Are there common household staples you’ve stopped using? We have — and it turns out many people have made similar choices. Experts even suggest some familiar items could disappear from typical homes over time. In this episode we explore how the modern home and its contents are changing, which comforts we’ve decided are unnecessary in our own house (one is a bit odd, as warned), and why those changes make sense for many families. We also share how we found the best spring break rental we’ve ever stayed in and how we managed the stress of traveling with kids, car seats, a dog, and a crate — basically everything you can imagine hauling through an airport. Finally, we realized we’ve been storing things in our garage that probably don’t belong there and offer guidance on what to remove.
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What’s New
- We stayed at a Spring Break rental in Pompano Beach, Florida (north of Fort Lauderdale) and loved it. The listing claimed it was a five-minute walk to the beach, which wasn’t accurate for us, but parking was always easy and inexpensive, and the house was comfortable and convenient — we highly recommend it.
- Sherry visited a century-old waterfront restaurant that requires a short boat ride to reach. The place has hosted many well-known diners over the years, and the boat trip itself was a highlight of the experience.
- If you want to compare other stays, we shared our Cape Canaveral Spring Break from last year in Episode #45; that Airbnb worked well but was a shared property, so it offered less privacy than the Pompano rental.
- Traveling with kids and a pet takes planning. We didn’t get a shot of our full baggage pile at the airport — our hands were full — but we did capture Sherry on the plane showcasing her characteristic travel expression and Burger the dog cozy in his carrier beneath the seat. Little comforts like that carrier made the trip much more manageable.
- We also appreciated travel tips from friends and fellow bloggers who boosted our confidence the weekend before departure.
What’s Not
- We discovered several resources that list items you shouldn’t keep in a garage for safety and preservation reasons. Clearing out those things can reduce fire risk and protect items that are sensitive to temperature extremes.
- We now use a cordless electric lawn mower that is safe to store indoors in a garage — if stored properly and with batteries removed or maintained per manufacturer instructions.
- It’s wise to keep a fire extinguisher in your garage if you don’t already have one. A well-placed extinguisher can make a big difference in an emergency.
What Millennials Are “Killing”
Some commonly cited casualties include upholstered bed frames, nightstands, decorative pillows, and traditional sheet arrangements — small shifts in buying habits that reflect priorities like minimalism, convenience, and cost.
- Several publications have tracked items that appear to be falling out of favor across households. Many of these shifts are practical: less storage for items people rarely use, simpler bedding routines, and choices that prioritize easier maintenance.
- An ongoing debate centers on the top sheet: many people find it unnecessary and prefer a fitted sheet plus a blanket or quilt. Families with young children, in particular, often prefer this approach because it streamlines bed-making and laundering.
- We adopted this method for our kids after learning it from other parents — tossing a quilt and fitted sheet into the wash is far easier than wrestling with duvet inserts every week.
We’re Digging
- We finally tried a simple craft kit of expanding beads that grow into marble-sized pieces. They’re less messy than we expected, fun to make, and one bag goes a long way because each bead expands significantly.
- Curiosity about novelty items led us to a customer-favorite foot spa filled with tiny water beads. It sounds odd, and we’re still forming opinions, but it’s worth trying if you enjoy quirky self-care gadgets.
- For reading on the trip, we each read dark, page-turning novels that were hard to put down: suspenseful thrillers that kept us entertained during travel downtime.
If you’d like to revisit items we’ve recommended before, we maintain a master list of favorites and discoveries from past episodes as a handy reference.
We’re grateful to HANDy Paint Products for sponsoring this episode. Their paint cup and tray with magnetic brush holder have made our painting projects easier and cleaner — small tools that genuinely improve the process. You can find HANDy Paint Products where paint supplies are sold.
Thanks for listening and reading — we appreciate your company on this journey of simplifying, traveling smarter, and rethinking what we keep in our homes.
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