$700 in Checking?! $957 in Savings?! Carrie, Girl, WHAT? | "Sex and the City"

With $700 in her checking account and $957 in her savings, I have to ask, Carrie, girl, what have you been doing with all your sex column money? We've always known that Carrie's New York City lifestyle in "Sex and the City" was slightly skewed, however during Season 4 of the show we learned just how deep Carrie's financial situation was.

After Carrie's break up with Aiden, she found herself in a financial pickle. Unlike some of history's great love stories, this one ended in paperwork from the law offices of Gold and Vogel. Aiden gave his former-fiancée a 30-day notice to either vacate her apartment or buy him out for $30K. Talk about a rock and hard place (and not the usual hard place the ladies are used to talking about).

So what's a girl to do?

After claiming that "New York is a town of renters," the sexpert goes on the hunt for new digs, to which she finds the closet space unsatisfactory, not to mention way out of her budget. Then she looks into getting a loan from the bank and buying out Aiden. This is where things get interesting...

For a woman who is draped in the best designer threads, has a self-proclaimed "shoe addiction" to Monolo Blahnik's, is always out and about at the trendiest spots in the city, and not to mention lives in one of the most expensive cities in the world - her finances don't add up. At the bank the teller explains that due to the fact she has $700 in her checking and $957 in her savings account, Ms. Bradshaw is classified as an "undesirable candidate" for a bank loan.

NO SHIT!

This is where I have questions:

How is she living and affording her lifestyle?

She is a 35-year-old woman, did budgeting never cross her mind?

Planning for the future?

Perhaps this is a generational gap, but her friends seem to have been saving and planning while she was squandering her money away on shoes (I'm not judging, just saying). Much like another show set in NYC, "Friends," I guess we always assumed Carrie's lifestyle was unrealistic, but what's interesting is that her friend's lifestyles seem pretty on par. Miranda is a lawyer, Samantha owns her own public relations firm, and Charlotte we assume comes from family money, not to mention her settlement from her marriage with Trey. They all dress in designer clothes, own their homes, and indulge in all the city has to offer.

So Carrie, girl, what happened?

The real frustration with this episodes comes when both Miranda and Samantha offer Carrie the money for her down payment, and Charlotte,,, well, Charlotte sips her drink and looks away.

Awkward! ...But not wrong. While Charlotte could have been a little more supportive, she later goes on to tell Carrie that it's "not her job to fix her finances," and I agree. Carrie is a full-grown woman and as for myself at 32, I would never dream of relying on a friend for money, especially not $30K!

Prior to this, Big also offered Carrie the money, to which Samantha exclaimed, "Take the money! It's fluid, someone needs it - you give it, you need it - you take it!"

While I'm sure many will have a differing of opinion here, I would have taken the money. Big is a friend, in a stable financial situation, and has put Carrie in some undesirable situations. In the end, Carrie rips up Big's check and decides to leverage Charlotte's wedding ring as loan for her down payment.

It appears by the end of the episode that Carrie is turning over a new leaf and getting her act together - personally and financially. So what's the moral of this story? I don't know about, but I am feeling pret-ty good about my financial choices when compared to Ms. Bradshaw. Carrie always appeared to be a wild child of the 80's, the decade of excess, so it might be that she just never got around to thinking out her life plan for the long haul.

Nonetheless, let this be a cautionary tale to always keep up with your finances and save where you can or else you'll end up a "Fendi Bag Lady."

What always perplexed you most about the "Sex and the City" lifestyle?