26-year-old lives in Manhattan on $53,000 a year—here's how she makes it work: ‘I just don’t spend a lot of money’

This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which examines how people earn, spend and save their money.

Living in New York City’s Manhattan borough on $53,000 a year isn’t easy.

For Eileen Tyrrell, a bookstore manager who lives with two roommates in the pricey Chelsea neighborhood, making it work means saying no in a city seemingly built for spending. In Manhattan, a single adult needs about $68,000 a year just to cover basic necessities, before taxes, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator.

“People ask me all the time how it’s possible to live here on that income,” Tyrrell tells CNBC Make It. “I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s hard, but it’s so worth it.”

For Tyrrell, 26, making the math work comes down to three things: having almost no debt, paying relatively low rent for Manhattan and keeping her everyday spending low.