Anytime that I can find a product or mom hack that can make life easier, it is like the clouds above my head part and I start singing “Hallelujah!” Here are a few of my favorite mom hacks!
- Nuk basket. Ok nuk\pacifier moms, this one is a total game changer! Both of my girls used a nuk at bed time and nap time. When my first daughter was younger, we would litter her crib with nuks so if one would fall out of her crib, she would not have to wake us up to get another one. We quickly learned that did not work and quite often we were woken up in the middle of the night to fetch her nuks that all fell out of the crib. Then one night it hit me, why don’t I just tie a little bucket to the side of the crib and put the nuks in there? Genius, right?! And the best part, it worked! We told our daughter that it was the nuk basket and tied it to her crib and explained to her that she got one nuk to sleep with and the rest went in the basket. If she wakes up and can’t find hers, then she can get another one from the basket and go back to bed. Then when she is done napping\sleeping and it is time to come out of the crib, the nuk goes back into the basket and doesn’t come out of the crib which helps us limit the nuk to only bedtimes. Genius right!
- Dry Shampoo. Dry shampoo has been my saving grace these days when it comes to cutting down the time needed to get ready in the morning a couple days a week. Blow-drying my hair takes a really.long.time. With dry shampoo, I can wake up, take a quick shower without getting my hair wet and then use some dry shampoo, style my hair, and be out the door in almost half the time it would normally take me. My hair stylists tells me it is better to not wash your hair every day so by using the dry shampoo, not only am I out the door faster but I am doing my hair a favor too!
- Pizza cutter to cut food. Do you feel like you spend 10 minutes cutting your kid’s food into bite sized pieces with a fork and knife for them? Use a pizza cutter instead! It is easy and can save a lot of time and frustration!
- Elastic hair ties for cabinet locks. Don’t want to have to drill safety locks into your cabinets? Use elastic hair ties instead! Just wrap it around one knob a few times to get it tight and extend it over to the other knob to ‘lock’ the cabinet. Easy for parents to remove to get into the cabinet but just hard enough so kids can’t into it.
- Bath toy storage. We wanted a solution to store all the bath toys in a way that was easy to scoop up the toys, didn’t hold in the water, and was attached to the wall. We found that the Ikea Variera trash basket worked perfect! We added some hooks to the top and hung it from a towel rod above the bath tub. The best part, it is only $3.99!
- Free Target kid’s cookie. Did you know that Target has free cookies for kids? Just head over to the bakery and ask the nice person behind the counter for a kid’s cookie and they are happy to give you one for each kid. I don’t know about your kids, but mine usually start whining that they are hungry about half way into our shopping trip. A stop at the bakery for a free cookie equals happy kids for the second half of our trip! Looking for a healthier option? We have heard of a few Targets in the area offering free bananas instead of cookies! Way to go Target! Trader Joe’s always has a tasty food and juice sample and Cub Foods gives out a free cookie or apple for the kids.
- iPad car holder. Are you going on a road trip and the kids want to watch a movie on the iPad but you don’t have a car holder? No problem! All you need is toy links and a gallon zip lock bag! With the seal on the right side, hold the bag up to your headrest and poke two holes where the headrest bars are. Then put the links through each of the holes and attach to the headrest poles. (You can also use string if you don’t have any toy links) You can then slide the iPad into the bag, turn on the movie, and you are all set! The best part, the touchscreen works through the bag and the sound isn’t muffled at all.
- Birthday\Christmas list pictures. So often when we were out shopping, my girls would see something they wanted and immediately start begging for us to buy it. Last year I explained to them that instead of buying the toys right then, we’ll take a picture of it to send to friends and family for Christmas or birthday presents ideas, depending on the time of the year. This has worked great for us! There is no more whining that they want it and then once their birthday or Christmas comes along, we have a great list of ideas.
Do you have any favorite Mom Hacks that you would like to share with us? Comment below with your favorite Mom Hack!
