Four Tricks to Save Time, Money, Energy, and Sanity

There seem to be 4 things that I never have enough of and always seem to be running out of: Time, Money, Energy, and Sanity. That’s why when I can stumble on tricks to save one or all of those from depleting, I jump for joy. Like my hair ties trick which I came up with 4 years ago and still sing its praises every day.

I have 4 new tricks that save me time, money, energy and/or sanity and I thought I’d pass them along to bless your life too. Maybe you’ve been there, done that already. But if not, give them a shot and start jumping for joy too!

TRICK #1

BABY + TOILET PAPER = NO GOOD NEWS

If the title alone made you want to break out into song, you’re my kind of friend. On to other news, how many of us have walked into a bathroom to find a whole roll of toilet paper on the floor, with our baby fleeing the scene of the crime?

I’ve heard to just turn the paper around, but no workie. At least not for our little 11-month old. So the other day, I remembered an old trick I had heard and forgotten. Squish the roll. Simple as that: squish the roll.

See, now the roll hangs on the bar so it can’t just roll. And since it is an oval, it hits the wall when pulled. Excellent. (Of course, it won’t work as beautifully on the old fashioned spring loaded insert bars, but it still works.)

TRICK #2

BABY FOOD CONTAINERS = PERFECT SIZE SNACK PACKS

This tip is for those of you who A) feed your baby baby food and B) use plastic. If you make your own baby food exclusively or only use glass, just skip ahead.

For the rest of you, we’ve been buying the baby food in glass jars for the past several months. As you may know, I prefer to flavor plain yogurt than to buy the store bought high-fructose-corn-syrup-and-dye-filled yogurts. But my girls LOVE the little packaging and perfect sizes of the store bought stuff. Aha moment. Instead of buying the glass bottled baby food, why not get the plastic ones that would fit yogurt and applesauce BEAUTIFULLY and then I can save health and money by flavoring plain yogurt and using a big jar of applesauce and dividing it among the cups!

Well, it doesn’t just end there. Today, as my girls helped themselves to a snack, they used BIG cups for their crackers. When I saw the outrageous portion the cups held, I flew to the cupboard and took out a stack of empty baby food containers and divided the snack into those. Perfect portions, plus they have a lid for transportation! Brilliant!

TRICK #3

FRESH BAKED COOKIES ANY TIME = BLISS

Honestly, who doesn’t love fresh baked cookies!? Well, my waist doesn’t, but my mouth and tummy sure do! The problem is I have zero self control when it comes to cookies, so if I make a batch, I eat a batch. Or, I get a little will power (or a big tummy ache) and half the batch crystallizes. Yuck.

So, make your own refrigerated cookie dough rolls! After you make your dough, just lay out a big sheet of plastic wrap and plop down your dough in the middle of it in a rough “log”. Then cover it with plastic wrap and roll it up. Then, work the dough into an even log with your hands, pulling and pressing it along in the plastic. Wrap up the ends and pop it in the fridge.

When you’re ready to have some fresh baked cookies, just cut a few slices of dough and pop them on the cookie sheet. No need to bring to room temperature!

And since it is a known fact that cookie dough bakes better after having sat in the refrigerator at least 24 hours, you will have even BETTER cookies straight from the oven! Our dough has kept 1-2 weeks in the fridge.

(And ANOTHER wonderful trick is make a batch of plain chocolate chip cookie dough. Sprinkle your plastic wrap with cinnamon sugar and roll up the some of the dough in it for snickerdoodles. Add chocolate chips to another portion of the dough, and maybe mini peanut butter cups to another and in just one batch, you’ll end up with several different kinds of cookies. Cuts out a lot of time and ingredients!)

TRICK #4

DAUGHTERS + EARRINGS = FUN

ME + DAUGHTERS + EARRINGS = ZERO FUN SIR

STICKERS + DAUGHTERS + ME = GREATEST KIDS EARRINGS EVER

My 6 year old has been begging for earrings for about 4 years. She knows that she can choose to get earrings when she turns 12, but not sooner. She was given the most beautiful pair of clip on earrings when she turned 6, but one got lost in a rain storm shortly thereafter. Sad.

When I was visiting some friends and saw her daughter’s ears…I got SO excited! Simple solution and makes my daughter happy and my wallet very happy.

All you do is take little stickers and pop them on the ear and pretend they’re earrings! No, they don’t last forever, but who cares!? The girls love them and I do too.

There you have it! I can just picture you jumping for joy!