How DINKs in South Carolina Live on $198k Combined Income

Before I dive into today’s Home Economics, just a final callout for our dad survey! Fill it out here.

And for any moms reading: Feel free to reply to this email and share with me any of the holiday magic-making tasks you’d love your spouse to take off your plate! (I’ve gotten some pretty funny responses on Instagram!)

I was excited to publish this edition of Home Economics because it’s our first from South Carolina. Regular readers know I’m on a campaign to try to get an entry from every state. But when coming up with the headline, I realized that we rarely feature couples with no kids in this series.

According to Pew Research, 12% of married couples with at least one spouse in their 30s or 40s have no children and two incomes. They’re affectionately known as DINKs (dual income, no kids), and the size of this demographic has been increasing in recent years—in 2013, it was only 8% of married couples. It’s also likely to continue to expand. A 2024 survey from MassMutual found that 23% of millennials and Gen Zers without children have no plans to become parents.

Some experts argue that the high cost of living is at least partly to blame for the rise of DINKs. In 2026, you need a lot of money to buy a house and send your kids to day care. But there’s another side of the DINK lifestyle that gets a lot of media attention, and that’s a bit sexier. For some privileged couples with two careers and no kids, there’s a lot of disposable income to use for, well, whatever they want! Travel, dine at nice restaurants, invest in their own health and wellness—sky’s the limit! It’s hard for us exhausted, cash-strapped parents not to feel a modicum of jealousy from time to time.

Of course, those who don’t have kids (because they choose not to or because they can’t for fertility reasons) have to navigate all kinds of awkward conversations about their family plans. When submitting this Home Ec, the writer simply put “N/A” in the question about kids, and in our initial back and forth, I left a note in the Google doc, “Sorry to be a nosy aunt, but are you planning to have kids?” I get to ask that question because I’m a journalist!

But as we go into the holiday season, be mindful of being a busy body. If you find yourself sitting across the table from your supercool 30-something child-free cousin who looks gorgeous and well-rested because she and her husband just got back from a week in Hawaii, don’t ask her when she’s going to get around to having kids. Frankly, it’s none of your business.

Want to share your Home Economics? Fill out this form! Or you can reply to this email and ask me to share a Google doc with the questions.

Share your Home Economics!

Age: 35
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
Relationship status: Married
Age of partner: 34

About me: I’m a lover of books, the outdoors, and good food. I’m married with a wonderful dog child. My husband and I both work in tech (I’m in product management, and he’s a developer) and our jobs are fully remote, so we both work from home. We moved to Charleston in 2020 to be closer to family.

All expenses are monthly unless otherwise noted.

Income:

Your job title/salary: Product manager; $83,000
Your monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): $4,200
Partner’s job title/salary: Software developer; $115,000
Partner’s monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): $7,000
Additional monthly income (side hustles, part-time jobs, rental income, etc.):
- I make $175 a month assisting with wedding and corporate events on the weekends. When I first moved to Charleston, I picked up catering gigs while I was looking for a full-time job. Now I do them because it helps me get out of my house and get my people fix since I work from home.
- My husband makes $350 a month coaching youth sports and hosting a weekly trivia night.
Total monthly income: $11,725

Account balances:

Checking account balance: $600
Savings account balance: $25
High-yield savings account balance: $56,982 (3.75% APY). We have our paychecks deposited to this account and autopay set up to pay all our recurring bills.
Monthly contribution to savings account: $1,100 or so. This includes money we put in our two sinking funds (see below).
Retirement account(s) balance: We track these together even though we each have a 401(k) through our employers. Here are our combined totals:
- 401(k): $20,067
- Roth 401(k): $15,097
- Roth IRA: $191,000
Monthly contribution to retirement accounts: $1,600 total, which includes money that comes out of our paychecks and monthly Roth contributions. Both our employers offer a dollar-for-dollar match up to 4%, and then it goes down to $0.50 for every $1 up to 5%. We both contribute enough to receive the match, but we’re not contributing beyond that.
Investment account balance: N/A
529 balance: N/A
Emergency fund balance: We have $30,000 total set aside in our high-yield savings and a few CDs (see below), which would cover six months of expenses.
Goal-oriented savings account balance(s):
- Trips sinking fund: $3,000
- Annual subscriptions sinking fund: $950. This covers any kind of annual expense, from HVAC servicing to our annual credit card fees to car registrations. It doesn’t usually get much above this amount.
Monthly contributions to goal-oriented savings accounts:
- Trips sinking fund: between $500 and $1,000 depending on what trips are coming up in the next few months
- Annual subscriptions sinking fund: $270
Other accounts: We have half of our emergency funds spread across three CDs that are on rotating maturity schedules.
- CD #1: $10,029 (4.1% APY for six months, matures in April 2027)
- CD #2: $5,170 (4.1% APY for six months, matures in March 2027)
- CD #3: $2,555 (3.8% APY for 12 months, matures in March 2027)

Total in checking, savings, and investment accounts: $305,475

Housing:

Size of your home: We live in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, which includes what in South Carolina is known as a FROG (finished room over a garage)—essentially a bonus room/loft.
Mortgage: $1,949, plus we pay an extra $180 mid-month toward the principal. Of this, $365 is for property taxes and insurance, which is held in escrow. Our payment is down $50 a month from when we first bought the house, because the bank dropped our private mortgage insurance (PMI) after we got a new roof and went through a new valuation process.
Current home value: $425,000
Current mortgage balance: $310,105
Year you bought your home: 2022
Amount you paid for your home: $385,000
Mortgage interest rate: 3.75%
How much was your down payment? ~$50,000
How long did it take you to save for the down payment? We had been saving for around a year, but we only had about $10,000 in savings, which we used to cover closing costs and then some of the initial new homeowner costs. (Yay for one million trips to Lowe’s.)
Did you have any family help buying your home? We were able to buy the house because we received $50,000 from my husband’s family as a wedding gift. (Both sets of parents also helped cover the cost of our wedding.) The housing market in Charleston was really crazy at the time, and we made bids on six other houses before we got this one. We always lost out because so many people were making all-cash offers. The only reason we were able to get this house is because the owners wanted to sell to real people and not a single family rental company.
Electricity and natural gas: $211 average this year—yay for the hottest summer on record
Water: $110
Cell phone: $20 for my husband’s; I’m on a work plan
Internet: $75
Housekeeper: $360 for two cleanings a month
Gardener: N/A
Home owners’ association fees: $350. This is on the low side because we have pretty limited amenities (no pool).
Other: $300 average for miscellaneous tools, equipment, supplies, restocks

Transportation:

Monthly car payment: Both our cars are paid off.
Car insurance payment: $110. We pay a lump sum every six months.
Gas: $105. This has creeped up since the war began but we’re lucky to not have to commute to work.
Car maintenance: $150. My husband does most of it, and this year he’s had to buy a few tools.
Parking: N/A
Monthly public transportation: N/A (unfortunately)
Ride shares (Uber, taxi, etc.): We use these, but we capture them in our budget based on what we use them for. For example, if we take one for a night out, we’ll include it in the dining-out category.

Children:

Number of children and their ages: We don’t have any plans to have biological kids, but we have discussed potentially being foster parents in the future. Right now, we really enjoy being aunt and uncle to the kids in our lives.

Debts:

Student loan total balance: I had a full ride to college, plus my parents had put some money aside in a college savings plan, which helped cover my housing expenses. My husband’s parents paid for his college education.
Personal loan total balance: We don’t have any personal loans at the moment, but we have both used them in the past.
What did you use the personal loan for? Both my husband and I ended up with credit card debt in our 20s. We lived in a major Southern city in our 20s, and our friend group loved to go out. Someone was always throwing down a credit card to buy shots at a club or playing credit card roulette at dinner to see who’d pick up the check. Despite having a good-paying job, I ended up with around $12,000 in credit card debt. My husband accrued about $30,000. I used a personal loan to pay mine off, and he ended up getting a zero-interest loan from his parents.
Credit card balance (if you carry a balance month to month): We pay off our cards each month.
How much do you spend on your credit card(s) each month: We use our cards to pay for most of our expenses, so I’d say around $6,000.

Food:

Groceries: $800. My husband does most of the cooking. We eat most breakfasts and lunches at home, and he’ll cook dinner four nights a week. We get a weekly farm bag that includes produce, bread, and eggs. And then we’ll shop at Harris Teeter for other groceries.
Dining out: $600 on meals at sit-down restaurants and bars, $115 on takeout, $30 on fast food. There’s an amazing restaurant scene in Charleston, and we are big foodies. We go out between four and six times a month, and that ranges from grabbing wings at a sports bar to a nice date-night dinner at a restaurant downtown. We’ve been eating out a bit more recently because we’re renovating our house this year.

Socializing and Entertainment:

Subscriptions (streaming services, magazines, etc.): $56, which includes Roon and Qobuz for music, as well as the occasional month of Netflix. We pay Peacock annually, so that comes out of our sinking fund. And our Apple TV subscription is currently covered by a credit card benefit.
Memberships (museums, etc.): N/A
Movies, concerts, other events: $245. This includes social activities (bowling, movies, etc.), concerts, sporting events, and art classes for me. I also include my Substack subscriptions in this category.
Entertaining and socializing other: Socializing at home is captured in our grocery budget; socializing outside of the house is captured in either the dining-out or movies/concerts/events budget.
Hobbies: $215 for my husband’s golf and bowling. My book club is captured under dining out; I occasionally buy a book but mostly use the library. I love to hike and spend time outside, but I have plenty of gear and haven’t needed to buy anything new in a while.
Travel: We travel a ton—almost monthly—and it’s a top priority for us. We have a sinking fund to help cover this expense, and I budget $2,100 a month. In some cases, our families will help cover some of the costs when we travel with them. For example, we went skiing out West last year, but we only spent $1,500 and the rest was paid for by family. We also travel a lot with friends because many of our closest friends don’t live in Charleston. We traveled with friends this year to the West Coast and spent $5,000 on that trip.

Miscellaneous:

Clothing: $150 on average, which mostly covers replacing clothes that have worn out. There will be an occasional impulse purchase, and this also covers some tailoring, dry cleaning, and jewelry purchases.
Home supplies: This is captured in groceries or the housing “other” category above.
Exercise: $125 for my gym membership
Personal and self-care (haircuts, manicures, massages, etc.): $150. This covers quarterly massages for both of us and two to three haircuts a year for me.
Pet expenses: $460. Thank goodness for pet insurance! A lot has come up this year, and we’re so thankful to not have to think about vet decisions quite as hard thanks to pet insurance reimbursing us for some of those costs.
Pet insurance: $180. This just increased from $112, but our pup is about to turn seven, so makes sense.
Donations: $270 to various local organizations; we also both do some volunteering
Tithing: N/A
Events (birthday parties, etc.): Captured in the dining-out or groceries budget
Credit card fees:
- Platinum airlines card: $350
- Hotel card: $100
- Chase Sapphire Preferred: $100
- Credit union gas card: $25
Other financial-related expenses: We use Freetaxusa for taxes. Our first year married, we were freaked out by our tax bill, so we met with an accountant, who essentially gave us a 101 class in understanding the U.S. tax code. Since then, we’ve felt confident doing our own taxes with Freetaxusa. We have a financial planner we meet with once a year, and a family member covers that expense.
Other: We spend about $300 total on shopping for ourselves (non-clothing) and for gifts for others. There are lots of weddings, babies, etc. in this season of life.

Insurance:

Life insurance: $140 for life insurance and disability for me. I have carried this since my mid-20s, when I was very single and not sure what life would bring.
Health insurance: My insurance is fully covered by my employer; not sure what my husband pays, but it’s taken out of his paycheck. Both of us have fairly good insurance (health, dental and eye).
FSA contribution: My husband contributes to his FSA out of his paycheck. I’m not sure how much, but it’s enough generally every year to cover his out-of-pocket expenses.
HSA contribution: $355. This comes out of my paycheck.
HSA balance: $13,325. This is my account; my husband doesn’t have an HSA.
Other insurance costs: N/A
Out-of-pocket medical expenses: We average $228 a month. My husband covers most of his from his FSA. I’ve been covering my expenses out of pocket so my HSA can grow.

Total monthly spending (includes annual expenses divided by 12; does not include contributions to retirement accounts): $11,062

Tell us more:

What are your top financial priorities?
We’d love to be able to do Coast FIRE, where we are able to work at jobs we love and not have to worry about saving for retirement so much. In recent years, we’ve both looked into changing careers, but it would require us to take big pay cuts. We could make our budget work, but it would be harder to save for retirement. So we’re trying to figure out what we need to save/invest now in order to get to Coast FIRE one day.

In the same breath, as good millennials, we also value living in the moment. We prioritize socializing, traveling, and living comfortably. We try to strike a good balance between saving for the future and enjoying our lives right now, and we check in frequently to make sure we’re on the right track while also feeling good about our current day-to-day financial lives.
How do you feel about your current financial situation?
I feel overall really solid about where we are. We are as prepared for the unknown or catastrophic events as feels reasonable given the current state of things. It’s taken a lot of work over the past few years as we both made poor financial choices in our 20s, but with a combination of privilege, hard work, and luck, we’re doing pretty well.
How is your financial situation different from 5/10/15 years ago? How has that changed the way you manage your money?
I grew up in a middle class family, and my husband was upper middle class. I describe myself as coming from a “water and no appetizer” family, and he’s from a “soft drinks and appetizer” family. My dad was very frugal and encouraged me to be very thrifty, and my husband’s parents didn’t teach him to budget.

Both of us were big spenders in our 20s, and as I mentioned earlier, we both ended up with credit card debt. I had a bad job with a toxic boss in my early 20s, and that experience inspired me to change my financial habits. I didn’t have the “F you” money I needed to leave the job, so I stayed nine months longer than was mentally healthy for me. That experience inspired me to figure out how to manage my finances so I could have more financial freedom.

My husband didn’t get serious about getting out of debt until around the time we started dating. We had been friends for a long time, but our decision to become a couple inspired him to finally pay off his debt. Combining my life with someone else who grew up pretty different (though both ultimately just middle class America) has helped me get to a mentally healthier and more balanced place.

Over the past four years or so, we’ve become dedicated to zero-based budgeting, where we assign every dollar that comes in a job. Tracking our expenses has helped us really align our values, get more confident communicating with each other about financial items, and meet goals.

We’ve also had a few specific good luck breaks (like receiving a family down payment gift right before rates skyrocketed in 2022), and we both increased our salaries in that time period.
What are your money stressors?
Our only real stressor is making sure we’re spending with our values. While, broadly speaking, we are impacted by the rising cost of living, we don’t feel it the same way others do because we work from home (don’t have a huge gas bill), don’t have kids (no day care expenses), and already own our home (and a locked-in low mortgage rate). We’re also very lucky to have access to local farms that have helped keep food costs largely consistent without requiring us to make major changes to our diets.
Do you expect to receive (or have you received) an inheritance from a family member?
Yes to both. We both have received money from our grandparents, which we used for house improvements, an unexpected tax bill, and some debt payoff. We tried to spend that money in ways we thought they would have appreciated. Both sets of parents have communicated their estate planning with us, so we know we will receive something. But we don’t have specific numbers, and we aren’t planning on anything relative to our own retirement or general financial planning.
Do you receive any financial support from your family?
We both received support for college, which meant graduating with no student debt. My husband received some extra support along the way in his 20s as well. Our parents helped pay for our wedding, and we received money for our house down payment (which was a wedding gift). Both sets of parents still cover some travel expenses when we vacation together.
Do you financially support any family members beyond yourself and your nuclear family?
No, and we don’t expect to.
How do you and your partner split your finances? How did you decide to go that route?
Our finances are fully integrated. We first met when we were in college, and we were friends for a long time before we became romantically involved. We were in a long-distance relationship during the pandemic, so I chose to move to Charleston and take a lower paying job to be with him. When I moved, we knew we were headed for engagement and had a level of trust that allowed us to take the step to go ahead and fully integrate our finances.

We speak about money as ours—we both have full access to all accounts and are listed as authorized users and/or beneficiaries. We both learned this model from our parents, so we never really considered a different route. This is something we end up chatting about with friends occasionally, and it’s always interesting just to hear how folks land where they do with this.
What is one financial goal(s) you still want to achieve?
I’d like to get us to Coast FIRE but don’t yet have a game plan for what that fully means for us personally. There are so many versions/approaches to it. And I’m also reckoning with wanting that and wanting our current life to feel nice.
Tell us about one financial accomplishment you’re proud of.
I’m really proud that we maxed both of our Roth contributions this year for the first time. We had the ability to do this the last few years, but we weren’t locking our spending in like we could have. I’m proud that we made some mental shifts around spending that got us here.
What are you willing to sacrifice to meet financial goals?
There are things I would be able to let go of, or cut back immediately, if needed, or if I was trying to meet a time-bound goal (like saving for a house improvement or big trip). These include fancy dinners out, extra shopping or clothing, discretionary travel. There are things that would be easier to let go of if our financial situation changed significantly but that would certainly be hard emotionally/mentally, such as sending gifts to friends who are going through a hard time, our donations, and our cleaning crew.
What are you NOT willing to sacrifice to meet financial goals?
I’m not willing to sacrifice things that support our mental or physical health—my gym membership, my husband being able to play golf and bowl, therapy, time with friends and family.
What do you regret spending your money on the most?
Mindless spending on physical items I just didn’t actually need. It drives me crazy for having wasted the money, created the landfill waste, and given my money to companies whose values I don’t align with.
What is one thing you spend money on that makes your life better?
Our cleaning crew. This was the one lifestyle inflation we allowed after the last pay increase. I need to live in a clean and tidy space for my mental health, so having someone handle it on a weekday morning is the best.
What is one thing you spend money on that drives you crazy?
This is such a first-world problem, but it drives me crazy when we spend money on a nice date night out and it’s a bad meal or experience. We both love to cook and are pretty good at it, so walking away from a meal that feels like we could have done that better really irks me (especially if it was more than $50).
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I can’t emphasize enough that we would not be where we are without an immense amount of privilege. Yes, we work hard and have focused on getting systems in place to support our financial health along with pursuing salary increases. But, at the end of the day, so many of the foundational pieces that got us where we are are sheer luck of birth. We try to be mindful of that in conversations about finances with friends and in our financial support to our community.