We track our expenses using gnucash, which can generate cool reports like this one:

http://www.getdropbox.com/u/86/appjet-summer07-expenses.gif

So that's how we (2 of us) spent most of our $15k summer funds.

Wow. I think it's a great play but I would never see Rent so many times that is costs me $6,825.

$150/month for phones?

I don't know what I'm going to do when Sprint kicks me off of my old Radioshack employee plan. $35/month with taxes for 3000 minutes, 7PM nights, unlimited text messaging, "unlimited" EVDO and a $50/month credit towards anything you can buy from within the phone software, like games and ringtones and Pandora and Loopt.

that includes the purchase price of 2 iPhones.

That doesn't seem to make much sense. Does your app target the IPhone?

Right. Enjoy.

The YC money is more than enough for the items you mentioned. That is, given your bills don't include an existing mortgage or payments on your new 911 Turbo.

Btw, if you're applying for the coming session, it's in Mountain View, not Mass.

I know, but seems my fingers don't. :) I'll leave my post as is so your comment will still make sense.

I'm not so worried about living expenses, but rather how to answer the relevant application question.

we spent it all on common living expenses. we spent our own money on random things we wanted just because.

we made it last forever. i think 15k lasted 4 1/2 months for two people. our rent was 1800 in a SF. and the only reason it went that quickly is we had a month where we spent more than we realized by accident. it was really easy, the only thing i did less was go out for restaurant food and beer less.

(socialmoth)

Hookers. Caviar. Purple bud and purple pills.

and good medical coverage

My plans are to spend as little as possible on living expenses. Just need one room and a kitchen for me and my co-founder. Food shouldn't be too much since I love to cook (no need to buy packaged food) and I'm sure there's more than a couple cheap farmers markets in the bay area. The more money we can put into operating the business, the better.

Friendly advice: don't skimp on living expenses. When everything else in your life is going to hell in a handbasket, you'll be grateful that you didn't cheap out on your apartment.

This is the perspective of a grad student who made the mistake of living extra-frugally for too long; I only became productive once I got it through my head that it was worth paying a little bit for a good living situation.

"the more we can put into operating the business the better"

What is there to add to operating expenses if you are just building a prototype? Also I have to say that living (and working) in a nice place makes you (well, at least me) immesely more productive.

"living expenses while in Mass"

This session is in SF

15k each in my opinion is trash, they can keep it. The best reward is the networking aspect. Meeting people in the field and getting to know people that can really fund your idea and help you get it off the ground.

I'm not a founder...but...

I think we're going to put like 30-40% into living expenses, and the rest into the company for things like:

Computers Internet Server Space Web Service Credits Advertising Press Releases ETC ETC

Lottery tickets.

If you bet half on red and half on black you can't lose!

They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.