We have a small house and this is a time and trouble saver. One in one out rule. We don't have multiple play areas -- kids room has a large place space that is also right off the living room and kitchen so it's easy. Things migrate out but everything gets put away at night so that they can go to sleep in a tidy room.

Getting ready is easier in a small house. No running up and down stairs, and we just designate consistent storage places for everything we need. It's easy to make a lunch while also "helping" my oldest get dressed because this just means I talk to her while she does it.

Small houses are easier to clean, and cheaper to pay someone to clean.

I feel like everything takes us less time than other people, somehow. I also theorize that this is one of the reasons it's always been easy to get kids out of the house on the weekends and in the summer. They feel cooped up! They pretty much never turn down an offer of a park, playground, bike ride, hike, etc.

We have opposite sex kids so we need to upgrade to a larger place soon (right now we're in a 2 bed/2 bath that's about 1100 sq ft), but I am so glad we stayed where we are through the baby, toddler, and little kid years. It will be nice to have more room and more privacy with tweens and teens. But we're still just looking for something in the 1500-2000 sq ft range, ideally with plenty of outdoor space. Every time our realtor sends me a listing larger than that, I look at it and just see more work.

Only buy them shoes that are easy to put on and take off by themselves. No shoe lace until they can tie it themselves.

All same socks. No more matching socks. I do the same for my own socks too.

Good god people. Bathe your kids, brush their teeth and don’t feed them hotdogs regularly unless you want them to turn into a 40 something year old with colon cancer.

Some people should have used birth control imo.

If you have the space, basket of socks by the door with shoes (rather than in the kids' rooms).

Full confession that I don't do exactly this, but I have multiple soccer players, and their soccer socks live in a basket with the rest of the equipment, rather than in their rooms.

Anonymous wrote:I had a rule - no regular legos until 5yo. (Duplos were fine.) Kept the mess at bay for at least a year.

Agree with the PP, no TV, we also don't have tablets, which was great until remote school and we had to get chromebooks.

Not really a hack, but along the same lines of the folks that say teach your kids young to do certain things - be consistent about your expectations. If you want them to clean up every day before bed, you need to enforce it to the point where its not an argument or a hassle every day.

I have boys, so this is easier, but I buy only certain colors of pants/shorts so that all of their clothes match. Each kid has lots of the same socks. They get one pair of shoes at a time (we don't need dress shoes) +boots or sandals, but far fewer shoes to store by the front door and/or find.

Many similar things here (and I have a girl!).

My rule is: It's easier to never start a bad habit than it is to break it.

Therefore: no co-sleeping, no tablet, no making separate meals for picky kids, etc

Everything our generation does that our parents didn't do - safety issues aside - can be dropped without incident. All enrichment nonsense.

The other hack is getting kids to do as much as possible from an early age. My kids were doing their own laundry from 8 onwards, and cooking meals from 10 or 11 onwards. Riding the bus on their own from 12 onwards.

I had a rule - no regular legos until 5yo. (Duplos were fine.) Kept the mess at bay for at least a year.

Agree with the PP, no TV, we also don't have tablets, which was great until remote school and we had to get chromebooks.

Not really a hack, but along the same lines of the folks that say teach your kids young to do certain things - be consistent about your expectations. If you want them to clean up every day before bed, you need to enforce it to the point where its not an argument or a hassle every day.

I have boys, so this is easier, but I buy only certain colors of pants/shorts so that all of their clothes match. Each kid has lots of the same socks. They get one pair of shoes at a time (we don't need dress shoes) +boots or sandals, but far fewer shoes to store by the front door and/or find.

No tv. Doesn’t sound like a hack, but that means there is no fighting over the tv.

I really like the idea of 7 shirts and 7 pants, but I feel like I couldn’t pull it off. My kids would randomly decide to change clothes multiple times and then they wouldn’t notice that they were running out of clothes until they had to go to school naked one day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a rotation of 4 meals that we cycle through.

It makes grocery shopping easy, straightforward and cooking is very fast. We buy fresh fruits in season and minor variations in vegetables but 90% of the time it’s broccoli or green beans. Once or twice a week we get take out for variety, but the 4 meal rotation has gone over well with the family.

I don't know how long you've been doing that, but I can tell you that I can not eat spaghetti or plain white bread because I just was given WAY too much of it as a kid. I can eat other types of pasta or bread, but not those. I feel like we had spaghetti like 3 nights a week!

DP.
I’ve been making spaghetti and meatballs once a week for over five years now. I thought that kids would get sick of it, but two of them still say it’s their favorite food and request it on their birthday.

I will say that they don’t like it anywhere else. I think that because we have it so often, it has to be *exactly* the way I make it or it’s inedible. They are like Coca-Cola drinkers who can’t drink Pepsi.

EBF was a hack for me because I worked from home with a nanny. I barely even pumped. I know for some people this feels like being chained to your kid, but I guess I didn’t have enough other places to be.

Also, I let DH take the lead in food when we weaned. I’d been feeding the baby exclusively for a while, so it was his turn. He’s a better cook/meal planner anyway.

So EBF was a massive time saver for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh I forgot I barely brush my 2yo's teeth. She rarely eats anything sugary other than fruit, doesn't drink milk right before bed and her breath doesn't smell bad.

Wth

Oh c'mon. Parents never used to brush the "milk teeth." This is a recent thing. And "toddler toothpaste" often has fruity flavors and zero fluoride, it's not real (and therefore can be safely swallowed).

Anonymous wrote:I never do party favors. Like not once with three kids.

My hack has been to not do parties. I mean, we have birthday parties with our family and will do a fun outing of the child’s choice. They can invite 1 or 2 friends. But that’s it. I have not hosted a child’s birthday party since my eldest’s first birthday.

I haven’t read all the replies.
For babies: no crib, no baby food— co-sleep & feed the baby mashed up version of what we are eating.
For toddlers/preschoolers— make potty available but don’t make a big effort to actively potty train. No preschool until 4. No baby/toddler classes except swimming.
Elementary/middle school— don’t match socks. No summer camps; no kumon/summer school/etc.

My kids are little (4 and 1) so this will likely change as they get older. But:

- No seasonal house decorations unless it's the result of an activity we did to keep the kids busy (like pumpkin painting). I'm not spending my precious free time hanging christmas lights.
- Not volunteering to be the "room parent"
- Putting the older one in aftercare
- Doing playdates for the older one on the weekends as much as possible. The kids entertain each other, I can do other things during that time.

No elf on the shelf
Sadly lots of carbs (bagels, pasta, etc) because it’s way quicker
Baths 1x a week