Sanity Savers

Back to School Life Hacks

August 11, 2015 by amushro

Sometimes I lie in bed in the morning and calmly think “It might not seem like it now, but we’re already late.” And within twenty minutes, I’m throwing shoes and socks at kids while I bark orders like “Did you brush your teeth? Come breathe on me so I can check.” But not this year, friends. This year this mom is embracing all the sanity savers and parenting hacks to protect my precious sanity and shave a few minutes off our hectic day. Back to school is serious stuff. Just ask these two.

Here’s a few parenting hacks to make the school year start a little smoother.

Breakfast Hacks

Easily cook a dozen eggs for breakfast sandwiches by baking eggs in a muffin tin. Using a lightly greased muffin tin, crack one egg into each cup and bake for 15 minutes on 350 degrees. Build your sandwich with English muffins, cheese and ham. Freeze the sandwiches and wrap in foil for later or heat and enjoy.

Cut down on breakfast mess by mixing pancake mix for the week and putting it into several freezer bags and store in the fridge. Be sure to leave room for the batter to expand. When ready to make, cut a bottom corner of the freezer bag and squeeze the mix into a hot pan.

Have a breakfast smoothie any morning by chopping up and freezing all the ingredients for a smoothie in a individual sandwich bags. When you’re ready, grab a bag and throw the ingredients into a blender and enjoy!

Serve yummy oats and not cook a thing! Mix equal parts milk, yogurt and rolled oats with a banana and some cinnamon. Place in the fridge overnight and in the morning, add fruit or nuts and serve.

Lunchbox Hacks

Never run out of ice packs for lunch boxes again! Grab kitchen sponges from the dollar store, soak in water, place in sandwich bag, and freeze for effective and cheap ice packs.

Never worry food in a thermos isn’t still hot at lunchtime. Fill the thermos or can with almost boiling water and put the lid on. Let it sit while you pack lunches or serve breakfast. Heat the food hotter than you would normally serve it. Dump out the hot water and add the food. Now you have hot food stored in a warm thermos. Perfect for a hot lunch!

Use that thermos for food other than soup. Heat chicken nuggets in the microwave and store in a hot thermos. They will be warm and yummy when your kids are ready for lunch. Just don’t forget the ketchup.

Keep apples from turning brown by using a knife or apple corer/slicer to cut around the core. Put the apple back together and wrap a rubberband around the apple. The apple will still be fresh at lunch.

Clothing Hacks

Choose outfits for the entire week and store each outfit in a section of a hanging sweater organizer. Be sure to include socks, underwear, and hair accessories to make the morning even easier. Write out the days of the week and post on each section for extra site word practice!

Loop a soda can tab on a hanger and attach another hanger to the other side of the tab to create a double hanger. For after-school activities, hang all uniforms pieces and practice clothes on these hangers to save closet space and stay organized.

Bathroom Hacks

Cut an over the door shoe organizer to fit inside a door of a bathroom cabinet. Give each child a row on the organizer to store all their hair brushes, hair products, hair accessories, tooth brushes,tooth paste, or anything else they use to get ready in the morning.

Affix a magnetic strip to the inside of the cupboard door and attach bobby pins and hair bows to the strip to save space and help with organization.

Never lose a hair elastic again by using a caribbeaner clips to store hair elastics and ribbons.

At the Door Hacks

A decorative silverware organizer is perfect to leave by the door so each family member can always grab what they need before heading out the door: phone, keys, ID tags, headphones, wallet, and even a stain remover stick

Change the locked picture on your phone to a written note with your kid’s schedules, pickup times, and drop-off times for a quick reference at the beginning of the year.

Use command hooks or decorative towel hooks inside a closet or on a wall to create a backpack nook. This gives kids the perfect place to hang their backpacks

Create a “last minute” station using milk crates near the door. Using shoeboxes or plastic containers, store socks, hair accessories, change, and quick grab snacks like applesauce pouches or granola bars for those last minute needs.

Homework Hacks

Create a portable homework station for each kid by filling binders or shower caddy with with everything they need to complete homework: pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, and paper. This is great for younger siblings that want “homework” too.

If you don’t have a desk for homework time, use an inexpensive shoe rack to create shelf space on a table

Create a “Mom Command Center” in your kitchen so everything you need to stay organized is in one place: start with a large dry erase board or chalk board paint to create a calendar, folders for all school forms going in and out, places to store kid’s art work, a place to menu plan, and a docking station for your phones, tablets and computers.

Cover all your bases by setting the bookmark on your phone or tablet to all those important sites you’ll visit every day like the school website, Today Show for news and Wake Up with Al for weather.

So here’s to a new school year, never missing the bus, and not having to ask your kids to brush their teeth five times!

This post was originally featured on The Today Show Parenting Team-– check out all of my posts on The Today Show!

Parenting Sanity Savers Making Beach Trips With Kids A Breeze

May 7, 2015 by amushro

Summer is coming, friends and that means sun and fun and schlepping your entire family to the beach. We all know that a family vacation REALLY isn’t a vacation for you, right? It’s more of a working vacation, but if you have plans to take your kids to the beach, I’ve got a few sanity savers to make your beach vacay a breeze. Maybe not a breeze but a whole lot little easier. Lookout beach, here we come!

Use a mesh laundry bag (grab one at the Dollar Store!) and load up all of your kids’ sand toys, buckets and shovels. The lightweight bag is easy to carry or drag up or down the beach so even your older kids can be in charge of this bag. Before you head inside, rinse everything right in the bag in an outdoor shower or hose! You can let the bag drip dry on the balcony or deck and have it ready to go for the next day!

Image via Th Idea Room — Image via The Idea Room

An easy way to keep sand from overtaking your beach blanket is to ditch the blanket and grab a fitted sheet. Flip the sheet upside down and in each corner put a bag or cooler so the sides of the sheet are flipped up. You just created a little barrier from the sand–at least for a little bit.

My favorite tip for the summer! At the beach and pool I’m high alert mom because my kids always run off in different directions and if I’m distracted for a moment, I can easily can lose sight of them. Panic time! Here’s how I fix this issue with a little color coordination

Want the sand off but don’t have a place to rinse off? No problem! Stash a bottle of baby powder in your beach bag and sprinkle away. The sand magically falls off and who doesn’t love the smell of baby powder? If your kids get a little over zealous with the sprinkle part, fill a child sized knee sock with baby power and tie it off with a ribbon. You’ve created a sand-be-gone-sack. Silly name but sandless hands and feet!
A very important item you need for the beach are dog poo bags. Yes dog poo bags. Throw a roll of these bags into your beach bag for wet bathing suits, dirty diapers, sunblock explosions, taking home seashells, and every other mess or blowout you can and can’t plan for. The bags are small but super handy.

You already know to pack light on vacation. So here are a few ways to re-purpose items already on your packing list:

Pool noodles are super fun during the day while your kids are splashing around, but dry them off at night and tuck them under a fitted sheet on a bed and they work like a bumper for you kids. No need to move furniture or bring a bed rail, just use your noodle!
Sandy cellphones are no fun. So put your phone inside a plastic bag to keep the sand out but you can still use the buttons!
A day of cannonballs into the pool or dives into the ocean can lead to water in your kid’s ears. Ouch! Have them blow up a balloon for instant relief from the clogged ear! Fill the other balloons with water and freeze overnight. Use the frozen balloon in your cooler during the day and in the afternoon have a fun water balloon race on the beach with the family. Fun and functional, I like it.
Save the lid to your take-out coffee, flip it upside down, and put the stick of a Popsicle in the drink hole and ta-dah–the lid catches drips and your kiddos little hands stay clean! You can also use a cupcake liner for this trick.

Image via LifeHaccker — Image via Lifhacker

Protect your kiddo’s precious skin and reapply sunscreen every two hours (less if they have been in the water). To remind yourself, set the alarm on your phone, download an app(you can find lots of free apps), or write on the back of sunscreen bottle the times you need to reapply.

Sunburn got you down? Try these tricks:

Freeze aloe vera in ice-cube trays for cool relief or put the entire bottle in the fridge for a quick cool down.

Add two cups of apple cider vinegar to your bathtub. The vinegar will calm your hot skin
Pour apple cider vinegar on a washcloth and dab your skin. Once it dries, add coconut oil. This combo should ease your pain and reduce redness by the next day

Most important tip take grandparents…. kidding, kinda. OK, most important tip Have SO MUCH Fun! Look out beach, here we come!

Sanity Savers For When Your Kids Are Sick!

April 30, 2015 by amushro

I’m so excited to announce my new series for the blog called Can You Hack Motherhood? Since my Sanity Savers For When Kids Are Sick was such a hit on the Today Show, I knew these great tips needed to be a shared as a weekly series! So here is the post that started it all and a clip of my Today Show appearance! Keep a lookout for a new set of life hacks and sanity savers every Thursday and if you have any great tips for hacking motherhood, send them to me!

As a mom, I’ve got all kinds of super hero powers, like my kisses can fix boo boos and I can make lunch, kick a soccer ball, talk to my mom on the phone, and nurse a baby at the same time! But even when it seems like I’m just flying through life with my super hero cape on, nothing can send me into a stress induced tizzy like my kids getting sick. Everyone is miserable, no one is sleeping, and I’m looking around wondering “Who’s next?”

I’m not a doctor, but I do watch A LOT of Grey’s Anatomy and have two kids that like to barf in my hair at 3 AM and often get sick at the most inopportune times, like on trips to Disney. So here are my parenting life hacks when your kids are sick:

Making Medicine Less Yucky

When your kiddos are sick and they need to take medicine, the last thing you want is an all-out battle to get them to take their doses. But to be fair, a lot of medicine tastes pretty awful so here’s how we hide that yucky taste and start feeling better:

Put a few mini chocolate morsels on their tongue and when the chocolate melts, it coats their tongue so you can sneak the medicine in minus the bad taste. See chocolate really does fix everything!
For serious negotiations, I turn to a currency my kids understand, lollipops. Dip the lollipop in the medicine and let your kid lick the medicine each time you dip. When they finish all the medicine, they get to eat the lollipop (get yourself one too — you’ve earned it).The Skinny on Soothing SkinIt’s not just the flu or a cold that can have your favorite patients feeling awful, but don’t worry; you’ve got a bag of tricks to fix anything when they have issues with their skin
Itchy dry skin is no match for you! Put your little one in a lukewarm bath with a cup or two of white vinegar and skip the soap and shampoo. Cover their skin with Vaseline or coconut oil—yes coconut oil. They won’t be itchy and will smell like a yummy pina colda.
Sunburns are so painful, but you can come to the rescue with a cool fix of freezing aloe vera in ice cube trays.
My kids are anti-shoes in the summer which leads to a lot of splinters. So this Mamma mixes up a paste of baking soda and water to coat the splinter. Add a band-aid and let the paste sit for an hour. The splinter works itself out of the skin, you can easily pull it with tweezers, and your babe’s feet will stay pain free.Sanity Through ExhaustionYou’re probably a little rusty when it comes to all-nighters. So do a few things to keep sane when you only have one eye open at 3AM.

Be prepared for a night of tummy trouble by pulling out your old towels and sheets for your kid’s bed. Just like lasagna, make layers of sheets and towels. When you need to make late night clean ups, you can strip off a layer and the bed is already made and ready for the next round, sigh
You may already suffer from Mommy-Brain AND you’re exhausted, now you have to remember the last time your kids took their medicine—not happening. Grab a marker and create a small chart on the side of their medicine bottle for doses and the number of days they need to take medicine.
Earaches are so painful and keep everyone awake, but if you take an all white sock, add coarse sea salt and a few drops of lavender, and warm it up in the microwave or a skillet, you have a soothing heating pad to place on a painful ear. Sweet dreams!
Hydration is key when they’re sick, but if they’re lying down or napping, you can fully expect spills on their bed and your couch—but not anymore! Grab a cup with a lid and put a crazy straw in upside down. Even if the cup falls over, it won’t spill! Hallelujah! I might do this every day!Sweet Pain Relievers
Got a sore throat? Try a few mini marshmallows. Why does it work? I have no idea, but it does and it’s yummy.
Popsicles make everyone feel better so add Jell-o to homemade popsicles-it won’t melt as fast—genius– and if you add some fruit, you get a something healthy into you’re a sick kiddo with zero appetite.

These parenting life hacks can fix a lot and get your family back to normal…..

Or as normal as your family can be.