This post is sponsored by Allstate and their new life-managing QuickTrip app.

Day two back to school last week, and I am lying on the living room floor at 8:00 p.m., asleep in my clothes after announcing an hour earlier that I was “just going to rest my eyes for five minutes.”

“Are you going to go to bed?” Brett asks as he nudges my foot.

“Uuugh, I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus,” I say. “I forgot how exhausting this week is.”

Maybe it’s just that with summer, we’ve gotten lazy and have forgotten the demands of real life. But starting a week before school, my life kind of looks like this:

And then an hour later like this…

And then 20 minutes later…

(cue soap opera voice): These Are the Days of Our Lives. You know, the sexy soap opera days where we carpool kids to soccer, slip in an oil change, swing by our kid’s friend’s house to pick up the shoes she left at last week’s sleepover and then stop at two different grocery stores on the way home to buy a gallon of milk, some granola bars and that curry paste we love that the first store doesn’t carry. So sexy.

The thing is, I’m terribly inefficient in planning my days.

(pause to convince child to put shoes on before heading out the door)

I run around town kind of like how I run around in a grocery store: Produce aisle to get the lettuce. Then pasta aisle to get linguine. Then back to the produce aisle because I forgot–tomatoes! Then dairy for eggs. Back to produce for peaches. Dairy again for milk. Then, CANDLES! Candle aisle to sniff the tobacco & leather blend. But back to produce for cilantro and romaine. And then dairy again for yogurt.

“You know,” offers Husband Who Takes It Upon Himself To Fix Things, ” You could save yourself a lot of trouble if you planned your day out.”

“Plan Shman,” I retort. “I just need a life manager who follows me around all day and reminds me of what I have to do.”

(pause to sign folders before running out the door again)

Here’s the great thing. Allstate has a new app, QuickTrip, that PLANS OUT YOUR DAY FOR YOU. Say what?! It’s a route planning tool that quickly optimizes your to-do list and helps you save time with smarter, multi-stop routines. You can even add your car’s VIN for personalized maintenance reminders to help you stay on top of it all. And you can automatically sync all your calendars in the app so you can enjoy a simple, complete overview of all your tasks in one place.

So the messy, scattered to-do lists get organized, and someone else does the work of telling you what to do first.

For a brain like mine that shuts down when it gets overwhelmed with too many details (Ima just sit on the couch and read this magazine, thank you), this app is the manager it needs. Someone, please just tell me where to go and what to do first.

QuickTrip lets you give each task a name, location and time frame in which it needs to be completed and QuickTrip takes it from there. You can add additional to-do’s or tasks that may not already be listed on your schedule, so everything on your to-do list gets done. QuickTrip finds the smartest order for your tasks, giving you the most efficient schedule to help you complete all your items and save time.

Technology, man. You can download QuickTrip for free in the App Store and start saving time today.

Meanwhile…Gotta run to Target. I’ll be back.

This post was written as part of the Allstate Influencer Program and sponsored by Allstate. All opinions are mine. As the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, Allstate is dedicated not only to protecting what matters most–but to guiding people to live the Good Life, every day.

By the time this posts, I’ll be on a plane, on my way to meet up with Ruby’s Rainbow to be part of a family’s goodbye as they drop their daughter off to college and drive away. It’s the first full week of school–a hard time to be away–but I wouldn’t miss this for the world. In preparation for the trip, I’ve spent the last six hours prepping lunches, reviewing schedules, setting outfits out, e-mailing teachers and attempting to teach Brett how to do two braids in Nella’s hair but quickly shifting to appointing Lainey with that duty instead.

The good news? We survived the first few days of school and couldn’t be more excited about this year and what it holds. Dash took first day photos very seriously, as you can see.

As for me, I’m a back to school nester. I mother bird the living hell out of our house before the first day of school, preparing to shift gears into more demanding routines and–oh, I don’t know–possibly be able to find matching socks quicker than the usual 20-minutes-with-tears. I have nested this year almost as obsessively as pregnant-pre-Dash which means we have a good four days before I can’t find a water bottle again and all the socks are missing.

When we’re not signing first-week-of-school forms and enforcing the “backpack goes on hook” rule, we’ve been enjoying…

A room for Lainey.
In need of a place where she can be with her friends, do homework and breathe a little without the little ones always in her business, we gave Lainey a little space of her own. Of course, that’s where everyone wants to be now, but I’m sure the novelty will wear off. That and all the stealable trinkets are hidden.

The room’s not quite done yet, but so far, she loves it, especially the chalkboard wall where I sometimes go for morning drawing therapy after the kids have left for school.

The closet-turned-homework nook is my favorite. I’ll share more on it when it’s finished–still need to add some shelving and hidden storage in the corners.

I love how once we freshen up a space, everyone wants to be there. I found Brett napping in here this weekend.

The Return to the Gulf.
We hadn’t been there all summer, so we headed back to the beach this weekend and, sweet Mary Moses, it was hot.

I described it on Instagram as stepping into a hot tub while being trapped in someone’s mouth.

I actually bribed the kids with popsicles and snow cones from the concession truck to get them to agree to leave…

…but then they were melting so fast, and Dash’s snow cone fell on the ground, and everyone was getting sticky and falling apart. So I bribed them again and told them we’d stop for root beer floats if, for the love of all things holy, they’d just get in the car before my boob sweat became a serious issue.

And Now that She Can Swim…
The rest is history. The freedom she feels is so apparent as well as an obvious boost from being able to do what Lainey and Dash can do.

The first picture I have of all three jumping in at once. Makes me so happy.

I’m so excited to learn more this week about the path to jumping in, the journey of teaching our kids to swim independently in life and what it takes to get there.

 This post is sponsored by thredUP.

One of the rules of being a grown-up woman is that you have to share your secrets with your friends. I mean, not all of them, but at least the ones that can help a sister out. Like, “For Pete’s sake, Mary. It’s called dry shampoo–get some.” Okay, perhaps a gentler approach would be better. (“You’re beautiful, I love you, but Mary, you have your hands full and I noticed you don’t have time for showers. Here, I bought you something I thought you could use.”) All my best life hacks–the money savers, time savers, sanity savers–came from friends who have passed on their secrets. There’s that 2-minute eggroll-in-a-bowl recipe from Heidi, grocery shopping pick-up service tip from Lindsey, introduction to herb scissors from Nici, and the link to the best smoothie protein powder from my sister. Before I tell you one of my favorite money-saving life hacks, let me tell you that some tips can seem overwhelming at first. Like when my friend texted me a recipe for corn with Cotija cheese, and I got bent out of shape thinking it must be too complex a recipe because I can’t pronounce the cheese. Turns out, it was easy–and the corn recipe has been added to our favorite meal repertoire.

Which brings me to thredUP, the largest online consignment and thrift store–and we’re talking good stuff, our favorite brands and designers–for up to 90% off retail price. Corn with Cotija’s got nothin’ on it. I’ve blogged about thredUP before and am excited to have them back for a fall closet makeover. Have you shopped there? If you haven’t and don’t know where to start (stick around–there’s a 40% off code at the end for thredUP newbies!) or have but haven’t yet figured out how to find the good stuff, I’m going to dig in a little today on how I shop and find the best treasures for our family. Because thredUP has so many choices, it can feel overwhelming at first, but when you get the hang of how to use their filters, you’ll be hooked and so happy with how much money you save. I find great stuff for both me and the kids every time I shop thredUP, and several times I’ve found things I had actually been eyeing a year earlier in Anthropologie or in the Hanna Andersson catalogue.

Look at all these beauties I got from thredUP for fall! Anthropologie brands like Elevenses and Maeve, J Crew, Zara, Banana Republic, Vince jeans and more. If I paid full retail, this clothes line would have maybe two thion it, for what I paid for all of them. And I can mix and match all of them to create 20 different outfits from 7 items.

There’s a couple different ways to use thredUP. I usually start with a few minutes of “fun shopping” like I would if I walked in to one of my favorite stores. thredUP’s home page is super engaging with categories that usually lead me to great things (boho chic trends, pops of color dresses, etc.) just by browsing. Plus, if you shop there regularly, the site gets to know you better, saving your sizes and styles so that top picks for you pop up on the home screen–and they’re always spot on. Which is why those gorgeous vintage-looking Coach ankle boots popped up yesterday and I was all, “Damn you, thredUP!” (size 9, someone take them so they quit tempting me).

After a few minutes of fun clicking around, I use their magic filters to find more specific things I want–styles (wide leg jeans, maxi skirt, kids’ overalls, booties), brands (J.Crew, Anthropologie, Free People, Milly, Hanna Andersson, Mini Boden, etc.), sizes, colors and even specific things like 3/4 length sleeves, leg width, STRIPES!, etc. Once I set the magic filters, I get a nice curated selection of beautiful things to choose from. And the best part? Secondhand prices! Every item thredUP sells is triple-inspected by hand to ensure the highest quality and styles, and very often you’ll find brand new, never-worn items, tags still attached.

Once you make your selections and order, the real magic happens. Your items are neatly folded, packaged in thredUP’s signature polka-dot packaging, and shipped (free shipping on qualified orders) to where you wait, patiently, for the mail worker to ring your doorbell and make your day a little happier (are package days not the best?!).

Let’s talk about what I found this fall because that’s where I get all excited.

First, these Anthro Elevenses wide-leg jeans. The buttons! I love them so much. Retail: $119. thredUP price? $27.99, baby. That’s 75% savings–$90 in my pocket. The black high-neck shirt is also thredUP–H&M–and thredUP price: $4.99.

Same shirt here with this gorgeous Maeve skirt (another Anthropologie brand) which is the perfect color to bridge the summer/fall gap. Retail price, $89. thredUP price: $18.99

But wait, the Kelsi Dagger Brooklyn boots. These babies couldn’t have been worn but once (if that?). Saved $82 buying them thredUP. That’s definitely worth reporting to the husband because husbands love hearing about how much you didn’t spend.

I hate spending retail on sweaters and cold-weather items because we don’t get a whole lot of wear in Florida, but we do get our cold fronts and with a little bit of cooler-temp travel, I need a few pieces. Plus, you know I love my seasons and come late October, I will play the part to satisfy my heart even if I’m sweltering. This Banana Republic sweater will do the trick–retail, $78; thredUP, $22.99. And the Vince skinny jeans! They’re perfect and retail for $195, but I got them on thredUP for $38.99.

Kids’ shopping on thredUP is equally fun (stretch your Back to School budget!), and I never fail to find our favorite brands. I fell in love with this Hanna Andersson dress for Nella (saved $22) and these adorable H&M overalls for $11.99.

So here’s what I have for you: If you’ve never shopped thredUP, they’re offering our readers a special discount! The first 100 people to use my code KELLE40 will get an extra 40% off their first order! (Applies to new US customers only. Redeemable online only. Discount up to $50). 

There, I’ve shared a life hack. I won’t tell you now about the fitted sheet folding trick I finally mastered because I can’t let all the good tips out at once.