A Week In Morristown, NJ On A $79,000 Salary

Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.

This week: A bartender working in hospitality who makes $79,000 per year and spends some of it on blind boxes.

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This Money Diary was written at the start of 2026. This is a follow-up diary, you can read the previous one here.

Occupation: Bartender
Industry: Hospitality
Age: 29
Location: Morristown, NJ (North Jersey)
Salary: $79,000
Joint Income/Financial Setup:
Assets:
Checking: $3,642
Savings: $10,475
Roth IRA: $40,470
401(k): $8,509.16
Non-Retirement Investment Account: $40,437
Debt: $325.50 (Credit Card Debt); $39,487 (Student Loan Debt)
Paycheck Amount (Weekly): Average $1,500
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing Costs: $921 — I live in a three-bedroom house that I rent with my sister and our roommate. We’re all around the same age.
Internet: $20 (for my third)
Gas and electric: Around $100 (for my third)
Food: $500
Loan Payments: $0 (my student loans are in deferment for the moment)
Car insurance: $0 — my car was totaled in April last year. I decided to keep my insurance money, pay off my credit card debt, forgo getting a car, and start planning to move to Australia.
Other monthly expenses:
Medical, dental & Vision Insurance: $130 (I get this through the state marketplace)
Mobile phone bill: $35.31
Gym: $0 (I canceled my membership since I don’t have a car and can’t get there)
Roth IRA contributions per month: $536
Non-retirement contributions per month: $200
Contract/freelance business expenses: $46
Savings: Around $900 (15% of income per month)
Entertainment & streaming: $0 (I canceled because my roommate has her subscriptions on our living room TV, and I don’t watch on my laptop anymore)
Health & beauty: $50
Credit cards: $125 minimum payments

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, there was an expectation to attend higher education. My mom had an associate’s degree and my dad earned vocational certificates. They wanted all of my siblings and me to get bachelor’s degrees. I earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in Boston. This was paid for with financial aid, grants, and student loans. I soon after earned a Master’s in Business Administration with a focus in marketing, which I paid for with financial aid, student loans, and some of my own money.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?
I remember being really young, before working age, and wanting to buy a T-shirt at Target. I asked my dad if I could get it. He reminded me that I had money from my birthday that I could use to spend on myself. At the time, this money message was an empowering one for me. If I had money, I could use it on whatever I wanted. But I also understand this memory as my parents only being able to cover necessities for the family, and anything extra wouldn’t fit in the bigger money picture. Most of what I learned about money from my parents was observing how they handled money, the way they talked about it, and the way they stressed about it; lessons were never taught through direct conversation. Money was something earned, spent on bills, and saved if you had it to save.

I’ve inferred that we weren’t well off, but we could survive and live a little outside our means. My parents fought and worried about money but there were also gifts at Christmas and birthdays. I picked up the story that you had to be well educated to get a job in something like accounting or finance that offered job security. Otherwise, it seemed, you struggled for money in a bad job with a bad boss. My current financial knowledge has been self-taught within the past few years by listening to podcasts, reading books, and through trial and error. It can be terrifying to save, invest, and put money away when you feel you aren’t even making much; however, even the smallest amounts add up to be a lot. Money decisions become more comfortable to make. I have a loose budget. I allocate specific percentages of my income by each paycheck. My income is variable and these percentages are helpful to auto-save, auto-invest, and set up systems for myself to keep my finances under control. I’m learning more about the role money plays in my life and how finances add to my quality of life.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I worked at a sandwich shop as soon as I turned 15. I worked there whenever I had the time until I got my first post-graduate job: during the school year, after sports, and the time in between sports seasons, during winter and summer break. It was my second home. I even worked on Saturdays when I became an accountant until the busy season hit. My parents wanted us to work and earn money, and I wanted to work and earn money. My parents required my siblings and me to work during the summer, but I was the one who wanted to work any chance I got.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I did worry about money. I was the type of kid who still had the first dollar I ever earned until I graduated college. I worked way more than my siblings and took saving very seriously. Every once in a while, I would spend money at the mall on clothes. When we were allowed to go to concerts in high school, I would buy my sister and me tickets because I had so much saved. I wanted to be the child my parents didn’t have to worry about. They were both seriously ill in my teenage years and it felt important to afford my own life, to take one less worry off their plate. My mom ended up passing away during my senior year of high school. And my dad ended up passing away when I was in college.

Do you worry about money now?
I worry about my relationship with money more than how much I have, at this point in my life. I have learned a lot in the past few years and I continue to grow more confident in my decisions surrounding money; however, as my income has grown exponentially, I’m starting to worry I’m making decisions and leading my life in a way that surrounds money and not necessarily my happiness. As I mentioned in my previous Money Diary a year ago, my biggest worry surrounds finding the balance between being responsible by investing for long-term goals and experiencing the most out of life in the present. I’ve cycled through moments of letting my savings dwindle in order to live my life in the present, and then having periods of restricting myself from spending at all. I want to find the right balance of being responsible but also maximizing my happiness right now. The future is important to plan for but a lot of the time I fantasize about withdrawing a chunk of money to go travel until it runs out. I’m looking forward to moving abroad soon and seeing how my view on finances changes in a different environment. I’ve heard Australians work to live, not live to work. I feel I can go because I have built investment portfolios that make me feel secure.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I’d say when I was 16 or 17 years old, I was partially financially responsible for myself. This was around the time when my mom was sick and passed away. My dad would ask me to get dinner or buy groceries for my siblings and me, but sometimes he’d forget to put the money back into my account, and I’d never say anything. If I wanted something, I had to buy it. Then I was pretty much paying for all of my expenses by the time I left for college. I’ve been officially on my own since we sold our family house after my dad’s passing. I’m realizing that this inherited income is the reason my long-term investments are where they are today.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
I have received inherited income. When my dad passed away, his finances were put into an estate account, and his retirement portfolio was divided between my siblings and me. The estate was used for our general bills, living in our house until I graduated college. We sold our family house and my siblings and I moved out. The amount from the estate, retirement account, and sale of the house probably totaled around $110,000 of inherited income. I paid off my undergraduate student loans in full: $26,000. I put $12,000 towards opening and investing in my first Roth IRA. I put $10,000 down on a new car. I moved my inherited retirement account into my non-retirement investment account: $30,000. Retirement portfolio early withdrawal fees and taxes paid on it as income: $15,000. The remaining $17,000 I can’t specifically account for has likely been used over years on the following: 1) Moving costs for three big moves 2) Paying off the rest of my car ($10,000) 3) A three-week road trip I took to visit eight national parks on the west coast 4) Taking risks at entrepreneurship 5) Emergency expenses like medical costs and periods of unemployment.

Day One: Monday

10:20 a.m. — I have a day off this morning, so I let myself sleep in. I didn’t realize I’d sleep most of the morning. I make coffee and sit down to write Morning Pages. Afterwards, I take my coffee with me to the living room to read some of my book, The Pleasing Hour by Lily King, which is due back at the library soon.

11:15 a.m. — I sit down with my notebook to practice Spanish through Mango Languages. It’s similar to a Rosetta Stone app, and I got it for free through my library! I have been completing two lessons a day for the past seven days. It’s part of my New Year’s resolution.

12:30 p.m. — I make breakfast. I’m trying to eat healthier. The tips I’ve seen online are focused on asking yourself what you can add to your meals. So, instead of just having two fried eggs, I have a leftover turkey burger, and then add some eggs, tomato, and avocado on top to make it a breakfast burger.

1:00 p.m. — I have a slight, strange addiction to POP MART’s Twinkle Twinkle Savor the Moment Series blind boxes. I never got into the Labubu hype, but for some reason, these figures feel like a little dose of “hopecore” for me — and I get a surge of dopamine in my brain when I unbox them. On their website, they give you hints as to what’s inside the blind box, but not so there’s a better chance you won’t end up with two of the same. I’ve been lucky not to get duplicates so far! I buy two separately because it gives you more points for more hints. This will give me eight of the 12 in the series. (I feel embarrassed typing this out.) My friend, her family, and I always joke about how we talk about financial wellness, knowing more about our spending habits than saving. And I have spent an insane amount of money on these. You can do the math. When I get them in the mail, I’ll send them videos of me unboxing my expensive toys. It gives us all a laugh. $52.52

2 p.m. — My roommate has built a home gym in the entrance of our house. I use it to work out now because it’s also one of my NY resolutions. I can feel the wear and tear bartending has put on my body when I do yoga. I watch Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. In some positions, I’m almost completely immobile.

8 p.m. — I shower, throw my laundry in the washer, and sit on the couch to start a homework assignment for a writing class I enrolled in. I make a big snack plate of crackers, carrots, hummus, and meats and cheeses to snack on while I write through the rest of the afternoon. I watch Hector and the Search for Happiness while having pasta for dinner before it’s time to get ready for bed.

Daily Total: $52.52

Day Two: Tuesday

8:00 a.m. — I’m up and almost immediately start my Morning Pages, and work on my writing. I have work today, so I want to make sure I’m getting everything I want done before my in-time comes around. I make coffee and start my two Spanish lessons on the app. I then cook eggs, avocado, and potatoes for breakfast.

9:45 a.m. — I start doing a trial run of packing my clothing and necessities to see what I can take abroad with me, and what I want to store, sell, and donate. I put on the So True with Caleb Hearon podcast as I work. I organize everything and check the basement to see how much stuff I have down there. I list a few more items on Poshmark and put a bunch of clothes in a Take Back bag — I got it so I can recycle what I can on Subset. The bag with shipping is $25, and you get discounts with certain brands when you return it. $25

11:45 a.m. — I have some Greek yogurt with blueberries and chocolate chips as a snack, and then I sit down to read my next book, Lily King’s Five Tuesdays in Winter (I’m trying to read every book she’s ever written). I’ve sold an item on Poshmark, so I package it up so I can take it to the Post Office later, and then I edit a Substack post that I’ll publish by 1 p.m. I’m in a writing headspace so I work on my writing assignment for class.

3:00 p.m. — I get ready for work, bundle up and start walking to the train station. The Post Office is on the way, so I stop real quick to scan the QR code and ship my Poshmark package. I take the train one stop (my ticket is $2.60). $2.60

4:00 p.m. — My shift starts! Even though this is a slow time of year, tonight is a good night because we have a corporate Happy Hour party, which helps.

12:00 p.m. — By the time my coworkers and I have done last call and closed up after some stragglers watching the NCAA Football National Championship, it’s around midnight. We hang out for a bit, play Wordle together, and one of my coworkers drives me home. I get ready for bed and read until I fall asleep.

Daily Total: $27.60

Day Three: Wednesday

8:00 a.m. — I wake up and make breakfast with coffee: two soft-boiled eggs in chicken bone broth with miso, chopped green onion, and garlic. I truly believe this breakfast is how I’ve had a winter without being really sick (so far). I take my coffee to the living room with me and watch People We Meet on Vacation on Netflix. After reading Emily Henry’s book, I was so excited for this movie to come out, especially because it involves a travel blogger and romance. I really enjoyed it!

11 a.m. — After I finish watching the movie, I write my Morning Pages and practice my Spanish. I then throw some chicken tenders from Trader Joe’s in the oven. I’ve been keeping an eye on flights, and after receiving a 75,000-mile offer from the Capital One Venture card, I can now book my one-way flight to Australia! The price is 85,667 miles. I buy more United miles for $70 so I can select an exit row aisle seat with my miles. $70

12:30 p.m. — I meal prep and make ground beef with roasted vegetables blended into a pasta sauce with chickpea pasta. I have some for lunch and sit down to relax, read, and scroll for a while.

3:30 p.m. — I get a ride to work and stop at the tailor in the center of town. I ripped one of my favorite pairs of jeans and was hoping they could patch them up so I could continue to wear them. It’ll cost me $14. I drop them off and head to work! $14

9:00 p.m. — I forgot to pack dinner tonight, so I just get some grilled chicken and rice from the kitchen at work. My dinner with my 50% discount is $6.40. $6.40

12:00 p.m. — We close up a little after midnight and then my coworker drives me home.

Daily Total: $90.40

Day Four: Thursday

8:30 a.m. — I wake up to the sound of one of my roommates making breakfast. I get up to do my Morning Pages and practice my Spanish. I love working to the sound of jazz ambiance YouTube videos playing in the background. I make breakfast and coffee. I work with a creative arts non-profit, assisting with their poetry and prose publication, and other web development tasks. I message the founder giving him notice about my move so we can transition my position, and I can create any books that I need to before I leave.

11:00 a.m. — I’ve been feeling super drained recently and am tired. I’m working a middle shift with a start time of 11:30 a.m. I’ll be there for part of both the brunch shift and the night shift, and will be the first cut. Instead of walking and taking the train, I’m feeling lazy and check Uber and Lyft. My Uber is $9.96. $9.96

4:00 p.m. — The first few weeks of January are some of the slowest weeks of the year. We have a lighter staff and brunch is slow. My paycheck will definitely not be the same as the last few months of 2025. The night shift is starting. We are transitioning from brunch to dinner. I don’t get a break because I’ll be first cut, but if I wanted to, I could get something to eat. I don’t. I’m waiting for later to treat myself and a friend at an Italian restaurant nearby.

8:00 p.m. — I get cut and walk over to the Italian restaurant. I called ahead to place our order: a buffalo chicken slice, fried ravioli, and a rigatoni bolognese. At some point, my friend will pay me back by buying food for us. I think my friends and I have always operated on: you get this round, I’ll get the next, and we call it even. With a tip, the total is $58.45. I take a Lyft home for $10.95. $69.40

9:45 p.m. — My roommates are home watching a movie, so I sit down to join them. When it’s over, we head to the local ice cream shop. I order a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of salted caramel truffle. A medium is $6.28. When get home and put on Season 4 of The Traitors USA. We watch the first episode and the beginning of the second to see who was murdered the first night before going to bed. $6.28

Daily Total: $85.64

Day Five: Friday

8:00 a.m. — My roommate and I are up early and make eggs, bacon, and avocado for breakfast. I put on a pot of coffee and sit down to read and write for a little bit. When it gets closer to 10 a.m., I get ready for work and hang around for one of my coworkers to pick me up and give me a ride to our brunch shift.

2:30 p.m. — Brunch is slow again. We are pretty much just hanging around.

4:30 p.m. — Although when work does end at 4:30 p.m., no one really stays behind to chill and drink. A lot of people are doing Dry January. My coworker drives me home.

5:00 p.m. — We take a roommate trip to Trader Joe’s. Since I don’t have a car, I can’t get to it easily, even though I love it. I order my groceries typically through Instacart from ALDI. Since it’s rare I can go to Trader Joe’s, I typically go overboard when I get the chance. I pick out my favorites: dark chocolate peanut butter cups, frozen meals like pizzas and chicken tenders, and chicken gyoza. I try the new probiotic sodas, and buy extra whole bean coffee because it always seems to be selling out. My total is $80.98, which is almost triple my typical weekly grocery bill. $80.98

6:30 p.m. — We get home and watch the next two The Traitors USA episodes before a new one is released this coming Thursday. I’m happy I got my roommates into the show. When we’re done watching The Traitors, we put on the Golden Globes until it’s time to head to bed.

Daily Total: $80.98

Day Six: Saturday

7:00 a.m. — I wake up early to take the train into New York City. I have a tattoo appointment today! I rush to get ready, make a quick breakfast wrap, and start walking to the train station. When I’m on the train, I buy a round-trip ticket for $35.50. I spend most of the hour writing my Morning Pages and reading my book for a little bit before putting on a podcast. $35.50

9:20 a.m. — I arrive and head to the New York Public Library before my writing course starts. I stop at a coffee shop for a vanilla latte and one of their chocolate chip cookies. With a tip, it’s $15.93. $15.93

10:00 a.m. — When the New York Public Library opens, I set up in their study room to do my writing class from there. This week, we are discussing poetry. Our teacher shows us different poems and helps us to dissect the writing. During class, we have mini writing assignments influenced by some of the poems we’ve been reading. It’s a nice mix of teaching and actually writing.

1:00 p.m. — My class is over, but I hang around a bit to walk through the free exhibition they have on: 100 years of The New Yorker. Then I head to the subway to go to Brooklyn. The subway is $3.00. $3.00

3:00 p.m. — After walking around trinket shops and heading into thrift stores without buying anything, I stop at a place for some lunch. I get a dulce de leche oat milk latte and a spicy jalapeño and cilantro chicken cutlet sandwich, which I eat while getting some work done. This is my spot to eat before I get tattooed. I’ve come to Brooklyn about four times in the past year and a half for new tattoos. I love this artist and discovered her through a friend who lives in the city. I pretty much just hang out, eat, and write a little bit before my appointments. With the tip, the total is $30.71. $30.71

4:00 p.m. — I head over to my tattoo appointment — it’s only a little bit of a walk from the cafe. I planned this appointment for a touch-up for my last tattoos and to get a new piece. We spend a bit of time working through a hand-drawn design for the new piece, a sort of ink blot design. I’m getting anxious since it’s not coming out how I imagined, and I’m not 100% on the design. We stop that process to do my touch-ups, and I end up just leaving it at that. No new piece today. I love my tattoo artist, which is why I go all the way to Brooklyn for her. She’s really good at what she does, really patient, and can transform simple ideas I have into actual art. I hope to see her before I move. I paid a deposit when I booked the appointment of $100 but I don’t owe her anything extra for the touch-ups. $100

6:00 p.m. — I head to the subway to take it to the train station, and luckily don’t have to wait until there’s a train home. I walk right from the subway and to NJ Transit. The subway back is $3.00. Luckily, I got on an express train, so when I get off at my stop and walk home, it’s at a good time in the evening. I hang out with my roommates for a bit before I go to bed. $3.00

Daily Total: $188.14

Day Seven: Sunday

7:35 a.m. — I wake up. I have today off and have been wanting to go on a solo date in the town over. I sit down to do my Morning Pages and read a bit. I eat a little snack of strawberry yogurt with granola since I plan to have an early lunch out.

9:00 a.m. — I hop in the shower, and when I’m done, I blow-dry my hair and get ready. I sold some heels on Poshmark, so I box them up and package them. On my walk to the train station, I stop and ship my Poshmark package. I take the train for two stops. The round-trip fare is $8.20. $8.20

11:45 a.m. — I stop at the coffee shop and get a vanilla latte and a breakfast burrito. I hang out here writing and reading. I’m feeling nostalgic about these places. They were so important to me when I moved back home. My previous roommates and I would come here all the time. I took meetings here for my freelance business and with my mentor. Now, I’m leaving again. Yet, as I’m here, my brother tells me he has a gift card to the coffee shop he won’t use and can give to me, so I may be back one last time before I move after all! $30.29

12:35 — I stop by the trinket shop for stickers. There are a lot of cute things to decorate for Valentine’s Day, and a new piecework puzzle I think about buying. I was hoping there would be unique hairchips, too. However, there aren’t as many stickers to buy for my journal. Each little stack doesn’t go well with the others, and I’m not feeling them, so I don’t make a purchase. I walk to the train to start on my trip home at 1:00 p.m.

3:00 p.m. — After my walk back from the train station, I sit down to read some Mary Oliver poems to inspire me to do my homework for my writing class. After 20 poems, inspiration doesn’t come, and so I do nothing for a bit. Eventually, inspiration does come, and I write a couple of poems for our assignment and submit them. After I’m done, I start seriously packing the items in my room and taking pictures, and prints off my walls. I put on Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging in the background. Luckily, I don’t have a ton of stuff. One of my best friends is graciously letting me store stuff in her attic while I’m abroad. And my brother has some room in his storage unit, too, for our family’s pictures and belongings. I want to make sure I don’t need to buy more storage and can donate or sell anything I can before moving.

7:00 p.m. — I list more stuff on Poshmark. I have some items in my shop that have been sitting there for a while, so I send discounted offers to anyone who has liked the items. I figure I will keep whatever clothes, shoes, and handbags in storage until the end of the month before donating them or letting the girls at work pick through them first. I have dinner: pasta and bolognese sauce that I meal prepped a few days ago. I sit down to watch Mr. Malcolm’s List in the living room. I get ready for bed. I scroll on my phone for too long. I try putting on a movie instead, and it sends me to sleep within the first 10 minutes.

Daily Total: $38.49

Conclusion

This was a big spend week for me on food and going places. I think sometimes it’s necessary, yet scary to track our spending. Sometimes it feels like you have your hand covering your eyes and are peeking at the totals through your fingers. I have to remind myself that moving is a big spending period in this part of my life and I should be saving where I can at home.

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