30-Minute Dinners + A Peek Inside a $350K Household Budget

Ground Chicken Burgers - While digging through the freezer before grocery shopping, I found a bag of sweet potato fries just waiting to be used. Enter these easy chicken burgers! They’re the perfect match for a no-stress, family-friendly weeknight meal.

Healthy Sloppy Joes - This recipe is a total crowd-pleaser. When I did Whole30, I swapped the buns for sliced, roasted sweet potatoes and it worked great. I love using mini slider buns for little hands!

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry (2-Ingredients) - I spotted Masala Mama Almond Korma sauce at my local grocery store and instantly thought “easy slow cooker dinner”! I’m not following a strict recipe but just keeping it simple: sear some cubed chicken, then toss it in the slow cooker with the sauce, a can of coconut milk, and some baby potatoes.

Sweet and Sour Pineapple Broccoli Chicken Stir Fry - This recipe is basically a mashup of my kids’ favorite foods—pineapple, broccoli, and chicken—all in one dish. The best part? It all comes together in one pan in under 30 minutes. Fewer dishes, happy kids- yes, please!

Green Goddess Quinoa Bowls - This meal is perfect for meal prep and comes together quickly. My kids love tofu, so I usually toss some in for an extra protein boost while still keeping it meatless. Easy, fast, and family-approved.

Mom Hack: Make big batches of waffles, pancakes, egg muffins, or breakfast burritos and freeze them. Just reheat in the microwave for a quick, hot breakfast for these busy school mornings.

Mom Content: ICYMI, Taylor Swift announced a new album (!!) and dropped a nostalgic pop-filled Spotify playlist to hold us Millennial gals over until release day. It’s the perfect mix of pump-you-up anthems and memory-lane throwbacks that me and the kids have been enjoying in the car.

Kid Product: It’s back-to-school and here’s everything I’ve gotten for my 1 year old and almost 4 year old to start their new school years. Everything from lunch accessories and their favorite water bottles to throat spray I use for my toddler. Grab it all here!

Age: Mid-30s

Kids: One on the way!

Job: Husband and I both work full time

Household Income: $350K

Own or rent: Own- $3,800

Childcare or daycare expense: We're both able to take maternity/paternity leave; our kid will start daycare around 6 months. The cost will be ~$2750 per month

Recent purchase you regret: All maternity clothes that don't fit and I forgot to return

Splurge and don’t regret: A good nursery glider - $800

Best “mom sanity” splurge: It will be a facial, not giving those up!

Weekly “kid stuff” spend: Dreading this, I know it will be more than I want to!

Weekly spend on groceries: We do a weekly subscription box (3 meals ~$75) + groceries ($150-200)

Most spent on a kid party: Read everyone else's submissions of this and now getting nervous! I had not put any thought into the cost of birthday parties

Purchase that you don’t tell your partner about: No guilt! We each have personal "fun money" money budgeted in. Can use it on whatever you want, no questions asked.

Saving for your kids college tuitions: We're setting up a college account and investment account, planning to put $300 a month total.

Something financial you wish your parents had taught you: EVERYTHING!!! My husband and I had very different financial upbringings. My parents viewed credit cards as additional income insert upside down emoji...so I was in terrible debt in my 20s; meanwhile, he had a savings account. We tackled the debt together and now have multiple savings/investment accounts. Now, we won't spend what we don't have. Emergency savings are key!

Managing family budget: Once we paid off my debt, I got very into budgeting and now do it on a weekly basis. Google sheets has been a lifesaver, and I also recommend different checking and savings accounts under one umbrella (Capital One works for us, but Ally has this option too)!

I have auto rules on as much as possible and our paychecks automatically get split up as:

• 20% to a long term HYSA (emergency/large purchases)

• 10% to a short term HYSA (trips/short term)

• a set amount to each of our separate checking accounts for "fun money"

• a set amount to our investment account

• a set amount to our bills checking account (calculated at the beginning of each month, set it and forget it)

• Remainder goes in to our joint checking account

All of our spending is on a joint travel credit card for points, and we use the joint checking account to pay it off each month.

Great ways to save money on kid-related expenses: This will be a work in progress for us! We have been fortunate enough to be able to save a lot of our income until now. We will definitely need to adjust our savings rate!

Money advice for other moms: I think I need the advice vs giving it :)