As mothers, we all love time and energy-saving hacks that will make our parenting job easier.
Whether you are a full-time mum or a working mum, anything that will make your life better and easier are essential game-changers. Balancing both the demands of your job and your kids requires essential hacks.
Also, with most schools not reopening until September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers have to find creative ways to occupy their children without burning out. Thanks to modern technology, it’s easy to find and share tips and tricks that make the job just a little bit easier.
Below are five of the best hacks I have used that have made my parenting journey easier. Good luck!
Five Essential Mum Hacks to Make Parenting Easier
- Create a Meal Plan
This is one of my several lifesaving mum hacks. Meal planning and bulk cooking is my go-to hack for organizing my week and optimizing my time. On Saturday, I plan the week’s meal and then do a supermarket the same day so I can cook on Sunday.
If your children are older, you can get them involved in choosing the week’s dishes and you can allow them decide what they want to cook.
After cooking, you can store your meals into airtight containers in the freezer. These meals can last for as long as a month without spoiling, provided there is a regular power supply. You can also create a meal time table as a weekly guide and ensure you stick to the schedule. This saves you the hassle of having to think about what meal you will make on a daily basis.
- Label, label, label
Another favourite mum hack that will make your parenting easier is to carefully label items in the house. This means that you should put a tag on every top, shirt, skirt or shorts in your house. Thanks to these labels, you need not spend so much time wondering if a shirt belongs to your eldest son or his younger brother. When you do this, laundry becomes easy for you, especially on days when you are super exhausted but have to do it anyway.
Also, make it clear to your children where things belong. Label shelves in the linen closet so everyone knows where to store items like beach towels and guest room sheets. Sort the children’s belongings into clear, labelled shelves to help the children easily find things like DVDs and toys without your help.
For your toddlers or young children who cannot read, you can use picture labels.
Watch the video below where I give hacks to mums on time-management hacks.
- Fix a Trashcan in the Car
If mothers could get a Naira for every biscuit packet found in their cars, they would be millionaires today. Be ready to get your car turned into a trash area with children. From school drop offs to errands with the children, it seems like you are always in the car. To avoid sitting amongst chocolate bar wrappers and ice-cream cups, take a plastic container, put a nylon bag in the container, and name that the car’s ONLY trash area. Every few days, toss away the old bag and pop in a new one.
This is a simple yet effective mess saver that will cut out the time you will use in cleaning your car after each ride or school run with the children.
- Tap into Things the Children are Passionate About
My youngest son is going through a Spider-man phase, so we are helping him to learn how to draw the characters. A couple of months ago, my husband and I came up with a schedule that gave him and I, time to focus on work, exercise and an hour to chill while the children are occupied with hobbies they enjoy doing.
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Make time for your partner
This is the most important hack of all. The real risk to a couple’s relationship often comes from the hectic schedules at home. Most mothers are too exhausted to think of anything but sleep by the time we get to bed.
A hack is to set an alarm if you have to so you can schedule a dinner date with your partner.
Even if you can’t afford a date night at a restaurant or a babysitter to help out with the children, once the kids have gone to bed, order a takeaway and have an intimate night in with your partner.
Being a mom is definitely among the toughest job on earth.
Thanks to these tips and tricks above, parenting is about to get a little bit easier. Happy hacking, mamas!