117 Simple Mom Hacks to Make Life Easier

When we’re living the mom life, we tend to have a LOT on our plate – from coordinating schedules, activities, and meals, to keeping up with work and household chores – all while maintaining our own health and sanity. This is why it’s so beneficial to incorporate some time-saving mom hacks into your daily routine.

As a mom of two, I’ve been on this journey of motherhood for a while now, but I’m still learning new ways to make my life easier. Here is a list of 27 simple mom hacks to make your life easier too!

Daily Routine Mom Hacks

Mom life always seems to be a little more stressful when kids are back to school – especially in the mornings when we’re rushing to get out the door, or at nighttime, when we’re getting the kids ready for the next day. However, with routines and organization in place, these hectic parts of the day can go much more smoothly.

1. Create a schedule and schedule as much of the day as you can. Scheduling activities and even chores on a calendar will help you stay organized by day and make life seem much less overwhelming.  Knowing that every Tuesday is the day to change the sheets and you don’t need to deep clean the bathroom until Wednesday gives you small, attainable goals that you can actually accomplish.

2. Outsource. When you hate to do something and it’s cutting into your quality time, outsource it. Hire some one to clean, make dinner (take out) or deliver your groceries. Save your precious time for your family and other tasks and fun stuff. – Charlene from Own Your Other

3. You wouldn’t believe how much you and your kids can accomplish when you set a timer. We use a timer for clean up time, screen time, morning time, nap time and bed time. You can also just use your phone or Amazon Alexa to set a timer as well. –Mom Hacks 101

4. Teach your kids to do things on their own. The idea would be hard at first, but once they learn how to do it by themselves, you will lessen the burden of doing your chores. You can now ask them to help you out. It means doing two things all at once, teaching them a lesson and helping yourself finish faster. -Sonya Schwartz from Her Norm

5. Block times of your day to increase productivity and stay in control of your time. Plan short period of time to accomplish tasks which will help to decrease procrastination and get things done quicker.- Healthy Happy Impactful

6. Share the mental workload with dad. Don’t expect to do and remember everything on your own. Put dads email on all the school papers and email/tell him reminders that you would normally tell yourself. This holds him accountable as well and doesn’t put all the burden on you. – Coffee and Carpool

7. Email yourself when a thought pops up into your mind to decrease the change of you forgetting your ‘mental notes’.Use a code in the subject that you use in all of these emails, for example YY so you can filter them out. Life Unflaked

Morning Routine Hacks

1. Multi-task by styling kids’ hair while they are occupied with eating breakfast. Keep hairbrushes, hairbands, and accessories in a drawer or closet close to the kitchen.

2. Set alarms on your phone for small tasks, such as getting dressed, finishing breakfast, and brushing teeth, to help keep kids on task before getting out the door. I use Amazon Alexa which stays right in our kitchen. My 3 year old is even able to give it commands and set timers herself.

3. Keep toothbrushes and toothpaste in a bathroom close to the kitchen if possible, for a quick brush after breakfast.

4. If your child has a hard time getting ready for school in the morning, have them go to bed with their clean school clothes on the night before. When they wakes up they just have to wash up and eat breakfast. One less thing to do in the morning! – Jamie from My Itchy Child.

5. Have your kids make their OWN lunches! I know it seems like it may be more of a hassle and mess but if you teach them the right way and involve them, it will lessen the burden on you. – Coffee and Carpool

6. Go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. The morning has the least amount of interruptions and the max amount of energy. Even if it feels strange at first, push yourself to get up earlier and go to bed earlier. This way, you can maximize your mornings (without interruption) and feel productive before your family even wakes up! -Marisa Donnelly from My Momish Moments

7. Use a daily routine schedule for your young ones so they know what is expected of them in the morning. Print a template for the customized bedtime routine, insert into a picture frame with glass, and use a dry-erase marker to let kids check tasks off the list as they complete them.

7. Get lunches, backpacks, and clothes ready the night before school. You could even pick out outfits for the entire week and store them in a hanging closet organizer.

8. Set the breakfast table with plates, silverware, and cups the night before. Set out any cereal or dry foods for easy kid access in the morning.

10. You can even make breakfast the night before (overnight oats, veggie omelet cups, smoothies, homemade granola, chia pudding, etc). Super simple! – Cass clay cooking

Meal Hacks

Meal prep tends to sneak up on me. As much as I’d love to put more time into making delicious meals for my family, most days I need to keep it simple by preparing something easy and quick. Here are a few hacks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner:

1. Uncrustables are a great portable lunch option, especially for kids. They come in different flavors, and you can easily take them on the go without having to pull out the peanut butter and put together sandwiches.

2. Feel like you’re using a ton of Ziplock bags for lunches? Not crazy about a bento box because of the price tag? Use resusable silicone bags for easy storage and to keep food fresh longer.

3. Check out these easy recipes for 15-minute dinners. Keep staple ingredients on hand, like pre-cooked rice, beans, diced tomatoes, pre-chopped frozen veggies, and rotisserie chicken, to make these quick meals happen!

4. Include the kiddos in meal prep! My younger son has learned to make salads and it’s our “go-to” for saving time. Any odds and ends in the refrigerator that can be added to the salad get tossed in. This prevents food waste, keeps the fridge tidy, and keeps my son occupied while I am cooking. – Lisa Hugh from Single Ingredient Groceries

5. Make a big veggie tray at the beginning of the week to pull out of the fridge at snack and mealtimes. My kids love the variety and dipping the veggies in ranch and it’s hassle free for me!- Brianne Larrabee from Puddles and Pine

6. Use a meal planning app like Plan to Eat that organizes your recipes, allows you to plan them into a calendar, and prints out an organized shopping list. It makes it easy to load up your recipes or find new ones so you can start with your family staples and you can add as you go. You can create any tag you want to quickly sort your recipes.  – Jennifer Theuriet from The Life After Busy

7. Make ready-to-go frozen packs for smoothies with banana pieces, berries, kale and other fruits and veggies – Chelsea Day from Someday I’ll Learn

8. When you make your favorite meals, cook double and freeze some for another night! If you do that a few times a week, you’ll have an awesome stash of freezer meals in no time. – Melinda Ashley from Unfrazzled Mama

9. Always label all freezer meals with date prepared, recipe name, and ingredients

10. Use liners in your Crockpot to save time on cleanup.

11. Use leftovers to create casseroles by adding a pasta or rice and a cream soup base. Great with small amounts of veggies and chicken. – Everyday Savvy

12. If your kid doesn’t like the crust part of the sandwich, cut them into triangles. If you cut toast or sandwiches into triangles, there is only “one crust” per triangle to eat, instead of 2 crust if you cut into squares 

13. Use a pastry blender to chop up hard boiled eggs for egg salad, potato salad, seafood salad, etc.

14. Cook a few pounds of ground beef mixed with some vegetables ahead of time to make a ground meat mix. The mix can be used in pasta sauce, soups, casseroles, tacos and basically any other recipe that calls for cooked ground beef. Simply brown the ground beef with onion, celery, and pepper, and you have a mix that can be refrigerated or frozen and pulled out for any meal. –Fluxing Well

15. Stay in one place on the counter when you are preparing a meal. This makes it a lot easier to clean up because you don’t spread the mess everywhere and you are forced to clear the area as you work instead of just moving to a clean area. If you have trouble remembering to do this at first, keep a vinyl placemat in one area and only work on or near the placemat.

16. Use frozen chopped veggies for anything where you don’t need the texture of fresh. The price is the same or cheaper, they don’t spoil, and they save a ton of time in Crock-Pot cooking and sauces.

17. When I bake cookies, I only bake 12. The rest of the cookie dough gets scooped into balls and frozen for later use. When my kids have a hankering for some homemade cookies, I just thaw a few cookies on a lined baking sheet while the oven preheats and then bake. We get hot, fresh, delicious cookies with no mess!

18. Help your kids eat their fruits and veggies and don’t feel guilty about giving them sweets with Yum Actually Ice Cream. This ice cream is actually made with a fruit or a vegetable as its main ingredient and is 40% lower in sugar than leading ice cream brands. Additionally, they use no artificial ingredients so you can be sure that your child is eating a healthy dessert! 

19. Have a kid that doesn’t like their food touching? Use a bento box to organize your children’s lunches. It comes with 5 perfectly proportioned kid-sized compartments, sealed with a leak-proof lid and secured with kid-friendly latches for easy access. This bento box is sturdy and built to last against all the wear and tear that daily life has to offer.

Grocery Hacks for Mom

1. Getting groceries can be a headache, especially when you’re hauling kids along with you. Fortunately, there are more options in 2020 than there were even a few years ago. These options can save you time, money, and your sanity. Here are a few tips for making grocery shopping for the family easier:

2. When you’re making the trek out with kids to get groceries (and you’re not doing pickup) park close to a cart stall, so you can easily unload your precious cargo into your car first, and then unload the groceries. This makes for a short trip to return the cart, without leaving your kids unattended.

3. Store pickup…it’s a game changer! Many retailers are offering this option. Make your purchases within the Store app, reserve your pickup time, and pick up your goods. No lines, no hassle, and no wrangling the kids.

4. Grocery delivery, from companies like Shipt or Instacart, is also a life saver! If you don’t mind the extra up charge for the delivery fee, it’s absolutely worth it. Getting groceries delivered to my door without wasting hours in the supermarket, gives me more time for more important things to get done. You can order groceries over your lunch break and have them delivered right after work just in time to cook.

5. If you haven’t heard of Ibotta, you’ll want to seriously consider looking into it. It allows you to get cash back at over 300 retailers, including Walmart, Target, Aldi, Giant, and many more, both in-store and online. Ibotta is a mobile pay feature, where you link your credit or debit cards and store loyalty cards, and you’ll receive cash back on qualifying purchases within 24 hours.

6. To ensure nothing gets overlooked when it comes time to make your weekly shopping list, first make a “master grocery list.” This should include everything you want to have at home on any given day- the “staples”. Keep this is in a place to use as reference when making your weekly list.

7. Use a VISUAL grocery shopping list to save time, speed up and simplify their grocery shopping. This list uses images instead of just words so you can easily recall what you need by seeing it.

8. When you make your weekly list, create separate categories so that you can quickly move from one department to the next, making sure you don’t forget anything along the way. – Lisa Torelli-Sauer from Sensible Digs

9. When grocery shopping with kids have snacks available. Apple slices or grapes are great for them to munch on and keeps them occupied so they aren’t grabbing or whining for every sweet treat they see. This is also helpful for yourself because if you aren’t hungry when you go grocery shopping, you may be less likely to overbuy. -Heather Hoke from Embracing Chaos with Love

10. Buy your essentials in bulk. I might be hard on the pocket because you will get to spend all at once, but it would be cheaper compared to buying weekly. It will not only save your grocery trips, but it will also allow you to have more spare time doing different things. -Sonya Schwartz from Her Norm

10. Trying to save money but don’t want to clip coupons? Use the store apps.  Most stores have their own apps with coupons on the app.  You can click on the coupons you want to use while you are waiting in line or in the car waiting to pick up someone or something. – Lesa Forrest from Avon

Mom Hacks for Cleaning

1. Play music!  Everyone can enjoy cleaning up the house together when there’s a lively soundtrack.- Bracha Goetz, Harvard-educated author.

2. Use a basket. Every morning I take the basket and collecting things that do not belong there. After the rooms are all tidy, I set the basket on the landing of the stairs and when the kids get home they know to go through the basket to collect what’s theirs. At night, if there are things left in the basket, I am free to do with them as I please. This motivates my kids to put things away instead of leaving them all over the place and keeps me from spending so much of my work day picking up and putting things away. – Kim McGraw from Life Worth The Living

3. Have a donation bag on the go at all times. As soon as someone decides something no longer fits or is no longer useful it can go straight in there. 

4. Remove all excess packaging. From granola bars, to craft supplies, and even board games, items can often be stored more efficiently when bulky, unnecessary packaging is recycled immediately. This also helps keep the packaging itself from turning into clutter, and can help you take stock of what you have and need at a glance. – Sarah Grant from Be Neat Studio

5. To make cleaning more organized, create a daily task list using a cleaning schedule. This list would include cleaning tasks that need to be done weekly and are broken up and assigned a day of the week like dusting, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, etc. Create a monthly task list of things that don’t have to be done regularly or can wait a few weeks, like cleaning out the cupboards, organizing the garage, or cleaning out your car. – Michele Tripple from Confessions of Parenting

6. Look at house cleaning as a kind of workout especially if you don’t have time to exercise regularly. After cleaning every room I make myself do 10 crunches or 5 sit-ups. – Achintya Kolipakkam from Elegance Tips

7. Keep hot spots clean. The spots we touch the most and get the most dirt. Use whatever all purpose cleaner you want and have it handy in a spray bottle. Once a week take a cleaning cloth and wipe all the light plates, door sides where hands always hit and the stair wall or railing.  These areas get so much use and if you let it go for long periods of time you have to scrub these areas to get clean but if you do it once a week it takes about 15 mins to clean. It cuts down on germs too. – Lesa Forrest from Avon

8. Clean in 2-10 minute increments. We don’t always have 30 minutes or more in one big block to dedicate to cleaning. Instead, break up cleaning tasks into small bite-size increments and sneak in cleaning tasks when you can. Waiting five minutes for your kid’s lunch to cook? Unload a few dishes or wipe down the counters. Adding small bursts of cleaning time throughout the day will make a huge difference in making your home tidy and less overwhelming. Savvy Honey

9. Invest in a small handheld vacuum for quick clean ups of messes so you don’t have to vacuum a whole room every time there’s a spill.

10. Pick up legos using a lint roller attached to a long handled paint roller!

11. Get a robot vacuum! Trust me on this. The prices have come down a lot as they’ve become more mainstream and it’s a huge benefit to have something else do the work for you.

12. The ‘ultimate’ stain removing recipe works so well and is easy to whip up at home if you need it quickly. Just mix up these 3 ingredients: Dawn Dishsoap, Hydrogen Peroxide, Baking Soda (and a little water if you want to make it sprayable, or make more of it). Spread it on a shirt, on your couch, on a rug, etc. Scrub the stain away and marvel at how well this at-home stain remover works. – Karen from Things Around the House

13. Wipe down commonly touched surfaces such as door handles, sinks, light switches with a natural, all-purpose cleaner (like MomRemedy) in high traffic areas like the kitchen and bathroom.  If you do this daily and keep up with it, you will avoid dirt and messes piling up. 

14. The best way to keep the house tidy throughout the day is to have a place for “everything” by using decorative bins and boxes for toys, school and art supplies.  This makes cleaning up that much easier and gives your home an organized look. –Mom-Remedy

Mom Hacks for Laundry

Oh laundry. While it isn’t exactly loads of fun, it still must get done. Here are a few clever hacks to consider:

1. To dry laundry quicker, put a fluffy dry towel in with the load to absorb moisture. Keep the towel in the dryer for 10 minutes to work its magic.

2. Instead of dryer sheets or dryer balls, make a ball of aluminum foil. It serves the same purpose by reducing static.

3. When folding pajamas or outfits with two pieces, put shirts and pants together and then roll them up to put in drawers. Kids will be able to more easily keep outfits together.  

4. Use sorting bins for colors of dirty laundry. This saves you one step before throwing it in the wash.

5. Sort clothing by SIZE and TEXTURE, not by lights/darks.  The bigger and thicker the clothes are, the more waterand soap they are going to suck up during the laundry cycle. So first, sort clothes into “Grownups” and “Kids.” Then into thickness by heavy (fleece, heavy sweatpants, sweaters, thick socks, etc) and light (cotton t-shirts, leggings, athletic wear, undies). –Waylos

6. Hang laundry instead of folding it. Hanging takes less time, plus if you hang before they cool you can skip ironing too! – Simply well balanced

7. Don’t put socks in the hamper. Matching socks is the biggest time waster ever and they never come out of the wash with their partner. Instead, teach your family members to put their socks directly into a mesh bag so they are easy to find and sort when they come out of the dryer.

8. Create a laundry schedule so you know which laundry gets done daily and always stay on top of it.

Mom Hacks for Toy Organization

In our house, I feel like I’m constantly picking up toys and finding a home for them. Although some days it seems impossible to keep them organized, there are a few ways to help make this easier.

1. Organize a chic playroom that your kids and you will love. Use cube organizers and lots of storage bins, labeled by category for easy cleanup and storage. Light or neutral walls and white kids’ furniture will make your playroom feel larger and brighter, making everyone feel happier!

2. Put Legos in tackle boxes. Better there than underneath your feet…Ouch!

3. Use a hanging closet organizer for board games so they’re easily accessible for little people. If they’re up high, they’re less likely to be used.

4. Put puzzle pieces in pencil bags.

5. Keep containers of playdough in a k-cup carousel. 

6. Use toy rotation to make clean up time easier and help kids be less bored. Toy rotation is when you limit the number of toys that a child has out at any time. Choose only a few toys to keep out at a time and store the rest away in bins. Every few weeks, switch the toys that are out for new ones, helping them to stay interested in ‘new’ toys and making clean up much simpler. -Sarah Miller from Home Schooling 4 Him

7. Store things with small pieces (like games, puzzles, etc.) out of reach. Use high shelves or cupboards combined bins with lids, or sealed bags, to group sets with small pieces. andbring them out with purpose then return immediately after use. This keeps little pieces from getting lost or mixed up. – Sarah Grant from Be Neat Studio

8. Get a really big bin to file the kid’s school projects and crafts. Another option if you feel that you don’t need the clutter is to just take a picture and throw them out. -Messy Bun and Sun

Mom Hacks for Home Organization

1. Store hats and gloves in the coat closet on a string with clothespins instead of just throwing them in a basket. – Lovely Indeed

2. Downsize your kitchen pots and pans by cooking all your meals in one pot. Switch over to cast iron pots and pans so you just need a few instead of overflowing kitchen cabinets. Plant Prosperous

3. Roll your clothing in the drawers. The picture below uses onesies, but this works great for both kids and adults! I do it with all my shirts, tank tops, leggings, etc. It helps you see everything you have because the items aren’t layered on top of one another.

4. Attach colored pipe cleaners through the holes in measuring spoons so you can easily tell the different measurements. I have several sets detached from the ring to make them easier to use. I keep them in a cup with the pipe cleaner side up and just grab the right color when I need to measure.

5. Get your refrigerator organized using the best fridge organization containers to keep food fresh while maintaining a clean refrigerator. Once you have your refrigerator clean and tidy, you won’t mind cooking and meal prepping!

6. If you use rechargeable razors and toothbrushes in the bathroom, pick one day of the week and charge everything, and then put all the chargers away. They should last all week on one good charge. This eliminates cord clutter and ensures you always have a charge when you need it.

7. Use labels for all pantry storage containers. This will keep your food fresh and organized. – The Mediterranean Chick

8. To find matching socks easily and quickly, use a circuit machine to print vinyl stickers on link socks. This will help you easily see which socks match together.

Mom Hacks to Keep the Kids Busy

The toy rotation mentioned above helps keep kids interested in their toys, which makes them much less likely to be bored. When they’ve gotten bored with one set of toys, you have another set waiting on back up that they completely forgot that they have!

1. Be intentional when choosing toys by only purchasing educational toys that will help develop skills your child is learning. This will encourage your child to explore on their own and you’ll know that even while they’re playing, they’re learning. – Sarah Miller from Home Schooling 4 Him

2. Recycle large, old boxes and turn it into a fun way to entertain (and contain) your kid! – Allie Schmidt from Disability Dame

Car Hacks

The car – it’s almost like a second home! For some of us, we spend a lot of time in the car daily. Here are some mom hacks to keep it clean and organized, and keep the kids entertained on longer trips.

1. Use silicon liners in your car cup holders. This is one area of my car that gets the dirtiest and is also one of the hardest to keep clean. These silicone cups can be easily removed for cleaning.

2. Use a backseat organizer for as storage compartments for all the things your kids will need back there. Throw in their toys, books, water bottles, snacks, and all the things you need to keep them busy.

3. Keep a bag of extra napkins, tissues, plastic utensils, and straws in your glove compartment. Along with that, always keep some nonperishable snacks and plastic bags for garbage in the console.

4. Keep a training potty in the car for times when it’s urgent and your kids can’t hold it. I’ve also even used this when I was pregnant!

5. Keep an emergency kit in your car just in case Bub has a blowout (it happens to the best of us!). Think diapers, wipes, a change of clothes for Bub and a change of clothes for yourself.

6. Just give in and buy the mini van! It’s a life-changer with the automatic closing doors and optimal space in the back for diaper changes, feedings, you name it. -Amy BagneOwner from Brazenginger

7. Bring window clings for kids to decorate the inside of car windows while stuck in their car seats.

8. Attach chalk paper to an old baking tray (or use chalk paint) for a portable, magnetic play board that they can write on.

9. Fill a binder with coloring pages, scavenger hunt checklists, and games. Many websites offer free printables for kids.

On-The-Go and Travel Hacks

1. Need to travel through an airport, train station, or hotel without a stroller? Sit your child right on your rolling suitcase! They’ll have a fun ride and you’ll get where you’re going faster.

2. Always keep an insulated bag with you when on-the-go to bring along snacks, juice, and bottles of water. This cuts down on spending money while doing errands or long drives and saves time because we don’t have to stop as frequently. It also helps us to make better food choices. Lisa Hugh from Single Ingredient Groceries

3. At the airport, we take our toddler for long walks before we board any flight to tire him out. We get him to run, play, and jump. By the time we get on the airplane, he is too tired to do it on the plane. We board flights last and also divide and conquer. One of us takes our son while the other gets on the airplane and gets everything settled. That way, when we get on the flight, his snacks and tablet are ready for him. – Corritta from It’s a Family Thing

4. Create a downtime or restaurant kit for the little ones and toss it in your go bag. There are times when you just need to occupy the kids for a few minutes and have something simple for them to do gives you that. A mini coloring book with a few crayons is a lifesaver for those restaurants that don’t have them available. -Heather Hoke from Embracing Chaos with Love

5. If your family loves a good soda or juice while they’re out, bring your own liquid flavoring to restaurants to decrease the amount of money spent and sugar consumed on soft drinks.

Hacks to Unwind and Calm

1. Introduce mindfulness breaks. As soon as things get too much in the house, spend a few minutes on a quiet, mindfulness activities. It will give you a little down-time and the kids are able to regroup and calm themselves a little. -Anna from Calme Kids Co

2. Meditate. Meditation can be as simple as just taking the time to acknowledge your present moments and your thoughts. Set your intentions for the day by holding up your cup of tea or coffee, closing your eyes, and taking a few deep breaths. Find 5 minutes to close your eyes, sit in a chair with your feet flat on the ground or sit on the ground and just breathe and focus and release the chatter in your head.  – Parents Anonymous

3. Take deep breaths. Close your eyes, breath in through your nose and slowly out through your mouth. Whenever you’re stressed or impatient, stop and breathe and you will likely feel less anxious. You may even feel as if you have more control over your emotions and thoughts. – Parents Anonymous

4. Use Calm Strips. Calm strips are textured sensory adhesives made from a thin, but extremely hardy and durable vinyl. Crafted to help soothe anxiety and fidgeting by grounding you in a calming scene and giving you a rough, but soft, surface as a stimulus. 

5. Grab a CBD-infused beverage in the form of teas or cold drinks. Experience a cool, calm, and delicious experience that’s just enough to take the edge off of a long day. Without artificial sugar or caffeine, Cleen Craft is a delicious drink that features organic, plant-based components and designed to enhance feelings of relaxation and wellness.

6. When dealing with a tantrum or highly emotional child, compose yourself a little first before reacting. Give yourself a small ’timeout’ or breather and then assess the situation. Reacting negatively to their big emotions makes it that much harder to calm the situation. -Heather Hoke from Embracing Chaos with Love

7. Accept help. If someone you trust offers to help watch the kids, make a meal, or transport the kids in a carpool, accept the help.  Then use that time to nap, catch up on the laundry, or grocery shop without the kids.

8. Learn to say no. You don’t have to volunteer for every commitment people ask of you and you definitely shouldn’t give your kids everything they ask for. Learn to say no and don’t feel guilty about it. -Brooke Ressell from Blue to Bliss

9. Schedule *Me Time* on the calendar.  Moms have the hardest time investing in themselves, but if you intentionally write down a few hours of personal time, it actually happens! This is a little self-care ritual for moving away from the endless “to-do” lists for everyone else, and making time for you. -Marisa Donnelly from Be A Light Collective

Mom Hacks for Babies and Toddlers

1. Dip your baby’s pacifier in Gripe Water to help calm them down.

2. Use ice cube trays to store puréed baby food. – Allie Schmidt from Disability Dame

3. If you can’t get baby to settle to sleep, try stroking a tissue over baby’s face gently until they fall asleep. Sounds crazy – but this actually works! And if there is something all new parents want more of its sleep! – Amy from Arch Bags

4. That giant diaper bag won’t be nearly as cute when you’re struggling to carry it everywhere and trying to smush it under the stroller. Use a backpack designed with baby and mom in mind that frees up the hands, plus dad won’t mind holding it.

5. Prevent your baby boy from peeing on you by wiping a wet wipe under his belly button right before a diaper change. This is said to make him pee before you take off his nappy – as fresh air prompts the same reaction. – Amy from Arch Bags

6. If you have noisy baby toys all over your house, pop some sticky tape over the speaker to muffle the sound! They won’t know the difference.

7. Layer crib sheets and mattress protectors on top of one another, so when your child has an accident, you can just strip off the top sheet and mattress protector and there’s a fresh set underneath. – Salty Canary

8. Cut your little one’s nails while they are sleeping! It saves you a lot of stress and leaves them feeling calmer. That way, there is no battle to get it done and they can continue to sleep peacefully. – Gemma Tyler from Smart Vacuums

9. Hide vegetables in your kids foods! It’s so simple to puree carrots, celery, onion, and kale into soups, stews, meatballs, meatloaf, ground chicken, etc. and they’ll never know they are really eating their veggies. Here are some great ways to do it here.

10. Use a cookie cutter to cut food into fun shapes to help toddlers eat better.

11. Help your kids wash their hands the correct way by letting them see the exact steps on the soap bottle! With How to Wash hand soaps, you won’t have to worry that your kids aren’t washing efficiently.

---

If you can incorporate a few of these simple mom hacks into your life, you should feel a little less stressed and a little more prepared. You got this mama!