Simple Meals + Honest Book Reviews + Practical Living
Today’s post is a little different—it’s a peek into something I normally keep pretty private: our family budget.
We’re not going to break down every single dollar, but I’ll share how we structure our finances as a family of six—our living expenses, savings, bills, and even impulse spending. Think of this less as a “how-to” and more as a “here’s what it really looks like.”
👉 Spoiler: It’s not perfect, and that’s the point.
This is our first week back to school 🍎. Back-to-school season always brings excitement, fresh energy, and change—but I can’t help feeling a little wistful about saying goodbye to summer (see photo above). By the end of August, our family had found such a good rhythm, and everything felt like it was flowing. And now, with school starting, everything shifts again—new routines, new schedules, new energy. It can feel like a lot, especially with Labor Day around the corner and the holidays quickly piling up. The last third of the year is always a whirlwind: birthdays, school activities, holiday prep, meal planning, home projects, and travel. This year, I wanted one place to hold it all—so I created something I call The Fall Dashboard.
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Ground beef is one of those quiet kitchen heroes. It’s inexpensive, easy to store, endlessly versatile, and—when you know how to use it well—can save dinner on even the most chaotic nights.
At under $6 a pound at most grocery stores, ground beef is a staple I always keep stocked in the freezer. I rely on it heavily in our meal planning because it stretches easily, doubles or triples beautifully, and can be transformed into a wide range of nourishing, family-friendly dinners.
In today’s post, I’m sharing five go-to ground beef recipes that I rotate through regularly. My hope is that after reading (or listening), you’ll feel confident pulling one of these out on nights when you’re staring into the fridge with zero inspiration—and that a few of them might even earn a permanent spot in your weekly rhythm.
Welcome back to my WWATW series, where I share what we ate and how much we spent on groceries and dining out for a full week in July, all while hosting my dad —and getting into a delicious rhythm of sourdough discard baking. It’s a fun, practical look into what feeding a family of six actually looks like day-to-day.
Today I’m giving you a peek into what a typical weekday summer morning / early afternoon looks like with four little ones — all six and under.
Living a gluten-free lifestyle is something I aspire to, and I’ve been taking small steps in that direction by swapping out some of our everyday staples. Thankfully, it’s easier than ever in 2025—King Arthur makes a great measure-for-measure gluten-free flour that’s an easy one-to-one substitute. I found this cookie recipe earlier this summer and have been hooked ever since. Dare I say… they might even be better than my sourdough cookies?