You can sustain yourself on as little as 1-2 hours of sleep per night. Just don't extend past a week or you'll begin to hallucinate.
If you want to eat a hot meal, munch and test the food while cooking. Otherwise you're sure to eat cold food after your family is finished.
Set aside 15 minutes per day for YOU. And this doesn’t include any naps you may take.
A tablespoon of peanut butter will give you energy. Eat a spoonful on those days when you’re just busy busy busy.
Helpful Hints 101
You can remove alot of stuff with fingernail polish remover, even permanent marker if you spot it in time (this won't work for cloth surfaces I'm sad to say).
A steaming bathroom caused by a hot shower is just as good as a cough medicine for a coughing child.
Purchase two calendars. One for the wall and one for the desk, table or wherever. Get into the habit of checking each week ahead of time. This will keep you on track for appointments and things you need to get done.
If you have an appointment and no time to iron that shirt of yours or pants, bring it into the bathroom with you when you shower. The steam will help remove some of the wrinkles if not all of them.
Cleaning 101
Save those plastic grocery bags, they come in very handy when you have a stinky beyond reason poopie diaper.
Wet wipes can clean so much. I purchase the generic bulk box and keep them in a labeled box for spills and the like. I use the more expensive brand for delicate bottoms.
Purchase fleece blankets and use them to cover the couch cushions. These are easily removeable, come in many colors and keep your couch from getting sticky and dirty. Your couch will last longer and this will save you from purchasing a new one each year.
Knock a candle over and get wax on your carpet? No problem. Let the wax dry and get your iron and a towel. Cut away away excess wax on the top that is loose. Place the towel on top of the wax, iron over the top for a minute. Lift the towel and no more wax in the carpet.
Do laundry daily. As much as it sucks it prevents the 'pile-up' from occurring. You do not want to deal with the 'pile-up', trust me on this one.
Shout liquid gel is your best friend. Always keep it on hand. And for the love of god, do not dry a stained piece of clothing, ever. Drying a stain = setting it into the cloth, FOREVER.
You can wash tennis shoes in the washer and tumble dry them, I do this all the time. To help regulate the BOOM, BOOM, insert a towel into the dryer along with the shoes.
Mr. Clean pads are my favorite thing in the world for cleaning. They do it ALL. Test one out on your bathtub sometime, AWESOME I tell you.
For those terrible, soap scum showers. Purchase Lysol scrubbing bubbles and a bristle toilet brush. Allow the bubbles to sit for 5 minutes then scrub with the brush. You will be amazed at home much easier cleaning your shower is, and you don't have to get your hands dirty.
You can bleach the plastic clear shower curtain to remove grime. Just put the curtain into your washer, add bleach, wash on delicate and air dry. Wah-La, like new curtain and zero moola spent.
Change the sheets on all the beds each week. There really are bed bugs. Dry your pillows (if not down) in the dryer for 10 minutes on high heat to kill off any pests. I also recommend washing comforters every other week.
Shopping 101
Vaseline works better than any desitin, diaper rash product and it's cheaper and easier to apply. And don't purchase the "Baby" Vaseline products versus the regular, if you check the ingredients they are the exact same thing but the smaller "baby" version costs on average 50-75 cents more.
Generic Tylenol and Motrin are just as good as the name brand.Generic foods, are not as good as the name brands (in many cases).
Grocery lists will help you save money. Sit and write the household items you need and then decide what meals you will cook, purchase in bulk and stick to the list.
Coupons are smart and thrifty, they are not stupid and cheap.
Go shopping early in the week and hit up the meat section for great deals. Remember the expiration date is the time something should be eaten or frozen by. Purchase and freeze and save a bundle. Buying in bulk and freezing will also save you cash.
The Dollar General, Big Lots, Freds and the Dollar Store have some great deals. If you haven't shopped there before, please do.
Ebay has a lot of bargains. Consider making purchases from there. I save a ton on my favorite hobby (reading) by making purchases there and from half.com.
Cooking 101
You don’t have to be a great cook or love cooking to do it. Invest in a crock pot, large pan and a fry daddy. Those three things will save you on the days you just don’t feel like a lot of effort.
You can find many recipes online for free. Just do a search, allrecipes.com is one of my personal favorites.
Buy frozen vegetables versus canned for most of your cooking needs. The frozen have less sodium, more vitamins and cost less on average. You can also purchase frozen in bulk.
Keep pasta on-hand. Pasta fills you up, is easy to prepare and is inexpensive.
If you must have cola’s, try different generic brands. There are decent ones out there and again, it will save you money.
If you give your children juice, add a little water to it. Juice is very concentrated and full of calories.
If your child absolutely will not drink water, try crystal light or make Kool-Aid.
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I’m not sure if any of these will help and there are things I’m not thinking of off the top of my head. Do you have Mom 101’s to share?
1 comments:
1. 3-4 hours a month preparing "freezer meals" is a Godsend on busy weeknights, either at a studio (i.e. http://www.dinnerstudio.com) or at home. Throw the entree in the oven, microwave some Uncle Ben's and frozen veggies, presto! Nice home-cooked meal with about 10 "in the kitchen" minutes. (Cook times vary from 30-60 min)
2. Permanent marker can be removed from hard surfaces (table tops, semi-gloss/enamel paint, hard plastics, white boards and such) by first coloring over with a dry erase marker, then simply wiping away. The dry erase ink does something to the permanent ink, this may also work on clothing, although I've never tried it.
3. If you don't have one, get a second closet rod that hangs off the high one. Put all the hanging school uniforms there, and put the folded ones in a separate drawer. The uniformed children can then dress themselves, within reason. Or lay out clothes the night before.
4. No matter what your husband or children say, you do not need another pet. Ever! (ok, maybe not ever) It's you who is going to end up cleaning up the poo, walking it and feeding it. It's much easier to say no from the beginning than to get rid of it once it's here. Not that I speak from experience or anything :) I learned from the dog, and we are NOT getting a cat.
5. Sometimes you just have to pull rank. "Because I said so" is enough of an answer sometimes.
And, due to the time of year, my favorite:
6. Black Friday can be your friend if you do it right.
First, you need to either go it alone or with a shopping partner who shares your shopping views. No children or spouses or anyone who complains allowed.
Second, develop a game plan, make a list, check it twice, etc. http://bfads.net/adscans has all the ads up already, I'm working from there, and I will be purchasing both local papers for ads and coupons. Print/clip any relevant coupons and get your stores in order. I've never been brave enough to do Wal Mart, if I did, that'd be my first stop. My usual plan is based on the deals. The ones you really want (low priced personal DVD players are always at the top of my list) are your first stops, it's pretty easy to tell know what is more popular (stuff that is crazy cheap and has limits and is only on sale for a few short hours) vs. stuff that will hang around a little later (no limit stuff, stuff that's on sale all weekend, etc.)
Third, start early, finish early. I think we'll be starting around 5am this year, with a plan to be done by 11am. The large stores are getting really good at Black Friday pandemonium, last year at Kohls, although the line wrapped halfway around the store, it only took about 10 minutes to check out. It was amazing. Be ready to head home by 11am/noon even if you aren't done. By this time, the good stuff is gone, and the rest of the deals aren't usually worth the aggravation of the masses.
Finally, don't forget to eat! I get up, get dressed, sneak out of the house, call my shopping partner and get her Starbucks order (waking her up so she's ready by the time I arrive with coffee in hand), and we take a breakfast break around 8am.
My Black Friday scores: Personal DVD player for $50, 1GB SanDisk MP3 Player for $25, Crazily cheap clothing at Old Navy, down comforter for $40 etc.
This year, I'm out for wireless Guitar hero controls for $20!
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