If you have a road trip planned with your family, then you already know that you’ll need more than a few suitcases to make the trip a success. So, if you have the snacks packed and all of the electronics ready to go, here’s a few last minute tips that will make your road trip so much easier on everyone

· Instead of packing every piece of clothing, have a spare set of clothes, bathing suits, or pajamas packed in a plastic freezer bag. This way your entire family can quickly change depending on what is happening, and you won’t have to pull out all of the suitcases to find what you need.

· Make sure everyone in your family has headphones for their electronics. You can grab an inexpensive pair for everyone for under five dollars. This will save everyone’s sanity because no one will have to listen or compete with other family member’s videos or shows.

· If you are traveling late at night or early in the morning, keep kids who aren’t’ sleeping entertained with glow in the dark toys. You can stock up on these items at the dollar store and they will be a ton of fun on long car rides.

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We love our four-legged friends and when we plan a vacation, it’s always extra fun to take our dogs. After all, they are part of the family. But just putting your dogs in the car and throwing in a few treats is not going to cut it. So before you and your pooch hit the road, here’s a few travel hacks to make the trip a breeze.

•  Keep all of your dog’s treats, toys, food and water bowls and leashes in one place by packing everything your pup will need in a roll makeup bag. This way you can keep your pet’s belonging organized and close by during your trip.
• If your dog hasn’t ever been on a long car ride, take a few practice trips that are shorter. A short car trip may be all your dog can handle, so it’s better to be safe than sorry before you try a long road trip.
• Take all safety measures before your trip. Take your dog to the vet for a quick health checkup, print out all of their medical records or save the records on your smart phone, make sure your dog is micro chipped and that it is working, and take a quick picture of your dog so you have a recent photo.

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When you are traveling with your kids and you’re counting on their favorite apps to keep them entertained, it can get dicey if the fun-filled apps that they love need Wi-Fi to work and they don’t have access to Wi-Fi. So being in the car or out and about without Wi-Fi can quickly lead to unhappy kids and unhappy parents. So before you head out with your kids electronics in tow-download a few of these fun apps because they don’t need Wi-Fi and can be real sanity savers.

For your preschoolers, try Busy Shapes 2. Kids will love playing this fun and interactive game and parents will love that they can monitor how long their kids play the app as well as which levels they’ve completed. To play, kids will move objects and match shapes. As the challenge increases, kids will have multiple objects and holes of different shapes to play with.

For kids ages 4 and up, try Tales Untold. This app is a collection of original audio stories geared toward a preschoolers and early elementary school kid. The app has fun music and lots of catchy theme songs that your kids will love. Each song is around five to 15 minutes long and contain fiction and nonfiction stories that are designed for kids and adults to listen to together.

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Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for that new car smell to wear off. When you have kids, you are bound to end up with spills and messes that lead to a stinky car. If you have time to give the inside of your car a deep clean, those smells will be history. However, if you are a busy parent and one of those tree air fresheners just aren’t cutting it any longer, here’s five easy ways to get your car smelling better.

Good Old Baking Soda- If you spilled something in your car and a smell is lingering even after you have scrubbed and vacuumed, sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda on the previous spill. This works great on any carpet in the car. After a few hours, simply vacuum up the baking soda and the smell will be gone.

Charcoal and Coffee Grounds- This smell remedy is one that always sounds quite strange but really works well. Since charcoal and coffee grounds absorb smells, you can leave both in your car overnight to alleviate a stink that just won’t go away. For the coffee grounds, just put them in a bowl or leave them in a coffee filter. Just be careful if you are not a coffee lover because your car will have a strong coffee smell for a few days. If you love coffee-this is a great option.

DIY Air Freshener- This air freshener is easy to make, inexpensive, and works really well. Simply glue a few cotton balls or pom poms from your kid’s craft box to a clothespin. Then add about 5-10 drops of your favorite essential oils. Orange, lemon, and lavender are great options. Then to clip the clothespins to your air vents and turn on the air or heat. Soon your car will be filled with the essential oil smell and the bad smell will be gone.

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If you are planning to road trip it across the country or just across the state with your family, you know that there is a lot to plan for before you can leave. But before you head out on your family adventures, here’s a few hacks to tackle packing, unpacking, and even staying in tight quarters.

· Pack a few clothespins because after splashing in a pool or the ocean, you can attach the clothespins to the shower curtain to hang wet bathing suits and towels for a quick and space saving dry. You can also use clothespins as toothbrush holders so your toothbrushes aren’t sitting on the bathroom counter.

· Make the most of your closet space by creating your own hanger extenders. Use the top of a soda can and thread a hanger hook through it. Now there’s need to live out of a suitcase with this hack.

· An over-the-door shoe organizer is simple to pack and is perfect to hang in the bathroom. Rather than let everyone’s lotions, soaps, makeup, hair products, and styling tools take up all the counter space, pop everything into the pockets to keep the bathroom organized.

· Use a hanging sweater organizer as a cubby in a hotel room. It’s perfect as a catch-all for shoes, souvenirs or electronics. For early mornings, save time by designating each pocket for your kids’ outfits so everyone can get ready and out the door in a flash.

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