Make the most of your segregated food containers

   When I cook Mexican food such as, tacos, burritos, enchiladas or taquitos, I cook a lot of sides.  Normally we have rice, beans and corn of varying types.  Not to mention fixings like lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream.  These dinners result in plenty of leftovers.  Instead of packing up all those sides and fixings in individual containers, I use a large lunch container with segregated spots for food.  

   Here is an example of lasts nights meal.  We had enchiladas with white rice, refried beans and kernel corn.  I put the enchiladas in the largest section, the beans and corn in a small one, and the rice in the last section. 

   This saves space in your fridge, and in your dishwasher.  It also saves time by having everything together in one spot.  

   Try this for large meals, like thanksgiving dinner.  Or for leftovers that have multiple layers of food.  Using these types of containers can also be a easy way to portion out leftovers so there are still some left when you go to use them. 

   Enjoy this momma hack for making the most out of segregated food containers.

Trash bags

  My mom has been using this momma hack all my life, or longer.  Store a few trash bags in the bottom of your trash can.  Remembering to put in a bag is much easier when they are within easy reach.  This is useful for kids, teenagers or other family member who are easily distracted, or forgetful.

  If you use sturdy bags, you won't have to worry about them leaking and making the other bags messy.  I love this momma hack.  Something so simple, but such a time saver.  Enjoy!

Another use of vinegar

Vinegar removes the smell of urine.  Use it in your washing machine with urine soaked bed sheets and bed clothes to wash out the smell.  Use it in a spray bottle to remove the smell from pet accidents.  A vinegar odor is more pleasant than a urine odor and will eventually dissipate.   

A simple way to stop the breakfast fiasco

    Breakfast time in my house was a nightmare.  "What do you want for breakfast?"  "I don't know, let me look..."  Five minutes later my highly distractable son would be someplace other than the kitchen table, not eating breakfast.  "Okay, here just eat a granola bar because we are running out of time."  "No!  I don't want a granola bar."  "Then what do you want?"  "I don't know, let me look..."  Repeat this cycle until we were both frustrated, and he was eating who knows what, if anything.  

    Does this sound like your house?  Do you wish you could serve healthier breakfasts, but you don't know how to get your family to eat them?  Are you tired of serving cold Pop Tarts while walking to the bus stop?

Breakfast Cards

    There is a solution and it is super simple!  Breakfast cards!  I can't take credit for this idea, I read it someplace a couple months ago, and I thought it was a great idea. 

    Here's what you do.  Write down all the breakfast options you want your child to choose from on index cards.  Create two categories for these cards, and color code them.  The categories I use are; Grains/main dish (Green) and Sides/fruit (Yellow). Every morning I take a quick glance through the cards, removing the things we don't have, and I give the stack of cards to my son.  He then chooses one card from each category, and I make what he chooses.  No matter how crazy it might be to me; waffle and a piece of cheese, breakfast taco and oranges, muffin and peanut butter, I try to uphold his request.

    Why does this stop the fighting?  Because now he has a structured choice.  He has always had a choice, but those options were overwhelming.  Too many choices and he couldn't make a decision.  Plus it is a decision I can be happy about, because I've already set up the parameters of what he can and can't have.  There have been some days where he is so distracted that he can't focus long enough to pick 2 cards.  Some prompting from mom can normally bring him back around.  There are also days where he decides he wants 4 side items, which happened this morning.  I simply remind him he HAS to pick a green card too because those are the most important.  When he picks the main dish, I let him choose 2 of his 4 sides.  A little give and take.  

    How does this make serving healthy breakfasts easier?  Because you control what is on the cards, and which cards to give.  Write down things like; whole grain waffles, oatmeal, 7 grain muffins, apples, pears, applesauce, yogurt parfaits....you get the idea.  On specials days you can include those special items.  

    These cards have been a life saver to me.  We've been using them for a month and a half, and they make school day mornings bearable for us.  I don't use them every day, but most days.  Some mornings I'll feel really motivated and I will cook something without him asking for it.  When I do, I still let him choose the side item that he wants, so he still has a choice.  My son went from eating pop tarts every morning to now eating breakfast tacos and oranges.  I hope this momma hack is something you find inspirational and can easily be put into practice with your family.  

Here are the things I've written on my cards if you need some ideas:
GREEN- Grains/main dish
eggs, breakfast taco, cornbread, bagel,waffle, toast, crackers, cereal, biscuits/rolls, muffins, pancakes, smoothies.  
YELLOW- Side items
peanut butter, raisins, cheese, bacon, apple, yogurt, frozen berries, jelly, banana, oranges, pears, applesauce.  

Wrinkly shirt?

Here is a quick momma hack before I head out today.  Last Friday Quiver needed to wear his school shirt for spirit day.  When I found the shirt it was clean but very wrinkly.  I decided to try out this life hack I had read recently.  If you have a wrinkly shirt, toss it in the dryer with a couple of ice cubes for 5 minutes and it will come out wrinkle free.

So, I tried it and it did take out the wrinkles.  However, it left a few wet spots on the shirt that quickly dried.  And I am sure if I had left it in the dryer for a few more minutes, those wet spots would have been taken care of.  Next time I try it, I will do it for 8-10 minutes.  But it works if you are in a hurry and don't want to iron.  I think I should also test this on my husbands dress shirts for work.  I will post those finding when I've tested them.  Here are some pictures.  Enjoy a momma hack for a wrinkly shirt.

How do you feel about socks?

Our original missing sock basket

   I hate socks.  I hate wearing socks. I hate washing socks.  I especially hate folding socks!  My mother can testify to this, as she has volunteered to fold my families socks.  But what I really loath, is missing socks. Those one or two socks left over after a load of laundry that have no mate.  In my house, those socks get lost in the shuffle and I end up rewashing clean socks or losing them completely.  After a while, I got really tired of just hanging on to those socks with no way of knowing if I'd ever find their mates.

   That frustration, prompted me to find a solution.  The missing socks basket.  I went to my local dollar store, purchased a small plastic basket that was big enough to hold a couple dozen socks.  After a large washing day, when I had a lot of socks left, I put all those left over socks into that basket.  I put the basket on the top shelf of my linen closet, where I didn't have to look at it.  When I found single socks, I just tossed them into the basket. Once a month or so I would take down the basket and see if I found any matches among the singles.

   This solution solved several problem at once.  Problem #1, what to do with those unmatched socks.  Toss them into a basket, no need to think or worry about them.  Problem #2, will I ever find the matches to these socks?  YES!  If there is still a mate around the house somewhere, using this basket will find it.  And after the sock has been in the basket for several months, if you can't find its mate then you probably never will.

    Once we moved in with my mom, our system had to changed.  Now, since my mom folds our socks she uses just a plastic grocery bag and keeps them in her closet to deal with.  Below is our current sock situation.  We don't wear socks in the summer, and thus I don't care about folding socks during the summer.  That plastic bag has our mismatched socks from the spring, it's time to get folding for the fall.

    My mom recently told me a story about a mom friend of hers who also hates folding socks.  It was nice to know I wasn't the only mom who hated socks.  I hope this momma hack can serve some of you moms well.

What to do with the end of watermelon?

    My boys love fruit.  Recently I was persuaded to buy a watermelon, against my better judgement.  Watermelon have an extra long life in my house.  For the first few days, we eat watermelon with practically every meal.  Then, when about one quarter of the watermelon is left, it gets pushed to the back of the fridge, and forgotten about.  Until one day I get tired of looking at it, and toss it in the trash, whether or not it is still good.   I am just too lazy to cut anymore watermelon.

   Not this time.  It was all eaten!  For the first time in 8 years, we've eaten all the watermelon.  Along my travels on the internet I read someone say they used an ice cream scoop to scoop out the remaining watermelon when they don't want to cut it anymore.  I thought this was a brilliant idea.  Why hadn't I thought of this before?  

    Turns out that watermelon is very easy to scoop and my kids didn't mind round watermelon shapes.  I think it even tasted better.  I didn't have to waste my time cutting perfect little rectangles, I didn't have to get out my cutting board or any knives.  Easy clean up too!  I will be using this momma hack for a long time to come.  Next time you by watermelon, try it!  

Watermelon Ice Cream Scoop

Empty Watermelon

Scoops of watermelon

You've heard of life hacks, haven't you?  It is where people take every day items and use them in new, repurposed, upcycled or creative ways for help make daily life better.  I love life hacks.  I love seeing all the useful ways that people can reuse things.  My favorite life hack would have to be using a platstic square bread tie to hold a broken flip flop thong in place.  I used that one a lot this summer, I even kept spares in my purse in case I was out and my shoe broke. 

I don't think I am creative enough to come up with these great life hacks on my own, but sometimes we have a good idea in this house that works really well for us.  I want to share these ideas with my fellow mommies in hopes that you find something useful to put into practice.

I am a 30 year old mommy with two rowdy boys, an 8 year old and a 2 year old.  I live with my husband and my mother in Southern California.  I hope you enjoy my mommy hacks and can find some useful.