[Bramble]

If you don't mind living in the outerboroughs, taking the subway every day, and having roommates, this should be easy.

When I was 18 - 22 (2007 - 2010), I saved over 10k making about 30k-40k a year in 4 years in NYC. I was also paying off about 6k in student loans at the time, going out drinking about once a week, splurging on clothing every once in a while, and eating out a lot.

I lived in Queens (Astoria and Sunnyside, in my case, though I could have found cheaper if I was okay with a sketchier area) for about $900 a month with roommates and commuted by train. I had an expensive (NYSC) gym membership, a cell phone, and a social life. I enjoyed what NYC had to offer.

To be honest, every time I hear someone say that NYC is too expensive for them and they can barely make ends meet, I look at their lifestyle and see immediate room for improvement: They refuse to live outside of Manhattan, they go out 3-4X a week compared to my 1, they insist on going to the most expensive, trendy places that were recently featured in XYZ magazine, whereas I enjoy eating out at the neighborhood Thai place and grabbing drinks from my neighborhood bar. They insist that they "need" to buy new clothes every few weeks for some reason, whereas I would splurge once every few months.

I could have saved a lot more during those 4 years if I were eating ramen every night, sure, but I put life enjoyment above my monetary nest egg. Even now, as a working student, I will not stoop to eating PB&J and Ramen as my only sources of nutrition. I live outside of NYC now, live on 15k, and still don't feel that I lack for anything. I think a lot of people don't keep track of their spending as well as they purport.