I’m pushing 80, with no children in the house, and a lot of this is great for me, too!

I am a mother of 11 and grandmother of 36 with 2 great-grandchildren. I am 70, so I am now full circle back to only my husband and myself. Because I had so many children, I used a color coordination system so that everyone knew where everything was and whose it was. I simplified my laundry by only having a minimal number of clothing for each person. And, of course, as my children grew, I delegated jobs between the kids. Older children had more chores, but all of them had to help. I believed and still believe that a parent's job is to raise your children to be self-sufficient. I am happy to say that all of my children are great cooks, wonderful housekeepers and nurturing parents. As their children are starting to leave the nests, they, too, know how to keep house, cook and are becoming loving, responsible adults. What you teach by example well live on well past your years. You should be commended. My grandmother, who raised 12 children during the Great Depression, told me that your third child is the hardest. That's because you only have two hands. As you have figured out, the other hands are your other children and spouse. Good luck dear and keep up the GOOD WORK!❤

I am a teacher….i prep my lunch and clothes for the entire week on Sunday. It has been a real game changer!! My mornings are so much smoother and I get out of the house a LOT more quickly in the morning!!!!

Can relate! My daughter has five son's. Enjoying them while they are little is the most important thing to do. They grow too fast, forget things that are not absolutely necessary. Laugh and play with them, teach them values and let them help with chores (even when it isn't helpful). I thought I was going to be chasing babies for the rest of my life when my three were little, they are now 57, 55 and 47! It is there turn to worry about me, ha ha. They and seven grandchildren are the joy of my life ( and my husband of 58 years). Love!

Not online shopping, but over the last few months my husband gets the groceries on his way home from work. Saves us in gas, saves my energy, he's able to make better sale buying decisions (meat, etc) without being distracted by toddlers. BEST THING EVER

oh my gosh!!! Can we please please please have these recipes!??! Snack bars! Bread! And that chick pea salad looked so amazing!!! :O

Thank you - I’m 67 and in the process of getting guardianship of my 8 year old granddaughter. Things have changed since my last rodeo

Hi! Will you share the chickpea salad, homemade bread, peanut butter bar, and chicken enchilada recipes?

Hahaha! In my 20s I shopped with 3 children; a 7 yr old, 2 yr old, and an infant. I shopped with them for years, until the oldest was 14 and could watch the younger ones. We survived alright. That's life and I don't regret any of it. You're children are beautiful! Appreciate your channel ❤

Freezer bag holder shining like a super ⭐️🙌

My grandmother had nine children - roughly 1 every other year. Each child had a different household task, so by the time the eldest was leaving home she didn't do any housework at all!

I have 4 kids (18, 16, 14, and 10). Laundry is my favorite chore, but my kids have been doing their own laundry for years.

I LIVE online grocery..it saves me money cuz I can see exactly how much I am spending and then I can take items out of cart as needed..all awesome ideas from your thank you!

Yes! I stopped folding my kids’ clothes too! It’s just not practical when they are little, and literally no one will notice the difference. I do hang up church attire in the closet, but that’s it. It saves me SO much time!

As a single person with grown children, I really enjoy seeing your little ones on your videos. My tip for you is to store some kid pics on your phone, then text them as get well cards. I was recovering from colon cancer in 2022, and this idea really worked for me. It takes very little time on mom's end,it is free, and those pictures cheer me up. You could even take pictures of the kids' artwork for the same thing. I also assemble outfits for occasions, especially funerals lately. It all fits on one hanger, and you just grab and dress.

“Embrace the chaos”…the best advice. It’s been the hardest thing for me to get… we are a senior couple raising a 6 year old…so much chaos 😮

Yes I did grocery shopping with 3 kids under 4 on a non-school day.My husband got paid once a month too. I bought groceries and non-grocery items for a month including milk I learned you could freeze! Produce was bought every two weeks since they had a short buy by life. I bought meat at the meat market for the month to freeze cutting up portions. Hamburger was cheap and could be made into patties, pizza burgers, meatballs, sloppy joes, put into chili, etc. Chicken was cheap also cut up from a whole one,but I splurged on chicken legs. Once a week we ate a meatless meal and ate fish like tuna. Veggies and fruit were added. We did have dessert of all kinds. Dairy Queen was a treat after swim lessons and banana splits. We lived in a small town where my husband's job was (world headquarters of the Scott Co. as a pathologist in botany) so I would have to travel to a bigger town to do the shopping for larger variety and cheaper prices including paper goods baby food, fabric, home items, etc. When my oldest was about 5 she would push one cart with the 3year old and we would fill it up and I would put the 1and1/2 year old in my cart and fill it up. I treated them withtheir favorite donut. Was it difficult, of course. I treated them to their favorite donut. Now remember this was only one day a month. I had to take them everywhere...to the Pediatrician to Columbus ,Ohio and the Mall. My husband would have helped with the grocery run, but I didn't want to go in the late evening with tired kids. I was 29 when my 3rd was born and was energetic and organized. I had the girls on a schedule. He helped when we went to church that had no nursery so they were in an emty room with me or they sat with us! As time went on our town grew when Honda moved in.and the girls were in school. I am 80 now and wish I could go back for just a week so enjoy them now. My girls are college educated, married and live in 3 different states. They have given me 8 grandkids. I am a retired teacher and a widow for several years. For several years I had the privilege of staying home with our girls. My parents and 2 brothers have passed. I have one brother still living in Indiana. Make sure if you have family be sure to visit and call. Be blessed.

I may add an amazing hack that is clips for socks, one colour for each family member. So easy to use, safes so much time later on 🤩

I have SO many bins of boy clothes. We were the last of our friends to have kids and we got TOO much. Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful. We barely had to buy a thing. But shifting through hundreds of tiny pieces of clothing and then getting attached to every piece my son so much as sat on, got overwhelming 😅

Also with the socks- if they take them off as soon as they come inside, have a delicates bag to collect them in by the door too! Then you just zip it up and throw them in the wash. You won't lose socks as often and matching them up is a breeze.

This all sounds really good advice for those of us with ADHD as well. Especially keeping things where you use/need them like keeping socks with the shoes. I would never have thought of that, but it’s so obvious. Thank you. 👍😃

YES YES YES. Sock Bins by the shoes in the mudroom is a game changer!!! I cannot believe I never thought of that. Way to go Cali!

I once saw a mom do a genius idea. The mom would put up a five to seven hook strip (each hook did a double hook) bar in each kids’ room around chair rail height. Above each hook, she put Monday to Friday. Or to Sunday Then when it was laundry day, she would either put a shirt on each top hook and pants on each bottom hook (or she’d make the kids do it so that they could design their own outfits for the week). Then each kid knew what they would wear each day…no folding necessary and the chaos was still contained. I loved that idea.

Love it as the lady below said, "I'm pushing 80!".... I'm close behind. But so much from your posts has inspired me. Especially the other week when you said "do little sort outs rather than one big one." This is so much easier. I live in Sydney Australia. Cheers.

Socks by the door in our "lockers" has been the BEST tip I've gotten from you. It's been soooo good for myself my youngest. No more running back upstairs for socks!!! 🎉

I am trying to simplify my life. I'm 64 and have some health issues, so I need to make things easier. Thank you for these amazing suggestions. Someone else doing my laundry! Why didn't I think of that? I had someone do that in Greece in September and it was unbelievably amazing! I'm also going to try the 5 meals in an hour, since I have 2 adult children back home with us. :-0. Thank you!!! Great for any stage of life.

My daughter came up with putting her socks by the door at our house. It’s brilliant!

When I was working 12 hour shifts as a nurse sleep was a high priority for me. I didn’t have any little ones but my husband’s job kept him at work until late. If I wanted to see him I had to stay up. But I did have a cut off time. I would set out a pair of scrubs, put support hose in one shirt pocket, other underwear in the other. Lunch was always packed the night before, coffee pot set up. Alarm at 5:15. Hit the shower, finger comb hair if it needed it. I kept it short- low maintenance that way. Out of the shower, swing by kitchen , coffee pot on (it was a single cup) back to the bedroom to get dressed. Back to the kitchen. Get coffee fixed, throw on coat, grab lunch, out to the car and on the road. It helped that we only lived a little bit more than a mile away from work. Arrive at work about 5 minutes until 6. After all of that I could still clock in before the 6:07 deadline. We could clock in 7 minutes before 6 clear up to 7 minutes after. I am definitely a believer about getting things together ahead of time. Someone I used to work with got up at 4 AM to do hair and makeup. 💄 That was never anything I could get into mainly because like if I used mascara I could count on having a headache. No clue why but it was easier and less expensive not to fool with it. I love listening to all your tips though. I actually have used a couple.

You can get extra inserts for the bentgo. They have lids so you can prep multiple days without needing a second lunchbox.

I have 1 baby and ive never folded his clothes even once. 😂 i lay them vertically in piles by type and shut the drawer, works super well actually!

I so wish there was online grocery shopping 20 years ago when kids were little . Great ideas for all of us to think about. Keep doing what works for you and your family

I made montessori style closets for my kids. shelves with bins for all their clothes. and a small low hanging section for shirts/dresses. And the regular/high hanging area is for clothes to grow into/handmedowns/out of season.

Every time I think that you've taught me everything that I need to know you bring something else out and it's revolutionary all over again. Can relate so much to all of this. Thank you and keep the wisdom coming.

I now see how my Mother just never stopped and loved it. She had a full time teaching job and my Dad worked full time as well. He helped where she asked him to but Mum took care of us 4 kid, did all the shopping, cooking, cleaning and prep for her job. There was no option to out source anything. We also had regular outings and the occasional larger vacation.

I have zero children but still always find some helpful info in your videos. Thanks

I love online grocery shopping. My kids are grown but I have chronic muscle pain so I order from WM online and have it delivered. I pay for a year so it's not as much and I figure with gas, and wear and tear on the car and my body that it's worth it. Plus I'm not exposing myself to colds, flu, etc.

I come from a family of 6 kids (my parents were saints). My Mom went grocery shopping on Saturday morning and meal prepped that afternoon. It’s a routine I adopted when my kids were small. Now, I meal plan, but don’t really pre-prep meals anymore.

Laundry service is brilliant

I always appreciate your ideas! You should write a book. I think, your thought, that you have to let go and accept some chaos is the only way to stay sane at times💖

i meal plan for 2 weeks in advance since I also do the grocery shopping for 2 weeks. ( family of 2 !) I save a lot of time and money by not going every week and it force me to use what we have . Thursday is always left over. In case we dont have any, which rarely happens, it's eggs and toasts ! Once a month, I filled up the freezer with home cook meals and the rest of the month, I prep 2-3 meals and use what's frozen.

Socks by the door was a total gamechanger for my family. Thanks so much for that tip.

Bread loaf recipe, please?

Can u share your chick pea salad recipe, please?

i literally sat down to fold my son's laundry while watching your video and the first tip got me 🤪

We just went through our girl’s clothes today and it takes soo much time - even although I labelled my older one’s clothes 😩 Thank you for the great tips! ☕️ ❤

I literally never comment on videos, but I have to let you know how helpful this was!

I go grocery shopping on the weekend as some Me time while my kids hang out with Dad (they are a bit older than yours and only two of them too, it's definitely easier as they get bigger) I gotta say though with rising food prices, online grocery shopping with free pickup might be the way to go to keep me On Task as it were, and not impulse buying! I meal plan but I don't bulk cook very often and I think it might be time to reconsider that approach as well. Best of luck and health and happiness to you are your beautiful family 😊

Oddly enough we are a perpetually sock wearing family except in the summer and at that time we use sandals/flip flops. 😅 Also our bedrooms are close to the door we leave through. So we are good with our current sock storage set up

You're such a sweetheart, love your channel and family.🎉

The tip about making a second batch of food to freeze is great and the one about making lunches twice a week vs every morning… 🤯. Why didn’t that occur to me before?!

I have a similar hand-me-down system, but I got there from the other side... Going from kid 1 to 2, I kept a detailed inventory of every item of cloth, sorted in little subsets of style, season etc. Kid 2 to 3, everything just goes in big bins, organised only by size 😅

THIS! This is the video I needed to watch! Thank you for putting this together! Truly excellent tips. Just became a mom of 3 this month and I’m also foregoing the folding clothes thing 😂 Also, love the Bernstein Bears “Get the gimmies” book - haha a family and generational fave!

Wow - this is one of the best videos I've seen on organization! Thank you!!😊

Thanks for the great tips! I’m trying to get back into meal prepping and planning each week- it makes the week run smoother for sure

The book, "cook once, eat all week" has been helpful for me for meal prep/ meal planning

It is amazing what # 3 does to the family dynamic. I think # 4 would not be as much to juggle the third breaks us in.. LOL. This is great! My youngest is now 30 but I do remember.. good job mama.

My sister and 4 nephews lived with me for almost 5 years. When three then four were in school, we'd make all the sandwiches for their lunches for a week and freeze them individually. The night before school, the boys could pick their sandwich and pack their lunches.

Meal planning and doing a massive Costco once per month insta cart order and knowing what we will have for breakfast and dinner every day for a month (every Monday breakfast is the same, every Tuesday a different breakfast is the same) has simplified my life and saved a ton of money. I go to a smaller grocery store once per month to pick up items that aren’t at Costco. I just look at the calendar and it tells me what to make.

I triple meals and freeze, or at least the meat portion. Double baked goods. Changed life completely, especially that hard hour before dinner.

When we lived in Saudi I started the sock downstairs idea. I had a basket by the front door for dirty socks because the first thing the kids did was remove socks and shoes and I had clean socks in baskets for each child and hubby downstairs as socks and shoes was the last thing to do in the morning. Game changer. I pack hubbies lunch the night before for him as I am disabled now and mornings are hard for me so he can help me if need be and grab and go. It’s only twice a week but it works.

I love you channel! Your time to organize and post videos all made sense when you said all your kids were in school 5 days a week. You have a lot more time to get things done. I was wondering, "how does she have time to do everything"--now I know.

I’m not a mother but I love watching your videos!

I have 3 kids, though they are 21, 18 and 16 now. Meal planning and online shopping are a real game changer. We (well hubby as he does it) also prep lunches the night before while dinner is cooking, usually 2 at a time. Oh and clothes! The memories of that! This is such a great video.

So my daughter primarily gets ready downstairs. Most of her current clothes live on top of our dryer right now. It is just easier. We also don’t match our socks. I’ve picked up this habit with her. It’s kind of silly and fun. Her socks are downstairs as well and we just grab whatever to put them on and go. Obviously for special occasions, our holidays we pay a little more attention to our socks, lol. 12:25

I really am excited about the meal prepping and the laundry service. I keep socks by the door as well. Always been a no brainer to keep flow with so many kids and getting out the door. Finding systems that work for your family ❤

Just signed up for 5 dinners 1 hour through your link. Some delicious looking recipes on there! I was really stuck in a rut with meal planning, so I'm excited to try this!

You are so inspiring!!🥰

So so helpful!! 🤍

Awesome!🙌🏼 thank you!❤

Really very help. I am a working mom who is always panicking while juggling a work life balance. I love your content❤ .

Thanks....lots of ideas I can use.

Can you share your chickpea salad? Looks amazing!

I love your videos. Never had kids and am way older than you. Always get a helpful tip here. Keep the good work.

I love your tips, as always! But if you're not picking up groceries until Monday, how are you meal-prepping Sunday?

Really excellent and smart solutions!

Love your ideas! Could you please share the protein peanut butter bar recipe? I looked for a recipe but the texture does not look like the one in this video. Would love to try making it for my two year old. He loves peanut butter!

You gave great advice and suggestions! It works for grown folks too!

Also get plates with separate cavities for foods...make your own tv dinner combos..they freeze well.

Wow you are a Wonder Woman. Thanks for the tips and tricks. I def want to start doing the meal planning and prepping. I don’t have small children anymore but this info is still so helpful🥰

I love your videos! You always have the best tips and present them in such an approachable way thank you ❤

These are such great tips! I used your link and joined 5 Dinners in 1 Hour! I think this is going to have the ease of a meal service that delivers ingredients, offering fresh menu ideas but using my own pantry and freezer. I'm super excited!! Thank you!! ♥

You are one smart mama! Doing any of your ideas are helpful. Blessings, Mary

Definitely recommend the sock tip. I started doing this since my 1st born (9 years old now) started walking. My mom still thinks it’s weird but I tell her it just makes sense to keep them by the shoes 😊

Laundry service, genius!

It's true. Simple is good. I love your videos. You are so engaging.

I'm learning a lot from your videos. I think you are a great mom! Thank you for sharing these!

I don't have kids (wanted them but don't have them), but I've been avoiding the craziness of going into grocery stores for almost a year. This is a no brainer for someone like me who is easily over stimulated and then I just shut down. (Brain Injury). Best part, I can bring my dogs when I go to pick up my groceries. I love that. ❤It's also darn efficient and ensures I don't impulse buy while in the store.

Great advice! I'm happy to say I use the tubs for hand-me-down clothing storage myself for very young kids....But once the kids got older, recycling clothing didn't work Love your videos, good for any age!

Great ideas!

Wow! I wish i could prep like that 😮

Grocery shopped with 4. Ugh! Oldest is 42…I would shop after work, 11pm at night just to not have to drag kids to the store. Love your ideas, my mom told me to do these same things, except for shopping on line.

Single, no kids. Love this video!!

Excellent tips! 👏👏👏👍💞😘

Very helpful 👌 ❤

I don't have 3 kids but I find those "one day/later" totes to be a pain in the butt. Chances are that when you want the outfit, the craft, the dish, the whatever, you're not going to want to play magic totes lol so what I like to do is just have furniture/drawers handy somewhere for the sometimes stuff. How my brain and life works anyway.

Good advice.

When you shop groceries online, do you do instacart? Do you do just one order from one store? I remember in a previous video you had mentioned you "shop around" and I am just curious what that may look like and if you have any tips. Thanks!

I like the cup basket holder

An Amazing Mom!

Yes I love socks by the door as well…so much easier!!