10 Hacks for Parents to Save Time on Household Chores
On January 26, 2021 by Megan FolsomOne of the most common struggles as a mom is finding time for ourselves. As parents, we spend so much time caring for our children, cooking and cleaning, it seems like we never have enough time.
When we’re constantly drowning in housework and feeling behind, our stress is often taken out on our children. It’s much harder to be present with them when we’re feeling so overwhelmed.
At the same time, it’s extremely important for us to have time to refill our own cups and develop our own passions. The less time we spend cleaning, the more time we can free up for other things.
I’ve put together 10 of my favorite tips and tricks for streamlining common tasks to be more time-efficient for you! Keep an eye out of part 2 coming soon. Let me know in the comments below what you’re best cleaning hacks are!
Hacks for Household Chores:
1. Set a 20 min timer with your significant other in the evening after the kids’ bedtime. Put on some fun music and tackle a room together. Smash out as much cleaning and tidying up as you can for 20 minutes (which is a combined 40 minutes of cleaning!). 20 minutes is a very manageable amount of time per day and doesn’t sound too overwhelming.
At the end of the session, you can sit down together and reward yourself with a snack, a game or an episode of something. However, a lot of times, we are in the mood to keep cleaning and getting stuff done once we’re on a roll!
2. Take advantage of free grocery pick-up. Many stores, like Walmart, are currently offering it for free or for a few dollars. This one saves both time AND money, because you add everything to a cart and see how much you’re spending. Plus, you aren’t wandering the store hungry, throwing random cravings and treats into the cart.
It’s also so nice to not worry about dealing with a whiney child in the store or chasing kids around. They load everything into your trunk for you and all you have to worry about is unloading it into your house. (Save $10 off of your first Walmart Pickup order of $50 or more!)
3. Make sure everything is loaded into the dishwasher and start it right before going to bed. This way, you don’t have to worry about stealing all the hot water while someone is showering or needing to use a utensil that’s stuck in the running dishwasher. You can wake up to a nicer, cleaner-feeling kitchen.
4. On the same lines, unload your dishwasher as soon as it’s clean (usually first thing in the morning). If you do that, dirty dishes can go directly into the dishwasher throughout the day and won’t pile up into an overwhelming mountain.
5. Set up a toy rotation and store the rest in bins for later. Switch each toy bin every week or two to keep the toys exciting and interesting for the kids.
The less toys available for them to play with at a time, the less toys there are to pick up and put away at the end of the day. Your house will definitely feel less cluttered and less stressful.
6. Vacuum your baseboards, windowsills, ledges, etc. with the hose attachment, instead of wiping them down. It goes much quicker and prevents dust from getting smeared all around. I also vacuum under cupboards, the couches, couch cracks, and other places that are hard to reach with a broom.
7. Plan more Crock-Pot or Instant Pot meals, so that you can do other things or relax while dinner is cooking. Plus, you usually end up using less dishes and have less to clean up after.
8. Put a load of laundry in the washer right before bed time. Either set it to have a delayed start for a couple hours before you wake up, or have everything set up to just close the lid and start as soon as you wake up.
9. Line pans with tin foil if possible when cooking or baking to avoid more cleanup. Many people even put an empty cookie sheet or pan at the bottom of the oven to catch spills in the oven.
10. Get a larger kitchen trash can and ALWAYS use a bag in it to avoid having to clean the can as much. Bonus points if it has a lid to make your kitchen look more tidy – we found ours at Lowe’s! Try to take a load of trash outside on the way to your car when it’s full.
If you enjoyed these time-saving tips, be sure to check out these quick pick-me-up ideas to boost your confidence. Plus, learn how to do your own gel nails at home to cut down on time spent at appointments and still feel put together! For my other favorite products and tons of discount codes, see my Favorites tab above.
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