Your mum/life hacks?

[Emlou07]

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

Please share

YY to holiday laundry!

Sweet potato in a tomato sauce takes off the bitterness and thickens it up.

Coconut milk makes a brilliant base for curry sauce.

Stock up on generic birthday cards.

For children under 10 ish, stock up on a few birthday cards with the age your children's friends are going to be. Stock up on 2 or 3 generic birthday presents for that age group. Small Lego kits are good.

Every few weeks do a washing machine tub clean cycle with a dishwasher tablet in it.. makes your washing machine all clean and sparkly

We have a master shopping list - A4 piece of paper with everything we might need from the supermarket.

Whenever anything is running low I highlight it on the list and DH buys it next time he's shopping

I love the tidying as a pack - we are definitely doing this on Sunday!

When cooking have two plastic bowls ready. One I use for peelings which then all get dumped straight into the food recycling bin. The other is for the chopped veg so it can all be chucked in the pan rather than mounting up on the chopping board.

I also have a Christmas one. Select a different roll of paper for each child so that presents are essentially colour coded and you don’t need to label anything.

I hate the word ‘hack’ too - sorry!

Take a photo of your kids as soon as you arrive out for a day trip, so if they get lost you can show people what they look like and what they're wearing.

Puppy pads under the sheet for nighttime toilet training, and YY to layering up the bed with several sheets/pads/mattress protector.

Peel ginger with a spoon.
Microwave mug cake for chocolate emergencies.
And the frozen pesto one is a faff. Level it out in the jar and top with a thin layer of oil.

When I go out to a crowded place with the dc, I write my phone number on their arm.

I also write my phone number in sharpie on their coats, book bags and shoes (cricket bats, camp blankets, water bottles....).

Not RTFT so may have been mentioned already but a heated clothes airer from Lakeland has changed my life! Cuts drying time right down and means clothes don't go musty. We put a dehumidifier on at the same time to avoid damp

Keep miniature vodka (your poisen) bottles in your bag.

Repeat tomorrow is a new day a 100 times

Have emergency chocolate stacked in the house

Lostmyemailaddress Amazing!!!!!! Especially colour coding the kids. 😲🤔

I have nothing to add other than only ironing when absolutely necessary.

DH would like to contribute - use a peeler (that you'd use for potatoes/carrots) to slice cheese I think this is more lazy than genius!

Don't peel potatoes when makimg mash..

It's better for you.. taster...and quicker... plush kids won't notice if you mash it enough

I have two boys aged 8 and 3, one at school and one at nursery full time.

Basket by the front door with hats/scarves/gloves etc and my husband put a shelf above it where all the bags are, makes school runs a lot easier as everything is in one place.

I always always have a box of baby wipes in my bathroom. They are brill for a quick bathroom clean if unexpected visitors or whatever, if it just needs a quick tidy i will often do it while the kids are in the bath or a bath is running.

Zoflora is my cleaning product, i use the same old method bottle and just put zoflora in it diluted when needed, saved me money in cleaning products and it smells good.

I text myself as soon as things run out and dont open it till i get to a shop so the notification is still there and I remember what I need to get, works 7/10 times

Always always have quick stuff in the freezer, not the obvious beige food but things like chopped frozen onions or them steam bags of veg, if I really cba sometimes its a takeaway then i these sort of things just make cooking dinner seem a lot less faff.

Have always done lunches the night before.

FOr speedy bathroom cleaning while in the shower get one of those dishmatic washing up things (non-scratch Brillo pad on hollow handle). Fill handle with shower gel (those complimentary hotel bottles that dh insists on collecting comes in handy) and scrub the tiles while you wash!

lostmyemailaddress colour coding your kids is pure genius!

The taking photos of DCs on days out is genius.

An alternative if you have two, which is very unpopular on here, but DSis follows, is dress them the same/similarly and if you lose one, you can point at the other and say like this one but older/younger (works best if you have two of the same sex obviously).

Keep a couple of litres of long life milk in the cupboard for emergencies

Work out your supermarket specials pattern. Mine has certain things on sale every 6 weeks. I stock up then

Bicarbonate soda and white vinegar are fantastic cleaning products

The pesto and ginger freezing are great!

@Thesmallthings

Keep miniature vodka (your poisen) bottles in your bag.

Repeat tomorrow is a new day a 100 times

Have emergency chocolate stacked in the house

Those are my kind of tips .

(My autocorrect made you Thesmallthongs)

When your baby is still carried to and from the car, pop a small carabina onto your keys.. being able to clip them one handedly on and off your belt loop makes it so much easier.

Pop individual nappies into a nappy sack each so you just grab both out the changing bag in a one-er.

Batch cook meals for kids. One pasta bake equals 10 frozen ready meals for my little one. Perfect for the after work rush or nights you are eating separate from the kids without you having to resort to giving them quick beige stuff.

Cleaning wipes. Glass wipes, toilet wipes, baby wipes. Just wipe the hell out of everything. Housework, shoes, car interiors shiny in a flash.

Don't iron

This is a lame one, but I slice croissants and baguettes etc before putting them in the oven. When they come out they're too hot and flaky/crumbly so they get squashed but if you do it before it's much easier!

Also buy a tumble drier. Life changing!

Muslin cloths are perfect for glass cleaning. As well as the usual windows and mirrors in the house, I keep one in the car for speedy windscreen clearance in the morning. Instead of sitting and waiting for the demister, you'll get a smear free windscreen in seconds.

Lots of brilliant hack tips

Lemon freezing too! In slices to defrost and squeeze into sauces or popping into G and T Doubling up as ice cubes.

Peel ginger with spoon.freeze.grate from frozen

Load washing a day
Wioe bath n sink daily save scrubbing tidemarks at later date...

Older kids-Empty school bags EVERY FRidAY night.no excepts.all ages.no more letters you never get ir science exoeriment lunch box items that escsped into the bottom of bag!!

During colds few drops eucalyptus oil in water in a bowl(out if reach and above a radiator if poss)
Always keep few icepoles in freezer fir very sore throats if your kids suffer badly with them

On holiday..
Baby powder on sandy feet gently rub and sand free (usually done sit in open boot of car)
Drag buggy backward on a beach never push forward
Sharpie your phone number on kids arms in case get lost.no names
Kids over 5 Arrange on arrival at beach a place to go if get seperated(ice cream van.etc)