Welcome back to Racket’s Money Journal series, where you can snoop on the finances of an anonymous Twin Cities neighbor. Interested in submitting your own? Email jay@racketmn.com for instructions on over-sharing the monetary details of your life! (And gang? Let's keep the very popular series going following a long period of dormancy.) H/T to Refinery29 for pioneering a tremendous concept that we’re excited to localize.
Personal Information
Job: Unemployed (formerly—and hopefully will be again soon—an editorial type)
Age: 32
Neighborhood: West Maka Ska, Minneapolis
Education: Master’s degree
Salary: I was making around $50,000 at my job before getting laid off in May. I now get $482 a week in unemployment.
Partner’s salary: N/A
Dependents: N/A
Estimated net worth: I don’t know if I’m really in a position to be able to answer that one right now.
Debt
I am extremely fortunate in that I have no debt. I went to a junior college and then transferred to a four-year for my associate and bachelor’s degrees, and commuted from my parents’ home for both. My parents gave me a few thousand for school, and I began working part-time while finishing up my bachelor’s degree. I lived with my parents until the age of 27 while I tried to get my life together, so I was able to save up a good chunk of change during that time. I pulled from that for my master’s degree from a school that was one of the most budget-friendly options I could find (and also the only one that accepted me). I have enough savings to last me over a year if I need it, and I recognize what an immense privilege that is, especially at this dicey time in my life.
Assets
Savings/checking: Around $60,000.
Retirement accounts: $17,000 from my last job’s 401(k). No additional money going into that at this time, obviously. Plus something like $2,000 from a pension at a job I had in my early 20s that I should probably figure out how to withdraw and put somewhere else.
Other: Not much! Kelley Blue Book tells me my car is worth $6,600 (side note: very annoying to try to get them to give you a number) and that’s easily the most valuable thing I own. Computer’s probably worth a few hundred. My dad is a woodworker and he made me a gorgeous bookshelf out of walnut that I imagine is somewhat valuable but I have no clue how much it would be worth.
Monthly Income
Paycheck amount: $1,928 from unemployment
Monthly Expenses
Rent: $1,147
Garage fee: $125
Utilities:
- Electric: Varies, usually in the $20–$30 range except when it’s super hot and humid and I have to run my dehumidifier so my apartment doesn’t get moldy.
- Gas, sewer, trash, water: Varies, usually in the $30-$40 range
- Phone: $20 (still on parents’ plan)
- Internet: $95.36
Insurances:
- Health: $0. The only good part about being unemployed is I get the free state insurance and I’m no longer paying through the nose for shitty insurance from my employer 🙃 Oh, and sleeping in. That’s nice.
- Dental/vision: N/A with the whole unemployed thing
- Car: $196.21 biannually
- Renter’s: $65 annually
- Car registration: $60.25 annually
Retirement: N/A anymore
Gas: Maybe $50-$60? I don’t drive much so I usually only fill up once a month.
Groceries: $200
Subscriptions:
- Netflix: $9.76
- Hulu: $2.16. I got my master’s three years ago and am still on the student plan; don’t tell them.
- Patreon: $3.26. I have so many more I’d love to contribute to someday.
- Apple iCloud: $0.99
- The New Yorker (digital only): $120 annually/$10 monthly
- Poets & Writers Magazine: $29.95 for two-year subscription/$1.25 monthly
- Racket: $50 annually/$4.17 monthly (Editor's note: Hell yeah!)
- Norton antivirus: $130.23 annually/$10.85 monthly. Computer people: Do I need this? It seems like Windows Defender is pretty much all one needs these days and I’d love not to spend this much every year, especially because it’s constantly pestering me to give them even more money for higher tiers, but I have Much Fear about computer viruses.
Money Talk Q&A
Did your family talk about money growing up?
Not really. I knew we were doing fine because my mom stayed at home with my sister and me, and we went on annual vacations while I was still young. We moved to a bigger home when I was 9 or 10. My mom grew up very poor so financial stability has always been a big thing for her, and she’s very budget-conscious. She has always managed the money in my parents’ relationship. I never went in need of food or clothing or any necessaries, and we regularly got to spend some fun money. Pretty solidly upper-middle class. I thought Outback Steakhouse was a fancy dinner place.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Not until 2008. I was in high school and the company my dad worked for was bought by another company that gave him a huge cut in pay (to this day I don’t know how much). I learned later that my parents were concerned we would have to move to a smaller house, but they kept that from me. We cut back a little on unnecessary spending, but I really only felt it in that I had to stop taking drum lessons. My parents made sure I didn’t have to shoulder that anxiety.
At what age did you become financially independent?
Twenty-seven. That’s when I finally moved out of my parents’ house and got my first apartment. I could have left sooner, but it was a long process to figure out where to go (I grew up in the North Bay of California) and I’d hoped to have a job lined up before spreading my wings, but it became clear that I’d need to be in Minneapolis before I could get a job in Minneapolis. Plus the pandemic held everything up (I moved in October 2020). And also changing career tracks a few times stalled me in my early/mid 20s.
How did you learn how to budget your life?
I kind of figured it out as I went along. As mentioned above, my mom is an extremely frugal person and I remember her talking about budgeting when I was a teenager, and I probably picked up some sort of maladaptive education as part of the ambiance of growing up in that household. This is to say that it took me many years to get over a horrible sense of guilt for making frivolous purchases. Even now, I still sometimes feel the need to justify myself for making “irresponsible” choices—i.e. anything that brings joy. It’s gotten better in the years I’ve been on my own, but it’s also kind of helpful in this time when I really shouldn’t be spending much outside of necessities.
Have you ever received inherited income, major financial gifts, or large insurance payouts?
My first car was passed down to me by my dad when I got my license at 18, and I drove it until just a few months ago. He bought a new car and sold me his old one for however much money he got selling my first car. It was a 1999 Camry and cost so much every time I took it in for a service so, while I did love that car, I’m very glad to have something from this century.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes, absolutely. Even when I had a job, the pay was crap. Over half of my income went to rent in my studio apartment. I know I could relocate to a cheaper neighborhood, but I love where I live and don’t want the emotional impact of moving as an indicator of my failure (sounds like a thing to discuss with my therapist). I’m cutting way down on unnecessary spending now that I’ve been laid off, but I still allow myself a coffee or a concert ticket because damn I’ve got to be able to enjoy life at least a little even though I’ve committed the unforgiveable sin of being expendable to a company.
I genuinely don’t know how long I’m going to be unemployed. I’ve been applying to lots of jobs, obviously, but so far I can’t even get an interview. The market is horrible and AI is making everything worse. My partner and I will be moving in together in a few months and I want to be able to contribute my fair share to our expenses, but I don’t know when that will be feasible. My partner is extremely understanding and has a job that pays pretty decently, so we’ll be OK, but I fear becoming a burden. If this goes much longer I’ll apply for a job at a coffee shop or grocery store or whatever, if only to have something to do so I don’t feel so guilty. (My therapist and I have been talking a lot about this, and while I agree that my self-worth shouldn’t be attached to my income, the capitalist hellscape I live in dictates otherwise.)
How much do you think a person or household needs to earn to live comfortably in the Twin Cities?
Definitely more than I’ve ever made. I’d say $70,000 as a starting point, for a single person living alone. Obviously everyone is going to have a different threshold for what constitutes “comfortable” but I’m still at the point where buying the slightly nicer toilet paper is a luxury.
Money Journal
Day 1
- 3:30 p.m.: $5 for a public ice skating session. Ice skating is my primary form of exercise and I try to go at least twice a week.
- 8:30 p.m.: $26.31 at Walgreens. I fucking hate Walgreens but I’m still boycotting Target and haven’t found a cheaper option for toiletries/cleaning supplies/etc. I get what I can at Trader Joe’s, but they don’t have everything.
- 8:45 p.m.: $50.42 at Trader Joe’s.
Day 2
- 1:00 p.m.: $0.99 for Apple iCloud monthly charge. I could probably find an alternate way of storing photos and such but can’t really be bothered because it’s so cheap for like 50 gigabytes.
Day 3
- $0
Day 4
- 2:27 p.m.: $20.59 for a concert ticket
Day 5
- 11:54 a.m.: $15.37 coffee and a pastry
- 1:50 p.m.: $5.15 ice skating session
- 4:41 p.m.: $6 laundry (someday I’ll have in-unit laundry)
Day 6
- $0
Day 7
- 12:22 a.m.: $2.16 Hulu subscription
- 10:31 a.m.: $14.33 coffee and a pastry
- 2:36 p.m.: $49.42 Xcel Energy (I’ve had to run my dehumidifier a bunch these last few months and, boy, that thing uses a lot of energy)
- 4:45 p.m.: $5 ice skating
- 7:21 p.m.: $3.26 Patreon subscription
