What are your family life hacks?

[Daffodilsinfebruary]

Parenting a 1 yo and 3 yo, I feel like I don’t know the secrets to make life easier and enjoyable?
Anything you can share that you wish you knew about when your kids were young?
We’re constantly tidying, cleaning, cooking, entertaining doing laundry.

The days are long, especially when 3 yo doesn’t nap.
Co-sleeping and BFing 1 yo.
I’m really not enjoying this phase of life, (although the odd moment is lovely)please help!!!

Very boring but I try to make sure I'm only sorting items once: eg put 'like with like' items from trolley to conveyor belt according to where it goes when you unpack it. So all fridge stuff together, all pantry stuff together. Goes into bags that you can unload in the kitchen without running about.

Same with washing: when I hang wet washing on the airer it's all kids pants together, all kids socks together etc so when it's dry I can scoop it off in sections and it's ready to put away.

After dinner, one of you takes the children upstairs and gets them ready for bed and the other washes up, quick tidy up and a hoover.

Get food shopping delivered.

Put the kids clothes in a separate sack inside the laundry basket. Make sure that’s what DH washes and irons on his turn. Make sure your turn is 4 bath towels.

Subscribe to Audible and get a decent set of over-ear headphones, it makes the housework bearable.

It's a tough stage. It gets easier. My tips are:

Go out every day. Have a plan and have adult company for at least part of it

Make packed lunch and take snacks out every day to save money: take a coffee in a travel mug for yourself (that age plus cafe = chaos)

Get in the bath with the kids so that's one more job done! They love it, you can wash and put pjs on straight after

Batch cook, not just meals but also stuff like mashed potatoes.

Buy those ready cooked chicken drumsticks. Defrost mashed potato, microwave the chicken and some peas, make gravy and there's kids dinner sorted

Get a cleaner. If not lower your standards

Finances permitted get a high volume washing machine and heat pump tumble drier. Mine are both 11kg so washing is much quicker and easier

Avoid mum instagram accounts who will make you feel awful about not doing a gazillion activities with your children.

"Everyone fed and no one dead."

Don't iron anything unless you absolutely have to (e.g. work shirts)

Have designated or specific days/afternoons/mornings for fun activities or outings. I found it helped break up the drudgery when home with the under 4’s. Laundry on overnight & either tumble or air dry. One load a day, washed & dried, put away. Meals were simplified and Dh & I would always cook multiple portions of anything made such as bolognaise, cheese sauce, meatballs, mash potatoes then freeze in portions. It ensured several times a week the family had good meals with minimal cooking just added frozen veg/pasta etc. No guilt either if kids had a waffle, beans & omlette night. I only tidied up toys at end the of the day, before bathtime and would always get my kids to join in and help. I labelled Trofast storage with pictures to help them, they are all good at keeping stuff tidy now. I had 4 under 4 for a time and it’s tough, a cycle of feeding, cleaning along with the daily stuff.

Don't bother tidying until dc are in bed... Good bedtime routine.. Sleep for all in vital.

I have most things on subscription - nappies, wipes, toilet roll, laundry detergent, deodorant. So I don't have to worry about them running out and they get delivered to your door rather than buying in a supermarket.

Declutter, a house with less stuff in will be infinitely easier to keep tidy. Don’t go upstairs or downstairs without taking something that belongs there. Get food shopping delivered.

Order groceries online and have them delivered. Have a cleaner if you can afford it. Do mealprepping : if you have to cook then make dinner for 2 days, or even 3 if you have a fridge. Iron or do excercises in front of the tv.
Plan something fun that gives you energy every weekend: never just stay a whole day at home doing chores, it will leave you drained.

Train the eldest to help out with stuff. My 5 year old is great and helping strip the beds on bedsheet change day! Makes your life easier and teaches them responsibility. Yes it is harder / slower initially of course but it pays off.

During the winter I used to take DS to a large shopping centre. It was warm and full of distractions. They had free mini cars that DS could “drive” with plenty of room for any shopping.
If we went out to eat I would take a spare top and didn’t bother with a bib. Just changed their top after we’d finished eating.

We had a Labrador so when DS finished eating in his high chair she was allowed in to hoover up any food dropped on the floor. She continued in this roll even when he moved to eating at the table.
She also used to do the same in the kitchen. We usually just wiped crumbs straight onto the floor. It became such a habit that when she died DH carried on doing it for months afterwards.

Have what you need to hand in multiple rooms e.g nappies - we have a little nappy caddy in the lounge, our room and the babies room with nappies, wipes and nappy bags so you’re not running up and down stairs every nappy change time. When potty training, add lots of spare pants and trousers etc to each basket for the same reason.

Upstairs AND downstairs laundry basket - kids often get changed downstairs so means it’s easier to whack clothes in the basket wherever they are.

lots of baskets for toys with a clear home for everything - even my 2yo knows cars go in one tub and action figures go in a different one.

If mornings are tough, set everything out the night before. I literally set out mugs with coffee already in, kids cups filled with their drink, plates/bowls for breakfast out ready. All clothes out ready in rooms. Then if it’s been a rough night, it makes the morning and getting out the house easier.

I had a giant calendar on the work top (from Flylady) but you can get similar over here.
A month at a glance - wrote everything on it - trip money due/Katie's party/order cat meds etc etc.

Routine!

Find and repeat a set of playgroups / shopping delivery or trip / park / seeing family / wash days / tidy up time etc

Weekly plan for eg activities then a daily plan for the nitty gritty.

TV! If kids won't nap, give them an hour in front of the TV after lunch.

Remove all the thinking from your life and just follow the routine.

Only buy black (or whatever) socks. Don't spend ages pairing different colours. Have younger one wear all the same but different colour.

Shock horror but no-one needs clean clothes every day (it's a marketing plot) even little ones.

It's ok to eat the same food two (or more ) days on the trot. Stews, baked potatoes etc.

Nothing needs ironing if your slightly fussy with drying and folding.

Age appropriate contribution from kids sets you bup for the future and gives them skills.

When I went back to work full time ( youngest was about 4 and I had three to get to two different schools ) I used to go and shower and wash my hair after work straight after tea so in the morning I just got up and dressed etc so could concentrate on get the DC ready for school and getting out the door for work on time. Swapped back to showers in the morning a few years later.

Most things don't matter. Happy is more important than anything else.

To echo a PP, "everyone fed, noone dead" is a mantra I picked up on here around 11 years ago with my 1st and it has served me well!

Its ok to keep clean laundry in plastic washing baskets and rummage for clean clothes

Clothes are easier to put away in drawers than hanging, they don't need folding- creased clothes never killed anyone.

Whoever is at home while the other parent works- they are responsible for the kids not the house while kids are babies and toddlers. Everything else can be split between the adults in the evenings/ on weekends

Having the changing bag and buggy etc all set up was a lifesaver, I'd get home and then pop some more nappies in straight away- always too many than I thought Id need.

Keep spare nappies and wipes in the car just in case, and snacks like cereal bars in the glove box.

Sort your clothes out the night before. Make sure your changing bag is always topped up with nappies, snacks.

Get a cheap pencil case, shove in some crayons, little toy figures or cars, some plasters (kids love plasters), fold up some paper, grab a little pack of stickers, stick it in your bag. Emergency play kit.

Search for a 5 minutes kids timer on YouTube or a tidy up song - get the kids to help tidy up, it's good practice.

TV is a really useful tool.

Sort a weeks outfits at once on a Sunday - particularly when they are at school. Buy one of those plastic drawer units with 7 drawers and put clothes in for each day. Kids can then get themselves dressed with less input. Have cleaning products upstairs and downstairs. A quick wipe round or sink and loo when they are in bath etc keeps things manageable. Have an upstairs and downstairs hoover (preferably cordless), and upstairs and downstairs nappy change stuff. Just apply little and often to getting house stuff sorted rather than letting it build up. Also, get rid of as much stuff as you can and pack away toys so you can get out a box at a time. I found this kept the house clearer and the kids calmer as they were less overwhelmed. They get excited to see stuff they haven't seen for a while which buys you some time to stare at the wall and wonder if life will ever be the same!

Mine are grown up now - it really does get easier (and then it gets harder again for a bit before they become civilised post teenage wankery)