A dear friend mentioned she heard something about "mommy short cuts" on T.V.
and I had to wonder what that really meant. I Googled it! I found tips, thoughts, tricks, ideas and even confession from other moms on what they do to make their life easier.
Some of these ideas though (albeit bright as they were) seemed exhausting!
And then I realized, they may seem like extra work in the moment, but could be extremely handy
when you need that smidge of extra time!
So I've put together my own list!
1.Pick your battles. So I just let my kids eat an entire box of fruit snacks in one day...it's fruit right?! As moms I feel this is an important tool to have in your repertoire!
2. Do extra prep. There are some veggies I don't use ALL of at one time, and instead of wasting it I "extra prep" it. Chopping celery? Chop the whole darn thing and freeze what you don't use. It keeps just fine and you can scoop out what you need as you need it, sans prep!
3. Make double batches. Some meals are really easy to make huge batches. Chili, spaghetti sauce, soup etc. It seems like you can solve world hunger when you make them, so eat what you need that night and freeze the rest! TIP: freeze flat in a zip-lock bag to save storage space in your freezer.
 |
| See!? Nice and flat, lots of space. |
5. NEW MOMS: don't waste your money on a diaper bag. Really who wants to haul around 2 bags everywhere?! Go get yourself a really nice giant purse and throw everything in there: diapers, wipes, 1 toy, a zip-lock bag of clothes, & a nursing cover/bottle & formula. It all fits I promise.
6. Pre-prep your coffee pot the night before. I hate trying to set up my coffee in the morning: I'm half awake and almost always forget something...like water...or the coffee.
7. Meal plan. Not only will this save you time but loads of money! The less random trips you have to make during the week, the more time and money you save. I plan one weeks worth of meals at a time and if I run out of something, I'm just out and the kids will have to suck it up! They're young, they'll get over it. (Stay tuned for my meal plan blog later!)
8. Make your kids help with the chores! My daughter is 1 1/2 and loves to be told to throw away or put things away and to help me with laundry. I went all Pavlovian on her and trained her with positive reinforcement, a.k.a. high-fives. She does something awesome (like puts her dirty clothes in the hamper) she gets a high-five...or fist bump, whatever she's in the mood for that day. Plus chores play triple duty: they help you out, teach independence and strengthen gross motor skills.
9. Immediately unload groceries and then some: if it doesn't stay in it's cardboard, then take it out. For example: I buy multi-packs of fruit cups, yogurt, and apple sauce and they all come in card board. I take them out of the cardboard and stack them in the fridge: cardboard gets recycled immediately and my fridge is neat!
10. Weekly meal prep! One night, pre-measure and put all ingredients into containers/bags for each meal that week. I have giant Tupperware boxes and I'll put my protein on the bottom (separate zip-lock bag), veggies, and pre-measured spices into it. We usually will have rice which can easily be thrown into a rice cooker while the rest of our meal is sizzling away! Spending one hour chopping and measuring saves lots of hours the rest of the week!
8. Make your kids help with the chores! My daughter is 1 1/2 and loves to be told to throw away or put things away and to help me with laundry. I went all Pavlovian on her and trained her with positive reinforcement, a.k.a. high-fives. She does something awesome (like puts her dirty clothes in the hamper) she gets a high-five...or fist bump, whatever she's in the mood for that day. Plus chores play triple duty: they help you out, teach independence and strengthen gross motor skills.
9. Immediately unload groceries and then some: if it doesn't stay in it's cardboard, then take it out. For example: I buy multi-packs of fruit cups, yogurt, and apple sauce and they all come in card board. I take them out of the cardboard and stack them in the fridge: cardboard gets recycled immediately and my fridge is neat!
10. Weekly meal prep! One night, pre-measure and put all ingredients into containers/bags for each meal that week. I have giant Tupperware boxes and I'll put my protein on the bottom (separate zip-lock bag), veggies, and pre-measured spices into it. We usually will have rice which can easily be thrown into a rice cooker while the rest of our meal is sizzling away! Spending one hour chopping and measuring saves lots of hours the rest of the week!
It seems most of MY time is eaten up by meals,
but eating is kind of a big deal so I guess that's not so bad!
You work hard moms! You deserve every second of "me time"
or alone time with the hubs that you can get!
If you have any more mommy shortcuts PLEASE comment below or on my Facebook page!
Happy Shortcutting!
great tips
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