Time to Get to Work

Took a day off Friday from job hunting and went with the fam' to visit my aunt and uncle's new co-op in Forest Hills, Queens. It's an amaaazing neighborhood. In terms of shopping alone, there's a plethora of retail shops to choose from: Banana Republic, Sephora, an Ann Taylor Factory store (!). There's a Boston Market and nearby juice bars, with nary a "dollar store" in sight.

The co-op is cute. It's not as much as space as their house in Westchester, but the commute is a lot closer. Trying to squeeze all their belongings that they've had in a suburban house to a co-op in the city is tough. I'll miss sleeping over in the quiet country, with all that space. I think what I'll miss most is the country scenery: tall pine trees accompany my morning breakfast as I sit on the deck, with my faithful companion, Panda (their dog) watching me and clamoring to get back inside.

Doesn't she look like she's smiling?

I've imagined myself as someone who's not quite comfortable living in the city. I'm more of a country girl. Growing up, I've surrounded myself with magazines such as "Better Homes and Gardens" and "Ladies Home Journal". Definitely would love to have an English rose garden that offers quiet solitude and beauty.

I stopped by a Citibank branch in my neighborhood, and saw this advertisement and caught my eye:

So the advertisement itself looks normal....until you look at the mock-up finances . 

Here's the enlarged image of your "average" Citibank-account holder's finances. 

So, let's run the numbers:

Checking: $1,646.91
Savings: $ 2,367.78
Credit Card: $ 5,009.19

Rent: 31.77%                        ($3,586.95)
Groceries: 18.25%                (2,172.01)
Entertainment: 16.18%         ($1,826.32)



The Expense tool allows users to see how much expenses (rent, entertainment, groceries, atm withdrawals....are being utilized every month and give them a better idea on what's being spent on a monthly basis...

In this case, it doesn't specify whether the expenses are based on a quarterly basis, but based on things like rent, we can safely assume it's on a monthly basis.

Rent. According to this Business Insider article on"The 8 Reasons Why New York Rents Are So Ridiculously High", the average rent in NYC have climbed to $3,017, so the figure in the mocked-up advertisement (at least on rent is fairly accurate).

Groceries. I can't fathom how a single person can spend an excess of 2k a month on groceries.  Even for a family,the average weekly amount of groceries spent is ~  $175.  Over on The Billfold, they've created two simple charts:

As you can see, the outliers for groceries spent for a single person ($140/week) and that of a family ($300) don't equate anything near $2k a month. I'll skip entertainment, since that's sort of subjective.

Therefore, for this hypothetical individual with yearly expenses include rent ($43,043.4), groceries ($26,064.12) and entertainment ($21,915.84) = $91,023.36, this person must have a high-income job. Assuming this person is single, with no kids where does that leave working class families with less money to spend on groceries, rent, transportation, school expenses for kids, car loans.....

On the job front, I've been perusing Politicalwire.com...They've got a jobs hunt section aimed at politics. Better than idealist.org. It's worth checking out.

You know the saying, "no news is good news." Not so. I still haven't heard back from the temp agency aimed at college grads (even though I went through the whole skype interview) and had sent a follow-up email. I'll send another one as a "reminder" and if nothing comes up, I'll have to call my contact. I also had sent the editor where I freelance a follow-up email to see if there's any articles I can work on, but that's been six days ago and haven't heard back yet. Will have to send out another "reminder."

Nothing on getting paid for my first article either...This isn't looking well. I'd recently received two congratulatory comments from ex colleagues at the bank where I had worked before, and the current limbo status that I'm in, feels akin to paper cuts. That's the closest sentiment that I can describe it.

And I've been binge-watching The House of Cards. Almost done with season 2. It's a terrific show, great acting, writing and gives an inside view of Washington.

Til next time.