Hacks

I had a stroke of brilliance the other day, which is the inspiration for this post. We've all seen those "5,000 DIY Hacks to Make Your Life Amazing and Perfect" posts floating around the web.  This is one of those.  Except there are only 5 of them.  And they won't make your life amazing and perfect.  But you might be able to temporarily remove the "Asylum" nameplate from your front door.

Let's get to it.

1. Loom Bracelet Cup IDs: This was my little minute of genius.  I'm sure that you will be amazed and that Mensa will be knocking down my door as soon as I publish this.  Because we are very fancy, we stock our kitchen with those free cups that you get from local restaurants.  The down side to this life of glitz and glamour is that all the cups look alike.  And my kids use 25 cups per day because they can't remember which one was theirs.

Enter the loom bracelets.  We also have 75 million of these beauties laying around the house.  So find you a cool pattern, slide it on your cup, and now you know which cup to pour the vodka juice in.  The kids also know that if it doesn't have a band on it, it's going in the dishwasher because you are obviously done with it, thus helping with the daily accumulation on the counter. 

Ok.  So obviously those three cups all look different, but you get the idea.

2. Laundry Baskets For Stuff That Isn't Laundry: We have a lot of people in our family.  Plus I babysit another little person.  So I am usually packing paraphernalia for at least 6 people.  We have a laundry basket that I keep packed for things we do on the regular: pool, soccer games/practice, etc.  We spend less time tracking down swimsuits, pool toys, and soccer cleats and more time beating the other people there so we can get to the good chairs.  Also you look super cool toting a laundry basket around, so there's that.

3. Sock Bags: I made a bold Facebook pronouncement the other day that I was finished matching socks for all eternity.  So far, this remains true.  I labeled plain old grocery bags with each family member's name (one for each person.)  When I do laundry, if socks are easily matchable I match them, otherwise I just determine the owner and stick them in the corresponding bag.  If you want to match your own socks, be my guest--they're in the bag.  The only exception to this is Luke, since he is not quite 6 months old.  But we'll be working on his sock ID skills soon.  The kid's gotta earn his keep.  You could get all fancy and use real mesh laundry bags for this, or a basket or something.  But we reserve all our fancy for our free tableware.  Also I know some people advise throwing all the socks out and starting over with all one kind.  And I want to.  I really do.  But the one frugal bone in my body cries out against wasting perfectly good socks.

4. Van Supplies: I keep stuff in my van all the time, kind of like the laundry baskets idea.  I have a box up front with tissues, baby wipes, sunscreen, bug spray, hats, and snacks.  I also always keep a lawn blanket in the back.  This allows us to take spur of the moment park trips or go on play dates or what have you without worrying.  And my kids are monsters in the car, so snacks are a must.  I have already opened that Pandora's box, so there's no going back now.  I try to buy things that are easy to distribute quickly and without mess.  And by that I mean beef sticks that I can throw into their cages car seats to stop them from shouting, fighting, and foaming at the mouth. 

5. Crib TV: In a desperate move, I bought a TV for Luke's crib.  Calm down.  It's not really a TV.  It's just a thing that you strap on the side that lights up and plays music for 20 minutes or so...he can't tune in to Fallon or The Walking Dead or anything.  Too bad.

But...it appears to be working.  I can't type that too loud or he'll hear it and make me pay.  Today he actually put himself to sleep in his crib twice with minimal work on my part.  We will see.  I blogged about it, so the fates have officially been tested.  

So there you have it, folks.  If you want real hacks that help you hide unsightly cords in your living room or turn old jeans into shoes or something, you'll have to ask someone else.  

**UPDATE** No sooner did I type this post then Luke woke up.  Fates, you win.