The 2 Mom Hacks That Truly Changed My Life
When you are juggling kids, work, pets, sports, and more, it's natural to search for solutions that can help you save time or stress. I have followed the mommy influencers, read the blogs, watched the videos, and googled into oblivion, if there is a tip out there, chances are I've seen it or tried it! Now, I am not an official expert, but I've got over 11 years of parenting experience and 4 kids, so I do have adequate background knowledge to make dependable recommendations. These two hacks are THE hacks, if I could recommend nothing else to you, I would be happy with you walking away with just these two.
1. Limit your kids to one cup!
Life-changing is an understatement. I had my 4 babies back to back. Which means I spent the better part of a decade drowning in bottles, sippy cups, water bottles, etc. When it came to chores, I felt like I lived in front of the sink because of how many dishes I had to wash throughout the day. I discovered this hack originally when I decided to make us a plastic-free household. I purged everything plastic from my kids' cupboard and ordered stainless steel dishes for them. Of course, stainless steel dishes aren't as cheap as all the take-and-toss crap that we had accumulated over time, so when I replaced everything it wasn't dish-for-dish. I made sure we had enough plates and bowls for each kid to be able to use two per day. That was a victory in and of itself, having enough dishes that I wasn't required to wash between every meal, and as a bonus, if every dish was dirty, they all still fit in the dishwasher in a single load. I bought cups too, and we still have them, but the kids know that the cups we have are for guests only. Instead of using a new cup each time they want a drink, they use their dedicated cups. I bought each of them their own dedicated 12oz stainless steel tumbler, each with its own optional lid and straw. Then, I had my sis-in-law who does epoxy cups decorate each one with their name as well as a unique theme and color for each of them. This is their cup to use 24/7 for water, milk, or any other beverage we may have. Did they need to be fancy cups? No. But, I knew I wanted them to be able to differentiate between their cups easily, so personalization was a must. This very simple and seemingly insignificant change has made a world of difference for our household! I am not drowning in dishes every single day, and we don't have cups piling up on every surface of the house!
2. Have a "closing" routine and stick to it!
I saw this tip shared multiple times over the years, and I will admit making it a habit wasn't instinctive. Usually, after a long day, once dinner and bedtime are done it is so tempting to plop down and just decompress. This leads to mindless scrolling until you can't keep your eyes open anymore, and then you wake up with the mess from dinner and the day before still waiting for you, perpetuating the stress of feeling behind schedule. About two years ago, I had had enough. Something needed to change and fast. That's when we decided to implement a closing routine every night. Our routine starts as soon as dinner is done. Whichever adult finishes dinner starts the kitchen cleanup. This means putting away leftovers, gathering the dirty dishes in the sink, and loading the dishwasher. Whoever finishes last takes over to do the hand wash dishes and kitchen wipe down. During the kitchen clean-up, the kids begin their bedtime routine which goes something like this:
Pick up anything in common areas that belong to you and take it to your room
Tidy up your bedroom, including picking up any dirty laundry and putting in your hamper
Bath (if it's bath night)
Put on pajamas
Brush teeth
Once the kids have said their goodnights, we finish up the tidying by resetting the living room and office, i.e. folding blankets, fluffing and placing throw pillows, vacuuming, cleaning off our catch-all areas, then starting the dishwasher. If your kids go to school, this is also a great time to prep and pack lunches for the next day. Often, I will prep breakfast for the next day to make things even easier for the morning. Here's the catch: it isn't always easy. There are nights where I would really rather just go sit down, but I promise you the benefits far outweigh the cost of staying on my feet just a few minutes longer. Waking up to a fresh, clean kitchen and living room every morning really helps to start the day on a positive note. It is a gift to my future self so that she can enjoy her coffee in peace!
The best part about both of these tips is that they're simple, they're realistic, and they won't cost you anything at all to try. The hardest part is making sure you are consistent with both, but if you are, things will run so smoothly, I promise!
