I love living in New York City because there's so many free, amazing things to do
and just going outside, it's really beautiful.
You meet so many amazing people.
Meet Brittani Cunningham.
She lives in New York City and makes $37,000 a year.
I think I do have a good handle on my finances, but I also know that I can make
more money. I'm hustling and I'm trying to work as hard as I can in my industry.
There's always room for improvement.
There's always room to do better.
Here's how much twenty five-year-old Brittani Cunningham spent in a week.
Hi, my name is Brittani, I'm twenty five -years-old and I live in New York City.
For the past three years I've been working freelance as a production assistant and
it's really great because I can basically book myself on a show and work whenever I
want and for however long I want, but during the pandemic, you know, when there
wasn't anything filming in New York City, I started a side hustle, I started making
candles and I really, really enjoyed it.
So I made it into a full business, and it's really been something that I'm very
passionate about.
Brittani saves nearly half her income by setting strict budgets for herself.
Whenever I get my money from my job, it goes straight to my savings first and then
I take a certain amount and that goes into my checking.
And then I use my credit card for spending, like everyday purchases like a
cup of coffee. Typically when I'm working, I pretty much don't have to pay for any
food during the week, which is like insanely amazing and I'm really lucky to
have that privilege. The only time that I really have to pay for food is on the
weekends when I'm at home and then I usually just buy takeout.
This particular week.
Brittani doesn't have a production assignment, so she'll be buying more food
than she normally would, all while trying to keep her weekly budget below two hundred
dollars.
Here's how much Brittani spent the week of June 21, 2021.
So it's Monday and I woke up and I had three whole orders of candles.
So I'm going to spend some time packing those orders.
I just realized that I'm running very low on bubble wrap and tissue paper, which I
need for the packaging on my candles, so I'm going to go on Amazon and purchase
some. Brittani saves a good amount of money by making her own coffee and
breakfast in the mornings.
I do like to cook my breakfast at, you know, a simple omelet or cereal or
whatever can go a long.
Day 2 is grocery day. I didn't buy too much at the grocery store, it's just typical
stuff like bread, milk, eggs, so it didn't come out to too much.
For lunch. Brittani makes a meal with her purchases.
Every single Wednesday, my church meets up at someone's house and we have a dinner
party, and it's just a really good time for us to talk about where to talk about
the service from the last Sunday, we have dinner together.
We always try to pitch in a little bit something.
So I definitely brought some wine for this
one. On Thursday, Brittani ventured out
of her neighborhood. For the subway, I buy the monthly pass, I think this is a good
way to save money because you're not buying the ride every single time.
One minute away...
Shopping!
I don't really spend a lot of money on, like shopping for clothes, like I'm not a
huge, like fast fashion person, I do like to go thrifting if I need something.
Yes!
I like to buy secondhand things like books, I don't really see the point in buying a 20
dollar book when you could buy a book for two dollars that you know, is just as good.
Brittani ends the night with one of her favorite weekly rituals...
Thai food. So every single week I order from the same Thai restaurant.
I absolutely love the drunken noodles.
It's kind of been my guilty pleasure, so I don't care about splurging a little bit on
that every week. So on Friday, I went to my local
cafe to edit some videos.
There I bought a chai tea latte and a brownie and I spent most of my day just
editing. And then afterwards, me and my roommate went to a roller skating
rink. So we usually like to skate at the park for free.
But this time I wanted a different change of scenery.
So, me and my roommate went over there to skate with the other people and it was
really fun. Go Kensie, aye!
We also got really hungry.
So we stopped at Sticky's, which is my favorite chicken spot in New York, and we
bought some chicken and fries.
And then after we were done skating, we got some munchies and we started a local
bodega and bought some snacks.
Hey, so I am on my way to Hell's Kitchen.
Apparently there's some sort of street fair going on, so I'm on my way to go check
it out. We are searching
for food to eat.
Gyros, Gyros...
We hungry!
We hungry. OK, sweetie.
Thank you. Will be $14 okay?
Finally, Brittani also makes an unexpected purchase that sets her over budget.
OK, so I just found out that Doja Cat will be performing live July 4th weekend in
Coney Island. And I think I might have to go, like I might have to
buy tickets to see Miss.
Girl. Every single Sunday, I go to my church in Manhattan, and I
really love this church because it has really good music, the vibe is really
awesome. Everyone's very friendly and just lively.
I was going to church and I was late, so I had to buy Dunkin Donuts.
These little cost definitely add up, so I definitely need to watch what I'm eating
and what I'm spending on food.
And then after church, it was the Pride Festival.
So there was a bunch of people outside in the streets for Pride, which was really
great to see New York.
There's a lot of free stuff going on as well.
I got free ice cream at one point.
Brittani went over budget by thirty dollars and ten cents, but here's how she thinks
she did. I don't think it was too much considering I usually spend around two
hundred dollars a week.
If I do spend over two hundred dollars or over my budget, I hope that it's towards my
candle business or something more important than just concert tickets.
But I'm going to give myself a little slack.
It's going to be my birthday soon.
It's cancer season so I splurge a little bit more.
With my income, I definitely have to be a lot more self disciplined and be very
cognitive of what I'm doing and how I'm spending my money.
However, I know that one day, you know, with my ambition and with hard work and,
you know, doing my side hustles and everything, I feel like I can definitely
make more money one day.
But until then, I'm going to continue to hustle hard and work my best to get there.