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Do Over: Carrie Bradshaw Math, Revisited
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 22, 2011
Modified Jun 4, 2018
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 22, 2011
Modified Jun 4, 2018
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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 writer 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).
Tagged
carrie bradshaw
math
sex and the city
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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