#220: Seven Simple Ways ChatGPT Makes Home Life Easier

This week I’m sharing how I actually use AI in my real life as a stay-at-home mom of four—without understanding anything technical. From building flexible routines that actually work, to planning holidays, breaking down home projects, writing emails, meal planning, and even figuring out “clean” products, ChatGPT has quietly become one of the most helpful tools in my home. If you’ve been curious about AI but feel intimidated or behind, this episode is a simple, honest look at how you can start using it in ways that genuinely make your life easier.

www.daraboxer.com

Transcript

Welcome And Why AI Helps

Dara Boxer 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to the Raw on the Cooked, a weekly podcast that provides simple routines around the home plus raw and honest book reviews. My name is Dara. I'm a Midwestern stay-at-home mom to four young kids, and I thrive on simplicity. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode. So today I wanted to share a handful of ways that I use AI to help me be the best version of a stay-at-home mom as I possibly can be. I use a mix of Claude and ChatGPT, and I know almost nothing about AI like at all. Like I don't understand what writing a prompt means. I don't understand coding. I know nothing. Like I feel like an 83-year-old trying to log into their email address from a different device that doesn't have their password saved. Like I feel just so out of my element with AI, but I can handle a few quick conversations with ChatGPT. Sometimes Claude, I sometimes use Claude depending on what I need to get done. But for the most part, I would say like 95% of my AI use is with ChatGPT. So if you're way ahead of me, this episode is probably not for you. But if you're curious, haven't really dipped your foot into the AI world, I don't know. Either way, I thought it would be fun to share this with you. So let's just dive right in. Okay, so the first is that I really love rhythms and routines. Like my entire podcast, the foundation is rhythms and routines. And with that, I have added baby after baby after baby. We have lived in three different homes since the inception of this podcast, and a lot of things just change and go in various directions for various reasons, right? So nothing stays the same. And if you have children or have moved or started a new job, you know that like depending on where you are could look very different with what your rhythms and routines look like even six months ago, right? So we're constantly like I wouldn't say like rebuilding the wheel from scratch, but every once in a while things need to be tweaked. And so I think ChatGPT is really good at helping me create certain rhythms and routines I can actually stick, whether it's seasonal or weekly, uh, maybe something needs to be tweaked with the laundry, a cleaning regimen, a bedtime routine, morning routine for me or my kids, um, even just like an outline for a massive home deep cluttering project, right? So a lot of times I will just open up ChatGPT. Uh and if you're if you're like, I don't even know, just www.chatGPT.com. And I know that sounds so stupid to say, but I didn't know that a year ago. I had no idea. Or maybe it's a little over a year now. I've been using it, but either way, it's just a website. Like you don't, it's not an app, you don't need to like do anything special. Um, and I just plug in and describe my reality. Um, and then it can really help shape what I'm looking for. Um, I don't know, I mean, maybe there are like more advanced prompts, but you could just plug in something like help me create a flexible weekly flow with three young kids, building uh time for errands, rest, cleaning, and adventures with the kids. And you would be surprised what it comes up with. And sometimes it's not the best, and you have to tweak it or you have to tell it, like, no, this doesn't work, I actually want this instead. Um, but kind of like just you know, have like a little back and forth with it, and eventually it spits you out something that could really be awesome. So that's that's my favorite thing to use it for, or I could just give it a situation, be like, Okay, this is not working, this is and describe the situation, be like, how can I affect it? And these are like this is this is the other reality, and so it kind of helps um brainstorm with you ways to be effective because again, like moving small children in and out of spaces and just all the things you have to remember, even just getting out the door this morning, for example, I took my two younger kids to the aquarium. There's just like a lot of stuff that needs to get done ahead of time. Um, and we didn't run into friction per se, but just like if you do have friction in your day, or just like let it know and just see what it can work for you. I don't know, and sometimes I think listening to even my own podcast, like it doesn't like really it can't really help you. It doesn't know your personal situation, you know, and so or like reading a book on like certain things, or you know, all these different resources that are available to our disposal are awesome and I think can give really good ideas. But what's really interesting and unique about AI, specifically uh for me, Chat GPT, is I will be like, this is my personal situation, and here are things like I would here's an outcome I would like, and here's where we are. So help me get there. And then it really does build you something unique to where you are with your people and your circumstances and your resources, and it's actually really kind of awesome. Okay, so that is the first and foremost thing that I use it for. The second is a little similar but a little different, and that is home projects, hosting parties, and holidays, and it breaks all those different ideas into doable steps. So instead of like, I should organize the pantry, uh, you will get a step-by-step plan, you will get a supply list, you will get a time estimate, uh, and it will give you really great ideas for a very overwhelming project. Um, the this spring I had mentioned we adopted chickens, little baby chicks that were a day old when we picked them up. They are so cute, by the way. And the coop that we have, um, I realized when we brought the chicks home, it's probably not going to cut, it's not gonna cut it. So I kind of gave it what I was thinking, what I was, you know, had in mind. Um, I personally decided to take it upon myself to build a chicken coop expansion, like a little chicken run that I'm gonna add on to the existing coop that we already bought. And it gave me an entire breakdown of the supplies, the timeline, like a week by week um here's what we can get done on these days, and you know, allocating let's say 30 minutes a day. Um, it was awesome, and it would have been really overwhelming to do that by myself, especially since I am the type of person who has never used a jigsaw in her life. Um, so yeah, small things like that. And then I'm I lumped in um hosting parties and holidays in there as well because again, these are all larger and like unusual projects, like it's not something you typically do weekly. So, for example, a kid's birthday party. Last year I planned a really big fifth birthday party for my son at our local botanic garden, and it was really fun, but I had no idea like where to even start. Like I was running and back and forth with Chat GPT over the theme. Um, it gave me a shopping list. I gave it, you know, here are the things that I think I want, and then it helped me come up with like the cutest DIY robot, because that was the theme, by the way. The it was like robot at the Mobot. Um, it gave me an idea for like a DIY robot goodie bag with like supplies and everything, just really great. Um, just simple activities that we could do at the party, and it was really great in helping me do that. And again, a timeline, what to do and get done two weeks before the event, three days, day of, like just lists and pack lists for like these are the items that we definitely want to bring with us because it was a party that was like outside of our home. It was great, it was so so good. And with holidays as well, I mean not the minor holidays, but the big ones like Passover and Thanksgiving. There is a lot to cook and shop and prep and a lot of different groceries from a lot of different grocery stores and a lot of just stuff, um, including like just like day of and like enjoying yourself. And so I have sort of created like a game plan, I would say. That's kind of like what I call it. And print I told it like all the menus that I typically use, um, the grocery stores, the usual shopping list, and now I have something that I have printed out and put in my recipe binder, and I have no more worries or concerns when Thanksgiving and Passover roll around. I know exactly what needs to get done, and I would really like to thank ChatGPT for organizing that for me last year. And so it really came into handy this year. Uh, this is the second year in a row I've got to host a Thanksgiving and a Passover using my game plans, and like, oh, just so good, so good. Okay, the third way that I love to use ChatGPT is writing anything that I don't have the energy or the brain power for. And this is this is huge because a lot of times we get so many annoying admin emails from schools and uh just oh god, just the school emails. It's just so annoying. Um I d yeah, I I hate to say it, but like a lot of times, or like we had to email our accountant back and forth about like weird, complex situations, and it just kind of helped me put my words together so I sounded like I had an IQ above 40. You know what I mean? Like just kind of helped me out uh with like constructing emails. Uh so yes, and even the show notes for this podcast. I will send, I will send Chat GPT the transcript of my podcast after after I'm done recording. I'll be like, okay, here's my transcript. Please give me show notes for it. And it really helps out and it remembers all the links. Every time I'm like, oh yeah, I'm gonna put that in the show notes, it'll like remember to do that for me, and it's just it's just so good. And it removes the like uh, I have to wear this properly, to like, yay, like that was easy. And a lot of times it's not perfect, and you know, there it still requires a little bit of editing, but it it it's enormous, so I really appreciate that. Okay, the fourth way uh is even meal planning uh that kind of like adapts to your real life, not just like a here's a meal plan. Um, but you can be like, hey, plan five dinners under 30 minutes. Uh these are the five ingredients that I have. I have like uh A, B, C, D, and E, like, let's make a meal out of it. Or hey, I need something kid friendly but not boring. That's something adults would like to eat too. Um, it completely redid my spring meal plan for me because again, like I have a lot of different criteria. I want to eat seasonally, I want to make sure it's something my kids will eat, I want to make sure it's something easy to cook, and I'm not, you know, doing these like hour and a half long recipes five nights a week. Um so yeah, I really, really enjoy that. And it can again instantly turn that plan into a categorized grocery list for you, like something repeatable that you can just print and take to the grocery store. And um, if some things are really important, you could give it very strict parameters. Like I told it that I really didn't want to branch outside of um for our starches, like potatoes are number one, rice. Occasionally we do Israeli couscous, sometimes orzo, and that's kind of it. Like those are like the four starches you have to work with. Like, give me a meal plan. Um, and it was awesome. And then sort of piggybacking off of this, I'm just gonna lump this into number four, is that I will I will ask it for recipes for a lot of items that I make myself here at home. Like tooth, I love to make my own toothpaste, I love to make my own mouthwash, I like to make my own laundry detergent, and I love to make homemade lotion, just like skincare. I don't know. I just oh, so much toxicity out there. Like anything you buy at the store is probably gonna have some sort of like poison in it. And so, anyway, like I really like to just be like, hey, I want to try a new recipe for mouthwash, like give me some things. And instead of just scour scouring blogs and like reading, it's just like a lot. It it will just like give me recipes that I need, which is great. And then the flip side of that is that if there's a new product that I want to try that I'm probably not gonna make myself, I will plug the list of ingredients, like let's say mascara. Like, I'm interested in trying out a new mascara a little bit more clean than my uh it superhero mascara. So I found a couple of like quote clean mascaras that I'm thinking about buying. So I will pop in the ingredients into ChatGPT, just like copy and paste it from the website into chat GPT and be like, okay, like tell me how like how clean is this? And I love it. I have weeded out a handful of products that I thought were safe and clean according to like my standards, um, because we we all know that the FTA is not there to help us out, right? Am I right? Yeah, anyway. Um, and yeah, I feel like it's made some like really fun decisions for me, um, keeping in mind things that like I'm okay with, the ingredients that I'm not okay with, and the ingredients are so complicated, it's like I'm not gonna look up each one individually, you know. So just like copying and pasting and be like, all right, give me your thoughts on this. Okay, so enough on that. Um, number five is travel, actually. So just thinking through like all the logistics, helping you even pick locations for Airbnbs. I personally like to do the Lululemon theory. I don't know if you've ever heard of this, but I watched this video on X a few years ago, and it basically just described that the Lululemon theory of when you travel, like within a mile of any Lululemon in any city, is going to be a really nice, safe, clean area. And so, for example, last Christmas, my cousin, our families met up in Nashville, and it was so fun. But we it was a city that was like kind of foreign to both of us. We like didn't really know what would be the best area, and you know how it could be. I had actually been to Nashville like maybe 10 years prior to that for a bachelorette party. And again, it was we ended up in a really sketchy, uncomfortable neighborhood. Beautiful house, beautiful Airbnb, but you just like never know, you know, especially if you're not from the area. And so, according to the Lululemon theory, I found the I found a Lululemon, and then I kind of told Chat GPT, like, okay, I need to be, I need to please find me like an Airbnb that's like, you know, X amount of bedrooms uh within uh you know less than a mile from this particular location. And not only that, but then I told it like these are our dates, this is like what we're thinking, uh logistics, this, that, and the other plan, like, you know, and it just like I told it our activities, what ages the kids were, like we had seven kids between us, um, and it found us really great options. It found restaurants, it was so helpful, like parking suggestions, like it was awesome. I love using Chat GPT for planning travel. And so that is a huge, huge help. Because if not, like you're kind of at the mercy of just like reviews. I mean, you still have to obviously do that, but you're just like, I don't know, it like helps more than it would if you were just like on Google and like I don't know. Yeah, so I really appreciate that. Um, number six, uh, kid activities on demand, nothing like not generic crafts or like I don't know, nothing crazy, just like, hey, indoor activities for a rainy afternoon. My kids are like, you know, between the ages of one and seven, or things that my three-year-old can do while I um am occupied with the baby, or hey, like low mess sensory play, these are like the the things I already have in my home. So you don't have to like buy anything new. And it comes up with like some really fun ideas. Um, not everything is gonna be a winner, but it's just yeah, like I don't know, I feel like it's like a more advanced Pinterest board without the like overwhelming, like, oh my gosh, I'm such a terrible mom because I don't like do these things. You know, when you scroll Pinterest and you just see all these like beautiful things that you just will never have, and your home will never be, and your kids will never look like that. And like I it just I feel like I love Pinterest. Well, I mean, I haven't been on Pinterest in gosh forever, but I used to love Pinterest, but it was so overwhelming because it just made you feel bad about yourself, and so I feel like ChatGPT is like a way where you can like get the same ideas without the like mom shame, if that makes any sense. So, yeah, those are just some really fun, excellent ways that I like to use AI as a stay-at-home mom. And the last thing, and this uh please don't laugh, but I love to just bounce ideas off of it, be like, hey, this is what I'm thinking, or this is a problem that I'm having, or this is a whatever, like let's let's brainstorm and come up with solutions. Um, my best friend and I, we like to share our chat GPT um sagas, like um, there was there was this one time where um, and if you know, you know, like a two-year-old who's not potty trained quite yet that still wears a diaper for a nap, and you just walk into the room after they've woken up and it just smells so bad. They've taken an enormous dump and it's really hard to air out the room. You know what I'm talking about. And so I was like, hey, Chad GBT, like give me, I I really need um like a homemade room spray with like essential oils, like, give me the best recipe for that. And uh, you know, chat as it's it's like supposed to be like kind of friendly and you know, whatever. It's like, oh yeah, totally, I've been there. And I'm like, what are you talking about? No, you haven't. Um, so I don't know, it's just fun and I I really enjoy using it. I'm glad it's here. Um, I don't want to think too hard about the environmental consequences of these uh data centers that need to come up. Um, actually, my heart kind of breaks, and that's a whole other tangent for another day. But the sad fact is, is like your like five, 10 minutes of Chat GPT usage is probably not doing any more damage. But again, this is another topic for another conversation. So, with that said, again, just like a super quick recap. Number one, I use it to help me like really flesh out some new rhythms and routines that I want to incorporate. Number two, uh, it helps me break down home projects, birthday parties, holidays, like anything extra special outside of like a weekly thing. Um, number three, is helping me write especi especially emails to like admins, to businesses, to schools, to just anything that needs to get done that's kind of large and I don't have the brain space for and I don't want to sound like I'm absolutely retarded. Number four, uh meal planning to just help. So it's like the meal planning, in addition to that, um, recipes for homemade items I want to make. And the third item I'm all lumping this in number four is uh hey, how clean are these ingredients in so-and-so product? Number five, travel, so big. Number six, kid activities without the overwhelming feel of Pinterest. And number seven, just bouncing it back, bouncing ideas back and forth off of it to just see what I could do to improve in a certain situation or dynamic. So those are some easy, fun ways that you can as well incorporate Chat GPT AI into your world. Thank you guys for tuning in, and I'll catch you back here next week.