A young New Yorker we'll call Minerva McGonagall* was tired of dipping into her savings to keep up with her Manhattan lifestyle.



Her $45k salary was not enough and she needed at least an extra $500 a month and sometimes $1,000 to pay her credit card bills and afford her $1,475 a month apartment in Murray Hill.



Then she discovered Match.com– the perfect site for a broke 23-year-old.



“Before I barely had enough money to pay for food,” said McGonagall. “After using Match.com I found I wasn’t going into debt anymore.”

McGonagall started eating out five nights a week using a rotation of different guys she met through the dating site. McGonagall kept things simple—no more than five dates with the same guy.

The investment banker types were thrilled to woo her with extraordinary restaurants like the underground taqueria La Esquina and a Japanese restaurant, Megu, in Tribeca. One guy even took her to a champagne bar and purchased a $200 bottle.



McGonagall went from easily spending $500 a month on dinners alone to having someone else dole out an average of $60-plus per night. She also stopped eating lunch and opted for a light breakfast to save even more.

According to our calculations, McGonagall made over $1,200 a month.

Match.com does require a $50 monthly subscription, but the dates more than made up for the entry price.

“I mean, a guy buys me three drinks at $15 a pop and that right there made up for my Match fee,” said McGonagall.

McGonagall's roommates played the money-saving game as well. In fact, McGonagall first learned about online dating after watching one of her roommates go on extravagant outings every night.

Two weeks later, McGonagall and her other roommate joined.



“We made ground rules,” said McGonagall.

One of them called for making spreadsheets about each guy who took them out for their drinks and/or meals. It included names, photos and details from their Match.com accounts.

The girls also let each other know where they were going for the night. And they never let guys pick them up at their apartment and instead met up at a public location.

After awhile at their escapades, they soon learned how prevalent the online dating scene had become in New York City. McGonagall commonly ran into people she recognized from the site, and discovered that others using Match.com averaged at least ten dates before meeting her.

It’s no surprise considering New York City ranks as the number one online dating city, according to a survey of singles by SNAP Interactive, a social media site. But as popular as online dating had become, and as much of a great saving tactic it was, McGonagall eventually tired of the scene.



“It was exhausting," she said. "I needed my sleep and I was done playing the game."

McGonagall seems to have retired for good—she currently has a boyfriend.

*Update: We've disabled comments on this post because they were getting out of control. We have also changed the name of the woman in the story because people were taking it waaaay too seriously.