Alicia Adamczyk
Thu, July 23, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC
48 min read
Spend a little time on financial forums or TikTok, and you’ll encounter a lot of chatter about DINKs, or Dual Income, No Kids — an acronym for households in which two spouses work outside the home and don’t have children. Day-in-the-life videos portray DINK power couples sleeping in on the weekends, traveling the world and maxing out retirement accounts. To some, this is as aspirational as it gets: DINKs can work hard, save more and spend their money and their time how they please. Equal parts jealousy and admiration ensue.
To others, DINKs — or DINKWADs (Dual Income, No Kids With a Dog), or any number of other social media-inspired acronyms — represent the perceived selfishness of younger generations, another indication that America is veering in the wrong direction as the birth rate plummets
In reality, DINKs account for just around 12% of married couples with at least one spouse in their 30s or 40s in the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis. (That is up from around 8% in 2013.) During the same period, the share of single-income couples with kids decreased from 34% to 27%, while the share of dual-income couples with kids increased from 52% to 55%. It is a notable shift, for sure. But it hardly marks some great unraveling of the American family
It is true that these couples have the potential to save and invest more than their counterparts who are parents: The median household income among DINKs was $193,900 in 2023 compared with $151,900 among dual-income couples with kids. They also have more flexibility to travel and make major inroads on non-child-related financial goals.
But plenty of conflicting feelings arise too. When you are the only one in your friend group without kids, it is easy to feel left out, overlooked or taken for granted. And there is never a shortage of criticism from parents and other elders about the nontraditional choice.
As an editor of The Purse, a personal finance website and newsletter, I wanted to know if DINKs really are better off — and how they are spending all that income. Below, six couples from across the country tell us about their financial goals, their thoughts on the term “DINK” and what they get up to on Saturdays and Sundays sans kids. Here are their receipts
About us:We are both financial professionals who enjoy hiking, golfing and other outdoor activities. After we get married next year, we plan to have kids, but for now we’re enjoying the free time and financial flexibility of our dual-income, no-kids lifestyle.
Location: San Francisco
Household income:$390,000
Monthly rent payment: $2,100 for a one-bedroom with a parking spot, which is a steal for our city. It is a combination of a COVID deal and rent control laws, and we are not moving until we have kids
Housing aside, what are your biggest expenses?Right now, we are saving for our wedding in 2027. It will be 200-plus people and cost probably close to $100,000, no matter how hard we try to get it lower. Although it’s more than I ever expected to spend, we’re fine with it. We can save monthly so we have the cash as the payments arise, so although it is an “extravagant” amount, we can afford it without offsetting other goals
What is travel like for you? How much do you spend each year?We travel often, usually around weddings or family events. I can’t remember the last time we planned a trip just for us, but we usually use these events as an opportunity for a longer stay in that location. For example, a European wedding weekend turns into 10 days, or a family reunion turns into a week at the beach. We’re right in the middle of wedding season for our friend group and cousins, and we’re averaging six weddings a year.
Last year, we definitely spent around $25,000 each on travel and related expenses. I think $20,000 a year each is realistic for us to budget until our wedding season abates.
Do you embrace the term “DINK”? What are the pros and cons of this lifestyle?I don’t, because we do think we will have children. Knowing we do plan to have children, I think we are fully embracing our lifestyle while it lasts. We max all savings and investment vehicles recommended for our stage of life, and we are planning with that child-future in mind.
More importantly, we have so much time for ourselves. We have extremely full and fun social lives, seeing friends and/or family three-plus times a week, both separately and together. We can plan a trip at the drop of a hat without worrying or going into debt. We indulge in expensive hobbies like golf and skiing. Although our housing is low, we could move into something market-price tomorrow without worry. We are not “fancy” at face value, but we certainly live a privileged life, and we are both proud of ourselves for getting to this point, so we want to enjoy it while it lasts.
There are currently zero cons. We’re happy and financially sound. I truly have nothing to complain about, and I am very grateful for it every day! I feel like it’s my duty to bask in it for my future self
Knowing we do plan to have children, I think we are fully embracing our lifestyle while it lasts
How does not having kids affect, if at all, how you spend and save your money?We are focused on saving for ourselves now (retirement accounts, health savings accounts, taxable brokerages and fat emergency funds in high-yield savings accounts) and our wedding next year. After that, I plan to divert the savings amounts for the wedding to accounts in preparation of having children, and to further pad our retirement accounts. It is not likely we will purchase a house in our area, as we don’t think the cost justifies the trade-offs for us, but this could change after kids. I know there will be tons of early-year costs, and I want to feel comfortable entering that period of life. However, our current focus is certainly our own retirement, investments and savings.
We live in a high-cost-of-living area, but it feels quite comfortable on our current incomes. I imagine once we add children, we will feel quite differently, so we’re oscillating between enjoying it while it lasts and planning for how to mitigate the brunt of that change
How do you typically spend your weekends?Drinks with friends, a long coffee walk in the city or hike nearby, maybe golf or skiing depending on the season, some household cleaning and random to-dos, maybe working if it’s a busier season or we fell behind. Usually, we are together 80% of the time on weekends unless one of us has one-on-one plans with a friend or a hobby they do alone, so we don’t do a lot of date nights unless we plan it with friends. If it’s just us two, we’ll cook at home together and hang out with a movie.
Weekend spending diary
Friday
We had plans to meet up with some of my friends and their partners at a local wine bar at 7 p.m., so I made dinner for us at home prior. I picked up the tab at the wine bar, but everyone paid mer my partner and me for a couple of glasses of wine, a shared cheese plate and tip. The bartender loves locals and didn’t charge us for a couple of drinks, which was nice!
After the wine bar, a smaller group went to a second spot. My partner and I picked up the tab, which was weirdly the same as at the first spot: $74
Friday total: $148
Saturday
We went for a walk and I bought a coffee in cash, which was probably $7
After, I drove to pick up something for the wedding — it’s a secret part of my day-of attire — that I bought on Facebook Marketplace. I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and I was still obsessing over it, so I decided to just get it. I spent $300
My partner’s friend had invited us to golf, but it was over $250 each for greens fees, so we declined and met them for dinner instead. We had hot pot and split it equally, spending $97.60
Saturday total: $404.60
Sunday
My partner got six tickets for great seats at a baseball game through his work (he gets this offer randomly about two to three times per year), and we brought one couple I am close to and one he is close to as a little mixing of the friend groups, which was really fun. The other couples bought our drinks, hot dogs and snacks as a thank you for the invite.
A good friend of mine was hosting a pizza night where she made everything from scratch. It was delicious and a free dinner
Sunday total: $0
Monday
It is Memorial Day, so we were off work. I ordered a grocery delivery for about $60, which is lower than our usual weekly haul because we had a trip planned to see family across the country in a few days. I meal prepped while my partner cleaned the apartment. Then we did a whole lot of nothing
Monday total: $60
Weekend total: $612.60
About us:We are a physician and a finance professional with busy schedules who love to spend on dining out and travel. We also love to spend time with our niece and dogs
Ages:37 and 35
Location: North Carolina
Household income:$530,000 in 2025
Monthly housing payment: $2,000 a month to live multigenerationally with family. This is our portion.
Housing aside, what are your biggest expenses?In 2025, the biggest line items in our budget were travel and eating out
What is travel like for you? How much do you spend each year?Last year, we spent a little under $20,000 on travel, including all meals and related expenses
We typically do one larger trip as a couple for about a week, which is the majority of this budget. We’ve only spent this amount on travel in the past two years. The first time was for our honeymoon, and the second time was for our anniversary trip. The other travel we do is pretty local/driving distance, and expenses are fairly reasonable.
We’re trying to save more money this year, so we’ve only spent a little over $1,000 on travel so far. I’m not sure if we’ll do a larger trip; the travel we do have planned is a family beach vacation, where our portion should be a couple of hundred dollars, a wedding weekend and a lake weekend at a friend’s family place. All these places are within driving distance of our home.
Do you embrace the term “DINK”? What are the pros and cons of this lifestyle?I’m not sure that we do. We are very fortunate and privileged with our careers and lifestyle. Most of our friends and family have kids, so it can be hard to find people in a similar phase of life as you. We love our family members’ and friends’ children, and we try to include them in our hangouts. We do one-on-one activities with our niece regularly and try to ensure we have a strong relationship with her.
Some of the pros of being DINKs are that we have more free time and flexibility, and we’re able to save more money. If we want to go to a baseball game at the last minute (as we did this weekend), we can; if we want to sleep in on the weekends, we have that freedom. We don’t have to worry about child care during a snow day or child care logistics in general.
Some of the cons are that basically all our friends and family have children, so it can be challenging to make last-minute plans with people or have someone to do certain activities with. I also worry that we are missing out on the experience of being parents and the bond that may come from raising a child. This is one reason it is so important to me that we devote a lot of time to our niece, as she is probably the closest person we have to being our “child.” Sometimes I do worry about who will take care of us down the road, but there’s no guarantee that a child would, so I try to push that thought out of my brain.
We are trying to meet more people in a similar phase of life as us and have been able to do a double date with another DINK couple recently.
How does not having kids affect, if at all, how you spend and save your money?It affects us greatly. We are able to aggressively save for our future and retirement since we aren’t also paying for child care or child-related expenses. We can be generous with our niece and make contributions to her 529 plan, which we may not be able to do if we had our own child. Although we are pretty frugal given our income, we don’t really worry about how much money we spend eating out. We go to pretty normal non-sit-down places most of the time, but we do it pretty frequently. I would probably bug my husband more about getting this number down if we had a child.
We are able to aggressively save for our future and retirement since we aren’t also paying for child care or child-related expenses
How do you typically spend your weekends?We are both off every other weekend, so one weekend I am pretty much solo while my husband works. The other weekend, we may go out to brunch or dinner and get takeout for the other meal. If the weather is nice, maybe we go to some sort of game or activity. If the weather is dreary, we probably hang out at home with our pups. We recently joined a neighborhood pool, so we’ll start incorporating this more. We also got a membership to a driving range and par-3 golf course.
Most Fridays that we’re both off, we go to a pizza place/brewery with another family. On Saturday mornings, I’ll walk our dogs and work out while my husband sleeps in and relaxes at home.
Weekend spending diary
Friday
My husband was off and I worked from home. It was a little rainy, so our thoughts of going to the pool or the driving range after work were out. My husband ordered takeout for his breakfast ($10.99), and I picked up takeout for my lunch ($16.69).
Once I got off work, we went to an indoor putt-putt course. It cost $31.05 per person to play, and we spent $18.45 on two beers and one glass of wine (we used a $5-off-$20 coupon)
After, we went to a minor league baseball game in our neighboring town. We used to go to these games a lot while we were dating, so it was a fun outing. It was a little chilly and drizzly, but my husband splurged and got us first row seats near first base ($126.85). We tried to grab food at a nearby restaurant before the game, but there was a 45-minute wait, so we both got food at the concession stands ($53.29). We also spent $12 on parking.
Back at home, I did some online shopping, spending $73.79 at Dermstore to restock my EltaMD SPF moisturizer while it was on sale. I then spent $300 on a friend’s diaper fund on their baby registry — they are having twins!
Friday total: $674.16
Saturday
The weather was still dreary, so we had a hard time trying to decide what to do for the day. My husband got breakfast takeout again ($10.99), and a little later we went out to lunch at a sit-down restaurant ($51.73)
We then decided the dogs needed an outing, so we took them to an indoor dog park bar. They hadn’t been on their walks for a couple of days due to the rain. It cost $12 for their admission, $6 for parking and $25.99 for our drinks
We had dinner and drinks at our local sports bar ($134.82). We hung out and watched the NHL playoffs and our team won! Then we walked to a cocktail bar and split a drink. ($19.32)
Surprise: My therapy bill came through ($139.47)
Saturday total: $400.32
Sunday
My husband got breakfast takeout ($10.99) — notice a pattern? I slept in, then walked to the sports bar to pick up my car.
For lunch, I went to a local Mediterranean place I hadn’t been to in a while ($20.01)
REI was having its anniversary sale and I’m a member. I went to the store and tried on hiking shoes. I was able to use my 20% off a full-price item to get some new Altras for $132.16
The sun was FINALLY out, so we decided to go to the driving range. On the way there, my husband got a snack ($12.60). We each hit a bucket of balls and then did the 18-hole putting course. This was free (or prepaid) because of our annual membership (which I bid on during a charity auction and got for a good price: $500)
On the way home, I had to fill up my gas tank ($57.49), and we picked up salad and wings for dinner ($30.14). After dinner, we got ice cream ($19.86)
Sunday total: $283.25
Weekend total: $1,357.73
About us:We are a marketing manager and a small-business owner who recently moved to Philadelphia after spending time on the West Coast
Ages:36 and 37
Location: Philadelphia
Household income:$215,000
Monthly mortgage payment: $2,844 (including taxes and insurance)
Housing aside, what are your biggest expenses?Usually eating out and groceries. We don’t do a lot of shopping, and our car is paid off, so mostly outside of our mortgage, we spend money on trying new restaurants and general grocery shopping. I’d say groceries run us around $700 to $800 a month, and eating out is an additional $600 or so
What is travel like for you? How much do you spend each year and what are vacations like for you?We’re starting to travel more, but we never spent a ton on it in the past, mostly because we were living in California, and the majority of the travel we did was seeing our family back East.
So far this year, I would say we are probably spending around $4,000 to $5,000, which isn’t a lot to some, but is new for us! We’ve gone to California, Washington, D.C., New York City and Connecticut, and we are planning trips to Chicago and Montreal later this summer
Do you embrace the term “DINK”? What are the pros and cons of this lifestyle?We prefer DINKWAD because of our dog Deon, but yes, we do! To be honest, we tried for a few years to have a kid and went through a few rounds of IVF, but it didn’t pan out. So while reevaluating what we want in life, we decided to pause on that and embrace the lifestyle we have now. Which, honestly, is super-great and allows us the freedom of choice and to save a decent amount of money per month too. Whenever I get an itch for having kids, I go be the cool uncle and hang with my nephew. I also get to spoil him, which I love doing.
The pros are definitely getting to make more of your own schedule and have more freedom in the sense that you only have to worry about yourself and your partner. You have options and are more flexible in lifestyle choices
The main con is that sometimes it gets hard being the only DINK in your friend group. So many of my friends have kids or are about to, and it’s just hard to make time to see everyone, or even make new friends if they have kids.
How does not having kids affect, if at all, how you spend and save your money?I am saving a lot of money by not having to pay for day care, supplies, etc. My wife and I do pretty well and save a good amount, and I don’t think we would be able to if we had kids. I also don’t think my wife would be able to run her two businesses as well.
It’s a good question, though, because I often am so wrapped up in retirement saving. But knowing that we may not have any need to pass our money down, maybe we’re doing too much now in terms of saving.
How do you typically spend your weekends?We used to go out a lot on weekends to bars, etc., but now on Friday nights we pretty much find a local spot, grab some food, take a nice walk and head back home.
Knowing that we may not have any need to pass our money down, maybe we’re doing too much now in terms of saving
Sometimes I volunteer for a local organization here in Philly, and I also reserve my weekends for self-care. We also like to explore different neighborhoods in the city or hit the trails for a hike. Especially as the weather is getting nicer out, we try to spend a lot of time outside. We usually make coffee at home every day, but on weekends, we like to treat ourselves to our favorite spots as we’re out and about.
Sunday mornings, my ritual is Trader Joe’s right when it opens at 9 a.m. (I am usually first in line). Then we do things around the house, like cleaning and getting ready for the week. We usually go see my in-laws or my sister, depending on their schedule. Writing all of this makes me sound a little boring, but we’re low maintenance!
Weekend spending diary
Friday
Around 3 p.m. I met a friend for coffee at one of my favorite local spots, spending $3.80 plus $1 for a tip
I was off work by 5:30 p.m. and headed to my nephew’s baseball game, where I grabbed some beverages for the adults ($23). I also got some snacks at the concession stand ($4.50) before heading back home
Friday total: $32.30
Saturday
Woke up at 8 a.m., had a slow morning and headed out to meet my mother-in-law at a park. Parking was $7.45
After, we ended up doing grocery shopping because we were already near Trader Joe’s. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t crowded at 12 p.m. The total was $113.32
Later, we went to my in-laws for an impromptu hang and they ended up cooking us homemade Filipino food
We stayed in and hung out at home for the night due to the rainy weather. We ordered gyros for delivery ($34.26)
Saturday total: $155.03
Sunday
Woke up around 8 a.m. and headed out for a morning walk before it got too warm. We ventured out to Cherry Street Pier near the water
Got breakfast and coffee out with our friends while exploring Northern Liberties ($29.54). Before heading home, we stopped at Lowe’s to get some plants for the house and our back patio area ($137.49)
When we got home, we cooked ramen for Sunday night dinner
Sunday total: $167.03
Weekend total: $354.36
About us:We are a big law attorney and a physician working in Washington, D.C. with a lot of hefty expenses. We do plan to have kids one day, but right now we are focused on helping our families financially and traveling
Ages:33 and 37
Location: Washington, D.C. metropolitan area
Household income:$810,000
Monthly mortgage payment: $6,500 for our house in a high-cost-of-living city
Housing aside, what are your biggest expenses?Where do I start? Law school and medical school loans are a big one. My law school loans started at $225,000 and I’m down to $125,000; I pay between $3,500 and $5,000 toward them every month. My husband also has roughly $180,000 in med school loans. He’s been working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness for 10 years and should hit eligibility at the end of this year. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, we pay $1,500 a month toward his loans
We also help support both of our parents financially, which is something we do gladly and without hesitation. My husband and I both immigrated here as kids, and our parents gave us everything. My sisters and I split the mortgage on my parents’ house; my share is $1,400 a month. We also cover my in-laws’ car payment, which is about $600.
We’re currently renovating our kitchen, living room and closets, which is costing approximately $55,000 total. We usually earmark about 50% of our bonuses toward big-cost items like this; the other half goes to maxing out our Roth IRA, paying off my student loans and investing
And then there’s IVF. We’re in between cycles right now, which has been — and I say this with a lot of sarcasm — an absolute joy. My work provides fertility benefits through my insurance with a $5,000 out-of-pocket max, which I’ve already hit, so all future cycles this year will be covered. But we have to do additional testing that is going to cost anywhere from $1,500 to $4,000, depending on what insurance covers
What is travel like for you? How much do you spend each year?Travel is genuinely one of our greatest joys, partly because neither of us really got to do it growing up. Our parents didn’t have the means, and then we spent our 20s in school or training or grinding through early careers. Now we treat travel as a real priority. We’d rather take a trip than buy things. I find that you can buy another bag, but you can’t buy the version of yourself standing at the edge of a cliff after a nine-hour hike in Alaska.
The budget swings a lot depending on the year. This year, we’ve set aside $20,000. Last year was $35,000, but that included our honeymoon — Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia — which was largely funded by our wedding gifts. Worth every penny!
In a typical year, we’ll do one or two international trips and a handful of domestic ones, though a lot of those are built around events: weddings, birthdays, family gatherings. I also travel a lot for work, so pure trips/vacations, with no work or social obligations, are rare. We’ve been trying to take shorter trips more frequently because we’ve found that having something to look forward to, and then something to look back on, does more for us than one to two “big” trips a year with nothing in between.
On the logistics: We usually fly economy for domestic trips, but if it’s a long international flight, we use miles to upgrade. I got business-class seats round-trip from the U.S. to Australia and back from French Polynesia, entirely on miles earned from all the wedding shopping
Do you embrace the term “DINK”? What are the pros and cons of this lifestyle?Honestly, I’d never really thought about it until now. But in this phase of our lives, we are very much living it. Not having to account for child care costs (which are jaw-dropping!) does make financial life simpler. We already support our parents, so adding another dependent into the mix feels like a lot to think about. That said, DINK isn’t a permanent identity for us — it’s just where we are right now
The flexibility is real. We can travel in February when everyone else is staying home and prices are actually reasonable. My husband’s co-workers love that he never requests time off during school breaks. And weekends when we’re not working actually feel restorative.
We already support our parents, so adding another dependent into the mix feels like a lot to think about
The cons include that there’s an unspoken assumption at work that being childless means my time is more flexible, more available and less important. I often offer to cover for my colleagues with kids during school pick-ups and drop-offs, bedtime routines, sick days, weekend soccer practices — genuinely, not reluctantly. I believe in showing up for people. It takes a village. I just think the village should work both ways; some people are very good about that, some less so.
We do want children. It’s just not the right moment for us yet. Sometimes, I feel that void intensely. My husband jokes that having kids would finally give us a socially acceptable excuse to skip obligatory commitments. Destination wedding with no kids invited? Sorry, can’t do it
How does not having kids affect, if at all, how you spend and save your money?With no daycare, no after-school programs, no summer camp, no peak-season travel pricing because school is out, it gives us more room to breathe financially, and also care for our parents.
We save 25 to 35% of our income every year, which we are intentional about — I know I won’t be in big law forever, so we are building the cushion now while we can. We know things will shift if/when we have a child. The travel budget is probably the first thing that adjusts so we can continue saving at a high rate. Some of what we are saving now is informally earmarked for that future, even if we haven’t labeled it as such. We are trying to plan ahead, knowing the timeline isn’t entirely ours to control.
How do you typically spend your weekends?A typical weekend is a bit of a moving target. My husband works a lot of weekends; I inevitably get pulled in too. But on the rare one where we’re both home, both off, and no one’s phone is going off, then it looks like this:
Friday evenings are low-key by design. If we’re both actually home, we’ll take a walk along the waterfront, grab takeout or a casual dinner and decompress in front of the TV. Nothing glamorous. Just the two of us, finally in the same place at the same time
Saturdays usually start with a workout. My husband is training for Hyrox, so he’s at F45. I mostly go to Pilates, though I’ll join him occasionally. We’ll stop at the farmers market on the way home, grab coffee, eat breakfast and then figure out what “something fun” looks like that day. Sundays are domestic and a little meditative.
Weekend spending diary
Friday
My husband came home around 6 p.m. after a brutal shift, and neither of us had any business being near a stove. We ordered from Wonder — poke for me, pad thai for him — for $47.39. Honestly, not our best call. The food was just OK, but we got to eat together. That matters more than it sounds. With his schedule and mine, some weeks those shared dinners are the only hour we get. So even when it’s mediocre takeout on a Friday night, we sit down, eat together and consider it a win
Friday total: $47.39
Saturday
My husband was back at the hospital, and his first order of business was feeding his team. He spent $85.49 on bagels for his nurses and PAs. He does this often. I, meanwhile, made coffee at home with beans I’d gotten from Counter Culture and considered myself virtuous
My Reformer Pilates subscription renewed: $249 for unlimited classes. I have a founding member rate, which I will protect with my life
That said, rather than going to my usual studio, I checked out a new one that was holding a free grand-opening class. Naturally, I forgot my grippy socks and had to buy a pair on the spot ($19.13). They were Tavi, they were cute and I have zero regrets. You can never have too many grippy socks
I came home, showered and made a smoothie. I recently got a Vitamix after renovating our kitchen, and boy, do I love it
Then things got real. My doctor had put together a supplement protocol following our most recent IVF cycle, and I spent a chunk of the morning researching everything on the list. I found a 90-day bundle — one for me, one for my husband — that covered everything. Together they were $1,048 before discounts. I got 20% off as a first-time buyer, and after tax, the total came to $802. Yes, $802 on supplements. I know. But after everything we’ve been through, I want to do this right.
My sister texted that she’d be in the area with my niece and wanted to walk around. I could have walked; I live a mile away, but it was hot, so I drove and immediately regretted it. Everything was packed because it was Saturday. Parking was $2.50
I met them for ice cream. I’ve been dairy-free, and nothing on the menu spoke to me, so I passed while they got two small scoops for $20. We stood there, genuinely incredulous about ice cream inflation
We wandered into a stationery store that had Father’s Day cards. My sister grabbed some for my brother-in-law and the grandfathers, picked up mine too and refused to let me pay. The total was around $60, her treat
On the way out, we passed a menstrual health boutique. I needed a few things anyway, so I popped in ($8.99)
My sister needed a dress for a trip we’re all taking to Palm Beach next weekend, so we poked into a few clothing boutiques and an interior design store I’d had my eye on. Nothing came home with me because I’m too picky for my own good
An organic cafe just opened nearby and we went for an early dinner. I had a $5 off coupon from the Pilates studio’s grand opening event and paid for all three of us ($64)
Then Whole Foods. Groceries have been creeping up. We used to spend about $200 a week, now it’s closer to $250. Tonight: $263.55
My husband got home, we made dinner for him, watched some TV and that was that
Saturday total: $1,494.66
Sunday
I go to Pilates in the morning, but no post-class juice this time (the cafe line was long and my patience was short). I came home and made a smoothie instead
An Amazon order from earlier in the week landed: $21.19 for a spray I’d been waiting on
I worked for a couple of hours, then made a quick lunch and meal prepped for the week. My husband was still at the hospital, so I also took out the trash. This is normally his job, but I wanted him to come home to one less thing
I’d been meaning to get to the running store all weekend. My Brooks Ghosts had hit their mileage limit, and I’d already called ahead to make sure they had the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 25 in my size. They were originally $155, but I got 10% off and paid $145 total
I’m home just in time for my husband to get back. He worked out while I folded laundry. We cooked dinner together and ate, catching up on our day
Then bedsheets, skin care, lemon ginger tea — the whole wind-down routine. I noticed I was running low on tea sachets, so I went to reorder my usual Teapigs and realized I’d left some supplements (not covered in the $800 order) sitting in my Amazon cart. One more order before bed: $32.60 in tea — Teapigs plus an Art of Tea French Lemon Ginger I’ve been meaning to try — and $80 in supplements.
Sunday total: $278.79
Weekend total: $1,820.84 (!!)
About us:We are a tech worker and an assistant brewer at a local brewery. We love all of the kids in our lives, but we don’t feel the calling to have our own
Ages:34 and 42
Location: Greater Seattle area
Household income:Around $156,000
Monthly mortgage payment: $3,458.70, including HOA fees
Housing aside, what are your biggest expenses?We have a very large food budget compared to the average American family, and probably compared to the average DINK. We spend around $2,000 monthly (really). This generally is about $1,000 for eating out and about $1,000 on groceries. We usually host at least one large meal for five to 10 friends and family a month that costs at least $200 for ingredients (included in the $1,000). My husband works at a brewery, so we get beer for free (though I don’t drink much at all, and my husband prefers cider, given he is around beer all day). We mostly use this at parties for friends.
My husband used to be a professional chef, and I used to cook for work as well. We love excellent food and eat out often. I think some of this stems from us being used to getting free food at work. Cooking at home 100% of the time feels foreign, even though he is an incredible chef and I am a solid cook. He is incapable of cooking for less than 10 people at a time, even when it’s just the two of us, so we love having friends and family over
When it’s just the two of us on weeknights, we often eat separately because he is a night owl and I am an early bird getting that worm. My ideal dinnertime is 6 p.m., and his is 10 p.m. I would like to get this down to about $1,600 a month: $800 out and $800 in groceries. I know this is still a high budget, but it is what we choose to spend our “fun” money
What is travel like for you? How much do you spend each year?I used to travel extensively for work and get a bit of wanderlust. My husband is more of a homebody, but likes our larger, fun trips and seeing his family. We categorize our trips into two types:
1) Family/obligation Twice a year, we travel across the country to see my husband’s family (mine lives in the same area as us). I am an avid airline points person, so most flights are covered using those. We stay with our family, so the costs are mostly just food and entertainment. We always try to treat the kids to fun activities. Otherwise, we split costs with the family. About once a year, we will also travel across the country to see our godson and his family (our good friends). We stay with them, so costs are really just food and entertainment.
2) Fun: The past few years, we’ve gone abroad for a few weeks, and those cost between $5,000 to $10,000 per trip. The biggest splurge is getting first-class, lie-flat seats on the way back. I am physically disabled, so this has made our long trips so much better.
This year, we are going on a cruise with my husband’s family, mixing the family and fun categories. We paid about $3,000 each for that
Do you embrace the term “DINK”? What are the pros and cons of this lifestyle?We love it. It’s just factual. We have a dual income and no kids. There are no cons for us, because we know we don’t want kids. Even though we don’t have kids, we firmly support a strong social safety net. Programs like free child care, universal pre-K, free meals for kids at school (and in summer!) and universal health care are good for all of us! What I don’t care for is the pervasive belief from many parents (especially from older generations) that I will “never know true love” or “will change my mind someday.”
How does not having kids affect, if at all, how you spend and save your money?It’s very helpful. Kids are a massive expense that we don’t have to worry about. We do contribute to the long-term savings/investments for our niece, nephew and godson. It’s funny, I just had an annual review with my financial adviser, and he talked about how much further our retirement savings will get us without paying for kids (meaning we can contribute more now instead of paying for child-related expenses)
Kids are a massive expense that we don’t have to worry about
How do you typically spend your weekends?It really depends on the season! In winter, we go snowboarding at least one day. In summer, we often do other outdoor activities like hiking or kayaking. On most Saturday mornings, I watch what I call “Saturday morning cartoons” (but it’s really HGTV) and go to the farmers market. If we are not traveling, my husband goes to Mass on Sundays and we do brunch after. We’ll do chores and clean either one day or the other
This weekend was more irregular because a friend was in town visiting
Weekend spending diary
Friday
I had a normal day of work (from home). My dad was around for my lunch break, so we went to a new local bakery. He is a retired teacher, and we trade off who pays. This was my turn ($41.70 for two coffees, two pastries and a whole Basque cheesecake)
My husband had the day off, so he and his friend, who is in town from Colorado, drove down to Olympia to visit our other mutual friends there
I ordered Shake Shack for dinner from DoorDash, including a burger for my husband to eat later ($30.81), and was in bed by 8:30 p.m. They got dinner at a Mexican restaurant ($54.90), went barhopping ($70.53) and had a sleepover. Apparently, they didn’t go to bed until 2 a.m.. I am glad I got to rest!
Total: $197.94
Saturday
I woke up around 6:30, and lolled around in bed until my cats bullied me up around 7:15. I lounged around, drinking coffee and playing video games on the Switch. I heated up leftover grits for breakfast, and eventually started doing the backlog of chores from the week. I folded a mountain of laundry while watching the Eras tour on Disney+, then baked brownies
My husband drove back home from his friend’s house around 1:30 p.m., stopping for gas on the way home ($27.52). He listens to Audible audiobooks while he drives ($11.58). Once he got home, he promptly took a nap to stave off the exhaustion and hangover.
I made myself pasta for lunch, using this Bobby Flay recipe. I add extra anchovies for a bit more protein. Because I was in the kitchen anyway, I meal prepped homemade granola (riffing on this recipe) that I’ll eat for breakfast during the week
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, watching TV and putzing around the house.
Total: $39.10
Sunday
I woke up around 6:30 a.m. with a headache, but some coffee helped clear it up. I finished my audiobook (Chapterhouse Dune by Frank Herbert, which is the sixth and final in the original series). I use the Libby app, so this was free from the library
We do a monthly rotating lunch and game day with a group of three other DINK couples. We all live within an hour of each other and trade off who hosts. The host is responsible for preparing or purchasing food for everyone. Occasionally, other guests come, including my sister, who is a SINK (single income, no kids). This time, the hosting couple made a taco bar with homemade corn tortillas, carnitas, braised tofu and all the sides. We’re all good cooks, and it’s great to catch up and play games. Midway through the afternoon, I run to Grocery Outlet to get some chocolate chip cookies and Lifesavers gummies ($11.77).
We head home relatively early, and I eat leftover pasta for dinner. My husband had a leftover breakfast sandwich from earlier in the week. (Like I said, we eat at very different times!) We watch an episode of the new season of The Four Seasons on Netflix and the first of Season 2 of Jack Ryan on Prime, and go to bed around 10
Sunday total: $11.77
Weekend total: $248.81
About us:We are a vice president at a nonprofit and a system administrator at a university. We spend much of our free time diving and, more recently, renovating our home
Ages:37 and 41
Location: Salem, Mass
Household income:$256,000
Monthly mortgage payment: $2,091
Housing aside, what are your biggest expenses?I want to say diving (including owning a boat, which is new to us as of last year), as well as travel, but in reality, it’s food. Between groceries and restaurants, we spend roughly 20% of our money on food — between $2,000 to $3,000 a month in the past.
We’re making a concerted effort to cook more at home since eating out is insanely expensive, and it’s the category where we’re willing to make the biggest changes. I’ve wrestled a lot with this over the years. My mom stayed at home since my dad was a physician and worked crazy hours. She was the one responsible for meals, so there’s this deeply ingrained feeling that I’m failing if I’m not getting dinner on the table each night (she didn’t teach me that; it’s totally my guilt!).
I also don’t feel like it’s fair that after we both work all day, I’m the one to cook dinner. I’ve intentionally made the shift to say no to other household tasks in order to give myself space to cook. I think I’m more at peace now with it and actually enjoying cooking more now as a result.
What is travel like for you? How much do you spend each year?Travel is a huge priority for us. For the past four years, we’ve spent between three and five months in Mexico at the beginning of each year. We head down the week between Christmas and the New Year, and then come back somewhere between the end of March and mid-May, depending on the year. Monarch tells me that we spent $5,453 on travel last year, but that’s definitely underrepresented, as we pay mostly cash in Mexico.
If we can, we’ll also try to get in one larger trip a year since we maybe only take one or two weeks off work while we’re in Mexico, so it’s not a vacation. (I know, I know, it sounds like it is, but we work full-time while we’re there.) Last year, we went to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and next year it’ll be a bucket list trip to Chuuk Lagoon, Micronesia, and Okinawa, Japan. No big trip this year because we’re saving up for that one!
Pretty much all of our travel is centered around diving; we’ve only taken one non-diving trip in the 12 years we’ve been together. My husband will drive up to the Great Lakes once or twice a summer, and we’ll usually spend a few weekends away in Vermont, Maine, Canada, etc. Vacations, of any kind, aren’t “relaxing” in the typical sense. Sure, we’re off work, but we’re diving every day. What’s wonderful is that diving brings us to incredible, beautiful locations that we’ve either wanted to visit anyway or would have never experienced without diving.
Do you embrace the term “DINK”? What are the pros and cons of this lifestyle?I do, although technically we’re DINK2Cs (dual income, no kids, two cats)!
I’m not going to lie, there are a lot of pros. I watch my friends with kids deal with so many demands on their time and stress, and marvel at how they do it. I can’t name one friend who isn’t at least employed part-time outside the home. Having the flexibility when it comes to time, money and brain space is meaningful to me, and I truly love the life that my husband and I have built together. We’ve been able to see and do so much while we’re young that we wouldn’t necessarily have been able to do if we had kids.
Diving every weekend? A boat? Spending several months in Mexico? AND saving for retirement? I don’t see this happening if we had kids
I also grew up with a pretty small extended family; none of my parents’ siblings had kids, so I ended up building incredible relationships with my aunts and uncle. Those relationships, and their lives, showed me what was possible. I absolutely love being an auntie to two nephews, as well as many of my friends’ kids. The relationship I have with them is priceless
All that being said, I’ve struggled a lot with not having kids. It’s not that I don’t have them and want them. It’s that without them, it’s assumed I have more space in my life. I do, but just because I don’t have to coordinate child care doesn’t mean that it should be assumed I can work more, go somewhere or take something on.
I’ve had a hard time not making work my entire purpose/identity as well. Sure, I have hobbies and other things going on, but when you spend at least 40 hours a week doing something, it’s easy to let it take over when there’s no one (other than a husband and cats) demanding your full attention on a daily basis. Especially as I’m getting older, I’m learning to set better boundaries around my time and to prioritize what makes my life the best it can be while remaining a productive member of society.
How does not having kids affect, if at all, how you spend and save your money?Not having kids definitely affects how we spend money. Diving every weekend? A boat? Spending several months in Mexico? AND saving for retirement? I don’t see this happening if we had kids. Not having them has definitely allowed us to expand our spending in non-essential categories while still saving.
We’ve also been able to make very intentional decisions about where we might want to spend more money. We’re making choices around how much we spend on travel and fun stuff right now since we want to enjoy it now, not when we’re retired. It will probably extend the retirement timeline, especially with stagnant nonprofit and university salaries, but some of what we want to do won’t really be physically possible in our later 60s or early 70s — there’s sort of a now-or-never element to it! I’m grateful we can make those choices.
How do you typically spend your weekends?Usually, my husband is diving somewhere, either close by or in Vermont (there’s a flooded mine up there that is good for when the ocean is gross), and I’m either tagging along, at the gym or spending time with my family that lives a couple of hours away.
We probably spend half our weekends doing the above and half like the one below, doing something fun for one of the days and then getting house stuff done the other. This past weekend was a little atypical in that the house stuff was a more expensive project.
Weekend spending diary
Friday
Both of us worked all day, although I logged off at 2 p.m. after a crazy week. Normally, we’d eat dinner at home or maybe go out and then watch some TV. Instead, we drove down to Winthrop, Mass., about 45 minutes away in traffic, to pick up a water heater at the only ACE Hardware that had the one we needed in stock (ah, the joys of home ownership). It was $563.11 with a coupon.
We used to live in Winthrop, so it was nice to drive around and see our old town. We used the trip as an excuse to stop by my husband’s parents’ house briefly and then his favorite sub shop to pick up dinner and some supplies for the rest of the weekend. Sub for him, soup for me, steak tips, arancini and sausages came to $76.49.
We headed home, ate dinner and watched a couple of episodes of Suits before crashing. (Yes, I know we’re behind our TV viewing by about a decade!)
Friday total: $639.60
Saturday
I was up early to do a Hyrox simulation at my gym ($30, but I paid a couple of weeks ago). When I came home, we both ate breakfast.
We were potentially heading to a party on the South Shore that afternoon, but we decided to skip and take our boat out instead because the weather was beautiful. We hadn’t put it in the water since the winter, and we are trailering it up to Vermont next weekend so we needed to make sure everything is working. It was a mad dash to get everything ready since where we store it is tide-dependent.
We ordered sandwiches from a shop for $28.23 for lunch. Headed out and spent the afternoon and early evening on the boat; we had lunch anchored up to a lighthouse in Boston Harbor. My husband did a dive, and we were back on land around 6 p.m.
After cleaning everything up, we headed home. I cooked the steak tips, paired with some leftover veggies for dinner, for my husband while I finished up my leftover soup. We watched another couple of episodes of Suits and then went to bed.
Saturday total: $28.23
Sunday
Water heater replacement day! I’m up early and read for a bit; my husband is up around 9 a.m. I made breakfast at home, but we grabbed a bagel for him and two iced coffees at a local place for $19.83 before heading to Home Depot for the first time that day.
Picked up the initial list of supplies for the water heater replacement ($306.94). While we were there, I scheduled the water heater pickup through our trash company ($20).
We disconnected the old water heater and realized we needed some more parts, so I ran back to Home Depot to spend another $23.25 while my husband kept working on this project.
We ate lunch at home. I ordered from a service I sometimes get through my gym (roughly $75 a week for five meals, so this was about $15), and my husband had the arancini we bought on Friday.
After lunch, I headed back out to Home Depot. The one close to our house didn’t have what we needed, so I drove to the one about 20 minutes away. I had to stop at BJ’s for gas ($49.65) and then quickly went to the grocery store for a couple of essentials and veggies to add to the sausages we bought on Friday for dinner ($28.46). This Home Depot run cost $17.33.
On the way home, I stopped at the local ice cream shop to pick up our agreed-upon reward for accomplishing such a big house project ($11.45).
We finally finished the water heater project around 6 p.m. My husband ran out to grab a beer ($15.99), since he wanted that as his reward. I got dinner started after a quick shower.
I watched part of a surfing documentary while my husband caught up on all his social media after a busy day, and then we went to bed.
Sunday total: $507.90
Weekend total: $1,175.73
Alicia Adamczyk is a longtime personal finance and business journalist. She is the executive editor ofThe Purse,a personal finance and lifestyle website. You can follow her there and on TikTok at @AliciaTalksMoney
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