A Week In Her Wallet: How One Couple Manages $200K in Income, a Toddler, and Four Pets

HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

Jean Chatzky Her Money

Investing, Entrepreneurship, Business

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on HerMoney’s special series A Week In Her Wallet, we meet Kaitlyn from Madison, Wisconsin. She’s a full-time state program manager with a side hustle, a toddler, three cats, and a dog — so life is full, to say the least. Kaitlyn and her husband bring in just under $200K per year and manage their money through shared accounts and regular “budget nights.” As Kaitlyn tracks her spending for a week, she shares her candid voice notes about side gig deposits, why she swears by a monthly cleaning service, and how her love for thrift stores led to a once-in-a-lifetime vinyl record player find. Her week is about much more than transactions; it’s a journey of intentional joy, family memories, and budgeting for what really matters. 💡 Listen in to hear: Why she happily spends $150 a month on house cleaning How she and her husband use “funding pots” to budget for travel, gifts, and daycare The thrift store jackpot that brought her to happy tears Why they’re winding down their bartending side hustles A powerful mindset shift around spending money on experiences over things How they navigate toddler expenses on a budget — and with intention Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What are the consequences of getting on Europe's bad side?
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0:09.2	You can have taste and steal by gyps.
0:11.7	What does a $6.2 million banana have to do with any of us?
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0:21.8	Join me, Felix Salmon, and my co-hosts Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spires
0:25.5	as we talk about the most important and obscure stories in business and finance.
0:30.1	Follow Slate Money wherever you like to listen.
0:35.7	Welcome back to Hermione. I'm Gene Chatsky. and today we are back with another episode in our special series, A Week in Her Wallet, where we follow real women from the Her Money community as they track their spending for seven days and reflect not just on what they spent, but why? Because money is about more than numbers. It's about priorities,
0:55.7	emotions, relationships, and how we want to live. Today, we're heading to Madison, Wisconsin,
1:01.9	to spend time with Caitlin. You'll be hearing from her in two ways, live right here with me as we
1:08.1	look back on her week, but also in her own words, through voice notes.
1:13.1	She sent us each day as the week unfolded.
1:16.7	Caitlin's 32. She's a full-time state employee who also juggles multiple side gigs.
1:22.1	She brings in between 5,000 and 8,000 a month.
1:25.4	Caitlin lives with their husband, toddler, three cats, and a dog.
1:28.5	And while life is busy, her goal this week was clear to be more intentional.
1:34.3	We are going to take a quick break.
1:36.4	You all know and love Catherine, our chief content officer here at her money.
1:42.0	And lately, she's been raving about a small change she made to her
1:47.5	morning routine one that has actually stuck she's starting her day with a simple habit that's
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