Living in the Bay Area is expensive. We’re all trying to figure it out — and figure out how everyone else is making it work. In a new series, we want to explore how real people live and spend their money here, and offer you the chance to get personalized, judgment-free advice from our personal finance columnist (that’s me!) 

Welcome to “What I Spend in the Bay.”

We’re not asking you to start tracking today. Sign up if you’re interested and Jessica will fill you in on more details. 

We want to know where your money goes, and give you the chance to get budgeting advice from a pro. Here’s how to sign up to participate.

Sign up by filling out the form below. If selected, we’ll send you a template for your spending diary and reminders along the way. You can be completely anonymous if you want — we won’t publish any personally identifying information without your permission.

What we’ll want from you: 

1. Track every purchase you make for a week, including where, when and how much, plus any context you want to share about what you bought. 

2. Tell us where your money went that week, plus list your big-picture monthly line items (rent or mortgage, car payment, insurance, loans, etc.)

3. Get practical, actionable feedback from our advice columnist to change your budget for the better.

You’ll get custom financial advice from a pro and help other people make better money decisions — and maybe feel a little less alone about it all. 

We can’t wait to hear from you.