Woman shares what a New York City apartment is like when you are ‘not a squillionaire’ in viral TikTok

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A woman has given an honest tour of her New York City apartment, describing what it is like to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan when you are “not a squillionaire”.

Taryn Delanie, who goes by the username @taryntino21 on TikTok, shared the candid review of her apartment in July, in which she revealed that some of the realities of living in her Upper East Side home are unusable cabinets and slow water heaters.

“What it’s like to live on the fabulous Upper East Side when you’re not a squillionaire,” Delanie began the video, which she set to the opening soundtrack of Sex and the City.

Delanie then showed viewers a cabinet in her apartment’s kitchen, which was fitted in a way that makes it impossible to open due to the placement of her oven.

“Do you like cabinet space? Me neither. I have never, ever been able to open this, ever,” she explained as she showed herself attempting to open the cabinet door.

The TikTok then sees the New Yorker criticising the time it takes for her shower to heat up, with Delanie continuing: “In a rush? Don’t shower. It’s going to take at least 15 minutes for that water to become lukewarm.”

According to Delanie, another downside of living on Manhattan’s Upper East Side when you are not ultra-wealthy like the characters portrayed in Gossip Girl or Sex and the City is the general expensiveness of the neighbourhood.

“See that restaurant? I can’t afford it,” Delanie continued as she pointed out her window. “That restaurant? Can’t afford it. That restaurant shooed me out last Saturday like a stray cat because I can’t afford it.”

The candid description of Delanie’s apartment, and life as a New Yorker, has since gone viral on TikTok, where it has been viewed more than 17.7m times, with many finding the video relatable.

“And all for the price of $3,000 a month,” one person commented, while another said: “This is so damn real.”

Others offered Delanie advice for accessing her kitchen cabinet, with some suggesting she first open the oven door and then open the cabinet, while viewers also urged her to remove the door of the cabinet from its hinges.

The video also prompted some viewers to share their disbelief over the draw of living in New York City, with someone else commenting: “It astounds me that people still willingly live in NYC.”

The comment prompted a sarcastic response from Delanie, who replied: “There is truly nowhere else to exist that would appease me.”

As for how much fictional Carrie Bradshaw’s Upper East Side apartment would really cost, John Walkup, the co-founder of real estate data site UrbanDigs, previously told theNew York Post that it would likely be $3,000 to $3,500 a month.

However, if you were to rent the actual apartment where the show was filmed, which is actually located in Manhattan’s West Village, the monthly rent would be closer to $4,100, according to Walkup.