Gilmore Girls budget

[MadamePresident]

Have you ever question tv character's budgets?

I've often wondered if Lorelai and Rory would have stopped eating out so much and learned to cook, if Lorelai would have had enough money to pay for Rory's tuition. Then she would not have had to go to her parents for the tuition money. Of course without Luke or Emily, the show would be much less interesting...

[Pom]

OMG, I thought I was the only one pondering the budget at the GG's house. LOL. She didn't have money for termite damage, tuition, etc... but there was always shopping, eating out, great outfits

It's okay to judge if it's a tv show right?

[hulley]

I have thought that about shows, but more like Friends and other HCOL based shows.
I'm guessing whatever Lorelei's salary was, it would have been equal to tuition at a place like Chilton. I'm surprised she didn't get a full scholarship.

[Deleted]

LOL, I thought the same thing in the show. Except my incredulousness was focused more on Lane and her rockstar wannabe boyfriend. How do you support twins on a part time diner waiter salary? And why are you so breezy about it?!??

[toesie]

Haha, I wondered the same thing! Also Lane and other band members. How do they afford an apartment and food and whatnot.

[toesie]

Oh yeah, also Luke. I didn't think you could make that much money from owning a diner. He had money to buy the whole building next door. And extra 30K in a checking account to loan Lorelai.

[Deleted]

I have spent way too much time thinking about this as I watched and re-watched the show. How did she afford that house? All the eating out and the junk food? Remember when she bought all the delivery food when Rory went to college, that had to be $500 in delivery!

[Deleted]

Nov 21, 2014 11:40:42 GMT -5 toesie said:

Oh yeah, also Luke. I didn't think you could make that much money from owning a diner. He had money to buy the whole building next door. And extra 30K in a checking account to loan Lorelai.

I actually thought this was feasible.  He didn't have to buy his own building, it was his dads.  He lived up stairs, so he had no rent or mortgage.  

[h]

There is some unexplained excess, yes, but it does not bother me near as much as basically every TV show set in NYC in the last 20 years.

Chandler made enough to pay for a large 2 bedroom apartment in NYC and support himself and an unemployed actor while working as a transpondster? Carrie Bradshaw wrote one column a week yet had a great apartment and $40,000 worth of shoes? I will buy an inn keeper in rural CT eating at a diner too often over that.

[hamster]

I feel like you guys are missing the point of vegging out and watching tv....

[sicilygirl]

I always do this with TV shows! It's annoying, but I can't help it!

[tacosforlife]

Top prep schools aren't cheap, though. Even without all the takeout, I doubt Lorelei could afford Chilton. I mean, look at the wealth of the other kids for a comparison.

I can totally get behind Lorelei being able to afford the termite repairs if she didn't eat every breakfast at Luke's, though!

[gt7301b]

Nov 21, 2014 12:16:18 GMT -5 hamster said:

I feel like you guys are missing the point of vegging out and watching tv....

Half the episodes involved them eating at Luke's, a scene with them deciding when to spend their $50 dining out budget just wouldn't have been the same.

[msmerymac]

It didn't bother me because I was probably 17 or 18 when it started and I didn't think of a place like Star's Hollow being HCOL. It's outside Hartford, right? (Yes, I know it's not real.) I would imagine Hartford is more MCOL, certainly better than Stamford or Greenwich. But yeah, I wouldn't have thought of that. I probably thought it was lucky that Lorelai was actually able to support herself and give Rory a good life with the strained relationship she had with her family and therefore little support.

ETA: And I went to a private high school, but in my city, the good private schools weren't that expensive. I'm aware that top prep school are like $30-$40k or more per year, but my high school is only now like $10k, and the most expensive private high school in my home city is maybe barely $20k, but was definitely more like $10k or $12k when I was in high school. My school was like $5k, and I still had friends who did work study or received financial aid, so it doesn't strike me as odd that someone would need help paying for it.

[Deleted]

Nov 21, 2014 12:16:18 GMT -5 hamster said:

I feel like you guys are missing the point of vegging out and watching tv....

At least it's more relaxing than watching Carrie make bad money choices on SATC.

[zitiqueen]

I wish they would have mentioned just once if Christopher paid child support.

Don't forget about the cell phones. It seemed like they each had a different one every episode.

[Deleted]

My theory is that Luke didn't charge them.

[v]

Nov 21, 2014 12:29:18 GMT -5 @mrschicken said:

Nov 21, 2014 12:16:18 GMT -5 hamster said:

I feel like you guys are missing the point of vegging out and watching tv....

At least it's more relaxing than watching Carrie make bad money choices on SATC.

And lily on how I met your mother

[kadams767]

Nov 21, 2014 12:53:11 GMT -5 v said:

Nov 21, 2014 12:29:18 GMT -5 @mrschicken said:

At least it's more relaxing than watching Carrie make bad money choices on SATC.

And lily on how I met your mother

But at least the show actually confirmed that Lily was overspending and had incredible amounts of debt (and Marshall too). 

[zitiqueen]

Nov 21, 2014 11:35:28 GMT -5 @mrschicken said:

LOL, I thought the same thing in the show. Except my incredulousness was focused more on Lane and her rockstar wannabe boyfriend. How do you support twins on a part time diner waiter salary? And why are you so breezy about it?!??

I'm guessing the 62 Koreans probably shelled out enough for them to live on at least for a while. Well, except for Lester Chin. He probably stiffed them.

[tine]

Yes! This always bothers me on TV shows. This and how on most TV shows the characters all seem to get high paying/high power jobs out of no where. Not so much on the Gilmore Girls but like on One Tree Hill they all went from middle class high school kids to super rich and famous. Still lived in Tree Hill though

[polarbearfans]

I figured it was a small town, so neighbors helping each other out, the diner is probably super cheap too.

[ssmjlm]

I always figured part of the deal with Richard and Emily paying for Chilton included an allowance into Lorelai's account that just wasn't spoke of.

I do hope Christopher paid child support, he was pretty well off.

There was a story years ago in regard to tv shows apartments/houses and they said that Friends had the most unrealistic apartment for their incomes.

[kadams767]

Nov 21, 2014 14:23:03 GMT -5 liteningme said:

I have analyzed this much more than I should, too.

There are references throughout the series that Stars Hollow is a very low cost of living area. The main industry is tourism (Lorelai's inns; Historic Stars Hollow, etc.) So their incomes are low and so are their expenses.

IRL I'm sure Rory would have received full need-based financial aid to Chilton, if they offered it. No way would a single mother with only her GED (at that point), working in hospitality management, be expected to come up with tuition for a prep school where most students are very wealthy.

I think their frivolous spending (dining out every meal, more excessive shopping than they probably should be doing) is actually realistic - some people with low incomes tend to just spend everything they have - and be in debt - rather than saving up. Some people don't have the mentality of saving money by cooking at home in order to slowly accumulate some savings - they just spend whatever they have 'till it's gone. And, there are several times throughout the series where it's shown that Lorelai has bad credit and no/minimal savings (ex. the loan for the termite repairs).

The $75K Lorelai received right before Rory started Yale - maybe that would have legally counted toward her income for that particular year, and so they wouldn't qualify for financial aid from Yale - but, IRL, that would only have been one year, and for the other 3 years I think Rory would have qualified.

To the last point, Christopher inherited all that money at some point while Rory was at Yale and she decided to ask him to pay for Yale.  

[hulley]

I didn't think of child support - Christopher came from a wealthy family, so I hope there was a steady income coming in from him as well as Lorelai's money.

Did Lorelei have a trust fund?

I thought Christopher made all that money with some start-up company or something? Time to re-watch!

[Deleted]

Nov 21, 2014 15:02:27 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

To the last point, Christopher inherited all that money at some point while Rory was at Yale and she decided to ask him to pay for Yale.  

Who else wanted to punch him in the face every time he would chuckle and say "I'm loaded!"

[kadams767]

Nov 21, 2014 15:06:36 GMT -5 @mrschicken said:

Nov 21, 2014 15:02:27 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

To the last point, Christopher inherited all that money at some point while Rory was at Yale and she decided to ask him to pay for Yale.  

Who else wanted to punch him in the face every time he would chuckle and say "I'm loaded!"

He was such a DB throughout the whole show. 

[rootbeerfloat]

Nov 21, 2014 15:06:36 GMT -5 @mrschicken said:

Nov 21, 2014 15:02:27 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

To the last point, Christopher inherited all that money at some point while Rory was at Yale and she decided to ask him to pay for Yale.  

Who else wanted to punch him in the face every time he would chuckle and say "I'm loaded!" appear on screen?

[Deleted]

Nov 21, 2014 15:17:34 GMT -5 @rennido said:

Gah! I'm only on season TWO guys!

I think you're coming down with something.  

Get thy ass to the couch and put dh on kiddo duty.  

(It works like that, right?  Signed, non parent)

[lilibet]

Well you just know that Taylor's prices would be crazy high so it was probably cheaper for them to eat at Luke's vs buy more at the market to cook.

Plus Lorelei can't cook, so there's that.