The Nissan Pathfinder is a type of vehicle called an SUV, which stands for Sport Utility Vehicle. It's designed to be spacious and can handle rough terrains, making it great for families and adventures.
The Dodge Dart is a small car that was made for a few years and is known for being budget-friendly and having a sporty look. It’s a good option for people looking for an affordable vehicle, but it didn't sell very well.
The Tesla Model Y is a type of electric car that looks like a small SUV. It's known for being eco-friendly and has a lot of cool technology features, making it a popular choice for people who want to drive without using gas.
Subaru is a car brand from Japan that makes vehicles known for being safe and good in bad weather, like snow. They often have all-wheel drive, which helps with traction.
BMW is a luxury car brand from Germany that makes cars known for being fun to drive and having a sporty feel. They offer a variety of models, including sedans and SUVs.
Chevy is a common nickname for Chevrolet, a car brand that makes many different types of vehicles, including cars and trucks.
LIVE
Welcome to the carpool podcast with Kelly.
Trigger warning if you're with kids, but the sizes are marked as a six and a seven.
Do you know, like, you know I had to say the trigger warning?
Oh yeah, um, six, seven.
And Liz.
People love, when I talk about my Pathfinder, people love to have, like, all Nissan's crap
out on them.
I know, I know.
It's like, number six, top ten for new car reliability, okay.
Your mom time off starts now.
Welcome back to the carpool podcast with Kelly.
And Liz.
Happy Wednesday.
Happy Wednesday.
Okay.
A little tired there?
Sorry.
I'm a little tired.
Um, yeah.
This, like, past weekend rocked me.
My husband was out of town for the, like, marine stuff and my kids, let me just,
be a really original mom who just complains about how tired she is.
The other night, my longest stretch of sleep was from 8 30 PM to 11 30.
And then someone was up, someone was screaming, someone needed me.
So I was like exhausted and Maddie was coming home that next day.
And he was able to get on an earlier flight and I called him and I'm like,
the way you are my knight in shining armor right now for coming home to save
me from this situation.
And he was like, all of that's all I ever want to be as a knight in shining
armor.
And I'm like, this is to my husband who's been deployed five times.
This is the most heroic thing you've ever done in your entire life right now.
Well, yeah, I'm glad he's home.
Yeah, me too.
We had, well, first of all, I just wanted to say thank you guys all for
the incredible feedback on our Christmas episode.
Everyone seems to just love the tips that we shared.
And I feel like we really got people in the spirit.
I'm feeling so Holly Jolly.
How about you?
What's your Holly Jolly meter at?
No, I would say my Holly Jolly is pretty good.
Like I have been using an excuse to like throw a Santa hat on and
like wear a Christmas sweater.
I don't feel like I really thrived in the decor this year.
And now I really I'm going to be like a early November Christmas girl
moving forward because it is so much frickin work to put all these
Christmas decorations up and to have them because like day after
Christmas, like January one, I don't want to I don't want to see any
Christmas decorations.
Like I love I love to enjoy them.
So I'm going to put them up early because I'm going to enjoy them.
I want to be sick of them.
So I don't really feel like I did a very good job.
Like my Christmas lights like on my tree, right down in your notes.
I think I did, but you're right.
My Christmas lights have or my Christmas tree has a strand burnt out.
We didn't put any lights up outside.
Like it's gotten too cold.
I can't believe how much money people are spending to put up
to have someone professionally install Christmas lights on their house.
Like we don't do that.
So I'm just like decor wise, I'm not feeling very.
You have notes.
You have notes for yourself.
And I think that's fine.
I've worn my Christmas sweater three times since the podcast.
So you could say I'm getting my money's worth out of that thing.
And I'm loving seeing the ugly simmer pots take over my mentions on Instagram.
Yeah. So good job on your ugly simmer pots.
It's I don't know.
I'm I'm feeling highly jolly and there's still so much hollowness
and jollowness to have I need to.
Take inventory.
I think I'm done with I think I am done
with presence and I think I know how I'm organizing them.
More on that later.
Sorry, I'm like looking over there at said things.
But yeah, I'm just I don't know.
I'm I'm I'm I'm feeling it.
I'm feeling I'm feeling the Christmas spirit.
I'm hoping for a little bit more snow.
I'd love a white Christmas if I could really paint my perfect picture.
Mm hmm.
And I'm genuinely looking forward to Christmas break.
You know, one of our episodes that we did last year
was how we plan to like get the most out of our Christmas break.
Things we plan on doing because Christmas break.
It rocks me because it's just
it throws everyone off their routine.
And it's like such a it's like such a temporary thing.
Like even summer, I think is easier
because you're settling into what like the new routine is going to be.
Christmas break, I find so hard because, you know,
the kids get off school around like what, the twenty first twenty second
and then you have a couple of days of like not a lot.
And then you have the craziness of like Christmas.
And then you have the week between Christmas and New Year's of like not a lot.
And then they go back to school.
So it's like every day, every week is so different.
Whereas like the summer, it's longer.
You get into a rhythm.
So I remember I had a horrible Christmas break last year.
I know I've spoken about this at length.
I mean, you literally would have thought like, I mean, it was traumatic.
For genuinely some of the looking back, I was probably having some postpartum depression
because I was only about like two and a half months postpartum.
So maybe that was part of my problem if I'm because it's like, why was I so bad?
So I'm thinking about like, you know, things we're going to do.
I've been excited because I have found I've seen some like activities
come across my desk, some day camps come across my desk.
So like on the 23rd, there's this like arts, this kids art camp
from like eight to 12, I signed George and Hattie up for it.
I'm like, it's perfect.
Like that's so fun.
Get them out of the house, something for them to do.
So I'm kind of going to I love busy toddlers tip of she prints off
the month of December's calendar and then she hangs it on the fridge.
And she like puts like, I mean, her kids can read.
So she just like puts what's like what they have going on.
My kids can't really read yet.
So I'm thinking about just like doing emojis.
But I want to make a physical calendar for the kids to look at.
So like they can know like what what's happening.
Like, you know, like this day, we're going to do gingerbreads.
This day, we're doing breakfast with the Santa.
This day, we're going to Christmas at Gigi's.
This day, we're going to Christmas at Grandma Barbies.
Like they need that.
Yeah, because I feel like for them during their break,
they have no idea what every day is going to bring.
And I think that can be a little unsettling too.
So and you also like you also don't want to like give them too much of like,
oh, well, we're going to be going to do breakfast with Santa in five days.
Because then they're like, oh, well, are we going to go do that now?
And it's probably good for them to physically see and be able to count that down.
I agree with you.
But yeah, I just want to I just want to take.
Like the 15, 20, 30 minutes and really plan out my days.
And like, if it's a day that I know we don't have anything
and it's going to be a day of rest, like I just want to have that day planned.
It's like, it's a day of rest.
Like, we're going to reset because it has a busy weekend.
Or it's like, we're I don't know.
I need myself.
I myself need to do it because I know it's in my head what we have.
But I haven't yet really like looked at it logistically of like where we need to be.
How many days in a row do we have things?
How many naps are we basically going to be skipping?
How many days in a row?
So I need to do that because I need to have a redemption.
I mean, this is my redemption era.
Tangible takeaway alert, something that I have done from Thanksgiving
because we were just going to be gone all day.
And I couldn't fathom like how many diapers I needed for two kids.
I have an extra diaper caddy.
I have a diaper caddy packed with diapers and wipes in the trunk of my car.
And I'm keeping it loaded all of December
because between all of the random events that we're attending,
I at the very least know I have plenty of diapers and wipes in the back of my car.
No, that I'm going to be taking that that that tangible take away
because I agree. Of course, I have like my center console stash.
I need to work all day sometimes.
We're gone all day and I should have an extra bottle like an empty extra bottle
for Libby, maybe some snacks in case, you know, you get to somewhere
and then like, I need my like heads, some snacks, change of clothes.
Yeah, change of pajamas because you never know if you're staying out too late
and you want to be able to put on pajamas.
How late are you staying out?
And like, I feel like if they're Christmas pajamas
and like then it's a middle of the day thing and you have an accident.
It's like, OK, they're still festive.
Like it's yeah, I'm deaf and yeah, packing the diapers
and wipes and just not having to think like taking one thing off your plate.
I'm taking that. That's a great.
Great, great tangible take away.
Thank you. That's a great one.
Something else I wanted to talk about was I touched on this on my Instagram story
and it's just like a mindset shift that I had that really just totally changed
how I think about my days in my housework, I guess you could say.
And there it's kind of like two parts of this theory.
Theory one is blooming where you're planted.
Theory two is going deep, not wide.
And what that means is, you know,
when you have and I notice it the most with Libby's age,
because I see this 100 times, I find Libby's age nine to 18 months.
Hate. It's my least favorite age.
I know they're so cute and thank goodness they are,
because that's about all they have going for them, in my opinion.
Like they are such terrors, at least not terrors.
That's not the right word.
They're so busy and they're so dangerous.
Like Libby is always trying to like get into things
and like climb on things. They're just dangerous.
And Libby is especially dangerous because Libby moves.
Libby is such she moves like a two year old.
She's very advanced. Yeah.
Very advanced, like climbing, walking, running.
But she's like 15 months old, so she like doesn't have any sort of awareness.
And she's also my fourth.
So like, I mean, my attention's already getting split four different ways.
Like it is just she's very hard right now.
So like, if I'm with her in the kitchen there, I'm not getting.
I can't rinse a dish.
Literally, the only thing I can do is sit with her in her high chair,
because if I get up, she will climb out of her high chair.
Like she's crazy.
Mm hmm.
And I've of course gone through this with all of my kids.
And a mindset shift that I had was, OK, instead of like trying
to clean the kitchen, because that's what the dirtiest.
Like let me just where does Libby need to go?
Where is a safer place to go with Libby?
What is Libby doing right now?
And what can I get done where Libby is?
Now, I'm a busy body.
I just like to get things done.
That's what I mean.
I I'm the kind of person who like, I don't relax till the house is clean.
Like I don't need to relax first and then clean.
I need to clean, then relax.
And I just like to get things done.
And also like, I just told you I'm chasing around my 15 month old.
I'm not relaxing.
So I might as well be doing something
because I'm not just saying they're relaxing.
So I started like, so, for example, this weekend,
I was in Libby's room because like that's where she was safe.
Wanted to be she was playing with a baby dog,
you know, climbing on whatever the bed that was in there.
That's like not that high off the ground.
It's fine.
And I was looking around and I'm like, you know,
this room's pretty clean.
Like there's really not much to do here.
I'd love to be clean in my bathroom or the kitchen instead.
But I said, no, this is where I am.
This is where I'm going to bloom where I'm planted.
What can I do?
I changed her sheets.
Did her sheets need to be changed?
No.
Well, I mean, yes and no.
Like they could always be changed.
Changed her sheets.
I went next to her windows because she had fingerprints all over them.
I wiped down her baseboards.
Like when was I ever going to get around to doing that?
Yeah.
And then I went through some of the kids clothes.
I picked out there.
This was on Friday.
I was doing this.
And I picked out their church outfits for Sunday,
which like I normally don't do in advance,
but like that's I was around their clothes.
So I was like, this is what I'm going to do right now.
And just that little shift, you know,
it makes me feel more productive in my day.
And we also had we also talked about this a couple weeks ago
when it comes to bath time, because I find bath time to be a joy.
Because that's when I can get a lot.
I can do a ton of things in my bathroom.
Like I can maybe curl my hair.
I can fold laundry.
I can clean my bathroom.
Like I can get so many things done there.
I love when they take a bath.
So I just think that's a really important mindset shift
to try to have is don't worry about what's on the to do list.
Like don't worry about what's the messiest focus on going deep
because that's that's the opportunity that you have in front of you.
So like if your kids are in the basement playing,
well, it's not like going, why would be cleaning up the toys?
Like that's silly because they're playing.
Going deep would be dusting or like vacuuming
or deep cleaning the bathroom somewhere or doing the baseboard.
Like focus on doing things that aren't going to get trashed right away.
I'll say because then at the end of the day,
we'll clean up the toys and then you'll have clean baseboards
and a clean floor and it's a win-win.
I just think when you're just with your they just watching a kid play
or like that's just the circumstance you're in.
I find myself to be so so much happier with my circumstance
when I am doing something productive
because when I'm just scrolling on my phone and it's not good
looking for near kids, I don't like doing that as much.
And I know and I do it more than I would like to but then I'm also irritable.
Yeah, even if I'm trying to like do things
productive on my phone, like for work or scheduling appointments or whatever,
like just something about the screen of like they come up or they need me.
I'm like irritable because like I'm trying to get this done.
But like if I'm cleaning baseboards and they come over,
then I might be like, hey, why don't you help me with this?
Like, why don't you like this is what I'm doing?
Like you can just like it just offers opportunities.
And I am just so much happier when I am moving
and getting something done with my kids around.
So am I. So am I.
So that was great.
Another thing I wanted to tell you was I have hacked Hattie's clothes.
It was so random.
But I was I was in I was in Libby's room.
We were going through clothes.
I was going through Hattie's clothes over there in Libby's room.
OK, long story.
I'm so proud of Hattie's wardrobe right now
because it is I love to dress Hattie in colors.
I love to do like mixed patterns.
I just think like mixed patterns on little girls is like so sweet and precious.
And like I'm kind of I feel like I'm really getting good at it.
Like, you know, like star pants, striped shirt or like, I don't know.
I just feel like I'm kind of mastering the mixed patterns.
And I love.
Well, let me back up now that I have two in two.
I really do kind of think about like everything that Hattie wears,
Libby's going to wear everything that George wears, Fred's going to wear.
So I really am kind of looking at it from the lens of like this needs to last two kids.
And now that Hattie is in a size six ish, they're kind of lasting two seasons
because like she's like the sizes are and I'm just trigger warning if you're with kids.
But the sizes are marked as a six and a seven.
Do you know, like, you know, I had say the trigger warning.
Oh, yeah.
Six, seven.
Anyway, so like it will probably fit her next year.
So I'm going to get two seasons from her, two seasons from Libby.
Like, I'm good to invest in the pieces.
I love Bowden, T, Hannah Anderson.
Yeah, like those are my ride or dies for Hattie.
Obsessed, especially Bowden, like it is my favorite.
Bowden is so expensive.
Like I would never I would never.
I think I've bought in one thing new from Bowden from Hattie.
But she has a ton of Bowden because I buy Bowden on one Facebook marketplace.
I love when they do a lot like Bowden lot.
Yes, I love a lot.
I got her eight pairs of leggings for $40.
That's five dollars a legging Bowden leggings.
Like basically robbed at gunpoint.
I'm surprised that the police weren't called when I picked up
that Facebook marketplace order and I found a Bowden resale group,
like a mini Bowden resale group on Facebook.
I'm loving these types of groups.
I'm joining them left and right.
T Collection, Hannah Anderson, Little Sleepies, like let me just join them all.
And I have found some amazing pieces for Hattie on these groups.
And I'm telling you it's less work than buying it online
because all you do in these groups and they're all a little different.
They're all their own group rules.
So you kind of got to figure it out.
But all you do is someone posts something and you say sold
and you give them your PayPal email and they PayPal
invoice you when you pay it and then the PayPal invoice sends them your address.
So like literally I have to get my credit card out and I'm just like done.
Yeah, that's really nice.
I need I'm like trying to find I want to look into this
because that's a really good idea to just like join Facebook groups.
So I'm getting them for cheaper, especially when you know
you love the brand that you feel so good about pulling the trigger on it.
Totally. And I love the brand and the quality is good.
Like it's yeah, it's good quality.
So I feel fine buying it.
And I'm telling you, like they're just such good pieces.
So that has been like a really fun.
Yeah, I don't even want to tell people
because then everyone's just going to like steal it from me.
So just know if you have like this is so cute.
I need to stop like now now I'm looking and I'm like, oh my gosh, I need.
I love it. I love it.
And so what also I did this weekend was, you know, as I was
like, sorry, I have a question.
Are all these Facebook groups the same where you just say mine
or I want it or whatever?
Here's the first. Well, that's what I'm saying.
You have to read. I was I don't know.
You've got to read the groups.
Like, oh my gosh, look at this coat coat with mittens.
A very good use condition.
This boat is happy size.
Oh, see 11 comments. See it's done. It's toast.
Well, how does it have 11 comments?
So they just like if it falls through, I'm next.
Yeah, what are people saying?
Yeah. Oh my gosh, they're all so cute.
Elizabeth, like I'm just gooped over it.
And, you know, I tried to I used to be on this Poshmark grind Poshmark.
I'm sorry. I think it's scam.
I'm not paying seven dollars in shipping.
Mm hmm.
And I think the prices are too high.
This is like 22 ships.
This is a mini Bowden cream applique cotton long sleeve shirt size 1011.
Never worn only washed twenty two dollars.
Yeah, Poshmark, you pay for shipping and also they take 20 percent
from the person selling it.
So the person who's selling is like trying to list it for even higher.
So they don't feel like they're being they're they're not.
Poshmark isn't taking so much from them.
Yeah, like they're trying to sell it for 15 and Poshmark is going to take
three dollars and they're like, OK, fine, I'll sell it for 18.
So I can get the 15 that I want.
And I feel like if you it would also be a great place
for you to reseller to see your kids stuff.
Yeah, well, you have active shoppers on whatever brand it is
that you're trying to sell.
Yeah.
Anyway, what else?
Oh, so then I also this weekend was like feeling so productive.
I took a page out of the marketplace, mom.
If you're not following her on Instagram, she's inspiring follow.
And I I put two lots together.
I was cleaning out Fred's pajamas.
I found four three T pajamas that don't fit him anymore.
I said three T boy pajama lot sold sold quick.
Obviously underpriced it.
Don't care.
It's out of my life.
Yeah, it's out of my life.
And I had enough money to buy my hamburger a dart ball.
Oh, I played dart ball this weekend.
And remember, I told you, um, Tyler nailed it.
Tyler goes, it's a Tyler goes.
It's a fun game.
I just don't really like it.
Yeah, totally.
Dart ball.
So basically it's darts, but we throw we throw underhand.
It's a big it's it's big darts.
The big board, it's a big dart.
It's big darts.
But the problem is it's like, if you if you hit a certain part of the board, you're out.
And but then like, if you hit other parts of the board, you're not out and you can keep going.
And it's like, I want to I want to throw four darts and take my best one.
Like that, that would be more than because I just kept getting out on the first try.
Our team, we got we did not do very well, which was fine, because we wanted to be done with it.
But anyway, all to say is thanks to my boy little sleepies.
But jam a lot, I was able to cover my dart ball meal.
And then did you pay did you pay for it with the cash that you got from market?
Yeah, that feels good.
I stopped at the mailbox on my way to dart ball, had my cash.
Yeah, it feels good.
And now that's out of my life.
And I, you know, kept some money in the bank.
Yeah.
And I'm just like loving marketplace, like it is just so.
And like, what a great.
So like, that's what I'm saying, like when you're next time,
you're like stuck in a basement or like a room with your kids
and like, what could I be doing?
I don't know.
Look around and see everything you listen up for on marketplace
because that's productive.
Yeah, so productive.
OK, Liz, I know we have an interview at the end of this episode.
So do you want me just to go to industry news?
Do you have anything else you want to talk about?
Um, no, I am really excited to get into this interview.
So let's get into industry news because I do know that that is pretty juicy.
OK, now it's time for industry news where I saw the hot to tea
going on the auto industry and consumer reports had a big old list come out.
And they unveiled the top 10 best and worst car brands for 2026.
Now, what is best and worst means?
The ratings are based on the averages of new vehicles, overall score,
which factors in results from road test safety assessments
and reliability and owner satisfaction out of the 31 car manufacturers.
These are the top 10 best and worst car brands.
So it's not by model.
It's not. Mm hmm.
It's not by model.
Also, that it's just like it's like it's like an overall average.
You know what I mean? Yeah.
Number one for best really surprised me.
Do you want to take a guess?
No, I'm looking at it right now.
OK, number one is Subaru.
Shocking. Mm hmm.
Not shocking that they're on the list, shocking that they're number one.
Number two is BMW, also a little shocking, but proud of them.
And actually, BMW and Subaru got the same score.
Then why are they one and two?
I don't know, but they both got an 82.
Hmm. OK.
Number three is Porsche.
Number four is Honda.
Number five, Toyota.
Number six, Lexus.
Number seven is Lincoln.
What? Yeah.
Number eight, Hyundai.
Nine, Acura.
Ten is Tesla.
So like big names that are not on here is outside of Lincoln.
There's no American brands.
There's no GM. There's no Ford.
There's that's kind of crazy.
Kia is nowhere to be found.
Tesla. There is Tesla.
Oh, Tesla is an American brand.
You're right. Kia was nowhere to be found, which was kind of shocking.
Kia was number 12, but.
I'm so surprised.
It's just sort of that Lincoln was seven and Ford wasn't on it.
OK, now this is the juicy stuff.
Let's get to the worst.
Well, well, can I just say?
Because I'm looking at like they go up to like 20.
Lincoln was number seven, Ford was number 18.
So that's kind of up there.
Yeah, that is up there.
Now, for the worst car brands,
is is is the worst number one or is the worst 10?
I don't know.
It says worst car brands in descending order.
What does that mean?
OK, I'm looking.
Tell me what the first one is, and I can.
I'm looking at a different report card than you.
Oh, yeah, you are Jeep is number one is the worst.
Yeah. OK, so Jeep is the worst.
And that tracks Jeep can't get anything together.
Like leave it to Jeep to have a car that people love, the Wrangler
and do anything else but focus on that Wrangler.
They're ironic.
This the the worst ones, this is not looking good.
Number two is Land Rover.
Yeah, number three, GMC shock.
Yes, Jeep and Land Rover doesn't surprise me.
GMC being three surprises me.
Four is Dodge doesn't surprise me.
Five Alpha Romeo, who cares?
Six Rivian doesn't surprise me.
Seven Chrysler doesn't surprise me.
Eight Chevrolet kind of surprising.
Nine Mercedes Benz shocks me.
Yeah, that's was like the most shocking to me to have BMW
be number one slash two and then Mercedes be nine as the worst.
Yeah, 10 is Volkswagen doesn't show.
I mean, I don't know, whatever.
Yeah.
It's not good.
It's a lot of American.
It's not good.
So.
It's really interesting to go onto the Consumer Reports
Instagram because they like break it down into like a chart format.
So you can see like we did the top 10 and the worst 10.
But then there's like 10 in between those list.
I want to see what's on their Instagram.
It's a much easier way to digest this.
Yeah, I was on like Yahoo's version of that.
That was painful for me.
And then they also they also ranked the car brands.
Car brands ranked by new car reliability.
Oh, yeah, let's get into that point.
Can I can I get there though?
Because I'm just like, well, do you want me to do it?
Because I've I've got I've got it pulled up.
And that's fine.
You can get there, but I want to follow along.
OK.
Number one, car brands ranked by new car reliability.
Number one is Toyota.
Number two is Subaru.
So Subaru is like up there for everything.
Number three is Lexus.
Number four is Honda.
Number five is BMW.
Number six is Nissan, which people love.
When I talk about my Pathfinder, people loved it.
Like all Nissan's crap out on them.
It's like, I know.
Number six, stop 10 for new car reliability.
OK.
Number seven is Acura.
Number eight is Buick.
Number nine is Tesla.
Number 10 is Kia.
Shout out Buick.
I'm telling you, Buick needs Buick has momentum
and they need to keep moving.
I'm proud of Buick.
Proud of Buick.
Oh, 11 is Ford.
And Kia is number 10.
That's another one that people love to act like.
They always they always crap out.
It's like, because you've had one bad experience with it
or my dad said, I never never drive a Kia.
They're so quick to buy like a Chevy that's linked at 42
versus a Kia, which is at 49, which I mean,
I'm not saying I like both of those cars,
but if people make me want to throw something at them
when they just are like, oh, I'd never buy a Kia.
And then it's like, why?
Have you seen their interior?
Well, it's just like, can you provide any data
to back up that claim?
And if you're like, oh, yeah, no, like it's number 10
and I only want to drive a car that's number one.
I'm like, oh, that's fine.
Like I get it.
You're a Toyota person.
Like that's that's fine.
But to be like, oh, I never drive a Kia.
Those don't last.
And then buy a Chevy.
That's crazy thing to say.
If you want to buy a Chevy.
17 on the list.
Yeah.
But then it's interesting that Lincoln goes to 20,
even though they were number seven on overall.
So that so people just must like Lincoln's cars.
They are good cars.
And Rivian was the worst at 26
and Jeep was the third worst at 28.
Jeep sucks.
Anyway, quite interesting.
Okay, so we have an interview.
We're continuing this series of
homemaking, budgeting, making things from home,
just like all things like how can we stretch the budget,
get creative in our-
This is a great interview.
In our motherhood, in our homemaking,
in our cooking, all the things.
So we have Morgan Taylor Price.
Morgan Taylor at home on Instagram.
She is a mom of almost four.
She literally could be having her baby right now.
Like she's passed her due date
and she made time to come on our podcast out of breath.
Yes, but she did make the time nonetheless.
And it's a great interview.
A lot of tangible takeaways.
They are a single income making it work.
She is with her kids.
She is frugal.
Talks about the changes that they made
to cut back their grocery bills and what they're doing.
She tells us a lot on the podcast,
but she also has a lot of great tips
on her Instagram as well.
So I haven't recommend you check her out.
Oh, she's like one of my new,
for sure one of my new favorite follows.
She inspired, I finally,
I know what I'm asking for for Christmas
after this episode because I decided
what she said is what I'm gonna ask for.
Oh, yeah, me too.
Literally after the episode, Kelly,
I think we both texted mom.
Like an idea for Christmas because mom texted me.
She was, what do you want for your birthday?
And I told her, and she was,
Kelly said the same thing.
Okay, I swear though, mom,
if you're listening and you don't,
just get me and Elizabeth the same one.
Because if she tries to do this thing
where she gives us a slightly different one.
Get me the slightly better model.
But yeah, you get us the same.
It is a great interview.
Thank you guys for tuning into the Carpal Podcast.
We will talk to you on Friday.
Yay.
Welcome Morgan.
It's a great interview with Morgan Price.
Morgan, welcome to the Carpal Podcast.
Hi, thanks so much for having me.
We're so excited to have you
and we're so excited to have you specifically
for this series of homemaking,
stretching our budget at the grocery store
and all things like motherhood.
You are a mom of almost four.
Yes.
By the time this podcast comes out,
you could have a baby.
Yes, it was just so crazy.
Which is so crazy.
So crazy.
And you're a stay-at-home mom.
Yep, I stay home with my three kids,
almost four kids, yep.
And your content creator.
Yeah, that just somehow like slipped in there
a while back and that's just been part of my life.
It always does.
It always, to the good ones, it always does.
I think your content's great.
There's so many things I wanna talk to you about.
I want you though to sell me on needing a smoker
because I saw when you smoked all that pork
and this is what I'm telling my husband, I need a smoker.
We do love it.
I did grow up with a dad who is obsessed with barbecue
and now owns a barbecue restaurant
and so it was like a very much part of my life growing up
but we do love it.
We don't use it like all the time, I would say
but we're very glad that we do.
Like at Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law just decided
last minute that she didn't have enough oven space
for turkey so we like smoked the turkey
just because we had.
And it was fine.
Yeah, totally.
I've never considered a smoker.
But I feel like it's one of those things
you don't need to use it all the time to make it worth it
because you're batching it.
So one of my favorite, I guess, new series
that you have on your page right now
and I feel like it's kind of your hottest take
is you don't like freezer meals.
You think freezer meals,
I think your direct quote was disgusting.
I feel like it's always like mushy
and then like, so they lack texture
and then like flavor, I don't know.
I feel like with my first baby,
I like had like this whole menu of freezer meals
and I'm like, okay, I'm going to make all these
before she comes.
And then she came and we ate like one of each,
like kind and we were like, that wasn't very good.
That wasn't very good.
We'd rather just make her own dinner.
And so I think it's not worth the time
or the energy to make them all ahead of time.
But you think it's worth prepping the proteins
or making the proteins in bowl.
So I like to prep like the meat ahead of time.
So like that really you saw,
I prepped a whole bunch of sweet pork
in the crock pot and pulled pork on the smoker.
And then I took it all and I put it
into like family size portions.
Like what our family would eat in the meal.
So I'm not like freezing like five pounds of pork at a time.
Like it's like a pound of pork.
And then I vacuum seal it and put it in my freezer.
And so then we can pull that pork out.
We can make sandwiches, we can make nachos,
we can make tacos, we can make enchiladas.
Like you can make so many different things with that meat.
And it's just, it's already cooked.
And so then like the hard part is kind of done for you.
Kind of like how you've talked about prepping
like ground beef before and like taco meat.
It's the same thing.
Like the other day I went to Costco
and bought four rotisserie chickens
and then I came home and chopped them all up,
froze them and then that I can just pull out
and use for so many different things
because chicken goes in a million things.
And it just like takes a big step out of cooking things.
So then it's just easy to throw things together later.
Well, then it's like you're like combining versus cooking.
Like then you're just combining things.
And I mean, you're saving on the dishes
and it's got to be more cost effective
because then you can hit things on the sales
or buy bigger portions of them
and then make them into smaller portions.
I think that's really smart.
Yeah, absolutely.
That is something that kind of is making me question
a lot about my life.
You said you vacuum seal.
Am I supposed to be vacuum sealing before I freeze meat?
Yeah.
It lasts so much longer.
Like I went through and like
deep clean my freezer before I started this
and I found me that's like two or three years old
that's like has no freezer burn.
Like it's totally fine.
Like I could totally use it.
It's still in my freezer.
Wow.
Whereas the meat that I'm like,
oh, we'll get to it really soon.
I'll just put it in like a freezer zip top bag.
Like that stuff all had freezer burn
and I had to toss it.
Well, that was on my list to talk to you
because I prepped with that protein.
I put in a gallon bag that technically said freezer on it
and I can tell you it's a little freezer burn.
Now we're gonna tough it out at the Stumpy household.
But yeah, I'm not thrilled with it.
And I think that that's a really good,
like I actually might ask mom Liz
for a vacuum sealer for Christmas.
I feel like it's one of those like.
That's a good one.
Yeah.
And I love thinking about gifts.
One time we had debt-free mom on
and she did a whole series on like things you can ask for
for Christmas that will save you money.
And I was like, oh, it's such like a good concept.
And I think a vacuum sealer is like a perfect,
it's like the epitome of that, right?
It's like, it's a little bit of an investment, but wow.
Is it easy to use and operate?
Like it's like a laminator, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You just like put the end in and like push the button
and like suck all the air out and then seals it
and then toss in your freezer.
Okay.
And I imagine it also probably saves a little bit of room too.
Yeah.
So when I vacuum seal things like I vacuum seal them flat
so then they can like stack.
So it sounds like a chunk of me, like it's flat.
And since it's like totally sealed instead of a bag,
I can throw it in the sink of like water
and it's not going to like leak into the bag.
Whereas like a zip top bag, like I'm not going to do that
because I'm scared that water's going to get in.
Right.
So it thaws out so much faster because it's flatter
and it's just like totally watertight.
Okay.
So if we get no other tangible takeaways
from this podcast, that is,
I'm sorry if I sound like an idiot.
I didn't know about this.
So that's very good.
We're learning.
We're learning.
And I'm not afraid to admit that's why Morgan's here.
Yeah.
Morgan is here to spread awareness.
Morgan, take us back a little bit.
So you're a stay at home mom to three.
You started creating content.
Kind of tell us about the driving factor to creating
the content and also I guess just like wanting
to save more money, especially when it comes
to like the grocery bill.
Yeah.
So way back like before we had kids,
I have a degree in photography
and I was like a wedding photographer
and like a portrait family photographer and love that.
And that was like mostly in like the summers I felt like.
So in the winter and during the off season,
I would substitute teach school
because it was like super flexible.
I could do it however much or as little as I wanted.
And it was great when we were first married.
And then I had my first daughter
five and a half, almost six years ago.
And I like, I really wanted to stay home
like that was my goal.
And so I stopped substitute teaching.
I still did a little bit of photography
just cause I kind of could.
But we like without that income,
we realized that like, okay,
things are getting a little bit tighter.
My husband works in agriculture
and like there's just not a whole lot of money in that.
And so things were tight.
Like he could support us fully,
but things are just tight.
And if we ever wanted to like buy a new car
or buy a house or anything like that,
like we just need to be able to save more.
And so we went through all of our bills
and I'm like a pretty like frugal,
simple person as it is.
So like there wasn't a lot of just like frivolous
spending that we were doing to cut.
And I felt like all of our bills
were pretty like set in stone.
Like you really couldn't change
like your power bowl whole lot and stuff like that.
But I felt like groceries is where we could cut.
At that point we were spending like $600 a month
for just the two of us.
And I thought that was like pretty decent.
But then I like started to like actually like focus in
on things and like, oh, we can cut this a lot more.
So I started like meal planning for a week or two
at a time and grocery shopping for all that at once.
So it felt like the less often
that I was in the grocery store late.
We just saved so much just by not going very often.
And so I would do that.
And then I slowly started building up our freezer supply
of just like backup food.
So I would stock up on meat when it was on sale.
So like that pork that I showed in that row was all
like pork cushion that was just on sale at the store.
So I bought like three big packs of it
and just smoked it off.
So I just like started stocking up on meat.
And then that turned into I would only meal plan
with the meat that we had in our freezer.
So every meal that we were eating
like we were instantly saving money
because that meat I had bought on sale at some point.
And then I'd also start stocking up on like
just like shelf-saving stuff.
Like I always have pasta, I always have pasta sauce
and like that sort of stuff.
And I just try to only buy it on sale
and just buy a lot of it.
And we now are a family of five, almost six
and now we're spending about $600 a month.
And that's seven years later.
And so like I feel like just the little things
they just kind of add up and you're able to save a lot.
So first of all, like I can't like you being
out of breath is just I feel for you so much.
I know, I know.
This belly, I feel like I'm like,
I'm like, how are you doing?
I'm like, I feel fine.
I just feel big and uncomfortable.
Yeah, totally.
I don't, yeah.
I think that's a good process though
to kind of start with the meat,
be strategic about what you're buying,
how you're storing it.
And to your point, like the better you get at
cooking it and freezing it,
the more variety you'll end up having in your life
which I think will make it
an easier plan to stick to.
Like I think it can be tough like, you know
if you only are finding one type of thing on sale
or if you're only, if you're buying it,
if you're buying the meat that's on sale that week
and then also trying to cook with it,
it's so much of the same.
Yeah, it's so hard.
So I love that.
I love that like buying it on sale,
stick it in the freezer
and then that's what you're pulling from.
Because then that gets way more cost effective
because then that's such a,
then you're buying the lower cost items
like the canned goods, like some of the grains
and turning it into.
Yeah, I feel like the meat is like
the most expensive part of your meal, right?
And so like, if you can save money on the meat
every time, like that's gonna add up so fast.
I love that.
It also just like allows you to be so creative.
Like I have really been trying to use more of what's in my
like fridge or pantry before going out to buy something.
And of course, through Chutchi BT with the help.
I've been so much more creative
and like coming up with new things
and just like new ways to make things
and new recipes and it's,
it's actually a lot more fun
and it's more of a challenge
and it kind of uses your brain a little bit more
than just making the same thing over and over.
Totally.
Well, and kind of like a theme
we've been talking about lately is,
and I would love to hear your take on
and your experience with this
is I do kind of feel like our generation
doesn't really know how to cook very well.
I think we can follow a recipe.
I think so much of the food we're buying
are these like quick, easy, like already cooked things
that when you go back to the basics,
I think we're feeling like this task
of cooking from scratch is so overwhelming
because we weren't really taught how to cook from scratch.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, it's definitely like a skill set
that like you have to build that like our grandma
is just like, that's just what they did.
And like they, if they saw like what we were cooking
and what we were buying today
for food, they'd be shocked.
Yeah.
And exactly.
So what are some of your like favorites
or best things that you stopped buying at the store
and you started making them from scratch?
Well, my husband eats yogurt and granola
every single morning.
Like he's a man of habit and he loves it.
And one time I'd like ran out of granola
and I was like, oh, well, granola's pretty simple, right?
It's just like oats and like whatever.
So I like made it and then he ate it.
And then I went and bought the store
about granola next time and he was like, wait,
I really liked that other granola.
And I'm like, oh, well, it's probably half
about half the price to make it.
So I've been making granola for years
and it's so easy.
And a couple of years ago on 4th of July
I volunteered to make potato salad.
Cause I'm like, I feel like my potato salad
is the best potato salad like everybody does.
Right?
I was like, I'm gonna make potato salad for 4th of July
and then it got to be that morning
and we had no mayonnaise.
And I was like, mm, okay.
Well, we left 30 minutes from the store.
So that's not really an option.
And so I was like, I'm pretty sure mayonnaise is easy to make.
So I started making mayonnaise like from scratch
which is so easy and I've made it ever since.
So it's been like over two years.
Okay.
I was just like whipping up mayonnaise just because
and it saves pantry space.
Cause I feel like I was always stocking up a Costco
with like the big jugs of mayonnaise.
And it was like, they're huge
and they take up so much space.
And I'm like, now I don't have to do that
cause I can just whip up a jar whenever we need it.
How long does it take to make?
Oh, like two minutes.
I love mayonnaise.
I have made homemade.
I've made homemade mayo before.
It's pretty easy.
It's crazy.
It's just like an egg and olive oil
and an immersion blender and you're basically there.
That's so crazy.
And like think about all the ingredients
that are in the mayonnaise at the store.
Like I haven't looked, but I'm assuming it's a lot.
Yeah.
I'm assuming it's like garlic in
or like other things if you want to make like
Oh, garlic.
Garlic and aioli.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now it's an aioli.
And now we're making aioli.
From scratch.
Easy to do.
I love that.
I'm getting hungry.
I know me too.
Okay.
So I want to talk about your Instagram.
Okay.
So you have 93,000 Instagram followers.
Congrats.
It's incredible.
Like you are a full-blown content creator.
Single income family making it work
and you have affordable meal plans for moms
because I think some people might be listening to this.
I mean like, okay, congratulations.
You were able to figure out meal plans
and cut your grocery bill.
That sounds really intimidating to me.
So if someone wanted to fill out
your weekly meal plan on your Instagram,
what can they expect to get from that?
So that meal plan is actually a meal plan like subscription.
So I have a lot of moms that are like,
I would love to like make more meals during the week,
but like I just don't want the mental load
of having to figure out what to make.
And so I like have gone through and like,
I think there's like 60 something recipes
I'm always adding more of just like easy,
family friendly recipes.
They're all 10 ingredients are less
and every week it's a subscription.
It's like less than $10 a month.
They get 10 recipes a week to choose from.
So like if you don't like soups
don't make the soup.
Like I'm not just gonna give you five recipes
because that like every family has preferences.
And so, and then you just pick what you want.
And then it has like a pre-shopped Walmart list.
You just click and it has all the Walmart ingredients
that you need and you just like add them to cart
and check out.
And so then it takes away like the planning
and the shopping and you just like don't think about it
at all.
Cause I feel like that's where a lot of people
get hung up on meal planning
is that they just don't know what to make
and they don't want to have to think about it.
And it's just the mental load that as moms
like we carry so much mentally.
That's just one more thing
that we don't want to think about.
So it just takes that away.
Okay. I love that.
I just filled out your email.
I could certainly agree.
I hate meal planning.
Yeah. It's not the best.
It's just like that.
It's like that trope when it's like you get to the store
to buy something and you're like,
I can not remember anything that I've made for dinner
literally ever.
I know.
I know.
Well, I feel like that could be a good segue
to our segment, which is ditch the drive-thru
where we give the audience an easy dinner recipe
to mix it up to get them out of their dinner rut.
Can you give us a little sneak peek
of what we could expect on the email list
or just like your go to ditch the drive-thru?
I feel like it's going to be good.
Yeah. So one of our families favorite things.
So like we love like burgers, right?
But sometimes like you just get sick
of like a traditional hamburger.
We love to do burger bowls,
but not like the ground,
not like the sweet potato one that you see everywhere.
Like we do like you put french fries in the bottom
or tater tots or whatever your family likes.
And then seasoned ground beef
and then cheese and then lettuce and pickles
and like all your toppings,
you could go all out and do like sauteed onions
and bacon.
And then like a really good burger sauce on top.
And like my kids love it
because you just serve it like buffet style.
So they can put whatever they want.
They can eat on a plate all separate if they want.
They throw it all together.
Yeah. It's like, it's whatever.
Let's go back for a second.
You said the base is french fries or tater tots.
See, that's where I'm already interested
because sometimes it's too much of like a lettuce base
and I'm not, that's not really.
It's not a salad.
That's not really cutting it for me most days.
So I like the idea of a starchy potato base.
And so it's basically like loaded fries.
Yeah. Essentially. Yeah.
And then your kids can just eat whatever they want.
Like all my kids love it.
Like I have my oldest daughter,
like she loves just like plain hamburger,
which is like so bizarre to me sometimes
because she doesn't want sauce on it or anything.
She just wants plain for season ground beef.
And I'm like, perfect.
You can eat whatever you want.
You can eat the ground beef
and then she'll eat like the tomatoes
and the cheese and like the other stuff on the side.
But like it's so nice and like my husband loves it.
It's like bulky and it's like hearty
because you have all those like potatoes
and whatever you want at the base
and as much meat as you want.
And yeah, you serve it buffet style
and everybody gets what they want and it's great.
And you can like that's another thing
that you can batch cook is that ground beef.
Like you can have a ton of that in your freezer,
warm it up real quick,
throw some tater tots in the air fryer
and like dinner's done.
And dinner's done.
Yeah. I make this a lot when I,
cause I always have ground beef,
but I don't always have tater tots or french fries.
But I, so if I like need to get rid of potatoes,
I just cut up potatoes into little square into little cubes.
And that's my base.
But the potato over the sweet potato base
is such a game changer.
Yeah.
I'm not a huge sweet potato person.
I'd like, love me some good crunchy french fries
or tater tots.
Me too.
Me too.
In the right context, I like a sweet potato,
but I'll take a fry over a sweet potato fry personally.
And then you need like a good sauce for sure.
Yes.
Not just a ketchup mustard.
You need like a good sauce.
So are you making your fry sauce or are you buying it?
I'm usually making it.
Just like mayo ketchup, a little bit of mustard,
dill pickle juice, some like paprika.
And then if you're not Kelly,
we're Chester Shire sauce.
Totally.
And then.
I know I'm so sorry.
Or like the like barbecue one
with like just mayo and barbecue sauce mixed together
is super yummy too.
That's like our favorite dipping sauce for fries.
I also feel like you could swap that.
You could do that with pork.
You could do that with chicken.
I mean, it's, yeah, it's kind of all penciling for me.
It's a bowl.
You just put whatever you want in it.
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about
when I'm saying like, if you have the meat prepped,
like that's dinner on the table
as long as it takes the tots to air fry.
Yes, exactly.
And then you chop everything
while there's a cooking and then you're good to go.
And you're like, it's still homemade
because you made the mayo.
You made the ground beef.
Like you make like, OK,
so you air fried the tater tots.
Like everything else is homemade.
Makes you nothing.
Makes you feel better than or like more
B.A. than like having a home cooked meal.
They're like, totally.
This was all freshly made.
It's good.
This is where you can find Morgan.
You can find her at Morgan Taylor at home.
And that's Taylor T.A.
Y.L.E.R. will leave her her handle in the show notes.
Anything else like anywhere else people can find you?
Are you mostly just on Instagram?
Mostly just on Instagram.
I started to take talk this year,
but that's a journey.
We're working over there.
But to talk to her Instagram.
Yeah, Instagram is where you can find me.
Well, go and find her.
Content might be a little light
because she'll be having a baby soon.
But she's got a lot of very good content already on.
And Morgan, thank you so much for joining us
and good luck.
With the baby.
You've got that.
I mean, you're an old hat at this point, number four.
Yeah, yeah, we've got this.
No, we do.
You've got this.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Yes, thank you for having me.
Bye, girls.
Thank you for listening to the Carpool podcast
with Kelly and Liz.
Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode.
And if you enjoyed riding with us,
tell everybody you know.
There's room in the car for everyone.
About this episode
Kelly and Liz dive into the holiday spirit while sharing personal anecdotes about family life and Christmas preparations. They discuss practical tips for managing holiday chaos, including meal planning and organizing activities for kids during Christmas break. The episode features an insightful interview with Morgan Taylor, who shares her journey as a stay-at-home mom and offers valuable advice on budgeting and meal prepping. Morgan emphasizes the importance of cooking from scratch and provides creative ideas for saving money on groceries, making this episode a treasure trove of family-friendly tips and inspiration.
It's time for a Holly Jolly meter check! Are Kelly and Lizz in that Christmas spirit? Lizz has just started getting her decorations out and had an immediate realization about when the proper time is to put the decorations up. Kelly, on the other hand, is in full Christmas mode! Her gifts are bought and she's making a daily plan of what to do with the kids during the winter break.
There are some major mindshifts happening with Kelly right now and it's about "blooming where you're planted" and "going deep not wide." What does she mean? It's a new theory she's exploring about cleaning the house and after hearing it you're going to want to change your mindset too!
In Industry News, Consumer Reports have the best and worst car brands for 2026. Did your favorite make the cut?
Then it's time to continue the Carpool Podcasts series of interviews on saving money at the grocery store. Today, Kelly and Lizz chat with Morgan of "Morgan Tayler at Home." She's a mom of almost four that started an Instagram page to help other families with a single income make that dollar stretch. She's got plenty of tangible takeaways including protein prep, things you can make from scratch and why you NEED to put a vacuum sealer on your Christmas list!
To learn more about Morgan's meal plan visit morgantayler.com and follow her on Instagram @morgantaylerathome