Who doesn’t love a good life hack? Now that I’ve been a mom for all of two years, I’ve collected my fair share of mom hacks that would’ve made my life much easier had I known about them earlier. It’s a pleasure.
The best things in life are free. Don’t feel you need to buy everything for your kids. A battery-less remote, an old phone, a wooden spoon, a keyboard, a box – they’ll be happy with anything they can throw around, tear apart, push buttons or chew.
Make sure the nurseries are carpeted or put in a rug if they’re not. You’ll thank me on those nights when you have to tiptoe out after patting the baby to sleep for a kajillion minutes.
When you’re at home, wear your shirt or jersey inside out. This way, when you do manage to leave the house, you just need to put it back on the right way around and no one will see the food/milk/vomit/poo stains.
Dedicate a kitchen cupboard or drawer to plastics. Find a cupboard or drawer which your kids can reach and open and fill it only with tupperware, plastic spoons, measuring cups – anything that can be messed about with and not broken. When your kids get into the habit of opening cupboards and drawers, let them know this one is theirs and they can open it anytime and take anything out.
When your baby gets more capable with their hands, use two spoons for feeding. Give them one spoon to wave around and bang the table with and you use the other spoon to actually feed them.
Buy birthday presents and baby shower presents in bulk. In other words, go shopping and buy a range of presents suitable for different ages and kids. Then, when you are invited to a party you don’t need to run to the shop – you can simply pick one from your present box.
Also a must for birthday presents, name stickers. We have these awesome stickers from Love From Me to save me scrounging around for a card the five minutes before we have to leave for the party.
Keep birthday and Christmas presents in a container for rainy days. Kids get so many presents and when they are babies they actually cannot deal with all of them at the same time. Don’t give them all their presents at once. Keep some hidden in a cupboard and bring them out when they’re sick or you’re stuck indoors on a rainy day.
You can use your straightening iron as an iron for your clothes on the days you just don’t have time but don’t have anything to wear that isn’t wrinkled. Not recommended to do while you’re wearing the item (but possible).
Make your tea/coffee in a travel mug. I still can’t guarantee that you’ll get a chance to drink it hot but at least it can last a little bit longer.
Put two waterproof sheets and two fitted sheets on your toddler bed if they are sick or prone to bedwetting. Layer them waterproof-fitted-waterproof-fitted. This way when they vomit/pee in the middle of the night you can just pull the top layer off and you should have dry sheets underneath (though pee has been known to saturate through four layers).
Buy covers for your changing mat. More than one. Trust me. Again you can put on a few layers at the same time.
When you go on road trips, pack a bag or caddy with the essentials – snacks, books, games, nappy changing stuff. Keep it in the car so that you don’t have to think about that when packing for your trip. Come to think of it, you should always have a stash of snacks in the car. There’s nothing worse than a screamingly hungry kid while you’re driving.
Have more than one doo doo/ bunny/ dummy. Always have a spare of whatever your child needs to sleep. Keep it in the nursery but where the child can’t find them. This way when they throw their doo doo out the cot in the middle of the night and you can’t find it, you don’t need to turn on any lights – you can just grab the spare out the cupboard and find the old one in the morning.
Take a dirty babygrow off over the baby’s feet, not their head.
White babygrows should be illegal. There’s no need.
Teach your children that vacuuming/sweeping/washing dishes is a game.
Children don’t need to wear clothes when they are eating. Unless they are eating outside and it’s snowing. There will come a time when even the most extensive bib won’t curb the damage, so save yourself some laundry.
If grannies are on nappy-changing duty, do them a favour and put the baby in a onesie with a zip. Those press studs can be a bitch.
Kneel on a rolled up towel when bathing baby. Your knees will thank you.
And finally, and possibly the best one of all, if you have more than one child, give them the same name. That way you can never get confused and call them by the wrong name.
And there you go. I honestly don’t know how I got through two kids without these gems. Hope they help you! Do you have any others that will change my life?
Featured image: Kristopher Roller on Unsplash
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