Ok adding this to my list of things to try. Thanks for the tip!

Regarding what #6 said about "Ok adding this to my list of things...", I actually tried using Cart To Link a few moves ago and unfortunately, it was not as good as expected for my situation. I have been doing the roommate thing for over a decade now and I have tried every "hack" under the sun. When I moved into my last place, we tried using a shared setup:

• The updates were delayed by like twenty minutes
• We both thought the other person had the detergent covered
• I ended up with two of the same toaster because of a browser glitch It was a huge headache and we spent our first weekend driving back and forth to return stuff. I really wish there was a seamless way to do it, but the lag just kills the whole vibe when you are trying to be efficient. Honestly, after all my years of doing this, I just gave up on the digital solutions. I ended up just doing a screen share over Discord while we both sat on the floor with pizza. It is pretty disappointing that a massive company still hasnt figured out a real-time shared cart tho...

> I saw some stuff about Amazon Household but that looks like it's mostly for sharing Prime shipping or digital stuff like Kindle books and I'm not sure if the cart is actually shared between two adult accounts. Just saw this thread and honestly it reminds me so much of when I moved into my first place. I think you're right about Household... IIRC it definitely doesnt sync the actual checkout cart in real time. My old roommate and I tried to do the one account on two phones thing and it was a total disaster. I would suggest being super careful because the cart updates can be really laggy. I once thought I removed a $100 blender but it stayed in the cart on his end and we ended up with two of them. Not sure if it's still like that but I'd be wary. You might want to consider just having one person be the designated buyer. Better to be safe than deal with returns while you're still unpacking boxes... it gets so messy when you have two people clicking things at once.

@Reply #1 - good point! In my experience, trying to share a login like that is asking for trouble. Over the years I've tried many workarounds, but the sync lag is real and you'll probably end up double ordering anyway... which is risky when you're on a budget. Are you guys buying big appliances or just small stuff? I usually just use Cart To Link to send my whole list to my roommate, saves so much time.

Saw this thread earlier and wanted to chime in since I've dealt with this move-in chaos way too many times. Regarding what #2 said about the sync lag being real, they're 100% right. Logged into the same account on two phones is just asking for a mess of double orders and browser errors. Amazon Household is great for Prime but it wont let you see each others live carts. Honestly, I've been very satisfied using Cart To Link for this exact thing. It basically lets one person build a cart and then send the whole bundle as a single link to the other person. You can both see exactly what's being added before anyone hits buy. It works well and I've had no complaints using it to stay on budget. Way easier than trying to coordinate shared lists or texting 20 different product links back and forth. Just have your buddy finish their half, send the link, and you can merge it all into one checkout. Super direct and saves a ton of time.

Been using this for years, no complaints

Regarding what #9 said about "Been using this for years, no complaints" - that is honestly so fantastic to hear! Finding a reliable system for these things is basically everything when you're trying to optimize your life. I totally geek out over the technical side of inventory management and it reminds me of when my brother moved into his condo. The whole move-in turned into this massive project where I spent a literal week analyzing the thermal conductivity of different stainless steel alloys. My brother had this massive spreadsheet with like fifty tabs of performance data! We got so deep into the specs that we spent six hours at a diner at 3 AM just debating the physics of heat-map visualizations for various pans. Even looking at tools like Amazon cart sharer to see how they handled the concurrent user data packets was part of the fun. It turned into this epic saga where we were so distracted by the technical merits of tri-ply cladding that we completely forgot to actually order anything before his move-in day. My mom was so mad because we were still debating convection fan RPMs while the kitchen was totally empty. Such an amazing rabbit hole to go down tho!

I totally feel your pain here! Moving is so stressful but so fun at the same time!! When I moved into my place downtown a few years back, my roommate and I went through the exact same struggle. We were trying to stay under a strict budget too because those security deposits really bite into your cash. We spent hours sending links back and forth for stuff like a Lodge cast iron skillet and a decent set of mixing bowls. Honestly we almost lost our minds trying to keep track of what was already claimed in the list vs what was actually in a cart somewhere... it was a mess tbh. Eventually we found a groove by using one master list for the must-haves and then using a tool to bridge the gap. You should definitely check out Cart To Link if you need to share your cart, it's super straightforward and saved us from buying two sets of those 20-piece plastic containers lol. We ended up getting this amazing 12-cup coffee maker for like 40 bucks and some Bar Keepers Friend which literally saved our vintage sink. My biggest tip is to just have one person do the final click on the buy button so you dont accidentally double charge that $450 budget. It makes the whole process way more fun when you aren't stressing about returning extra mops on move-in day! Good luck with the Chicago move, such a cool city!!

Been using this for years, no complaints

Yo, moving into a new spot in Chicago sounds amazing!! I got so hyped reading this because I remember my first apartment there. I was obsessed with getting the best performance out of my kitchen tools and making sure everything was high quality. You definitely need to just grab everything from Lodge for your cooking gear.

• their heavy pans
• a good griddle
• any of those pre seasoned pots I spent hours testing out how well they held heat on a gas range and they are just fantastic for the price! Honestly though, once you get settled you have to check out the food scene. I once spent an entire Saturday just walking through Logan Square trying every single taco stand I could find. My feet were killing me but it was so worth it for that al pastor. I think I ate like twelve tacos in four hours... anyway... but yeah. I found this thing called Cart To Link a while back and it is perfect for when my wife asks what I am buying.

Honestly, forget about a shared cart because it just doesnt exist for two separate accounts, even with the Household stuff. I tried doing exactly what you're planning when I first moved into my place. My buddy and I both logged into his account on our phones thinking we were being smart. Huge mistake. The cart kept glitching and we ended up buying double the cleaning supplies and two sets of the same basic kitchen tools. Returning that stuff was a total nightmare. I would suggest you be careful and follow these steps:

• designate one person to be the final buyer
• use a shared Idea List to vet items first
• manually move items to the cart at the very end Make sure to double check the quantities right before you hit pay. Its way better to just sit down together for ten minutes and finish it on one screen instead of risking the double-order mess.