Maybe there’s a tradeoff that needs to be considered here. By being frugal in your 20s how many good moments and memories would you erase from your life? Maybe starting your “responsible” life a little later it will not be a bad proposition for some.
If you make $100k and take home, let’s say $72k, which is $6k/mo, 15% is $900. By that same math, the $80k millenial could spend $720 (which is what she did spend). Both of those numbers sound high relative to the salary, but it also depends on whether it’s a loan (and for what term) or a lease. For a lease, you probably want to be around 7.5% or under.
Where’s you get 7.5% from? It all depends on each individual’s financial circumstances.
Within that story there’s a link to another one that breaks down the rest of her spending.
She’s also paying $550 a year for an American Express Platinum card.
… and the $367/month she’s spending on insurance includes life insurance for her and her mother.
I make over $300k annually with no kids and still cannot stomach a greater than $400 payment a month. In fact, I am looking to buy a ~$20k CPO. I can’t imagine spending that much on a car when making less than six figures.
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Different priorities.
You allocate the pie differently.
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Impressed she averages $1.60 per meal all month, including going out.
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Can’t comment for her, but a lot of people in the demographic we share skip meals, out of time, lack of energy/will to cook, or just in the habit of not eating breakfast. Could also be getting corporate food as a perk for meals.
Also looks like she’s sharing rent with a partner, food expense maybe shared as well…
How many Monsters do you drink each day and what is the average cost per month?
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Lol, I did say ‘probably’. it’s not a hard and fast rule, but given the array of expenses one has, along with that there should be some money left over to save, I backed into 7.5% as a reasonable upper limit. It’s just a ballpark rule of thumb for middle 80% who’s looking for a sense for what’s reasonable. Of course each individuals financial circumstances play into it. If you inherited $10M from your rich grandparents, you can probably be at 100% and not bat an eye. If you have crushing student loan debts plus are trying to help financially support your parents or have kids, it’s going to likely be a heck of a lot lower than 7.5%.
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At my dads and my wallets behest, I’m transitioning to coffee, my previous consumption over quarantine was averaged to 1.3 per day in bulk at 3.99 per 4 cans, with 4 cans free x 8, for a unit cost of 32 for 64 cans. So about $49 per month (normal price), my price was like 25, my defense is it’s cheaper than vaping, at around 5-12 per Juul pod black market rate, and 12 pods a month it can be from 60-144, some may say, holy shit that’s high consumption! Yeah, tell me about it, my friends and classmates are nicotine addicts. I choose caffeine, at least it doesn’t give me cancer 
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Coffee is a different story, dad pays for it, I just boil water using our induction pad for only water, and then add aldi instant coffee, and sometimes Italian sweet cream creamer. I drink less, on average 3/4 days I drink a mug, so yeah, healthier habits! 
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$50/month isn’t nearly as bad as what I was expecting
That was like for a month, coffee is what I drink now. Alongside tea, but my dad is such a tea snob, we drink some black tea he smuggled from a plantation he insisted on visiting himself in Taiwan.
My actual cost was lower, I calculated market rate from amazon or giant.
He insists on either using Aldi bagged tea (it’s not bad), or a clay pot brewed loose leaf. Good stuff either way.
So many people feel this way about cars and other people love cars and don’t spend as much on vacation etc.
Yep. Clearly not a car gal.
It is all about Bang. Monster is 10 years ago old man.
Bang is great, my friend Amelia loves the stuff (I love cotton candy), but classic Monster is my favorite though, you can’t replace that gasoline flavor.
You can
W gasoline
Much cheaper by the gallon
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That is my favorite too and the grocery store always sells out of them. Blue Razz is a distant second for me and Reign sucks compared to Bang. I lived off Monster (Import was my favorite) and Red Bull in high school and college, but Bang is a lot better IMO.