- Hi guys, welcome back to my channel.
In today's video, I'm going to be sharing with you
10 mum survival tips.
And this video was originally going to be called
How To Get Organized This New Years,
then the more I thought about it, the more I realized
that although I am quite organized, I am never
gonna be that kind of mum who has a color-coded diary
or Post-It notes up everywhere.
I do things to survive.
As a busy mum of three who also works, I just need
to do things that make my life simple and I think
that's the same for lots of other mums out there,
so today I'm gonna share with you my top 10 tips
of things that I do to survive,
and they are all achievable.
They are things that you could implement today,
tomorrow, that would make a massive difference.
So I really hope you like them.
Let's get into it.
So my first tip is to meal plan.
This can make such a difference to your week
and I have actually made a dedicated meal planning
video in the past, so I will link that down below.
But one meal planning hack that we really like to do
is to use HelloFresh.
We have used HelloFresh for years
and I just love how simple and fuss-free they are to use.
If you don't know what they are, they are basically
a food subscription box.
So all you have to do is go online,
order a box for the week and I comes delivered
direct to your door with everything that you're gonna need
for three to four, I think even five meals per week,
so you will get a recipe card and then individual bags
of all the ingredients that you will need
for a recipe, and what I love about it is that it's all
pre-proportioned.
There's no wastage.
All you get sent is exactly what you're gonna need.
We normally get a family box, but they also have a new one
which is called the Rapid Box, which means their simple
recipes take just 20 minutes in that box,
so if you are someone who doesn't have loads
of time on them, the Rapid Box will be perfect for you.
So if you haven't tried it before, I have a code for you.
If you use the code freshstart3, that will get you 50%
off your first HelloFresh box, but also 50%
off your second HelloFresh box, so I will put
all the links in the description bar below.
As I said, we love it and just meal planning in general
is so great and what we do in this house is we save
all of the HelloFresh recipe cards and then we can remake
them whenever we want to as well, and then I will often
look through those when I am meal planning.
My next tip is to shop online whenever you can
as a busy mum.
So once I have meal planned and ordered my HelloFresh box,
I can go online and order any other things
that I need from the supermarket.
I love Amazon Prime.
I use that so much for birthday party presents
or any fancy dress days the kids have at school.
I just love how easy it is and I don't have to drag
the kids around the shops.
Another tip is to batch cook,
so if we aren't having a HelloFresh meal one night
and I'm cooking, I always think, can I double it,
can I triple it, can I quadruple it?
How much of this can I make?
Because it's so much easier to just make more
and freeze it or keep it in the fridge for another meal.
Sometimes I will make a chili that will feed
about 12 people and just freeze them in individual portions
and then if I want to have a healthy lunch,
I can have or if Mack's out one night,
I can just have it for dinner myself.
Cook as much as you can and then you will be so grateful
that you did on the nights that you eat it.
My next tip is to create routines, and I feel like I say
this all the time on my channel, but I love
having a routine because then I know what I'm doing
and more than that, the kids know what they're doing
and then they feel secure.
So if you don't currently have a routine
and you want to start one, I will link
some examples of our down below because I have made
lots of routine videos in the past.
If you do start a routine or change yours slightly
and the kids don't take it it straightaway,
don't be disheartened.
Apparently it takes 21 days to create a habit,
so just give it a few weeks and then the kids
will be completely in the flow with it.
A good example of this is we recently changed
our children's toothpaste.
So I didn't think it would be a big deal,
but they really were unsure about this new toothpaste
that our dentist recommended, but a couple of weeks in,
it's just the norm now and they're totally fine with it.
My next tip is to get everything ready the night before
and set yourself up for a much smoother morning.
So whatever your kids are gonna need, lay it all out.
If it's clothes, school uniform, karate kit,
show and tell, whatever it is, get it ready, even snacks.
Pack lunches, et cetera.
I also lay out what I'm gonna wear the next day
and I even get the baby bag ready
because all of those things take time and having three kids,
I never really know how well the night is gonna go,
so if we're tired or we have a bit of a crazy morning,
at least all of that is already ready.
For my next tip, I wanted to talk about cleaning.
So cleaning for me is all about speed
and divide and conquer.
I will link my speed cleaning videos down below
because I think there is so much that you can do
in a 15 minute speed clean or a power hour.
That is how I keep my house clean,
but I also divide things up as much as I possibly can.
I get the kids to help me put their clothes away.
Matt is amazing with helping with the laundry
and things like that, and we have also hired
a professional cleaner once a week
and they blitz our house and honestly, it's my favorite
day of the week.
But I think more than all this, as mums with young children,
we do just need to accept that our houses are not
gonna be perfect for a while, so I think if your house
is pretty hygienic and tidy, you're doing a good job.
And while we're talking about cleaning,
I also wanted to tell you guys about something
called the One Touch Method because since I heart about it,
it has stuck in my head and it totally works.
So as I'm going about my day and doing things
or putting things away or even when I walk in
from being outside, I always think one touch.
So if I walk in the door
and I got to put my coat on the couch,
rather than putting it on the couch,
I think no, one touch and then I go
and I hang it up
because that means I am only having to touch it once,
which actually cuts down on how much I clean.
So it's basically encouraging you to put things away.
And if I take my shoes off, I think one touch
and I put them away in the shoe drawer
rather than leaving them on the floor
and similarly, if I go to take a dish
off of the dining table, I don't then leave it
on the kitchen counter.
I am still holding it and I put it into the dishwasher
because then, that's one touch.
There is no point in moving a dish
from the dining table to the side, to the sink,
to the dishwasher.
That is what I used to do and I don't know why,
so just have that in your head.
One touch, and honestly, it's so effective.
I'm even trying to teach it to the boys.
My tip is to declutter regularly.
I don't know why, but the word minimalism scares me a bit.
When I think I need to minimalize, I think oh,
I'm gonna have to get childcare for the kids
and take a whole week and minimalize everything,
so that kinda scares me, but I can totally
handle decluttering because I think that can take
about 15 minutes.
So what I do now is go about my day
and if I have a spare 15 minutes, I'll think right,
I'll declutter this whole drawer
and honestly, I've been chucking out so much more
since I've been doing it regularly.
Clearing out this shoe cupboard too five minutes,
17, so not much at all.
My next tip is to schedule fun, and I know that makes me
sound like a real party pooper, but honestly,
it's been great for us.
If we can schedule in time where our whole focus
is on the children, it's good for everyone.
So we have a Friday night movie night.
So we get popcorn, we watch a film as a family,
and we also have Sunday morning lazy mornings as well
where we can all chill out, play boardgames
and toys and things like that, and we'll also schedule in
fun days out so that we always have things
to look forward to.
And my last tip is to get all of your family admin done
and get as much as you can into your diary.
So with my son's schools, they actually put their calendars
online, so what I do at the beginning of each term
is I go online and I copy down everything they have
coming up in the next term, just so I feel more organized,
I can order things that they need for like,
science day or fancy dress day.
You know how it is.
Right, so that is it for this video.
I really hope you enjoyed these survival tips,
and if you have anymore, please put them in the comments
down below because you guys always have the best suggestions
and yeah, thank you to HelloFresh
for sponsoring this video.
If you want to check out their discount code,
again, it is in the description bar down below
and I will see you very soon.
Bye, guys!