When I became a mom, I started gathering little tips and tricks to make daily parenting a little easier. I think its time to share a round-up of all these useful shortcuts with you. And feel free to comment with your own! This is a compilation of tips, tricks and shortcuts I have come across from websites like Pinterest, Babycenter, Family Handyman, a variety of mom blogs, Real Simple, DIY Network, and more!
1. Use kitchen shears or a pizza cutter to cut your babies food into small pieces. This works great with chicken, steak, fruit, veggies, sandwiches, waffles, etc.
2. Put a burp cloth under your babies bum so they don’t slip while in the bath.
3. Put a yard stick through drawer handles to keep kids from opening them.
4. Use pureed veggies as dipping sauce (just don’t tell them its veggies!)
5. Take pictures of your childs artwork and save them in a binder. Keeps you from having to save every little project and the guilt from throwing it out.
7. Pull your bananas apart when you bring them home, they will last longer.
Source: Fun Cheap or Free
8. To clean a chalkboard, mix white vinegar and water to get it cleaned well without the chalk residue.
9. If your baby doesn’t sleep well, try recording yourself singing or saying soothing words. Play it on repeat by the babies crib.
10. Eco-friendly way to get rid of ants: place cucumber peelings where you have the little pests overnight. Child and pet friendly and you dispose of them the next day.
11. Black Licorice will cure constipation nine times out of ten. Source: How Does She
12. Freeze wet wash clothes for teething babies to suck on. Try putting a little applesauce in the center before you freeze it as a sweet treet. For older teething toddlers, freeze grapes, peas, blueberries, blackberries, etc.
13. Use an Ankle Weight as Stroller Counterbalance – Ground the wheels of a stroller that has a jam-packed diaper bag hanging on the handles by attaching the weights just above the front wheels. You’ll no longer be saying “Whoopsie daisy!” when you lift your child out of the seat.
14. Baby powder gets the sand off! Add this to your beach bag!
15. Freeze yogurt cups/tubes and stick them in your childs lunchbox. They will thaw by lunch. And frozen juice boxes will act as an ice pack, keeping lunchbox food cold.
16. Baby wipes remove deodorant from clothes.
17. Tired of losing your socks in the black hole that is your washing machine? Keep a small mesh bag (sold as “lingerie bags”) in your hamper, and thow the socks directly into the bag as they come off. You can throw the entire bag in the washer and dryer. No more missing socks! Source: Parent Hacks
18. A rope light attached under cabinets makes a great night light for kids bathroom.
19. Put dice in a small tupperware container. Now you can shake your dice without losing them. Genius for car trips.
20. An empty rectangular tissue box makes a convenient holder for small garbage bags, plastic grocery bags and small rags. Simply thumbtack it to the inside of a cabinet door.
21. For fast, easy cooking for busy moms: pre-make crock pot meals all at once by placing the veggies, meat and spices in gallon ziploc bags. Shake, seal, label and place in freezer.
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I love all of these. I had recently discovered the banana tip and I used that dice idea when I was a teacher. It was a lifesaver because my students were no longer crawling on the floor half the lesson looking for dice they had all over the place. I can't wait to try the other awesome tips. Megan
Oh my goodness, these are ALL great, but the one I LOVE the most and wish I had had around when my kiddos were little was #13. Weighing the stroller legs down. Boy could I have used this at the mall and Disneyland! I can't count the number of times I lifted a child out of the stroller and the whole thing would tip over because of all the stuff I had hanging off the handles 🙂 Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday this week. I can't wait to see what you link up next week. Have a wonderful weekend.
Michelle
Thanks for linking up at In It To Pin It, however it is only for pinterest links. If you have Etsy shop pins you want repinned link those up.
Oops! Sorry about that! Feel free to delete.
Such great tips! I love the yard stick one! I have to try that soon!
Great tips. I like the lights under the bath cabinet.
What a great set of tips!! I had never heard the banana one, will most certainly be trying that! I like the veggie puree for dip, that's a great idea to use on my husband 😉 – my kids eat veggies no problem! And baby powder / sand…that's new to me and I will be using that for sure this summer as I foresee many beach days with the kids! Thanks!
I love these… I was surprised that there were several I had never heard of before.. all really great idea's… That's awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing these.. Love it!
Carri
simplydonewright.blogspot.com
These are so helpful. I never knew about the vinegar and water for the chalkboard or whipping the icing. Thanks so much for putting these together. I'd love to have you link this up to my linky party tomorrow.
http://cornerstoneconfessions.com
Hopping over from a Pinch of Joy.
Thanks for sharing! These are such awesome tip! I love them all! I'm gonna try the tissue box idea for the bags.
Wow! These are all great! Could you share your wisdom with new moms on my post for newborns? http://www.trueaimeducation.com/2012/05/5-ways-to-help-your-newborn-sleep.html New follower! Thanks.
These are some great tips. I love the rope light in the kids bathroom and the baby powder for sand. This is perfect for this summer. I would love if you linked this up to my "Show Off Monday" link party.
http://www.kampenlane.com/2012/05/show-off-monday-6.html
~Taylor-Ann
Wow! I love all of these tips! Thanks for sharing!
Bonnie@ Simply this and that
Wow! Great tips ~ love #5 ~ great idea ^_^ thanks, namaste, ^_^
Great tips all in one place! Thank you for sharing!
Just coming over from the diy dreamer.What a good list of links, a few of these I can use with out having a kid too so its still useful for me 😀
Great tips! I hadn't heard that wipes get deodorant off clothes, I'm going to have to remember that. Thanks for sharing with us at Link It Up Thursday.
BRILLANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These are some GREAT ideas!! So many I want to try! Thanks for the shortcuts!! We are so happy that you linked up to our "Strut Your Stuff Saturday" and we hope you see you back next week!! -The Sisters
Stopping by to let you know I am featuring you today! What a great post!
Kim@madeinaday
http://madeinaday.com
Great tips! Wow, that yard stick through the drawers taes me back a few years. Our kitchen looked like that for a long time. :). I love the dice in a container idea, so smart!
Thank you for participating in Show Your Stuff Blog Hop, You are invited to come back:
http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/05/show-your-stuff-24-bread-machine-banana.html
Thanks so much for linking up this week! This was such a great post! You have been featured at this week's linky party http://www.artistic31mama.com/2012/05/fabulous-fridays-linky-party-11.html (be sure to grab a featured button) and this post was shared on my Facebook page as well as Pinterest! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
love it! you are featured on scrappy saturdays this weekend! thanks for coming!
Oh my!!! What a great collection of tips!!!! I didn't know that tip about the bananas.. I must try it!
Thanks so much for sharing at The DIY Dreamer.. From Dream To Reality! I can't wait to see what you link up this evening!
That’s a great idea I love the one with the dice and the tissue box everything just makes it so much better ! Life easier and also less time to get upset! Thank you for your share!
Fantastic website. Plenty of useful info here. I am sending it to some friends are also sharing in delicious. And naturally, thanks to your effort!
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