What’s your skill/tip that you always feel smug about when it pays off?

[PepperPepperMan]

Reading the comments on a FB page, included things like, taking boiled eggs with you on days out, taking a wet flannel out with you instead of baby wipes and hot dogs in a tea flask with rolls and sachets of ketchup.

I was always really disorganised on days out with DC what did your mum/nanna do as a little survival tip that you carried forward?

@nottomgates once you have seen an 18 month old horse euthanised due to some cunt feeding the horsey with a carrot them come be m bc and be a tear. Until you have I suggest you throw away your sharp stick, tell your child no and listen to others who gave seen this! You maybe should also see how much the vet fees were trying to operate them having to euthanise anyway…got a diary £37k lying around? My friend who owned the horse had to re-mortgage her home.

I've recently discovered puffa jackets that fold up into their own little pouch, they've been great for all sorts for trip and will be good for school too

@catwithflowers, you're welcome.
The PP who took 2 suitcases on holiday for clean and dirty clothes, genius!

Ah, if I could only afford a holiday this year!

When I went to America I took a couple of bras, knickers and swimming Cossie, shoes in my suitcase plus a folding bag and bought everything else out there. I took all the tags off stuff whether I wore it or not and posted the receipts home (in the off chance I got stopped at customs)

So many great tips- I’m taking notes!

Mine are:
Bring a sachet of saline (available in pharmacies and costs pennies) to the beach for sand-in-eyes emergencies.

You can probably buy these now but I got the biggest cheap blankets I could find and cut out a circle, and made ponchos for my dc when they were in the buggy. I added little hoods (basic T shape) and they were so much handier than trying to drape blankets that they’d kick off. For the car seat I cut slits in blankets and threaded the straps through and then when they were strapped in, I wrapped the ends over them. It made it very simple going from warm car to cold outdoors. And there were no bulky dangerous layers of padding between the baby and the straps. It often made the difference between getting a sleeping baby into the house without waking in the cold.

Getting steroid tablets (wtf?) into a reluctant toddler - they taste awful and they always advise to mix with yogurt which dc would spit out! Melt a chocolate button in microwave on a square of parchement (10 secs), crush tablet between spoons and carefully sprinkle onto melted chocolate, then fold the chocolate and parchment over to seal it in. 2 mins in freezer to set and feed to dc. Worked every time.

Niche camper/motor home one: we got large baking trays with a 1cm edge all round and glued rubber non slip matting to the bottom. They sit on the table and keep the dc’s toys and books contained so they can play while we drive.

Forgot one- suitcases are strictly for airplanes, hotels and showing off. When staying in holiday homes/camping/relatives use the square bags for life from supermarkets. They can be squished in, take up very little space empty, but do double duty as toy baskets/laundry hampers/shoe containers and shopping bags.

I have ADHD and will occasionally get hyper focused on prepping and organising, one of my best ones was my car.

I have a little tiny Yarris and the boot is quite small.
I got one of those boot organisers with 3 boxes that takes up the width on the boot and leaves about 30 cm in front or behind it for longer things.
I also have filled the little storage jar thing that came with it with parking money.

So always in my boot are,

Box 1 - PPE kit for work (2 boxes gloves, pack aprons, 2 boxes masks, visors, spare paperwork and yellow clinical waste bags.

Box 2 is a bin, always lined with a bin liner, I can't stand having a messy car.

Box 3 is the every eventuality box and has,

Wipes,
Petty cash,
Rolled up towels (the thin absorbent gym ones)
Sanitary towels, deodorant, toothbrush and paste and a mini hairbrush,
Mini first aid kit with added sun cream, tweezers, scissors & paracetamol,
A spare vest top, hoodie and leggings for me.
A blanket that can double up as picnic mat.
A few bottles of drink & snacks.
Power pack and lead incase my phone dies.
Spare glasses (I can't see without them)
A book,
Pencil, pen and notebook and sellotape.

I always feel safe and prepared in my car, I hate driving the bigger family car because it's a tip and it doesn't have my kit in it.

We're going away next week and I'm going to stela a few of these mentioned by others.

Also we're another family who love to take a flask of hot chocolate or tea and a hot snack on a thermos.

When packing for a weekend or week in London or other city with a friend, I always include an A4 zipped document folder in which I have packed a couple of plastic plates, some sheets of kitchen roll, plastic cutlery, a salt and pepper shaker with lid bought at a camping shop and sachets of salad cream/mayo collected here and there. it weighs almost nothing once packed in one's case.

This set means we are free to grab picnic foods from Tesco Express etc and eat in a park if sunny or in our hotel room, instead of always having the expense of eating in a restaurant and being limited to that menu. We buy rolls or batons, cold sliced meats, cheese spread (use that or salad cream as a butter substitute), smoked salmon, crisps, small pots of fruit yoghurt. Lovely!

@thelegohooverer what a fantastic idea, off to a caravan in a couple of weeks and I was bothered about suitcases with taking the dogs with us , I was resorting to sports bags but your idea is so much better

@nottomgates

When doing the school run play times tables CDs in the car. Helped my DS learn his tables. Have a stick with a slightly sharpened point to put carrot chunks on to feed horses at the park/ farm. It stopped DS from being bitten. Travel at night with DS who gets travel sick. He rarely is travel sick at night but gets terribly travel sick in the daytime. 🤷‍♀️ Have a picnic packed in the car for all day weddings. Sneak off for a break during the photos. Carry travel size bottle of baby powder with you on long hot days out. It’s good to stop chafing (DH complained of this walking round Disney world and the baby powder went down a treat) works well as a preventer of chafing if used at the start of the day. Take a bottle of hair conditioner to the beach to lather DD hair when out of the ocean, it detangles easily. Then when back at the villa/ home and can shower, her hair is in a lovely soft condition.

@nottomgates" Have a stick with a slightly sharpened point to put carrot chunks on to feed horses at the park/ farm. It stopped DS from being bitten. "

Please don't do this!

1. Don't feed horses you don't own without specific permission - carrots can kill.
2. A sharpened stick could be dangerous to horses.

We live in a hard water area and limescale is a common problem. Every time we use the shower we wipe the screen with a car squeegee thing and once a week I rub the bottom of the screen where the limescale gathers with a brillo pad. You'd think it would scratch the glass but it doesn't. 6 1/2 years since we have done the bathroom and the screen is still limescale free.

When you go on holiday pack a bit of everyone's clothes in different cases so if a case gets lost everyone's got some clothes in the other cases. Also put a clean pair of knickers, a t shirt and bra in your carry on bag in case your entire luggage gets lost so that you've got clean pants at least when you get to your destination. That happened to us, the bags came the next day but we had clean pants!

@Curlygirl06

When you go on holiday pack a bit of everyone's clothes in different cases so if a case gets lost everyone's got some clothes in the other cases. Also put a clean pair of knickers, a t shirt and bra in your carry on bag in case your entire luggage gets lost so that you've got clean pants at least when you get to your destination. That happened to us, the bags came the next day but we had clean pants!

Definitely cross pack. Also put a piece of paper INSIDE your case on top of the clothes with your name. flight details, telephone number and hotel details. Tags and bar codes fall off and the first thing they do to identify missing cases is open the bag and list 5 items. The 5 items are then used to match with missing bags reported. As you can imagine this takes time and can be difficult to match if the items are quite general. A name and contact details will reunited you with the bag much quicker.

@ceeceebloomingdale that's such a useful tip!

In a heatwave, wash sheets and put them straight back on the bed damp. Lovely crisp cool sheets that night.

We do the hot dogs thing too! Also pasta. I have labels for my kids clothes that have their name and my phone number. Not only if they lose the clothes item, but also in case they get lost they always have our number on them somewhere. Also running sun bats under the tap or dunking them in the paddling pool on hot days to keep the kids cool. If really hot then fill a bottle with water and freeze the night before a trip, then it melts throughout the day and you always have hot water. Also those little hand warmer pads that you can boil up to recharge for cold hands and feet in winter.

My best recent tip for I'm busy places with kids... dress them all the same and take a picture of them before you leave.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned.
Take those small vinegar sachets you get in cafés when you go out and about. Helps to neutralise wasp stings!

Name labels in clothes - get them printed to read :

Fred Jones Abigail

Then you fold the end over to whichever child's clothes it is. So you end up with Fred Jones and Jones Abigail