **$4,766, excluding rent**.
* 💰 After factoring in her monthly rent of **$3,175** and other regular expenses, she estimates her weekly spending to be around **$1,243**.
* 🏠 Taylor reflects on her frugal upbringing, learning to balance **enjoying life's little pleasures** and **larger expenses** while still living **below her means**.
* 💻 She also introduces a website builder that uses AI tools to help beginners **create websites, online stores, and portfolios** without coding skills.
* 📈 The video concludes with Taylor encouraging viewers to **subscribe to her channel, sign up for her email newsletter**, and **thanking them for watching**.

[Music] Good morning, beautiful day. Tomkin Square Park. We are in East Village. Wow, stunning. Anyways, it is day one, and today's an exciting day because it is a Friday. And so we have some exciting expenses, I would say. But the first place we're going to is a spot that just opened up. Everyone is talking about it. I haven't tried it yet, and you can only hear about a place so many times before you just got to go see for yourself, you know, laid Under The Willow Tree the last weekend of Summer, the like everyone else in New York City. I am, yeah, I'm doing a little Vlog. You want to say hi? Yay, okay, here we are, Apollo Bagels. First time, everyone is talking about it. Can I do a bagel with cream cheese and a bagel with butter and jam, please? I will also do an iced coffee, please. Yes, thank you so much. I like you guys already. YouTube, right? Can we subscribe? I would be honored. Taylor Bell, first and last. L like ring a dingding.

exactly bigel by Bagel by what's your name John John Bagel John Bagel John Bagel John that'll be easy to remember that's my brother dad grandfather thank you so much WoW a I just made my morning he gave me a 50% discount which was so so nice and unnecessary but I'll take it Bagel secured but first while we're walking to our eating destination a little context on me to preempt my upcoming week of spending hi I'm Taylor I am 26 years old I live in Manhattan New York City which is the most expensive burrow and the most expensive city in the United States and what do I do for work to pay for my lavish lifestyle it's not that lavish I make videos what you're watching right now full-time now but I did this at the same time as management consulting for 3 years after graduating from college old news if you've been here before but that is some important context the whole dual jobs thing as far as my spending goes

so all right moment of truth let's start with I want something sweet. I'm going to start with the Jelly Bagel. o ooh ooh. I mean it's good obviously bread and jelly can't really go wrong. It's a little more toasted than my preference but tastes great. The real test of if a bagel's good very good. I literally feel like I'm cheating on Topton Square Bagel right now. Anyway with that very very kind 50% discount plus the tip that I added on top of that these two bagels and ice coffee came out to this. Hey guys here we are at s'more another East Village spot for dinner. I got speed people I'm trying to do fewer obnoxious laughs. I do it a lot and I have to edit it out. It's kind of a pain so no laughing no. [Music] [Music] smiling what else anything else oh I guess I should say where we are. We are at Cafe Mador in St Mark's Place in this Village.

Fage spots. Super super yummy. Would highly recommend if you're coming to New York. Also, famous people come here a lot. It's like a lowkey SC spot, even though it's like pretty affordable and just yummy. We're talking a-listers. Recent sightings by my very close friends at Cafe Mogador include Kieran Culan, Zoe Kravitz last week, just as stunning in person apparently, and Ryan Reynolds and Louis Hamilton together. So yeah, pour'n my tea. They brought me a little Erin Meer flask. Hello Taylor, you idiot, that's obviously a Florence flask. That was fun. We're having fun. English breakfast and show the coffee. I already got a C. Food came. Look, a holidays of sorts with some bacon, potatoes, side salad. My anonymous friend behind the camera got an eggplant dish here and some peas and some americ anyway. Grand total, love sup. Turtle here we are at book club, which is a book club. This is a bookstore, coffee, tea during day, and a little work. I'm going to do some poter time turns wine.

bar and beer and beverages at night. It's a really fun spot. Also in Eastville. I don't know if it's an East Ville. It's classic. I feel like it's kind of become that way. Coffee. My Anonymous friend actually purchased it for me, but I'm consuming it, and so it's going in the video. But yeah, here doing a little bit of work, hanging out, Saturday Vibes. Anything else? All right, guys. It has been 2 years since I filmed what I spend in a week. A lot can change in 2 years. Actually, though, my spending definitely has changed quite a bit. I undoubtedly spend more now, which we'll talk about more at the end when I add everything up. But one thing that has not changed since my first installment of this video was my desire to take it way too seriously. So once again, we are going to calculate all the expenses in this video using a cruel basis accounting, which really just means that we're going to recognize all of the expenses at the point of consumption, not payment. But why, Taylor? That makes things

so much harder. Here's why. Let's say I buy a bag of coffee beans for $20. But that bag of beans lasts me a full month. It gives a way more accurate representation of what I spend on average every single day. To count each individual cup of coffee that I consume that week from that bag of beans. And I'm not buying a bag of beans every single day. If I was, that'd be another problem like hoarding or some mental condition. Okay, ground rules established. AC cool. What's up, guys? Come on in here. We are in uh Noita part of Manhattan, New York City. And this is Elizabeth Street Garden. It's actually one of my favorite places in the city. It's really cool. It's kind of like Cemetery Vibes where you have like lots of little options on places to sit. Would recommend stopping here if you come to the city. So this is what I spent in a week. So we wanted a little sweet treat or a little something hot to hold. Got myself a hot tea. It's 3.25

[Music] Hi, do you want to say hi in it? No, I have camera shot content day. You seem good. Here we are in New York City at the chai spot, so come take a look. Well, first of all, what I got. I got this ice chai and this card I'm picking, but here's what's cool about this place. Take a cander. [Music] Pretty neat. You take a seat with your friends, you hang out, you talk shop, right? Yeah, pretty cool. Anyway, my first time here. I've heard about it before though. It doesn't smell like feet. I kind of thought it would. Anyway, this costs this much, signing off. Hung out with friends at the chai spot for a couple of hours. Great rainy day spot. Then ued up to the West Village to catch up with a former cooworker slri of mine over a couple of glasses of wine at one of my favorite wine [Music] bars. And later at night, pole via Uber eat. Sometimes you just, you just got to do it, and I just kept pushing dinner off. No regrets. This

is going to hit the spot. I can tell anyways next day hello happy Sunday. First purchase of today is a hot drip coffee that I put in my to-go container because this keeps it really really hot, and there is nothing I hate more than lukewarm coffee. It's got to be hot or it's got to be iced. I can drink lukewarm tea, I cannot drink lukewarm coffee. Anyway, it's a Sunday so I'm actually doing a bit of work because I have a very very busy 2 weeks of video stuff coming up, and so I need to get ahead. That's name of the game. I don't mind working on Sundays if that's what I need to do. I think it's kind of fun. Hi, can I create my own sandwich, please? All right, taking a break from editing to do lunch. This sandwich costs $14.14, which is on the higher end for a sandwich, but it is so so good. I've had it at that place before. Anyways, today visiting a friend in Fort Greene. I just

came early to do some work, and guys, this is the quintessential New York City Brownstone neighborhood. Just absolutely stunning. I would love to live in one like this one day, although I do worry about natural light because it's kind of like a long bowling alley, and you don't get windows on the sides of your house 'cause they're two houses. I wonder if it gets a little dark. Anyways, this is like half Vlog, half what I spend in a week, but I think that's more fun, right? Fort Green Park, Brooklyn. Taylor sandwich. [Music] Okay, and it's so filling. Did I [Music] mention, all right, already ate most of it, but chicken CH Masala, little Indian dinner. Yummy way to end out a good Sunday night. And back home, end of the weekend. As you guys can probably tell, I really enjoy packing them pretty full, but it can make for some expensive days, especially with the food and drinks that aren't for pure sustenance and more so a means to like go out and meet your.

friends and hang out for a couple hours. It can really add up. The weekdays though, you will see are usually a bit slower. Although my days really do vary day to day since my career shift. What career shift? Oh, I'm a full-time Creator now. Oh yeah, I knew that. You've mentioned it in like 37 videos already. Yeah, well, to be a full-time Creator entrepreneur, I assume it's pretty important to have a strong online brand, right? Yeah, absolutely. My name and my identity is my brand, and so having a really strong online presence is definitely super important. Well, do you know about hosting your website builder? No, I don't. What does it do? So, it helps website beginners to create a business site, portfolio, or online store with the help of AI. Oh wow, what do the AI tools help with? So, it can help you generate a unique website in just a few minutes. It can also help compose SEO-friendly text, create high-quality logos, and helps predict visitor behavior, tons of things. Oh, that's amazing. Do I have to know how to code though? No coding skills.

or technical expertise required, which I really, really appreciate. Also, when it comes to e-commerce, you can sell online without additional transaction fees and optimize campaigns with insights from the built-in marketing integrations like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and more. Wow, well, I'll have to give it a try. You should. I would recommend the Business Plan because it gives you access to features like the AI tools and e-commerce features that you wouldn't get if you just went with a Premium. Sounds good, and you can get 10% off if you click the link in my description and use my code Taylor10 at checkout. Will do, thank you, Taylor. You are very welcome. Now on to the next [Music] day. All right, here at La Cabra, I feel like every place I've been going is like a famous East Village spot, but this one actually is. It's supposed to be some of the best coffee in New York City, and I can't believe I haven't had it yet. Anyway, got a filter coffee. Still too hot. Expensive, but it's a pour-over, and it's

kind of a trendy place, so it is what it is. Moment of truth, it's good. Okay, what do I really think? 'Cause I was sitting down there, there were a couple women sitting right next to me, so I was talking in hush tones. Anyways, walking down 10th Street, and here are my thoughts for reals. It's good, don't get me wrong. Do I like it a lot more than the hot smooth Americanos that I make myself in my kitchen? Not necessarily. [Music] [Music] Taada! All right, many, many hours later. I've been working all day. I had a couple snacks midday. I had a banana from Trader Joe's, which I know is 23 cents. And then I had some leftovers that I bought last week, so that's 0. But about to go spend some money on, you'll see, you'll see. All right, just evik parked it. I have Lyft Pink, which is the subscription you pay every single year to make it much, much cheaper. And I ebike like everywhere, so it's totally worth

it so my workout classes are definitely one of my splurges. These puppies are not cheap, but it is something that I'm so, so happy to pay for because it keeps me in a good workout routine that I actually look forward to. Even still, I try to get them as cheap as possible, so I use class pass, which actually makes them about 35% cheaper. If you're interested, my class pass referral link is in the description. We both get credits, but not sponsored whatsoever, genuinely just a great hack to get workout classes a bit cheaper. Shower complete, pimple patch on, and had this waiting for me when I got home: Cava via Uber Eats, a beautiful, beautiful thing. Good morning, nice sunny day. Wow, wow, wow, the morning light that comes in this room is exquisite. Anyways, first purchase, consumption of the day: Americano, yum. All right, I've been doing some work, admin stuff this morning, making a little something something before I head out to the coffee shop to do the bulk of my work today. All Trader Joe's things, of course, and Assemble.

[Music] All right, I came back home to make a late lunch. Honestly, I don't normally cook quite this much, but I'm trying to get rid of all the meat and things that I have in the fridge before I go away for the weekend for Memorial Day. Chicken Pharaoh pesto salad. It's much bigger in real life. It's like here's my hand for yeah there you go you can tell there huh. I need to paint my nails jeez. Pretty unexciting day in terms of purchases but made myself another yogurt bowl with a bunch of fruit. There's honey drizzled on there. Honestly, this is more like a dessert. Yeah, Trader Joe's once again. I'm clearing out my fridge. Normally I actually eat out more but costs about this much makes me realize how much money I save with uh grocery shopping. All right, I cannot sleep and I've just been laying here with like an empty belly which makes sense. I didn't eat all that much today so I went downstairs to the kitchen and I you not I just

ate a chicken breast. Just one singular chicken breast, one of the ones that I cooked earlier, and mixed it with some p so it's been marinating all day. It was really good, I'm not going to lie, and another one of these Trader Joe's yogurts. This is my third one of the day, big yogurt day. Cuddle left this out of the video, but no, I'm committed. Good morning, here I am in Tomkin Square Park. Just thought I'd walk here before starting my workday today, and wow. The seasons come and go so quickly. Like just last week, this was a whole bed of gorgeous purple flowers. I definitely took a video. I'll insert it here. And also the, it's so funny, the unemployed friend on a Tuesday, you know that meme. It's where like, it's a random Tuesday afternoon, but a ton of people are out and about, like sunbathing or whatever. And whenever I see that, I look at them and I'm like, I know what I'm doing, but what are you doing? Anyway, cost

of enjoying some beautiful New York City. [Music] Nature can I do this, please? Thank you. Hi, yeah, um, for the refillable drip, can I do ice coffee, please? Yeah, thank you. All right, just worked there for 4 hours, need a little change of scenery. But first, these caterpillars been looking a little shaggy. So, all right, got the eyebrows threaded and the upper lip hurt like a. It really hurts every single time, but the price of beauty cleans it up for upper lip eyebrows and tip. Not bad. Hello, came home to work, got really hungry, ordered Cavo. Let's go. I love Cavo so much. Uber Eats it though, so I can work anyway. Obviously it's a bit more expensive to have it delivered than to go get it. And with delivery and all that good stuff, it is a hefty meal though. Sometimes I actually eat it in two sittings, but I'm very hungry. I'm going to finish this midnight snack before sleep. Wow, what a surprise. Trader Jo's yogurt with some. [Music]

granola good morning day seven gloomy gross day in New York I will anyway I love Thursdays. It feels like the start to the weekend for me where still very much work a full day but then have a slightly more fun dinner that night or you know it's just a fun little anticipatory day leading into the weekend. So all right came back home to finish work. You'll never guess what I'm about to make. Absolutely gorgeous. Look at that. Look at that indulgent. It is as good I swear as like whatever I get out about. Okay you might not have been able to tell in this video but this was actually a grind week of work editing videos pretty much all day long hence the lack of seeing friends during the week so when I finally got to see someone on this night I naturally forgot to film until the very end so please Envision a delicious bowl of ramen here at my favorite Ramen spot in the city audo hello. I think it's only fitting at the final purchase in this whole entire.

video. It's my favorite ice cream in the entire world: Van Leeuwen Brown Sugar Cookie Dough Brownies. That's exactly what it sounds like. It's delicious. What you get. Oh, and this was, it's not cheap, it's expensive, but it's so good. Can you introduce me to this ice cream six months ago now, something like that? Been a big fan ever since. Oh, yeah. I guess final thought. It's a really cute little date spot as well. We're on 7th Street in Second Avenue in East Village. All right. All we have left to do is add it up and then we'll go over my thoughts on all this. So everything you saw in this video comes out to a grand total of $4,766. But of course, this is not even counting my largest expense of all, which is rent. So I spend $3,175 per month, which on a weekly basis comes out to $730.68. Not cheap. Plus utilities, which definitely vary month to month, but I looked through my recent bills and on

average it comes out to about $10 per week, and internet, which is $7.67 per week, plus my subscriptions like YouTube premium, and my annual AMX fee. All of that comes out to about $24.21 per week. And technically, under accrual accounting, you would also count the depreciation on all of the stuff I buy, from the clothes on my body to the makeup that I'm wearing. But that is a level of granularity that interests me not. So, after adding these non-trivial expenses as well, I spend about $1,243 per week. And if we're being realistic, on average, it's definitely a bit more than this if we start counting things like travel and clothes in the books that I buy over the course of the year. So what are my thoughts, and am I surprised by this amount? Because like I said at the beginning of this video, I definitely spend a lot more now than I used to. I'm not going to lie, it is actually a bit higher than I expected. But I have kind of said this before.

I'll say it again because I think it's important, and it might help some of you guys watching. I was raised with a very frugal mindset, which I still largely carry with me today and always will, even if it didn't seem like it in this video. However, over the last couple of years, I have learned that letting myself spend a bit more on the little things that I enjoy, and the medium things like going out for coffee or trying a new restaurant with a friend, or taking an Uber for convenience because it's raining, or even tackling the biggest expenses, spending a lot more on rent - 70% more, in fact, than when I first moved to New York to live in a walkable neighborhood that I really, really love - as long as I'm not spending frivolously, and I'm still living well below my means. Letting go of that guilt that I used to feel for spending money on things like this and just allowing myself to enjoy them has been very, very freeing. Of course, there's a balance to strike even

some of the things in this video, I was like, oh, anyways, guys, this video took me a long time to make so if you enjoyed it at all, I would really, really appreciate it if you subscribed and hit the thumbs up. It's totally free. And if you're feeling frisky, might as well sign up for my email newsletter while you're at it. Link is in the description. And until next time, turtle out. Thank you. You're like John, I'll actually grab my camera because Tompkin Square Park is not my favorite place to leave my camera just out. [Music] About get it. [Music]

What I Spend In a Week as a 26 Year Old in NYC

NYC-based Californian documenting my 20s 🤠

Instagram: @Taykbell
TikTok: Taylorbell97

Taylor Bell

Taylor explores new food spots in East Village, trying out Apollo Bagels and Cafe Mogador.

She enjoys a 50% discount at Apollo Bagels, then indulges in a meal at Cafe Mogador, known for its celebrity sightings.

Taylor wraps up her day at Book Club, a bookstore where she plans to spend some quiet time.

The speaker's spending habits have increased over the past two years, and they take a serious approach to calculating their expenses.

They visit various spots in New York City, such as a chai place and a wine bar in the West Village, spending on beverages and food.

14 sandwich and enjoys a hot drip coffee while working on a busy Sunday.

A Day in the Life of a Full-time Creator in New York City

A full-time creator in New York City enjoys expensive and trendy food spots, which can add up to costly days.

The creator emphasizes the importance of a strong online presence and recommends a website builder with AI tools for beginners, offering a discount on the Business Plan.

The day-to-day life includes working, snacking, and making use of a Lyft Pink subscription for affordable transportation.

A fitness enthusiast uses Class Pass to save 35% on workout classes.

They enjoy a day of home-cooked meals using Trader Joe's ingredients to save money.

The day ends with a late-night snack of chicken breast and yogurt, reflecting on the cost-effectiveness of grocery shopping.

A week in the life of a New Yorker, balancing work and enjoying the city's culinary delights, from getting beauty treatments to indulging in expensive meals.

The individual showcases their love for Cavo, expensive but beloved ice cream, and a favorite ramen spot, spending a total of $4,766 in the week, excluding rent.

The video offers a glimpse into the high cost of living in New York City, with the individual's monthly rent alone totaling $3,175.

Personal Spending Habits and Mindset Transformation

The speaker's weekly expenses include groceries, internet, subscriptions, and depreciation, totaling over $1,200.

Despite a frugal upbringing, they have learned to enjoy spending more on things they love, like rent and going out, while still living below their means.

This transformation has brought them a sense of freedom and balance in their spending habits.