Your mum/life hacks?

[Emlou07]

Aibu to want alllllll the 'hacks' for an easy life

Please share

ThunderboltsLightning, if the baby won't settle because he can smell your milk, why not just feed him?

Greensleeves I know you meant a different poster, but would want to feed even when exhausted so he never actually got any of the hind milk and then he'd want feeding again very soon and we'd go through the whole tagain.

Is this for a blog post?

With duvets, I use top sheets and a neutral duvet cover to match the pillowcases, sort of, I'm not fussy as long as they are clean!

So one week it's a top and bottom sheet change + pillowcases, and once a month (Yikes) a duvet cover change. Well the duvet cover is not coming into contact with body parts due to the top sheet, is my reason! So bloody easy!

But I suppose I am now a manky cow for not doing this every flipping day or something!

Batch baking and freezing. Especially mince for super quick spag Bol/ shepherds pie etc. I also cook up a veg mix for veggie alternatives.
Curry pastes made in batches is super cheap and means a lovely curry is really quick and easy.

I'm taking full advantage of the top sheet idea...i sodding destest changing the duvet every week

Ikea flat packs - build it, then put the instructions and the special allen key in a plastic wallet. Fold the wallet so the key can't fall out and then duck tape it to the thing you've just assembled on a bit of it you can't see (so the back of the chest of drawers, the underside of the telly cabinet etc). If you have to disassemble it to move house, you won't spend hours hunting for them and having arguments.

mustbemad17,

You will not regret it. I am sorry I didn't do it years ago now!

So easy to strip top and bottom sheets and pillowcases. Hate changing the effin duvet cover, but now sorted, and it's in stages which is even better!

Flat sheet is on my shopping list. Anything to avoid the duvet saga every week! Even the inside out method is a nightmare with anything bigger than single!!

I do a lot of the stuff on here already, take photos of timetables, school letters etc, put duvet sets into the pillowcase and lots of others, but, my main tip is to do less washing. Surely kids clothes/uniforms don't need to be washed daily (aside from socks and jocks of course) and imo kids really don't need a bath every day. Mine certainly don't.

I've recently started drying my washing in my bedroom. Got a new airer and Christmas tree was in the way of where I used to dry it so had to dry it in my bedroom. It's saved me a lot of time as it goes straight in the drawers when it's dry and less likely to go in the ironing basket!

I'm going to read all these in bed - I've just moved house!

We used to play a cleaning game with the kids.
Each job is written on a slip of paper, clean skirting board in the lounge.
You pull out a slip and crack on, you can put two slips back if you don't like them (usually the loos!)
Not saying the best quality cleaning guaranteed but everyone helped.

Wash anything that isn't really dirty on the washing machine's short cycle

Avoid people like Mitel.

If you have any fresh herbs, wash and dry them then out into little bags and freeze.
Same for chillies, I grate them straight from the freezer into meals I'm cooking so saves chopping them.
Take all fruit and veg that needs refrigerating out of the packaging so it lasts longer.

Whenever you're peeling a sticky label off something, use it to remove fluff from your coat or whatever you're wearing.

Make porridge overnight in the slow cooker - put oats and milk (and whatever else) in a bowl and put the whole bowl in the cooker. No gloopy pan to clean. In the summer, overnight oats - oats, yoghurt and fruit left in fridge overnight. Eat cold in the morning, or make in a container with a lid and take it with you.

I have 2 laundry baskets - one for colour and one for whites, avoids having to sort dirty clothes.

Keep tights in a cheap zip up lingerie organiser with separate sections so they don't all get in a tangle.

Take a zipped mesh laundry bag when staying at people's houses. Put all dirty underwear in and put the whole bag in the wash - keeps your stuff separate from everyone else's. Also keep unwashed clothes in one when you travel, stops your dirty washing spilling out everywhere at security checks or on the baggage carousel!

Keep cashmere in zipped bags if you have moths.

It's probably annoying, but I always have bags of coppers that I mean to take to the bank and forget about.

I have started using them to pay for non uniform days etc.

Also - buy and print postage online to avoid having to queue at the Post Office. Works for letters, parcels and international post.

parcel.royalmail.com/

*I always have bags of coppers that I mean to take to the bank and forget about.

I have started using them to pay for non uniform days etc.*

As a teacher my response to this is 'aaaaagh!'

Teachers, classroom assistants and admin staff are ludicrously overworked. In one school where I worked the office staff refused to count money. It had to be handed by children to teachers who would then have to count the lunch money, trip money etc for the whole class, fill in tick lists with who has paid what, total the amount, double check the total to ensure it was correct, and then send to the school office. It took around 15 minute every Monday morning. If the total amount was wrong, it would take longer whilst I checked it all again. I was grateful to those parents who had sent in the correct amount in minimum notes and coins.

I had no TA to help me - I was supposed to have one, but there wasn't one employed for my class of 34. So the class were essentially not being taught for all the time I was dealing with money counting.

It is already counted, triple checked and in money bags in the correct denomination. Not a food bag of mixed coins, I'm not that cruel!!

Obviously if I have the right money its easier to give that, but I never have cash apart from piddley bits of change

The best bit of advice I ever got for Tupperware was to firstly pare down the containers to the ones I actually use (I always seem to end up with those teeny or oddly shaped ones that I never use but came with the multipacks and would then languish in kitchen drawers forevermore)

Then I match up the lids to the boxes they fit and, using a permanent marker, number the boxes and lids in groups - so if I have three boxes that are all the same size and have interchangeable lids, all three sets (lids and boxes) get marked with a "1", a different sized box that looks the same as 1 but is 2mm smaller so isn't interchangeable despite its appearance and lid get marked "2" etc

That way, when I pull out a box to use, all I have to do is check the number and then flip through the lids to find one of the corresponding number and know that it will fit rather than having to try every single almost identical but non fitting lid before finding the right one

Squirt of liquid soap in paint makes it easier to wash off

One big roll of silver wrapping paper will do for everything.if you want to be fancy buy a giant roll of white ribbon too.

Every family member is assigned a type of sock. Less sorting. Sometimes no pairing!

Candles, low lamps hide lots of dirt!

A half hour tidy before bed is worth three hours while they are at school

Always always always freeze in single portions. It defrosts quicker and is easy to add a portion to when you have guests

When you are cooking double to freeze take the “leftovers” out of the pot first and put aside or they’ll get eaten

Freeze flat and spread out then pop into a bag and back in freezer. I do this for all sorts : cake, sausages, vegetables. Easy to grab one or a handful and it’s not all stuck together

When buying for 6mts-3 years buy two to three sets of same clothes. When they get mucky you can usually find something that coordinates so they look less like urchins

Keep a thick sharpie near letterbox so you can cross out identifying details and bin

To get people to actually use the Family calendar implement the rule that first in takes priority!

Take pic of where you park in car park/at airport, etc

Family outings with small children : DH in front, dc behind and I bring up the rear. No children lost in lifts or trains!

When washing towels give an extra rinse with a cup of vinegar. Soft towels and you never have to clean the machine

Laundry sharpie for labeling kids school stuff. I can write in massive writing inside the collar ! Store it on a high shelf or locked in a safe as it never washes off.

If you have two dc in nappies just use the bigger size nappies and pull tabs tighter. They work just fine.

When cooing at new baby talk about how great the older sibling is. No jealousy!

Use a lint roller to pick up glitter, reuse the takeaway sauce pots to store dummies, create a "monster spray" with some hot glue, glitter and an old cleaning bottle, there are hundreds! Have a look here, this articles got loads of different parenting hacks for kids of all ages!