“I’m a little stretched at the moment”: how an IT help desk worker lives on around $70,000 a year

Who: Khôi Hồ, 40

What he does: IT support at a management consulting firm. “If my company’s consultants have problems with email, or calendars, or messaging, they call me.”

What he makes: Around $70,000, before tax.

Some of how he spends it: Mortgage payments and maintenance on a one-bedroom condo near Donlands and Cosburn, purchased last year: $1,647 a month. (“I would say I’m a little stretched at the moment, but I’m paying less than I paid when I was renting.”) Utilities: $101 a month. Car payments on a 2011 Kia Optima: $236, biweekly. Insurance: $138, monthly. Transportation: $122, monthly. (“It’s mostly for gasoline.”) Internet and cell service, including the cost of a VPN subscription and Netflix: $236 a month.

What he bought in one week: Groceries: $359, paid for by his partner, Juan Carlos, a 33-year-old contractor who also lives in the condo. (“He pays for the groceries 100 per cent, but nothing else at the moment.”) An evening at Fly, a nightclub in the Church-Wellesley Village: $62, including beers and cover. (“We go maybe once or twice a year. We left early, at 1:30 a.m., so you know it was bad.”) Dinner for four at Pho Com Vietnam: $64. (“I’m Vietnamese, so I frequently visit Vietnamese restaurants, maybe two, three times a month. I like the pho and the com tam.”) Lotto Max tickets: $10. (“I play every week, for two dollars. This week I bought extra.”)