Raising Youngins

May 2024

I love to make my life easier. Not sure if that makes me lazy or efficient.. I hope you can implement one of these tips in your own life.

First, anyone else forever booked on the Amazon train? I use amazon for so much. I of course have a cart full of dream items that I’ll never buy, but I also have many subscriptions that keep my family going. We regularly receive vitamins and medicine in the mail. I have my HSA card plugged into my account and I love that I can skip the convenience store.

Second, have wipes everywhere. Short and sweet. Have wipes in the kitchen, in every bathroom, in a side table drawer, in your car, in your purse, everywhere. My family will never stop buying and using wipes.

From a young age, you could hear my kids jokingly say my husband and my names often. It was funny that a 2-year-old would be walking around at the park yelling, “Tessa, where are you?” But we did this on purpose. As teenagers my sisters and I LOVED watching Law & Order SVU. (My younger sister Clara, even at 12, thought Elliot Stabler was the most handsome man in the world.) What I noticed on so many of the episodes is that when little kids would get lost and asked their parents’ names, they answered, “Mama” or “Daddy.” So, I’ll take the humor on the park when I say “here I am” to a toddler yelling Tessa instead of another little friend answering the call. Lord willing my kids never get lost, but when they do, they’ll ask for Tessa Mommy Caroline Young.

I love a good Kroger click list and we recently got a Publix near us and I’m totally hooked. I do however have this bad habit of grocery shopping and not coming home with everything we needed. Anyone else? It started to really annoy my husband that I would take some store laps (which I don’t mind, it’s part of the grocery journey, right?) or forget something we had talked about all together. His innovative mind needed to fix my bad behavior, so we started sharing a note on our phones. Now we have less arguments about groceries (or lack thereof). A shared note even categorizes the entries so I can get all veggies when I’m in the produce and not have to lap back around. Wow, how efficient am I?!

Finishing up here, a few evening lifesavers…

I love to go to bed with a clean sink and my dishwasher is constantly running. I’ve done my fair share of experimenting with dishwasher soap but there’s often that one ornery dish that can’t get clean. What I learned a while ago which I practice often – just wash it again. If you’ve run it through your dishwasher 3+ times then I’m sorry, you’ve got a situation on your hands. Good luck!

Yall have heard my rant about how much I loathe laundry, but this girl is also not a morning person so I try to help myself the best I can the night before. When I was pumping, I got everything ready to walk out the door for my busy work day. I’m obsessed with overnight oats and I’ll share my fav recipe soon! One thing my husband and I have been doing to make the morning better is when grabbing the kids’ pjs, we also set out clothes for the next day. It really does help because my mind needs one less decision to make before 7am.

Last tip! I definitely don’t like wasting food and I can’t stand to waste money. When my kids don’t finish their milk before bed, I put it in the fridge and use the milk the next morning for their cereal. Sure, you may have to use some from the gallon to have a sufficient amount for the bowl, but at least you don’t watch your money go down the drain when you dump it out in the sink.

I hope you learned something new that might make your life easier. Please share your own tips on how you are making your life easier in the comments!