5 tips I wish I knew before moving to NYC

I'm approaching the five-year mark of living in New York City. I moved here when I was 18 with less than $10,000 in the bank and I lived in a three-story apartment in Soho, making six figures, never working a corporate job. So if you're wanting to move here or moving here soon, here my top five tips that saved me a lot of money over the years. Number one is getting the Bilt card. This is specific for paying your rent in New York City. Typically when you pay your rent, you pay from a bank account which you don't earn points, but with Bilt, you can connect your bank account to this card and you get to earn up to, I believe it's 1.25 points per dollar spent on rent. I got the Bilt card my second year living in New York and my rent was around $3K at the time, so I was getting like 3,000 points every single month, every single month. And with those points, you can pay for dinners in New York. They have a lot of partnerships with restaurants here and I believe other places as well. So you can pay with points and you rack up those points living in New York because rent is so high. Also if you pay with your Bilt card at those partnering restaurants, you also get higher points. I love Bilt, I still use it and I highly recommend it if you're moving here or if you pay rent and you don't have the Bilt card. Number two is something that I learned not too long ago. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. But if you travel a lot when you move to New York, especially at JFK, don't get an Uber or a Lyft, just get a taxi because there's a flat rate to go from Manhattan to JFK, and I believe it's $89 or $79. I think it's $89. But Ubers can get so expensive and although a taxi is typically per minute, they have a flat rate for JFK and it's always just the price that it is. Number three is groceries. I struggled so much my first couple years living in New York because carrying groceries in New York is a workout in itself and it's so uncomfortable, especially if you cook a lot. I highly recommend investing in just whole foods delivery. I get it through Amazon Prime and it has made my life 10 times more enjoyable, 10 times easier. I don't get like rings around my arms. I used to be in so much pain and dread going to the grocery store before I started getting delivery. It's like $10 and it's so worth it. Highly recommend. Number four, when I first moved to the city, I did not have money to spend on clothes and I wanted new outfits because I was going to so many different things. You meet so many people when you first move here. So I always wanted a new outfit, but I obviously couldn't afford it. So Pickle is my fourth tip on saving money. I was one of the first users to ever go on the app. If you're not familiar with Pickle, you basically can rent out your clothes or rent other people's clothes in the city. They also have other places as well. So if I wanted to buy a piece that's expensive, I knew that I could make the money back by renting out on Pickle. For example, I have this one dress that's worth like $500 and I've made around $2K just renting out this dress. So good way to make easy money and get new outfits without spending a lot. Last but not least is investing in a workout membership or gym membership. When I first moved to the city, I wanted to try so many different things, but I was paying the fee per class, which is around $50 in New York and it was racking up and I did not like spending that much money on just one class. So I highly recommend getting an Equinox membership. I invested in that, my life has changed because they have a steam room, they have showers, they have classes, they have a gym membership. It is expensive, but it's worth it, especially living in New York because nothing's cheap and that's a good option for having classes and a gym in one. But if you find like a workout studio that you also love, I'm a member at CorePower Yoga, I go pretty much every single day and it's way cheaper getting the monthly membership than paying per class. But if you found like a workout studio that you also love, I have a link for a free week in my bio.