Hi guys, welcome back to my channel and to another 20 mom hacks. You guys seem to love the last video
that I made all about everyday mom hacks, so I'm back with another 20. And I actually asked you
guys over on Instagram to send in your very best tips or things that you do that just make your
life as a parent that little bit easier, so I'm also going to share a few of the favorite ones
that you guys sent in. And I feel like there's some really good hacks in this video that are
very easy to just start using straight away. So I hope you really enjoy it. If you do,
give this video a big thumbs up and subscribe. If you're new, I also want to say a huge thank
you to today's sponsor HyperJar. You may have already heard of HyperJar, but it's a very cool
money saving and organizational hack that I wanted to show you guys. It's like a new
way to think about money and HyperJar works alongside your own bank account to help you
to plan and organize your money better than ever. It's also completely free and there are no hidden
costs. So it's an FCA regulated e-money account and MasterCard debit card that makes me feel
really organized. It's also very aesthetically pleasing and functional. So I'll show you that in
a sec, but it helps me to budget save for specific projects and goals, and also just manage my money
better. So you go on to the app and you can set up jars. I have different ones for like holiday fund,
my groceries, petrol, the kids clubs, birthday presents. So whatever you spend your money on,
you can set up little jars to separate all of your money.
It's also perfect if you're a parent because HyperJar offer free kids cards, so if your child
is over the age of six, you actually order them their very own debit card. And then you can put
their pocket money onto it, or their birthday money on it as well. And they can use that and
learn about money and personal finance. And what I love about this is I've seen a few different
companies doing kids cards, but this is the only one I've seen that's completely free. So
say if the boys finish their chores at home, then I'll put their pocket money onto the card or into
their jar, and then they can spend it. So this weekend in London, I let the boys get themselves a
souvenir, gave them their cards and it was so cool to see that they were actually being so careful
with what they chose, because it was their own money. They also loved using the card reader for
the first time and just working out how to do it. And now if Fraser gets invited to the cinema
with a friend I can give him his card and then just make sure he buys the snacks.
And you could also set a spending limit on the kids' cards as well. And another really
cool thing that HyperJar do is that they've partnered with brands to help you grow your
spending power at 4.8% annual growth rate. So what I mean by that is they've partnered
with people like [Tui 00:02:47] , Shell, [Bodin 00:02:47], My Protein, Feel Unique, Dyson.
So if you know you're going to book a holiday, say with Tui, you can put your holiday fund into that,
and it will grow at 4.8% annual growth rate. So it's like a way to beat the interest rates that
are currently in the bank, because let's face it 4.8% is a lot better. So anyway,
I really like how it makes me feel very organized because you can spend money directly from a jar.
So say if I go grocery shopping, I can spend the money that is in the grocery jar. All I have to do
is link the card by holding my finger down on that jar. And then it will just take it straight out of
there. So I'll put some links in the description so you can check it out. You can download the app.
It's very easy to do, and then you can order your card today. So anyway, yes,
thank you to HyperJar so much for supporting my channel and now let's get into the other hacks.
My next mom hack is to batch cook or to cook twice. And so many of you guys said this on
Instagram as well. And I've talked about this before, but if you're already cooking and making
a mess, why not double or triple your ingredients and make it twice or make it three times so that
you can have some in the freezer for a day when you're in a rush. So if you're making something
like Shepherd's pie, maybe make it twice, just make as many portions as you possibly can.
And someone also sent in that a great thing that she does is to meal plan with her kids.
She said that if her kids are involved in what they're having to eat that week, they're more
likely to eat it themselves. And the next mom hack someone sent in that I thought was a great idea,
was to make a little mini first aid kit in a pencil case or a small makeup case. And then
put that into your handbag for when you're out and about in case your child hurts themselves. I
loved this idea. So I just made this with a small makeup case. I put in some Bandaids or plasters,
some Savlon, some wipes, some cream for if they get stung or touch a stinging metal and then
also some painkillers as well for myself and for my child. And I feel like if you go to the
effort of doing this your children are never going to hurt themselves, because it's always
when you don't have a plaster or a Bandaid on you, that they end up scratching themselves.
The next hack I have shared before, but it's perfect for the wetter and colder weather.
If you like to go on long walks with your baby or your toddler, then this one's for you. If
you get very muddy or messy buggy wheels, then get two shower caps and they fit perfectly over
the very muddy wheels. Now, when I was filming this, ours actually wasn't very muddy at all
because we rarely use the buggy anymore, but this worked wonders when we had very small children.
So yeah, wanted to share that. Just have them to hand in your boot.
And the next tip that I wanted to share with you is such a simple one, but it works pretty much
every time, so I thought it was worth sharing with you. It's like this reverse psychology
that I do on the kids. If they don't want to do something or they're not getting dressed
quick enough, I say, "I bet you can't..." And then whatever it is I want them to do.
Or especially with Jackson, if he's not getting his shoes on, I'm like, "Oh,
it's because you don't know how do you, you don't remember. You don't know how to do it." And
then all of a sudden he's like, "Yes I do." And he'll just do it, whatever it is, very quickly.
And when I asked you guys for your best parenting tips or hacks, I was overwhelmed by how many of
you guys sent this one in and it was to put your washing machine on a delayed start. So at night
they'll fill the washing machine with all the of clothes, soap, softener, everything in it,
but then press the delayed start button. I didn't even know that this was a thing, but it makes such
sense because every morning I load the washing machine, but it would be way quicker if I could
just have this ready to go and it would just turn on at say 6:00 AM. And then when I come
down I could then hang it out to dry or put it in a tumble dryer. So that was a great idea.
And another hack that someone sent in it was to make two coffees in the morning,
one for yourself to drink straight away and then one in a Thermos coffee mug so that you can take
it on the school run with you when you leave for the day. I thought that was such a good idea,
because I actually have two coffees every morning and it would be great to have one just ready to go
on the school run and then you're actually just making them once. So I loved that idea. Or if
you didn't want to drink two in the morning, you could just make your coffee in like a coffee mug
so that you could also have it on the go. And something that we have done for years with
our kids is to teach them to hold the wings on a juice box so that it doesn't squirt everywhere.
So when you have a juice box, you can actually pull the little wings on the side up, teach your
children to hold that rather than the body of the drink so that it doesn't go absolutely everywhere.
And the next tip that I wanted to share with you is something that I've just discovered. My
youngest son has started school, but he doesn't tell me anything when he gets home after school.
I ask him, who does he play with? What did he learn? What did he do? And he's always like,
"Nothing."I just wasn't getting anything back. So I actually Googled prompting questions to ask your
children after school, I'll put a link down below so you can check it out. But it was things like,
"What made you laugh today? What did you daydream about? Did you prefer choosing time or circle
time?" But the number one question that really makes him talk, which is quite funny, actually,
if I ask him who got in trouble today, he really opens up and he tells me all about what happened,
who went up and down the rainbow or whatever it is at school. So if you are a child also
doesn't give much away, you can try asking them, "Who got in trouble at school?" It really works.
And something else that we do is to keep everything that we need to get the boys
ready in the morning, downstairs in the kitchen. So what I mean by that is in our kitchen cupboard,
we have a basket which has a second toothbrush for each boy. We've also got toothpaste,
hairbrush, hair wax, deodorant, sun cream as well. Literally everything that they're going to need to
get them ready and out the door in the morning. So I know some people must keep this in their
downstairs toilet, but we just find having it to hand is really helpful. And someone actually
sent in that they also have a drawer of socks downstairs because she said she was always needing
to run upstairs and get socks. So now she just keeps some downstairs and it's been life changing.
And an organizational hack that I have shared in the past is to keep your bedding sets together by
folding them up and putting them into the pillar case that matches them as well. This makes it so
quick and easy to find a whole bedding set in your airing cupboard or your cupboard itself.
And it also just looks really, really tidy. I've shared this before, but you guys seem
to love the hack in my last video about making the bed twice. So I thought I would share this
bedding hack as well, because it really does just make it quicker to get a whole bed set.
And my next tip is one for fussy eaters and I'm not claiming that my children aren't fussy because
they absolutely can be. And I've actually made quite a few fussy eater meal videos in the past
if you want to check them out. But one thing we've always done is to say to the boys that
they have to have a polite bite because so much food looks not as good as it tastes. So you have
to just try it. You have to have a polite bite. And if you don't like it after that,
that's fair enough. But most of the time they'll realize that it actually tastes quite good.
And another hack that I would totally recommend if you're trying to get more organized with your
spouse, is that you can have a shared calendar that you both put into. And of course you can
add in colleagues as well, if you want to. And something else we do is to have shared notes.
So if we want to both put onto a shopping list or actually at the moment we're planning for
Caleb's birthday. So we're both putting present ideas onto shared notes and it's really helpful.
And with the festive season upon us, I wanted to tell you that we actually have these little
security cameras around our house that are not only for security, but Santa can actually
watch the kids through them. If they're being naughty or they're not doing as they're told,
he can actually see through that. And they actually flash red. So you know that it's Santa.
So that's something that our kids know about. So I just wanted to tell you guys about that as well.
And something that works really well for us is to offer the kids choices where we win either way.
So we found that sometimes the boys just want to have a choice and to be heard. So in the morning,
if we say, "Do you want to get dressed first, or do you want to brush your teeth first?"
We actually don't mind whichever one they choose because we win either way, but then they feel like
they've had that choice. And also if you find that your child takes ages to choose an outfit
in the morning, maybe lay out two or three and they're ones that you are happy for them to wear,
but you could say, "Do you want to wear this outfit? Or do you want to wear this outfit?"
And it really can help to speed things up. The hack that so many of you guys actually
sent in when I asked on Instagram, is to wash shoes in the washing machine
and to wash hats in the dishwasher. I have shown us washing hats before in the dishwasher because
Matt wears so many and this is a great way to wash them so that they don't lose their shape.
And same with shoes. If they haven't got like leather on them or anything,
as long as you wash them on a very low heat, then they're absolutely fine in the washing machine.
And some actually have shoe settings or sports settings on them. So definitely check that.
And now the world is opening up again, a hack that I love to do is to dress the boys in very
bright colors when we go anywhere, that's like a public space. So say if we go to the park or
to a soft play or to a show, I love to be able to just point them out very easily.
Another hack that I really love as a way to get the kids to eat veggies is to get them to eat them
mindlessly or when they're are very hungry. So when the kids come home from school,
that is exactly when they're starving. So if you have some veg cut up, maybe some carrots and some
cucumbers and some hummus, they'll... You know when they're just tired after school and they
just hang out on the couch?? That's a great time to say, "Here's some veggies." And they'll kind of
mindlessly eat it, or just eat it because they're very hungry and it's a great way
to get another one of their five a day into them. Next up, I wanted to talk about toy rotation. This
is perfect if your child loses interest in toys. You can put half away or maybe even a quarter away
into the garage or into the loft. And then every few weeks just rotate your toys.
So bring some out, put some away. And then it feels like they always have these new
toys and it really does work. And it also helps to minimalize the amount of things that you have out.
And then the last hack is one that someone sent into me and I wanted to share it because you guys
seem to love the last hair washing hack with the goggles that I shared in the last mom hacks video.
So she said she's actually put something into the corner of her bathroom, into the top corner.
So when she's washing her child's hair, she'll say, "Oh, look at the
parrot," or whatever it is. And then they'll look up and she can easily wash their hair
without getting soap and water into their eyes. So there you have it. 20 more mom hacks. I really
hope you enjoyed them. Let me know in the comments below which one was your favorite. And of course,
if you have any of your own, I would love for you to put them into the comments. I'm sure everyone
would love to read them. And links are down below for HyperJar as well if you want to check that
out. And thank you so much for watching, I'll see you in my next one. Bye guys.