A "hack" is something that makes life easier - a tip, a trick, or a tool. Parent Hacks is one of my favorite blogs. Here are seven previous posts from their site that I thought were great solutions (click on the title for a direct link to each hack):
Bungee cord solution: I recently gave birth to my second child and have found shopping with two kids a little challenging space-wise. I put the baby in his carrier seat into the main basket compartment, my toddler in the kid's seat, and I get one of the baskets you carry around and strapped it to the cart under my son's feet (see pic). I can put the items I'm buying under the cart and in the extra basket. Hosting overnight guests: If you are giving up a guest room in favor of two kid's bedrooms, do like my friend did: Put a full-sized bed in one bedroom and bunk beds in the other. Then, when people visit you can double up the kids in the bunk bed room and give the full-sized bedroom to your guests. (Obvious to some, but a revelation to me!)
Natural Peanut Butter Solution: We like to use the all-natural peanut butter where you have to stir the oil into it. Inevitably we get to the bottom inch of peanut butter and it is hard as a rock. Instead of throwing it out or eating dry lumps of peanut butter I squeeze a liberal amount of honey in the jar and stir it up until a good consistency. It's a treat for my girls to get that on their sandwiches or spread on crackers for snack -plus it saves the mess of sticky honey dripping everywhere when you mix them together.
Make Your Own Calendar: I have been intending to create a custom calendar with scanned images of my 5 year-old's art projects from school, and photos of events throughout the year, but finding the time to do it has been impossible. I also am not inclined to pay for calendars, when they are available nearly everywhere for free. Eureka! Use a free promotional calendar, and have my daughter glue on artwork, photos, or a collage of both. Everyone's a winner. Grandparents and aunties get a custom calendar with reminders of the little loved ones; the beautiful, yet bountiful supply of art is displayed; and my daughter gets to enjoy a craft project with mom--all for the cost of a few photo reprints and some glue or double-sided tape. Bonus--reusing a calendar that might have ended up in the trash anyway, since we get too many to use otherwise. I also intend to make up photo magnets for the family using pictures glued to promotional fridge magnets.
Recycle Plastic Packaging: I bought new sheets the other day, and I really didn't want to throw away that sturdy square plastic bag with the zipper that they came in but it couldn't be recycled. Then I realized it was a great storage bag for the playroom -- it can hold lots of small pieces like Legos or Lincoln Logs, my kids can open it themselves, and you can stack another bag on top of it.
Piper Cleaner Activity: On last year's LONG drive to the family Thanksgiving celebration several states away, I discovered one of the best car activities ever! Pipe cleaners! They come in tons of colors, are about 99 cents a bag, and they entertained both kids of different ages for about an hour. They made bracelets, crowns, letters, shapes, twists, braids, and more. One tip -- bring a zip-top plastic bag to put them in when the playing is over because they'll never ever be straight again.
Instant Nursing Cover: If you forget a nursing cover in the winter, turn your jacket around and put your arms in the sleeves. You can see the baby through the neck and the baby's covered all the way around! Works great!
What is your favorite parent hack?
1 comment:
Wow, Joy! These are such creative ideas...so many I had never thought of, thanks so much for sharing :)
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