Do Over: Carrie Bradshaw Math, Revisited

So much money is being spent in this photo alone!

Last month a site called The Frenemy tackled "Carrie Bradshaw Math," which was essentially the author throwing a lexical tantrum after feeling duped into moving to New York City under the assumption that she could live like a fictional television character. Raise your hand if you ever felt like Sex and the City was a good blueprint of which to base your real life. No one is raising their hand (we have a new technology that we won't get in to right now, there's just no time).

So now another lady is tackling Carrie Bradshaw's finances and budget, saying she "felt unfulfilled when a trillion dollars was allocated to condoms." In other words, the math on the site was inaccurate, just as life portrayed on a television show is inaccurate.

Okay, ready for some math fun? Season 1 of the show took place in 1998, and our latest Carrie fan/math wizard notes that "considering Inflation, what cost .75 cents at the start of the series now costs us $1." And here's what she presumes Carrie's budget was, while making $1,500/month:

2-3 packs of cigarettes a week: $49/month ($3.50 a pack!)
Expensive cocktails: $33/week or $132/month
Brunch: $121/month
Designer shoes: $303/month
Cabs: $228/month on transportation
Landline phone: $125/month
Utilities (Carrie doesn't have TV, internet, or air conditioning at this time): $60/month
Rent (in her rent controlled apartment): $750/month

Someone get us our abacus! In the end, the author believes that in the first season of the show, Carrie spent an estimated $22,000 annually while making the aforementioned $15,400. Which would have put her $6,500 in the hole (not including her unpaid taxes and ignored credit card payments).

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on June 22, 2011 11:40 AM

Comments [rss]

Sarah Protz Howlett

LOLz. After tip, $33 is 2.5 expensive cocktails. That's one night out, not a month's worth of drinking! If you move to NYC, you can't be an entitled princess. Like at all. I aim to help people think realistically and positively about it...but you can't keep everyone from going into credit card debt if they insist on buying stuff they can't afford. Always looking for feedback on my blog, NewNewYorkers.info. Check it out, y'all.

v4der

the arsonist had oddly shaped feet

laurenpr77

We all knew she was living off credit cards... she freely admitted it several times. The only thing we can assume is that later Big helped her pay some of it off.

Sarah Protz Howlett

That was my main gripe about the show. As much as the smoking, it's a bad example! I think people are smart enough to filter these things for themselves, but the credit card stuff is so prevalent today precisely because people want to feel like they're in a movie.

ANGRYGOD11

Why pick on just this show? How did the often unemployed or underpaid Friends live in large downtown Manhattan two bedroom apartments for years with a view of ugly naked guy? Besides, as a writer for some NYC publication, wouldn't Carrie get freebies and discounts?

HypocraticOath

Did you ever hear someone say they wanted to be like Joey Tribbiani? Whereas every third chick who moves here wants to be faaaaaaaabulous like Carrie Bradshaw.

Guest

Not to mention all the retouching!

646c

Don't forget jewelry, makeup, dry cleaning, hair...I just blew the Carrie Bradshaw budget right there.

Tim H

this seems to be written by someone who never went to a bar in NYC or lived here for that matter. He has $33 per week on expensive drinks. FYI: A cosmo sells for $12 each plus a tip of $1 - $2 each if you are cheap. That means she was only drinking 2 1/2 a week. WRONG The same goes for brunch in NYC. His math level out basic living expenses like food and clothes.

Andy Battaglia

You can't read. I assure you a cosmo did not sell for $12 in 1998.

Guest

Anyone who bases their NYC budget on a tv show deserves the bitter surprise they get.

I love how brunch was listed, but nothing else. Who needs to eat anything more than 4 brunches a month? Psht.

HypocraticOath

This stupid show was one of the worst things to happen to NYC. Thanks horseyface.

ohmygodshutup

$33 in 'expensive cocktails?' How many did she have, 2?

rorir

Dude. CLOTHES. Highlights. Makeup. Cabs. It's going to be way more than that.

sleepswitheyesopen

Get out of here! Really? Fiction is inaccurate compared to real life? I guess my beat-up Delorean and massive pile of trash are going to have to sit idle a little bit longer.