I love to hear about the shorcuts and smart ideas Moms come up with to make their days go more smoothly. Since we can't ever have enough help and heaven knows we never have enough time, I thought it would be a fun idea to exchange some of our 'tricks of the trade'. Here are a few of the shortcuts I've found. As I think of more I'll add them to the list so feel free to check back later. After reading them, will you leave a comment and share some of yours? It can be anything you've found helpful (i.e. organizational tips, products that have saved your life, books that you love, time managament techniques, budgeting advise, etc.) Thanks for taking the time to share!
QUICK COOKING HINTS: My favorite time saver in the kitchen has been to buy my ground beef in bulk and brown the entire thing right away when I get home. I can then freeze the pre-cooked beef in individual freezer bags. When it's time to cook dinner all I have to do is throw the frozen bag in the microwave for about three minutes and my hamburger is ready to be added to any dish! (Same thing applies for chicken.)
*I love to make double batches of pancakes or waffles. That way I can freeze a batch in baggies (I buy my Ziplocks at Sam's Club because I use a ton of them. Can you tell! :) ) and all my kids have to do is throw the bag in the microwave on Sunday mornings and they have a quick breakfast they can make all by themselves. Everyone in my family loves this idea.
PARENTING BOOK: "Parenting Breakthrough" by Merrilee Boyack. Every mom should own a copy. It has a 'master plan' to help your kids become independent (and with 5 kiddos that is what I'm all about!) and it discusses everything from chores to money management. For instance, Hali is 9 this year so the things Merrilee suggests she should master this year are learning how to : "mop floors, clean pictures, bake cookies, read scriptures daily, emergency preparation, first aid, fill car with gas, wash car, vacuum interior of car, hammer nails, saw wood, cook vegetables, write letters, understand puberty and sex, use e-mail." So apparently we have a busy year ahead of us. But if it means I will have a helper to keep my van clean then I'm all over this one!
BUSY BOX: When my girls were toddlers I had a 'busy box' that I kept in the kitchen full of old kitchen utensils and little bowls that they could play with while I was busy in the kitchen. Doesn't it seem like everyone wants your attention while you're trying to get dinner ready? I need to do this again for Roman and Teagan.
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5 years ago
6 comments:
Great ideas Trish, Thanks! One thing I like to do is have a family meeting on sundays and we all sit down and plan our week. That way everyone knows eachother's schedules and we have it written down on the calendar. Another thing is when you go to the store, make a list of "snacks" the kids can have. That way when they say "Im hungry, can I have a snack?" They can look at the list and so can I to give me some ideas for these growing kiddos. It saves me time from having to hunt something down or the older kids can read it and know that its a snack they can have. I also mark out the snacks we have had for the week so we can keep track of what we have. It may sound kinda silly but if you have kids like mine, its not!
At least Hali already knows where babies come from, right? I mean, you should know, Mom. ha ha ha
Okay, but seriously. One shortcut I never thought I would take is that I don't really separate laundry anymore. I just wash it all together in cold water.
I also keep the front room off limits so it's always clean. You know, for those unexpected visitors that I never have! But, when all heck breaks loose, Nathan and I have a room where we can go chill for a while and not feel the stress of a mess.
I am loving my swiffer mop... Noah loves to push the button to help me clean. Um, Clorox wipes in every bathroom and in the kitchen help to clean up messes as they happen. FLYLADY.NET has had some of my favorite ideas, mainly focusing on CONSISTENCY. A little bit of housework every day will keep you from burning yourself out trying to do it all at once. And she encourages decluttering! There's something magical about having an EMPTY cupboard, with NOTHING to put in it!!! Oh and I never make my bed! Talk about time maximizing! :) K, so you knew all of this already. Thought I'd pass it along to all your faithful readers. :)
HElllooooo? Where are all the comments????
seriously!!! Is everyone keeping their good ideas to themselves??? That is not helpful....
rubbing alcohol gets ink off of microfiber furniture. not really a shortcut, but it is a handy tip.
I have a morning routine that consists of getting up, Exercising, fix David's lunch and breakfast, Shower, Swish and Swipe the bathroom (This means I swish the toilet with a toilet bowl brush and I wipe down the counter tops and sink with a rag and put away all the things I have gotten out. This takes all of two minutes to keep our bathroom ready for anyone) empty the dishwasher, put in a load of laundry and then start on breakfast. If I am lucky I can have it all done before the kids wake up. I also do at least one load of laundry a day so it doesn't pile up.
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