We held another successful Twitter Party on 12 July where we asked Mums to give us their top Time Saving Tips. We always know where to turn when we're looking for the best tips in the UK...our BritMums!
We asked for your top tips, favourite apps and Mummy's Little Helpers that make your life easier. We're all running around managing our lives, families and selves. How DO we do it? So here are some of our favourites from you, the bloggers.
Time Saving Apps:
- First of all, we'd love to give a BIG congratulations to Team Ipswich (@liveotherwise, Team Leader) in the #mumsonthree app challenge. Their FAMILY QUEST app won the challenge and will be developed and made available for FREE by Three. Keep your eyes and ears on the web for more information about this great app and its development.
- Cooking Apps: Big Oven, BBC Good Food, Jamie's Recipes, All Recipes UK
- Out and About: NCT Babychange, Toilet Finder, Around Me, RAC Travel, Red Laser, TubeMap, The Trainline, Train Times, Take Me to My Car
- Organisation: Drop Box, Things, Dragon Dictation, Toodledo, Evernote, Paperless, Blogsy, Google Calendar, Ocado, Basecamp, eBay, Thinking Space, Online Banking
- Personal & Photo: Nike Running, Pedometer, BUPA Fitness, Vignette, Instagram
Time Saving Tips:
- @SAHMlovingit- I have all the apps I "need" on the front screen of my phone to save me a bit more time- every second counts
- @allforaleyna- The Dodo Wall Planner with sections for family members is a great way for everyone to know what is happening and where everyone is.
- @twobecomefour- Use Tweetdeck to schedule tweets
- @madamding- Meal planning at the start of the week & doing an online grocery order at the same time saves me lots of time
- @liveotherwise- Save time in the morning by packing bags the night before when there are no children around to complicate things
- @daddacool- Batch cook base parts of meals-eg mince, onions, garlic, herbs can be used for spag bol, lasgane, Shepherd's Pie and chilli
- @Ellen27- I only tidy up after toddler once a day otherwise it's a waste of time
- @ali991- I also have to say a slow cooker is brilliant if you are a woorking mum, come home and dinner is ready
- @petitmew- When going off to the pool, put your swimwear on under your clothes, time saver
- @suburban1mummy- Take an old muffin tin, put in bun papers, fill them with ice cream. Keep in the freezer so it's always ready to go.
- @emymc- Don't iron baby clothes! Nobody will notice and they're probably going to end up with about 3 outfit changes anyway!
- @lizzybethjane- Keep a change bag with nappies and wipes and a longlife snack in the boot of the car so you can always dash off if you need to.
- @vegemitevix- Buy a roast chicken then use it for three subsequent meals- stirfry, curry and soup. That's 1/2 wk meals in one buy.
- @seasiderclare- Record all of your favourite programmes, watch them later & skip all adverts
- @HavingFun6- Always make packed lunches the night before. Every minute counts in the morning.
- @joanneblunt- I do my ironing while waiting for the food to cook. Seems to get done quicker when you multi-task.
- @Jo_Bryan- My tip, invest in pretty wicker baskets, keep near the stairs allocate for various bedrooms and take up once a day
- @Mummiafelice- If you have baby bottles to make up, measure out the formula & keep in containers. Saves time & half asleep (useless) counting
- @cosmicgirlie- So time saving stuff, eh? Independence. Teach it to your kids. Asap!
- @kateagreen- Paint a wall in chalkboard paint by a door, notes can be quickly left for everyone to read
- @silentbeauty- Blogging- set aside small blocks of time daily in which to comment on other blogs and write your own posts
A few tips that had us laughing:
- @largerfamily- Tie pads around crawling babies knees. They'll polish the floors as they go.
- @Mummy_Misfit- Put kids to bed in their school uniform as soon as they get home! Peaceful evening and organised morning!
- @summerlandc- Remain a childless spinster and fill all the spare time with a social life
- @allforaleyna- Do NOT start a blog!
- @SAHMlovingit- I get the dog to vacuum up the crumbs off the carpet- saves lugging the Dyson about
- @vegemitevix- Best time-saving tip? Ignore housework, get an inhaler for the dust, buy only dark coloured clothes and use dog as a Hoover
- @daddacool- My best time-saving tip: train your kids to do house work from an early age
- @playfullearners- Bribe daughter out the door by letting her go to school on her new scooter, left quicker and got there faster
- @silentbeauty- Hot Day? Add bubbles to paddling pool at the end of the day...save on bath time
What a great selection of tips that will hopefully help you to save a bit of time around the house so you have more time to spend with your kids! Thank you to Three for sponsoring our Twitter Time Saving Tips Party and congratulations to @seasiderclare (who won the iPhone) and @madamding, @silentbeauty and @mummiafelice who each one a Mifi system.
Now what are you waiting for? Start downloading some of those apps and organising your life!
