If you know anything about me, you know that I value convenience. I like the mundane work done for me so I can focus on things that keep me excited, my mind engaged, and happy. I also know that I tend to simply not do those tasks unless it's absolutely necessary. Such as laundry. I will throw in a load when I am out of underwear and leave it in a pile for at least a week - digging through the laundry basket to find what I'm looking for each morning. At some point, I remind myself that I will save time if I simply take the few minutes to actually put it away.  I always glad when I finally get to it, and I always make it more bearable by listening to an audiobook or podcast, but this cycle repeats itself every dang time. Someday my dream is that I can make my kids do it for me. haha.

But that brings me to my point about valuing convenience. I tend to sign up for and spend money on things that make my life easier and I'm continuing to add more. 


  • Teachers Pay Teachers when I need a new lesson plan
  • Autopayment on all of my bills way before it seemed everyone was doing it
  • Apps and services that make coaching easier such as my email service
  • House cleaners (this is the biggest!) 2x a month
  • The Beachbody programs so I don't have to think about what workout to do each day
  • Shakeology so I don't have to prepare weekday breakfasts or swallow a bunch of pill vitamins. 
  • Autoship on basic household items such as toilet paper, dishwasher pods, and feminine supplies
  • Grocery pick up
One place that I want to help YOU keep it simple is in the kitchen. I know so many get overwhelmed with the idea of meal planning and prepping that it just goes undone (like my laundry) and we end up grabbing whatever packaged food takes the least amount of time and effort to prepare.  And then we go to bed feeling sluggish and disappointed in ourselves because we should have eaten something healthier. 

I put the weekly meal plans in the challenge group files to follow, or even just take one recipe. I post simple recipes to my social media feeds, and I even have full meal prep and freezer guides that take you step by step through the process until it because easy for you, too. But even after 5 years, I still like to find new short cuts and ways to keep it simple without sacrificing health and taste. 

For me, convenience food used to be ramen noodles, packaged flavored rice, frozen Lean Cuisines and pizza, cans of hearty creamy soups, packets of oatmeal, and 100 calorie packs, (because it was healthier, right?). It was just so easy to each day put in my lunch a Lean cuisine, and apple, a granola bar, cheese and nuts package, 100 calorie pack, and maybe some baby carrots. I'd count my points for the day, and feel like I was so healthy! (You with me on this one?)

I can't imagine ever eating a Lean Cuisine again, to be honest. Yes, it's easy to rip off a plastic top, and pop it in the microwave - but it's also easy to make extra servings of whole wheat pasta with zucchini and organic marinara sauce at dinner time and put the leftovers in single servings in the fridge or freezer! Free of the chemicals, extra veggies for bulk, and tastes 1000% better! 

My latest investment this week was a subscription of Hello Fresh. With the discounts, it ended up to be about $5 a serving which is about average when I purchase ingredients for meals for my family, too. Three meals and ingredients will arrive on my door on Thursday and it will save me about 15 minutes in meal planning/ordering food. But more important for me, it's the mental load that was immediately lifted when I pressed "complete checkout." I'll be trying it for the next 4 weeks.  

Have you used Hello Fresh (or another such as Blue Apron?) What were your thoughts? Send me a DM on IG @the.happy.healthy.teacher and let me know! 



If you want to order for this week, too, here's a link to save $70! Click Here for Hello Fresh

If you love my leggings, check out Pineapple Clothing Company and use code holtho for 20% off your order. 

PS - if you really do want the freezer meals, check out Frozen Tikka Masala from Trader joes - the ingredients list is clean enough for me on that one and it's really yummy! I add extra cauliflower rice and mix it all together for a fuller meal AND extra veggies!