Success, wealth, and great relationships may be some of the most raved goals people wish to achieve at some point of their lives, and Carrie Bradshaw definitely had all of that. Since 1998, she has inspired women with her amazing sense of fashion, love for writing, and amazing friendships; but if we look closer, that idealization may be mostly unreal.
To begin with, the New York Upper East Side is one of the most expensive places to live in the United States.
The cost of living there as a single normal person goes up to USD 4,400 dollars, making it 113% more expensive than the average; and we all know that Bradshaw was far from being a normal spender.
A lot of cosmos, shopping sprees, brunch dates, and cigarettes are some of the habits that may have cost her a great part of her paycheck and surely make us break the lifestyle fantasy. But anyway, let’s continue looking at this shopping diva´s spreadsheet.
Clearly, price ranges vary year by year, and from the time we first met this character on screen, life has definitely become more expensive.
Now in 2021, the average salary for a columnist working in New York lies at USD 73,000 per year and USD 6,000 a month; which is actually a good number that covers up the average living expenses; still, we are yet missing the details.
[Image: Instagram@andjustlikethat]
The main expenses that we can spot by just watching the series and imagining ourselves in her shoes are rent (of course), transportation (most of the time through taxis), friendship dates, shopping trips, cocktails, and maybe some cigarettes; which are more than enough to imagine the high price point of her lifestyle.
Starting with her apartment´s rent on the Upper East Side, it can be a good USD 2,000; for taxi transportation, we can add another USD 800; on all those brunch dates, taking as a reference the cafeteria where she and her friends were spotted many times having a blast, we can calculate about USD 240 for 6 dates.
Buying lots of cosmos and cigarettes has its toll, and she may spend USD 724 (having in mind that she smoked about a pack a day and could drink 3 cosmos in one single night…); and finally, the most shocking of them all, Carrie´s shopping habits.
We know that her taste is far from being budget-friendly, and we estimate at least a spending of USD 900 on a pair of shoes like her iconic blue Manolos, we could add around USD 3,000 for a minimum of 4 shopping trips like that (1 per week).
If we add all this up, we get an estimate of USD 6700 spent per month, which is not that much of debt at first sight but we must bear in mind that we are still missing more detailed expenses like grocery shopping, entertainment, WIFI connection, phone cost, and so many more!
Undoubtedly, we all would love to live like her; but still, there is so much more than idealizing certain lifestyles that may seem perfect but when we analyze them from every single detail, they end up being only a pretty TV fantasy.