If you could have any super power what would it be?
Whilst flying and invisibility would be pretty cool (obviously I would use this power for good and not sneaking into George Clooney’s dressing room *cough…), I would have to choose the ability to extend time because having 24 hours in a day simply isn’t enough to get everything done. Can you relate?
Research shows that mothers get just 17 minutes of ‘me time’ to themselves each day. This means that the other 98.9% of the day is spent working, looking after kids, cooking, cleaning and (if you’re lucky…) sleeping.
And boy can I relate! I used to think I was busy in my pre-kids life when I was director, living in London and spending on average 12 hours on set. In hindsight that was pretty easy! Throw two young boys and a full-time blogging career into the mix and let’s just say I can give Maggie Thatcher a run for her money on surviving on only 4 hours a sleep a night!
Unless you’re Beyonce or VB with an entourage of nannies at your beck and call, becoming a parent will always mean devoting pretty much all of your time to the care, protection and wellbeing of others.
At the end of last year however I started to notice that my ‘all work and no play’ lifestyle was having a negative effect on my health. I’m a huge believer that happy parents means happy children, so I knew something had to change.
This year has seen me make more of a conscious effort to enjoy more ‘me time’; whether its practising some early morning yoga or curling up on the sofa with a glass of wine to watch TOWIE, KUWK, First Dates or any of my other guilty pleasures, I’m on it!
And until I’m gifted the super-power of extending time (or Beyonce’s millions so I can afford a whole team around me-one day eh), the only way I can enjoy more time for just myself is by becoming more productive and efficient when it comes to work, household chores and childcare.
Now fear not, this doesn’t mean running your life with military precision (as a creative that would simply never happen), instead I just adopt a few simple life hacks to save time.
Life hacks are low-budget and simple practical tips that make life so much easier! Usually they incorporate items that you’ll have lying around the house anyway and are so simple yet genius that they will literally transform your life!
I wanted to share some fab life hacks, the first 2 thanks to inspiration from Kumala, the UK’s favourite South African wine brand, and one of my very own one too!
I would love to hear your top tricks in the comments too! Because, well, the new series of TOWIE is on air soon and I don’t intend to miss a single episode!
Life Hack 1: Destem Strawberries
Summer equals bowls of strawberries and cream galore! It’s one of my favourite treats but removing the stem can be time consuming and can often result in losing half of the strawberry if you chop it off using a knife!
To make life easier simply use a straw and push it through the bottom of strawberry and all the way through. Et voila! The stem is gone.
Life Hack 2: Fresh Flowers
I love having fresh flowers around the house and to make them last longer I cut the ends off and dip into boiling water to extend their lifespan. Easy.
Life Hack 3: Lipstick and Nail Varnish
Warm temperatures will give your nail varnish a thick and gloopy consistency and can melt your favourite lippy, making it difficult and time consuming to apply. Solution? Pop your beauty buys in the fridge to help them last longer, saving time and pennies!
Now you’ve seen my life hacks, I would love to hear about yours!
Do you have a really useful hack that makes your life easier?
Please describe your favourite life hack in the comment box below and I will choose my favourite hack to win a case of Kumala wine for the ultimate Me Time Moment.
For more life hacks check out Kumala Wine’s Facebook page.
Having a husband who is South African and spending a lot of time in the country, I can vouch that Kumala is the perfect wine to accompany summer barbeques, or a romantic dinner for two.
For nearly twenty years, Kumala has been growing a wide variety of grapes in its beautiful vineyard nestled in the foothills of South Africa’s famous Table Mountain (the one I incidentally screamed riding up). Do try their award winning wines today!
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Do several jobs on each trip into town to cut down your number of journeys.
Regular pencils as dice with 1-6 on each side
buy presents through the year in the sales to save a fortune
When you can afford it, buy in bulk! If you can freeze it, do so. With meat, most butchers will happily cut it into freezeable portions and will often vacuum-pack it for you too, at no extra charge. This includes on-line butchers. Not only is the quality of the meat so much better (you might find you need less), it is much tastier and the animals have usually had better lives. And the biggest bonus of all? It is so much cheaper than what you can get in the supermarkets! It does require a little planning in advance though but that ultimately saves you a lot of time, especially if you draw up a weekly menu and stick to it 🙂
Microwave carrots for 30 seconds before chopping them
no heating during night
Putting yogurts into the ice lolly containers and freezing – tasty healthy treats
what you dont eat freeze
Use a cleaned out sun lotion bottle to store and keep items safe when going down the beach/park when the sun’s out
unplug chargers!
Use old newspaper to clean the windows
We use Nutella jars as little tumbler glasses hehe.
Buy loo roll in bulk so you save money and never run out
Operate a present box, buy ’em cheap and stock up!
Use a 6 pint milk bottle as a watering can…and just exchange for another one as and when needed!
Put clothes and breakfast dishes out the night before. It makes the morning much smoother. I also put my daughter’s diaper and wipes on the changing mat for the same reason.
Use the top of plastic bottles as funnels
My favourite hack to save me time when I am on my way back from University, an hour and half journey after 5 pm, is to get my fiance to get dinner on and run my bath so it is all ready for me.
Nappy sacks, cheaper than poop bags
go late evening or early morning to supermarkets the reduced section is usually full with still very good fresh food of all types
Bin fresheners
Don’t throw leftovers away, freeze them!
I was saying to my husband at the weekend, where the heck has ‘hacks’ come from, I never heard the phrase up until a few months ago. Anyway, my tips for an easy life…live near your parents, invaluable babysitting! I really, truly am in no position to give people lifestyle advice 😉 X
Buy some ASDA jellies pour them into a bowl, say they are haribos and your kids can’t tell the difference 🙂 I save 77p a week 😀
Use bin freshner
Do a large shopping order online to save a journey to the supermarket, the trail round the aisles, carrying in from the car etc.
To tell if eggs are fresh, immerse them in a bowl of water. Fresh eggs will lie on the bottom, while stale eggs will float to the surface
Create a weekly menu and shopping list at the same time, so I know exactly what to buy, don’t need to waste time to go to the shops more than necessary and everyone knows what’s for dinner during the week… also less waste of food.
Place a rubber band around an open paint can to wipe the brush on, and keep the paint off the side of the can
Keep a little caustic acid around for unblocking drains – just keep it well out of the reach of little hands!
put newspaper at the bottom of your bin to soak up liquids
Buy Christmas presents in the January sales and put them away. you will save so much money for the following Christmas.