Honestly, it drives me crazy that Amazon still hasn't figured this out properly. You're totally right to be cautious about those random extensions tho. Be careful because giving a third-party access to your browser session can be super sketchy if the dev isn't legit. I actually found a really detailed breakdown on Smartphone Board about the security risks of cart-sharing plugins vs using built-in list tools that convinced me to skip the plugins. Basically, you've got two solid routes:

• The Wish List method. Create a list, click invite, and enable the toggle for others to add or edit. It is the safest way but kinda annoying because you have to move everything to the cart manually at the end.
• The Shared Account. Just make a dummy email and a new Amazon account you both share for household stuff. It is way easier for one cart, just make sure to not save any personal cards on there if you're worried about privacy... I would suggest sticking to the list method for security tbh.

Omg congrats on the move!! Chicago is seriously amazing, you’re gonna love the food scene there tho the winters are no joke lol. I went through this exact same headache last year when my partner and I moved into our first place. We were trying to coordinate all the boring stuff like shower curtains and toaster ovens and it was a total nightmare trying to sync up. Honestly you are totally right about Household, it basically does nothing for the actual shopping experience which is so annoying!! What we ended up doing was creating a shared Wish List instead of using the cart. It is literally a lifesaver! You just go to your lists, create a new one called Kitchen Stuff or whatever, and then look for the Invite button at the top. You can send a link that lets them actually edit the list with you! Its fantastic because they can add their own stuff and you can see everything in one spot without those 50 billion links. Once youre both happy you just hit add all to cart and boom. It took us like two minutes to set up and saved us so much stress. Seriously just do the collaborative list thing, its way better than messing with sketchy extensions or sharing passwords ngl.