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Busy Mom Life Hacks

Be a Smart Cookie and check out these Busy Mom Life Hacks!

Collage image showing 4 different mom hack ideas

Once upon a time…. a LONG time ago, I was a Girl Scout. Any other Girl Scout friends out there? Even if you’re not a former Girl Scout,I bet you all LOVE their cookies! Am I right? With Coffee-mate® Girl Scouts® creamers, you can now enjoy all the delicious cookie taste, all year long!

A cup of coffee and creamer next to a lap top computer

I seriously can’t get enough of theGirl Scouts® Caramel & Coconut &Girl Scouts® Thin Mints® flavors. It’s the perfect way to start off my busy mommy mornings 🙂

Pouring Girl Scouts® Caramel & Coconut flavor into a cup of coffee

As a Girl Scout alumna, I am always trying to use my resourcefulness to come up with useful tips and tricks to solve everyday problems. Otherwise known as Life Hacks. I could spend hours on Pinterest finding fun life hacks to try out. LOVE THEM! So in the theme of being a “Smart Cookie” (get it… Girl Scout Cookies… smart cookie 🙂 hehe) I thought I would share with you my 5 favorite Busy Mom Life Hacks.

  1. The Popsicle Drip Catcher. I have been using this trick since the girls were little. We keep a stack of muffin cups next to the freezer, and whenever I grab a popsicle for the little ones, I stick a muffin cup on the stick. Sticky fingers and stained hands NO MORE!Child holding a popsicle with a cupcake liner on the stick
  2. 2. Using an egg slicer for strawberries. I love to get little hands involved in the kitchen. It’s a great way to get kids excited about healthy foods. Most of us have an egg slicer in our kitchen drawer that NEVER gets used. Now you can put that kitchen gadget to use as a strawberry slicer. It makes perfect little slices for snacks, breakfast or ice cream toppers. Kids can easily slice up the fresh fruit and you don’t have to worry about the knife!Cutting strawberries with an egg slices
  3. Magnet cups. Simply hot glue magnets to the back of some water cups. I have a couple of sets, so every morning there is a fresh cup per kid, on the fridge ready for using. This way I’m not washing cup after cup as the kids take one drink and throw the cups in the sink. They know to place their cup back on the fridge when they are done with a drink. I started using this smart life hack when my girls got a little older. It’s not the best idea to have children that are too little having access to the ice and water machine. It’s begging for a mess 🙂magnet cups on a refrigerator
  4. Recycling oldCoffee-Mate® bottles as snack containers. Don’t throw away those oldCoffee-Mate® bottles when they’reempty! Rinse them out and voilà! You have theperfect snack storage containers. It’s great for little hands to shake some snacks out into a bowl and not worry about them accidentally dumping the whole bag out. I also love this idea for trail mix. The smallerCoffee-Mate® Girl Scouts® creamers you see in the front work great for storing sugar to use with your coffee 🙂4 recycled snack containers
  5. Turning a silverware organizer into a toothbrush storage system. I like to keep our bathroom sinks clutter free. So if you don’t have a massive bathroom vanity, this life hack is perfect for you! Silverware organizers work GREAT as toothbrush holders. There is even a place for the toothpaste and floss! Every person in the family has a section. Yes, if you have a bigger family, you might need a larger one or more than one. But they stack nicely, so that shouldn’t be a problem. In the morning and at night, you just bring out the whole tray, and the last person can simply place the tray under the sink or in the bathroom closet.

top down view of a tooth brush storage

 

Two children holding popsicles

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143 Comments

  1. Kelly+D says

    My favorite life hack is I bring a pool noodle when we travel and put it under the fitted sheet of the hotel bed, to keep my daughter from falling out.

    Reply

  3. Courtney Cooper says

    I love to reuse baby food jars to sort bolts, nuts, safety pins, straight pens, buttons, etc.
    Bread ties work well for cords.
    I am always looking for ways to reuse items.

    Reply

    • alicia says

      My grandpa did that. But he’d screw the lid onto the bottom of a shelf so you just had to screw the jar onto the lid. I do it now for sewing stuff to keep my craft room organized.

      Reply

    • Lori says

      My daughters do this, too. Since they have mostly grown out of using crayons to color, it allows us to repurpose the crayons.

      Reply

    • Lori says

      Soaking them in baking soda and water allows you to easily wipe out dried on food. It is also great mixed with dish detergent to remove greasiness from dishes, especially plastic.

      Reply

  12. Natalie says

    My favorite food hack to make extra crispy bacon with less fat is to flip over a microwaveable bowl and put it on a plate. Cover the bowl with paper towels and then lay the bacon over the bowl and top with another paper towel. As the bacon cooks the grease falls into the plate!

    Reply

  16. Rachel+S. says

    Microwaving corn in the husk then chopping off the end to be able to squeeze out the corn and not have any silks to deal with.

    Reply

  17. angela says

    Love all of the great ideas. We don’t drink coffee in my house so I use a plastic coffee and tea holder that someone gave us to store my daughter’s headbands, barrettes, ties, etc. It has several compartments and works great.

    Reply

  18. Tracey+Clausen says

    So what I Love to do…Put up an over the door shoe organizer, on any door. Then put all kinds of Art Supplies in each pocket, no shoes allowed!! This so amazing and fun for my kids. They love to organize and re-organize all of the fun essentials, quite frequently! You can also fit a cup in each pocket, if you choose to put supplies In them as well! Have Fun, and Be Organized:)

    Reply

  24. Ann says

    We like to take meals to other people when they’re going through an especially busy or rough time. Rather than using my nice storage containers, I wash out and save ice cream buckets and yoghurt/cottage cheese containers. Main dish in the bucket, side dishes in the other containers, and no one has to worry about returning anything.

    Reply

  25. Angeline says

    My husband and I use baking soda and water as a nasal saline flush every morning in the shower; my husband hasn’t gotten a cold since starting this!

    Reply

  30. Ruthie says

    My favorite life hack…..using a key ring on the end of a zipper on my jeans and clip it to the button on the jean whose zippers tend to slide. All these other ideas are great a few I had heard of and a few I hadn’t heard of yet. Thanks for th chance to win and great job on you blog.

    Reply

  31. Emily says

    I have my kids put a small spoon of chopped ham in the bottom of 12 muffin tins, fill to 3/4 full with whisked eggs and top with a little cheese. Pop these in the oven and once cooled, freeze them. Place in the fridge a day in advance and on a busy school morning, wrap a few egg muffins in a damp paper towel and microwave for 1 minute. Delish and no mess to clean up when you get home!

    Reply

    • Kim says

      Can you please provide more information on this recipe? This would be a good thing for me to make up on Sundays so I have breakfasts for the week. I have been meaning to make pancakes and freeze them on Sundays too. I do not have time to cook breakfast for my kids on school days.

      Reply

  33. kandy says

    You know those reusable straws that come with all those doubwalled cups ? Keep some quetips by the sink and dip one in the dish water insert in the straw and push through with a coffee stir to clean them. For fatter straws use two just make sure you place the cotton ends just below each other not side by side.

    Reply

  34. Ellie W says

    I keep a box of latex gloves in my pantry. They are very reasonably priced for a large box. I grab a pair and wear them whenever I handle raw meat or other messy job.

    Reply

  36. nikki says

    I use old bread slices, like heels, for bread crumbs. I bake on low for a while then toss in the food processor…..works great with left over hamburger and hot dog buns too!! I haven’t bought bread crumbs in over a year!! Can even season with Italian herbs for the fancier kind!

    Reply

  39. courtney+b says

    i like to use yogurt and cucumbers as a skin moisturizer instead of those pricey things you buy in stores. it really works much better!!! xoxo

    Reply

  42. Kimmy Ripley says

    I like to make and freeze meals ahead of time so I can just thaw them out and heat them up when I don’t have time to prepare a meal.

    Reply

  45. Rebecca Helene Thomas says

    My favorite food Hack/lifestyle Hack is vinegar and baking soda cleans and freshens EVERYTHING!!

    Reply

  47. Kathleen says

    To select the perfect avocado, slightly lift off the stem and to see inside. Brown = no good; Green = ready to enjoy!

    Reply

  48. Maggie says

    Dryer balls instead of fabric softener! No chemicals coating our clothes and linens and no static even during the winter months.

    Reply

    • Kim says

      Do you make your own? I have heard you can make your own dryer balls out of yarn or something. Do you have the instructions for this? My sister is getting married in November and thought maybe I could make some for her in different colors.

      Reply

  49. Allison Evrard says

    My favorite life hack is–when I make bacon, I bake it! Line a pan with parchment and fill it with bacon. No splatter, no getting popped with hot grease. And it comes it nice and crisp.

    Reply

  50. Amy H. says

    When browning ground beef I brown an extra pound and freeze it in a freezer bag. Then when I am in hurry or a crock pot recipe calls for browned ground beef. DONE–15 minutes saved.

    Reply