Maria Mercedes Lara's Name Is Too Long

July 16, 2009

It kind of annoys me off when people say things like, “You could never live in New York on X amount of money” or, in this case, “How could you survive in Manhattan on $63,000?” (see also: this dumb kid). Back when I was living in Manhattan and earning roughly less than a third of the previously mentioned sum (oh boy, remember earning a salary? those days were nice), I lived quite decently. Sure, I wasn’t buying designer clothes or living in a spacious apartment or even taking cabs, but I wasn’t suffering by any means.

When people say those types of statements about living in New York, I imagine they mean to say, “how could you live a comfortable upper-middle-class lifestyle on that salary?” Maybe bad TV shows, Julia Allison’s pink lifestream or their own life experiences have normalized that lifestyle into being the only option available in Manhattan. It is true: You can’t live an upper-middle-class lifestyle in New York on $63,000 (unless you love credit card debt). However, there are a lot of people who survive in New York on a lot less than that.

2:37pm | URL: http://mariamercedeslara.com/post/142945105/it-kind-of-annoys-me-off-when-people-say-things

(Notes: 23)