My boyfriend and I make $55,000 in one of the most expensive cities in the US - here's how we live and what we spend money on

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My boyfriend and I make $55,000 in one of the most expensive cities in the US - here's how we live and what we spend money on

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Sarah Wells

The author, Sarah Wells, and her boyfriend.

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  • My boyfriend and I share a one-bedroom apartment in Boston, one of the most expensive cities for renting in the United States.
  • Together we make $55,000 a year - enough for rent, utilities, groceries, and other expenses.
  • Take a look at how we live and what we spend money on each month.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Seeking financial stability as an early twenty-something is no easy task.

For my boyfriend and me, it's only made harder by the fact that we have no set yearly salary or office to go to. We're both a year out of grad school and have the student loans to prove it. Now we have embarked on the exhilarating, albeit terrifying, career path of professional freelancing: He as a filmmaker and I as a journalist.

While balancing record paydays with dry, gig-free months has certainly given us growing pains, it has also helped us learn how to create a budget to fit around our irregular schedules.

Together, we manage to live off $55,000 in our Boston apartment - one of the most expensive cities in the United States.

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Read on to take a look into our finances and see what we spend money on each month.

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First, take a look at our monthly expenses, including our rent, utility bills, and grocery expenses.

First, take a look at our monthly expenses, including our rent, utility bills, and grocery expenses.

Rent: $1,750 for a one-bedroom apartment with in-building laundry and tenant parking lot

Utilities: $90 for WiFi (we opted for the faster speed as we often both work from home) and $40 for electricity

Gym: $27.80 each

Travel savings: $25 each (set to automatically withdraw from our accounts so we barely have to think about it)

Parking/transit: (Him) $150 for parking, (me) $90 for a transit card

Car Insurance: (Him) $200, (me) $0

Groceries: About $400 per month, or roughly $100 a week — we rarely eat out so our local Trader Joe's gets a big chunk of our earnings instead

Health insurance: (Me) $0 because I'm on a family plan, (him) $90

Student loans: (Me) $360, (him) $0

Phone: $40 each

Subscription services: (Him) $5 for Spotify and Hulu, (us) $15 for Netflix

Donations: (Me) $10 to the American Civil Liberties Union

Importantly, we make coffee at home instead of spending $5 a day at a coffee shop.

Importantly, we make coffee at home instead of spending $5 a day at a coffee shop.

Our schedules rarely look the same week to week (a blessing and a curse) but if we're both working from home — me either pitching, writing, or revising, and him searching for gigs or editing — we try to keep as closely as we can to "normal" 9-to-5 hours. Usually this means waking up around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. and groggily heading to our kitchen.

Our kitchen is by no means spacious, but has surprisingly generous counter space, and just enough room for a two-person dining table (and no more — we've tried). In what is now our well-oiled morning routine, we take turns making coffee (a process that involves boiling the kettle, grinding beans, and preparing the French press) and starting breakfast (usually cutting fruit or starting oatmeal).

I've also been working to perfect my imitation cafe latte, complete with "steamed" milk. To make it, I shake about an inch of ultra-pasteurized milk in a Mason jar until bubbles have doubled their original size, and then microwave it for 30 seconds to stabilize them. What would easily cost me $4 to $5 at a coffee shop is $0 at home.

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We pay a little less than $30 each for our gym memberships.

We pay a little less than $30 each for our gym memberships.

We usually spend the first few hours of the morning answering emails and doing work from our "home office" (a.k.a. our living room) before heading out just before lunch to the gym. Our gym is only a five-minute drive from home and can sometimes be the one escape I get from our apartment and my inbox each day.

About an hour later, we finish our workout, and on Mondays we head out to grab our groceries for the week. With parking validated from our gym we usually pay $1 to $2 on our way out, depending on how long we stayed.

We spend about $100 a week on groceries — a big expense, but we do eat almost all of our meals at home.

We spend about $100 a week on groceries — a big expense, but we do eat almost all of our meals at home.

Parking at our local Trader Joe's is free. We make our way through the crowded aisles, restocking lunch and breakfast essentials like avocados and yogurt and grabbing ingredients for that week's dinner menu. We plan ahead about five to six days, leaving wiggle room for easy, quick dinners or if we decide one night to eat out instead.

On average our grocery trips set us back about $100, and we take turns paying.

Back home, we make lunch (though admittedly we sometimes give in and buy pre-made lunches from Trader Joe's for $8 extra) and continue working until around 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. Then, we wrap up for the night, make dinner, and settle into our latest show.

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I buy a monthly transit card for $90, while my boyfriend spends $150 a month on parking.

I buy a monthly transit card for $90, while my boyfriend spends $150 a month on parking.

While I work from home more often than not these days, my part-time job as a writing tutor during the academic year does take me to an office three or four times a week.

I have a monthly transit card and take the train both to and from the office, stopping for a coffee about every other Friday if I'm early (approximately $4 including tip.) Otherwise, I pack snacks and lunch from home and drink free coffee from the communal kitchen.

My out-of-the-house workdays last a reasonable five to eight hours, but when my boyfriend heads to set, he can be gone for at least 12 hours at a time. Luckily the sets he works on often cater lunches or dinners, but when they don't, he spends $10 grabbing something quick nearby — usually a rice bowl and drink.

On the weekend we spend about $30 on a night at the movies, and $30 more if we decide to eat out.

On the weekend we spend about $30 on a night at the movies, and $30 more if we decide to eat out.

Our Friday night entertainment of choice is popcorn and a movie at our local theater.

We go about two times a month, depending on what's playing, and usually spend $30 for two tickets. My boyfriend buys the tickets and I buy our popcorn and drink — totaling around $10 to $15 each.

We sometimes pair the movie with dinner (setting us back another $30), but usually opt to make dinner at home instead, paired with mixed drinks from our at-home bar cart (free, of course.)

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Ordering food can get pricey, which is why we try to save some for leftovers the next morning.

Ordering food can get pricey, which is why we try to save some for leftovers the next morning.

If we've decided to skip out on dinner after our movie, we might order in the next night instead. During our marathon of "Stranger Things" this past weekend, we spent $46 (including tip) on Indian take-out. We split a mango lassi and garlic naan in addition to our individual entrees — part of which doubled for breakfast the next morning.

That saves money for other activities like cherry and strawberry picking at a local farm.

That saves money for other activities like cherry and strawberry picking at a local farm.

As we do end up spending so much of our work week at home, we try to take advantage of the weekend to see friends and get out of the city.

This past weekend, we jumped on the slightly cooler weather and met up with our friends to pick cherries and strawberries at a nearby farm. The price of admission was $7 each but was deducted from the price of our fruit at the end, totaling $30 for nearly four pounds of fruit and entrance to the fields. We spent another $5 at the farm store buying rhubarb, lemonade, and a cider donut to celebrate our spoils.

Do you want to share your lifestyle and spending with Business Insider? Email the freelance editor at mabadi@businessinsider.com.

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