Share your life hacks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When loading the dishwasher, I try and keep all the forks together, put all the spoons in the same slot, etc, so it is an easy "grab" when unloading and putting everything back in the drawers and cabinets.

What a simple, great idea! I'm going to do this!

yes, I do this as well. saves a ton of time especially when my 11 yr old DS is clearing the dishwasher. instead of lazily throwing the forks into the knives compartment, all the forks end up in the fork compartment!

I don't do this because similar items tend to nest together (esp spoons and forks) and then don't get as clean.

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I am taking my kids to lunch at mcd or chickfila (with play areas), I go through the drive thru first. This eliminates me having to threaten their lives when I have to order at the counter.

You are a genius. This is truly brilliant.

[Anonymous]

Use health insurance for gym discounts, make my children sort and store Legos by color, do all grocery shopping during lunch and store refrigerated items I a cooler bag under my desk, have a box with extra clothing shoes baby wipes in the trunk, there is a trash bag hanging of each headrest in the car for kids to dump their snacks juice boxes etc, use Ibotta for cash back,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I am taking my kids to lunch at mcd or chickfila (with play areas), I go through the drive thru first. This eliminates me having to threaten their lives when I have to order at the counter.

You are a genius. This is truly brilliant.

Agreed. I am quite impressed. This is a life changing share, so thank you.

[Anonymous]

On vacation, I sleep in workout clothes. When one kid wakes up, I can quickly get him/her out of the room before he/she wakes up the rest of the family.

Put kids plates/cups/bowls in a low cabinet -- they can get themselves food and drinks, help set the table and help unload the dishwasher when they are as young as 3.

Keep a collapsible storage bin from ikea in the hallway outside the kids' rooms for all the unmatched socks that come out of the dryer. When it gets full or we run out of socks, we have a matching party where we dump them all out and the kids search for matches. Sometimes I offer to pay them a nickel a match. Good for math skills too. I don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago, as the number of unmatched socks just drives me totally bonkers and I never knew where to put them until the other sock showed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I am taking my kids to lunch at mcd or chickfila (with play areas), I go through the drive thru first. This eliminates me having to threaten their lives when I have to order at the counter.

You are a genius. This is truly brilliant.

Agreed. I am quite impressed. This is a life changing share, so thank you.

I don't get this. Don't you have the same problem with them ordering in the drive thru line? I always find the drive thru significantly harder, because you can't see the menu until you are right up there to order. Or is that they are running away when you are trying to order? I guess this explains why the drive through lines are always so long!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I am taking my kids to lunch at mcd or chickfila (with play areas), I go through the drive thru first. This eliminates me having to threaten their lives when I have to order at the counter.

You are a genius. This is truly brilliant.

Agreed. I am quite impressed. This is a life changing share, so thank you.

I don't get this. Don't you have the same problem with them ordering in the drive thru line? I always find the drive thru significantly harder, because you can't see the menu until you are right up there to order. Or is that they are running away when you are trying to order? I guess this explains why the drive through lines are always so long!

NP, not PP, but this - "Or is that they are running away when you are trying to order?" - was always my problem in this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fold the bed sheet, fitted sheet, and extra pillow case and put them inside the 2nd pillow case to keep the set together. Saves me time looking for a matched set.

I've read this tip before and wondered, how are pieces of the set going missing? Don't they go from the bed to the laundry to the closet?

I do this also, because when I stack individually folded sheets and pillowcases in the closet, they inevitably get jumbled up or fall over, etc. also, we have white sheets for twin beds, queen beds and full sized beds. It's just easier if each set is contained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shopkeeper bell attached to the front door. Works as a pretty good alarm system and lets me know when the kids are leaving the house!

If you have an alarm turn on the Chime and it works for all the doors and windows in the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put clean children in clean bed in clean day clothes. Ready for school tomorrow without the fight when they wake up. Still have to do the teeth and hair, but it's one less thing...

Clothes are not wrinkled?

Nope. Obviously I wouldn't do this with a dress that needs ironing, but for casual clothes, works fine.

Does anyone do this with their work clothes?

I sometimes do this with my gym clothes. Waking up already dressed for the gym helps encourage me to get my butt down there

This is brilliant, and now I can sleep an extra 5 mins cause I don't have to get dressed to run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the time you are done, your eyes are adjusted, your teeth are clean, and you've peed.

Success!! LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On vacation, I sleep in workout clothes. When one kid wakes up, I can quickly get him/her out of the room before he/she wakes up the rest of the family.

Put kids plates/cups/bowls in a low cabinet -- they can get themselves food and drinks, help set the table and help unload the dishwasher when they are as young as 3.

Keep a collapsible storage bin from ikea in the hallway outside the kids' rooms for all the unmatched socks that come out of the dryer. When it gets full or we run out of socks, we have a matching party where we dump them all out and the kids search for matches. Sometimes I offer to pay them a nickel a match. Good for math skills too. I don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago, as the number of unmatched socks just drives me totally bonkers and I never knew where to put them until the other sock showed up.

Different solution to the sock problem:

Buy each kid their own color socks (for me, the older boy has gray, the younger has navy). Multi-packs that don't have different colored stripes can be hard to find, but most places sell individual pair and when they are on sale, I buy a dozen. Easy to sort sized and match... When one gets lost or holey it doesn't matter as there are 23 more that are exactly the same...

[Anonymous]

There is a fishing float hanging off the ceiling in my garage. Once the tip touches the windshield of my car--I've gone just far enough to close the door but didn't hit the water heater.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shopkeeper bell attached to the front door. Works as a pretty good alarm system and lets me know when the kids are leaving the house!

If you have an alarm turn on the Chime and it works for all the doors and windows in the house.

They also sell those clip-on things, one for each door. You can turn them on and off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I am taking my kids to lunch at mcd or chickfila (with play areas), I go through the drive thru first. This eliminates me having to threaten their lives when I have to order at the counter.

You are a genius. This is truly brilliant.

Agreed. I am quite impressed. This is a life changing share, so thank you.

I don't get this. Don't you have the same problem with them ordering in the drive thru line? I always find the drive thru significantly harder, because you can't see the menu until you are right up there to order. Or is that they are running away when you are trying to order? I guess this explains why the drive through lines are always so long!

My kids are very well behaved in the car. It's when they're loose (in the restaurant, ordering at the counter) that they jump around, hang on ropes, bicker, touch everything, mess with the condiments, sit on the floor, etc., etc. At least in the car they are contained. Also, my kids always want the same thing so it doesn't take is long to order at all.