A Harrowing Tale of Survival: Woman Goes a Full Day Without Spending Any Money

Good thing she isn't poor or she would probably kill herself.

$80 per day for incidentals? Just so that no one else has to do the math, that is $28,000 per year of after tax income. In NYC, one would have to earn about $60,000 to cover that.

How is this an accomplishment?

Let me rephrase that... how is this a blog worthy accomplishment? I'm as much of a consumer as the next person but I have gone longer than a day without spending money. I think a lot of normal people do.

There, there poor bunny. You can get 2 over priced drinks tomorrow. There are a few women not shopping for a year (minus essentials like food and housing costs. They have blogs and books out and this "princess" stops wasting her money on nothing and gets on your front page!

No way my wife would make it one day. NO WAY!!

OH NOES!!!! You had to do what other people on a daily basis do.

Read her replies to some of the comments -
This one is a gem...
"The main point is not that spending zero cash in a day is a feat -- the point is that the average American is overspending and there are simple ways to cut back."

This one is made of LULZ
"I am trying to get 20 somethings to realize how easy this is to do! Starting to build this good habits early is very important. "

The dude that put this up is clearly making fun of her highness...I think. If not then screw him! I should've won a nobel prize by now for my cheapness!

While she probably saved tons of money, she was still using things she had previously bought at a store. I grow my own food, make my own clothes and tools, and can go at least a week without using anything that costs money (though I am addicted to my computer and internet). While getting my degree I worked 2 jobs at barely above minimum wage and barely managed to pay rent and tuition, so there was no room for fancy coffee and cab rides.

On the other hand, it is people who spend lots of money that keep the economy running smoothly.

While my initial reaction was scorn, after thinking about it for a bit I realized that (before I gave up working/income in exchange for time with my kids) I used to eat out for lunch every day, spending up to $30 for a single meal. I also got a tea every morning and often picked up a bagel for breakfast while I was at it.

It was never my intention to spend so much money every day, but it became habit. I had disposal income and networking to do to increase my standing in my profession.

Now that we're a single-income family I hardly spend any money. I miss buying things just because I wanted it.

I had no idea that for some others my every day life would had been so daring...

Although I don't think that not spending money is that big of an accomplishment, I do understand where she is coming from.
I, too, live in New York City (although on a drastically lower income). The easiest way to spend all your income is in convenience. It is more convenient to raise your hand and have a car just stop and take you to where you're going. Its easy to buy the milk you forgot to get earlier at the deli that charges $10 for something you can get at the grocery store for $2.
Convenience is expensive. It takes planning and coordination to avoid the incidental purchases.

Those were Rugby players in the Andes

Congratulations to her for being a normal person for a day I guess?

When I was doing my first uni degree, my parents flooded with money, and I was easily spending £30-50 a day for months, none of which was anything that was use or lasted... I now have to watch every penny! Grrrrh!

I have gone weeks without spending a penny because I didnt have a single penny to spend.

My weekly grocery budget is $80 for a family of three, including toiletries and household cleaning items. I don't think I have ever spent $80 in one day on trivial purchases.

i feel painfully guilty if i spend $80 in a week. this is ridiculous.

I really don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Most people could do this with great ease for a day, and the story would have been much more interesting if she'd tried it for a week or more. Giving up lattes for a day? Woohoo. Perhaps she could live on her one-day $80 spend for a month and I'd be more impressed. Come on - ONE day? Is that it? You could safely not eat or drink anything at all for 24 hours, although in her case I suppose she's trying to keep to a pretty normal routine. All I got from this is that some people can really waste their money without even trying.

What amazes me most is that she works for LearnVest.com, a financial advice company for woman. I want to take financial advice from someone who spends $80 in a single day without even realizing it? It's a 20 minute walk to her office and she took the taxi daily?

I know I posted before and I probably came off sounding bitter toward this woman. Thing is, like others have pointed out, it is very easy to spend that much on a daily basis if you have the money and are not putting thought into how you're spending it. It's just not some great accomplishment not to do so either. For her to write about it as though it's some great experiment really boggles the mind more than anything else for me. I can go days without spending a single pound without putting a grand effort into it. I don't make my own clothes, but neither do I deprive myself of a purchase if I feel like getting more. I don't grow enough food for it to make a huge difference on my grocery bill, and I take a cab if it's late and I've been drinking - otherwise, I walk or drive. I like to enjoy a coffee when I am out as much as anyone else. But if I happen to not spend any money on a given day, it's not something to pat myself on the back over. It's just... normal.

going a whole day without spending a money is very easy to do. i do it quite often.

I cannot repeat the names I want to call this woman in a family blog.

I do this all the time when I stay in all day working on my assignments for my masters degree. In fact I won't be spending any money today as I have an essay due tomorrow :(
Yeah, I don't get out much these days...

Plain and simple. This broad is dumb.

This sort of article is a trolling article by nature. It's like waving a red flag in front of a bull. "I did without my conspicuous consumption for a set period of time" articles, I am beginning to think are just fodder to get people riled up.

Just like the "Muslims want to wear their burkas in your country and marry 12-yr-olds" articles.

It doesn't have to be true - just a hot topic.

OOOO a day.. wow, give this woman a medal!

Hell, my husband and I don't spend anything 5 days a week! We should be rulers of the universe!!!

It would be much more fun to try to spend $80 in one day on "incidentals". Bet I could manage it tho' lol.

I am also amazed that she is a CEO of financial advice company for woman. This would be a terific testimonial for her company as who wouldn't want to take financial advice from people who doesn't know how to take control of their money.

Somehow I cannot help to think of those girls in that sitcom "Sex and the City".
This Alexa seems to have stepped out of that show into reallife- Is she For Real???? Yes in fact she is- She does live the actual life of those characters in that sitcom that me and my friends smirk at for it being soooo unrealistic- Well, we're proven wrong: For a whole bunch of people, the "Sex and the City" lifestyle is more real than we would dare to believe and Alexa von Tobel is a prime example of that.

And that somehow next to at first instance making me going ballistically mad, also makes me smile a bit in tenderness about Alexa- Incredible how naïeve she lives. This person has so much money that she doesn't think one second about what she's actually doing. From $80,- a her day spending on trivial stuff, others have to live a whole month with a whole family. And yet she is a CEO of a financial advice company for women and she does not even blink on spending a tenner on some coffee underway. Because that is her life! That is how she and all the people in her social network live!

And for lots of people, what she does is the dreamlife they never ever will reach- Ahhhh not even to have to stand still to think that the $7,- on the cab to work could be spent way better on bread for the next whole motnh. Ohhh wow not to have to shiver and feel guilty about spending Three whole dollars on licorice instead of vegetables for 2 persons for 2 days!!!

...And she is amazed to discover that one can actually live without all that spending.... How cute in all that naïevity...! How tragic. How deeply saddeningly tragic.

...Perhaps if all those people who live like that would not spent all that excess-cash on stuff like that but daily would donate that -or even only 50% of it!- to charity, a lots of people that have far less could finally be helped to even decent minimal life standards.........

After I spent my time and energy on reading and commenting on Alexa von Tobel, I went out on a little stroll through that whole Huffington Post.

Amazing...!
Mrs. Arianna Huffington really does exist in a totally different ...Universe...! ("My "aha moment" also came on vacation. It happened a few years ago, as I stepped off a tender to board a friend's boat anchored off the coast of Cannes. ...") from the one I live in......!
And in that universe, Alexa von Tobel is absolutely nothing special whatsoever- over there Alexa is totally average mainstream. That whole place of hers overflows with the kind of upclass "Reader's Digest" sweet nothingnesses like "the importance of mothering yourself", "6 Tips To Recharge At The Office" or "Love What You Have"

... Darn I somehow got to have me such a life too...!

:-P

What really hit me hard was the cost of living in New York. 80 USD a day is nuts.

The people who leave comments on this side are the most boring assholes ever.

Can't you go comment on some ecnonomy journal or some shit?

Go back to school, Max. The grown ups are talking.

Max so happy you joined our club- You fit quite well.

:lol:

The grown ups? All I see is the empty garbage of dead meat without esprit being spilled all over a redundant topic.

She has money. Get over it.

I'm sure there's an interesting idea in there about how expensive it is to live in New York (or any major urban area, for that matter) or something about American consumerist culture. But she presents it in such a naive way. But on the other hand, I guess anybody would be excited if they saved 80 bucks. Even if they apparently has no idea how much money 80 bucks was. And this woman is a financial advisor? Yikes.

I'd like to tell her (to her face) what she can do with herself.

I'm having trouble believing this isn't satire. Is it really such a revelation to have cereal for breakfast? Do people in NYC really spend 10 bucks to avoid a 20min walk?

If this wasn't posted (here in Neatorama) as ironic, I think so far we all agree this is one of the most offensive things ever. Luckily, the "harrowing" in the title leads me to believe it was.

Other than the fact that so many people live like this every day, I'm from Chile, and she might learn a thing or two coming to a quake-stricken country.

I want to live like common people.
I want to do whatever common people do.

Hilarious!

Eat breakfast at home? Bring a packed lunch? Crazy stuff!

Haha at Yr Am's comment. I was thinking the same thing!

Why does the summary here say the pasta was $32.50 and the day's total was $80.00, but the article itself says the pasta was $22.50 and the day's total spend was $60.00? Yet all the comments at the article's source indicate $80.00 was the day's spend.

I think the spoiled cow who wrote it started to realize just how self-absorbed she was coming across and decided to cut the numbers down a little to try to save her reputation at the margins.

"Survival tales" like this are written all the time, usually just the result of a writer on a deadline without an idea. You take an old idea that's been done a million times, exaggerate one aspect of it, and work from there. I've done that myself on many occasions.

In this case, I think she's just trolling for hits to her web site.

Precious anecdotes and other cocktail party minutia are like currency for white people. Another one to add to the canon.

Wonder what she would be willing to spend on a cheese sandwich?

Are you serious?!

I go many days without spending any money. oh goodness!

Are we talking 0 dollars ? Remember, even if you spend nothing interactively, there is money being spent that day... like that's days rent or days worth of your mortgage, or 1/30th of your car payment, heating, using water, watching tv (electric and cable), interest accruing on your credit card, etc....

I used to work in NYC, and yes, unfortunately a lot of the people I worked with acted this way in real life. They ate every meal "out" or ordered in. No one had food in their kitchens, nor even knew how to turn on their stoves, took taxis everywhere, etc. I am not saying everyone in NYC is like this, not by far, but there is an overwhelming amount of people (especially the younger crowd), that are living their daily lives like this more and more. I was always made to feel weird because I walked the 20 blocks to and from work and brought my lunch and breakfast from home everyday. It's nice to know I wasn't the only one out there....

Ummm this isnt hard at all.
I wake eat breakfast.
Drive to work ( if you have to bus it I could see a problem)
Work through the day I drink water and pack a lunch.
Go home have dinner and spend time with the family.
Rinse and repeat.

This goes along with the girl asking for donations to fix her credit card debt. And then getting a book deal out of it.

Yes, it's all a good cautionary tale...on how not to be a materialistic d-bag.