How I Afford To Live In NYC At 19 | The Honest Answer 

Love your videos Michelle! I’m a junior at 19 in college (I have gotten a year ahead) and I have a few tips too! 1. If you can handle it, don’t take the minimum amount of credits your university offers to be a full-time student. At my university, there is a set price for tuition, rather than paying by the credit, for full-time students. This means people taking 12 credits and people taking 18 credits are paying the same amount! Don’t take on more than you can handle, but definitely keep this in mind if you want to try to graduate a semester or so early! 2. Plan out what you want to eat for the week - or two weeks - and THEN go shopping. The worst is when you just go grocery shopping to get the basics, but then you want to make a cool meal and you don’t have all the ingredients and have to go to the store again. It really helps for budgeting and makes your week less stressful when figuring out what to eat. 3. To go with the last one, embrace leftovers! For me, I like to cook my dinners, and have leftovers for lunch. This helps save time and money when you plan this out. The downside to this, is that sometimes you can get sick of the food if you make too much. 4. I totally agree with making your coffee at home! I am personally more of a tea drinker, and this also applies to people who love tea! Keurigs are great, but they also produce a lot of waste, so consider getting a reusable filter for the Keurig! It’s great for people who only want one cup in the morning, and also great for the environment! 5. Lastly, save all your coins! A good way to budget is pulling out a certain amount of cash each week and only allowing yourself to spend that amount. Then, whenever you get coins back, put them in a jar to save! You can use this money to pay for textbooks, buy your Christmas gifts, spending money for a trip, or you could even donate it to a charity! It doesn’t help you keep track of where your are spending your money, but it definitely helps limit the amount you spend!

I love that you honestly said that you weren't planning on wearing makeup and just filmed this with no makeup on! Keep doing what you are doing and keep inspiring! You definitely inspire me!

wow you have to pay $120 a mONTH for public transport? In Belgium we're paying $180 for a YEAR. That just goes to show how expensive NYC is indeed damn

Michelle your skin is looking amazing!!!

Thank you for ALWAYS being so real Michelle (talking about your latest vlog as well). You never fail to inspire me. Thank YOU.

Thanku for being so real and honest with us Michelle!!!!

😍😍tbh I didn't even know that I wanted to see this kind of video but once I've seen it, I'm so grateful that it's up

its hard out here, i apply to jobs and never get them while everybody shopping i cant even shop

Michelle, you are beautiful inside and out! Such a world changer and a radiant woman! I aspire to be like you and these videos on nyc really help me out bc hopefully in 2 yrs I will be there as well, so thank you!

This is so helpful. I wish more lifestyle vloggers made these sorts of videos!

*I love how practical this was, YES PEOPLE SAVE YOUR MONEY EVEN IF YOU'RE ONLY 14. College is expensive :) I've been saving since I was 16, about 80% of my checks, but I;m going for aviation so it's expensive no matter what direction you take!*

This was such a great video Michelle! Thanks for the tips! And your skin looks so clear girl!

Mitch! I love your videos and you are so real that you always inspire me, I've followed you since forever! Awesome to see what you have achieved 💛💛✨🙌🏽

For the make your own coffee tip: I recommend anyone in a dorm please look up specifics about what is allowed before you invest money in a coffee maker!! Where I used to go to school things like keurigs weren't allowed so be careful! But I adore my coffee maker and I use it every day so I would definitely recommend

love these type of videos!!

Thank you! I feel richer already. Every month it seems like I have less & less money lol.

I love when you rock your bare face Michelle!! I feel like no make up allows your inner confidence and beauty to really glow and shine through. You're such a positive influence, no matter what you're going through in life ❤️

You're seriously such an inspiration to me. I'm 19 as well and I just think that I can learn so much from you! Lots of love from Berlin, Germany

What helps me saving money is paying in cash and never by card. That way I spent waaaay less money because I see how it is getting less in a physical form. On a daily bases I never carry more than twenty bucks on me.

such a cool & helpful video! I'm hoping to be able to live in NY soon so this is def helpful! Also, you're glowingggg girl! xoxo

thanks for the helpful tips Michelle!

Thanks michelle! I think its amazing that you got a whole year off because of your AP credits! I've been taking AP classes my entire 4 years of high school but I can never seem to pass those AP tests you must be working really hard, thank you for the tips about choosing college :)

loved this!!

i wish you would have acknowledged your privilege in this video! I know you've mentioned in the past that your parents pay for your tuition so it would have nice for you to mention that is it a factor of how you're able live and attend school in nyc

Loved all these tips ❤️ managing money is hard!!

After watching this video I’m reminded that I’m very lucky we don’t have tuitition fees here in Germany. I didn’t move somewhere else but if I did I only would have to pay for rent, food, etc.

love these tips, Michelle! I need to figure out how credit and stuff works because I know nothing... here are my tips that might be helpful for anyone: get a summer job in high school (you will still have lots of time to be a kid and do fun things with friends), save, track your spending with an excel sheet (not just by looking at the bank account), use Pocket points if you are a college student to get discounts!

Could you do a video on what meals you made when you started living on your own? What healthy meals you started making and how you learned to make them?

I think it’s awesome that you’ve made a video about this, nobody teaches young people about saving money nowadays! Good job😊

You look great with no makeup (:

GIRL! You rock without make up I'm always SO glad to see youtubers without make up because it shows younger girls that they don't have to wear it unless they want to. Ily!

How I afford to live in NYC at 18: well I have to rn for school and I've accepted my lifelong debt with all these loans

Girl, your skin looks so good! :)

thanks for the tips

you look great!

YOU ROCK MICHELLE

please tell us how to skip a year with ap classes

I legit didn’t even notice you weren’t wearing makeup!! You’re glowing.

Oh my god, thank you! I'm moving to London in 6 months and trying to come up with a finance plan... Thank you! Btw, you look like a godess, wow you go! :))

Hi please help JUST tell me how much a high school student can earn weekly in NY with part time job and also if I live in NY(as high school student) by myself. Can afford NY LIKE rent and other stuff

how many ap classes did you take to get a year's worth of credit?

I'm sorry but what does building your credit mean ? Is it related to your bank account or what ? (I'm not from the US but I'm planning to go to college there, that's why I'm curious) love u ❤

You look SO good without makeup!!

Wonderful video!!!! :)

Omg yes French press is my favorite way to drink coffee ☕️

Hy Michelle Reed u r Soo beautiful ur videos are owsom l always waiting fr ur videos ...today it's Soo shocking fr mee when I check ur old videos that ur doing ur utube video since last 6 years lot of love from pakisatn...keep it up

What would you do for a job if you didn’t do RU-vid ?

It really helps when you can get sponsors here paying $$$ enabling one to live comfortably in NYC.

Grate advice Michelle. Btw you are gorgeous with or without make up😊

I would count coffee as a costly habit

Wait, so you only have a year left of college?

You should do a closet tour!!

Yay ❤️

How do you make money from RU-vid?

College students HAVE to look into slugbooks.com when buying textbooks! They compare prices from sites all across the internet to give you the best price. I used it all four years of college and it saved me so so much money!

where do you go to school?? I’m 19 also and thinking of transferring to somewhere in nyc! I currently go to school @ the university of rhode island

Good

I'm 13 and I am in 7 grade !!!!!!but your advice is always very helpful!!!!

So you're 19!!! ohhh

“you want to make sure it won’t hurt your finances in the future” yeah you wouldn’t see anyone going to college🤣

GET A ROOM MATE WHEN YOU GET HERE THEN SAVE UP FOR YOUR OWN PLACE

Watch this video.... I'm gonna save all my money ;)

either be poor or rich they get the most benefits in nyc lol.

The real answer: make $100k+ a year.