Life: Hacked!

Money is tight- i am pretty sure ALMOST every single person i know can honestly say this exact sentence about their family. SO i am sure that no person would pass up on a few life tips that I have found makes my life easier and SAVES ME MONEY! now these are all my opinions and if you have more ideas or things just didn't work for you let me know!

Trisha- you will LOVE this!

(Warning: lots of tangents, sorry if it's hard to follow)

CHILDREN HACKS:

 life with a kid is fun, messy, filled with laughter and always entertaining. i personally would prefer to spend my time playing with my kid and not trying to cook, clean or miss out on anything. I would also prefer to spend or save money for fun activities and other things... but alas children cost money/time and i am always trying to save a penny where i can when kids are involved!

1. MINI MUFFIN TINS!

    i mentioned this in a previous post, but they are a lifesaver with kids (and husbands who eat EVERYTHING in sight) around. i babysit whenever i can and having two little ones i ended up wasting a lot of food (they dump on the floor or shove in their pockets-gross- and refuse to eat perfectly yummy food because they are kids and that's what happens). i forget they eat much smaller portions (ok my daughter eats a ton, but not all at once, instead she eats 5 small meals and a couple small snacks not 3 adult portioned meals). I make a ton of different things and they are all itty bitty portions, perfect for kids ages 1-5 (update from previous post, thanks for the ideas, i have been baking a ton of different things and things are getting easier for meals). For meals would have 2-3 different "muffins" and no wasting food! snacks are just a quick muffin. the best part is one batch of things makes 24-55 muffins. that means i can cook once a week in my mini muffin tins and baggie for each day of that week and put the rest in baggies labeled and freeze them! this way if i get sick or lazy i have mini meals frozen for the future. Best part, is when kel comes home from work and eats EVERYTHING in sight he will grab a couple instead of the whole cake and it saves up money and time and food plus helps him not eat an entire cake! Here are 10 fun mini muffin ideas/variety of things you can make in mini muffin tins!
1. meatballs/ mini meat loaves- Turkey, chicken, beef, deer (this was the other day, actually really good) mixed with all sorts of seasonings and sauces.
2. mini pasta balls- pasta and a variety of sauces mixed in and baked mini muffin style. use an egg to bind thins together and this is perfect for hiding veggies in under the sauce.
3. veggie muffins- puree your veggies, add some flour (i use whole wheat flour and cornmeal usually) and bake. cecelia hate most veggies but will eat anything that looks like a muffin, FOR THE WIN!
4. actual muffins- bananas, pumpkin, apple, berry, whole wheat, cornbread (with a hot dog bit int eh middle and mini corn dogs- mind blown)
5. breakfast omelet (not for cecelia, but everyone else)- add your fav omelet ingredients, bake until fluffy and YUMMY! a ready to go breakfast all week that you can eat on the road with one hand
6. shredded potato muffins- i mash up potatoes, again hide some veggies, bake and YUM! also works with hash browns from the freezer an egg to bind them, cheese and veggies.
7. cobblers- enough said, great portion controlled desserts, eat two and be done
8. cupcakes- again portion controlled and yummy!
9.  mini pizzas- throw in some homemade pizza crust, cheese, pepperoni and sauce, or chicken and cheese and bbq sauce- bake and YUM
10. fruit snacks- i make homemade ones and use the muffin tins as molds, i grab one for cecelia and off we go. plus then it's fresh fruit and she can eat them guilt free

2.  play room-

    this seems like a "duh" and no brainer but you would be SO surprised how many people i know who don't have one set room that is COMPLETELY child proof (in every way) that they can have their kid go play and NOT be in the room with them AT ALL TIMES! ours is in the basement and now that she can walk and get my attention if needed verbally i can let her play while i go do laundry or take something upstairs and she is contained, entertained and unable to hurt herself. no TV or cords to play with, nothing she could fall off and hurt herself, and everything in large bins for easy clean up.  This saves time and about once a week i rearrange the bins ever so slightly and she thinks there are all new toys each week! less toys needed saves money and TIME- she can play and i can actually get something done instead of chasing her from all the death traps that are an ever present hazard!

3. well put together photo albums- 

   this seems stupid, and honestly a year ago i would have mocked me. but on hard days when cecelia is screaming or i am jealous of others people's seemingly perfect lives or just feeling beyond blessed i take a moment to open my wedding album, cecelia's scrapbook or photo book and look through. the hard times are so much easier when there are visual reminders of the best of times. If you don't have time to make one call me and i would LOVE to do it for you! At least once i day i have to look through pictures for one reason or another and they have helped me through the darkest time in my life. They are literally my light at the end of every tunnel. Yet i know SO MANY PEOPLE who don't have time, money or desire to put together a simple photo book! it's worth the couple of hours and $20! Cheap version if to put pictures in order on the computer for a slide show! Sign up for shutterfly and wait for a coupon then make one online for cheap(er). So much cheaper than a therapist when i am just an emotional (read as irrationally emotional) mess and need a pick me up. Plus less calories than the gallon of ice cream i'd otherwise eat (see below life hacks).

RE-USE your RECYCLE:

 stupid recyclables you would have normally thrown away, but instead i can clean them and reuse them easy peasy lemon squeezy (and save more than a quarter)!

1. empty toilet paper/paper towel rolls to keep your rolled up cords. 

   you wind up the cords, stick them through and grab them. laptop cords, cell phone chargers, etc- this was stolen from my mother-in-law and i LOVE the idea

2. gallon ice cream buckets- 

   i use one for cecelia's diapers that need rinsed (cloth diapering, fyi) to hide them and the smell. i use another one as my "mop" bucket. i keep one in the car for when i get sick (pregnancy 101). pretty much i could post 101 uses from rinsed out gallon ice cream buckets. Ice cream is SO WORTH buying it by the gallon! 

3. THIS ONE WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i got it off The Chew, it's the ONLY daytime TV show i like or watch. So much fun and even my hubby likes to watch it. start DVRing it RIGHT now because it's worth an hour of my time everyday..... save an old ketchup, mustard or bbq sauce bottle to put pancake batter in for easy to pour pancakes! 

   YUP MIND BLOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! best part is you can make your own from scratch allergy free pancake mix, put it in the bottle and leave it in the pantry then add milk/water, shake and pour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! try it, i swear pancakes will always be worth it after this!They actually make and advertise this exact thing for pancakes for $4 per container, vs having this yourself and it being 50cents each time you make a mix! plus you can make PERFECT pancakes every time without the stupid mess of pancake batter everywhere, minimum clean up is always better

4. wine bottles-

    spray paint and decorate your house! plus then you get to drink wine! and the corks have about 101 crafts you can do with wine bottles and corks! Where most recyclables look junky as decor (honestly i do NOT think it's classy to make a ghost out of a milk carton, kinda just gross and it's trash so put it in the trash) i feel like wine bottles done right can be classy. there are wine decor items made out of wine bottles that get expensive, so just DIY but do it right!

5. jelly jars= drinking glasses! buy the cute jelly in jelly jars and the glasses are prefect for kiddo drinking cups!

6. coffee creamer bottles-

   put your snacks in them (goldfish, cheerios, teddy grahams, trail mix, chex mix). they have the small creamers that are worth buying to reuse. not just for kid snacks, it fits in your purse or car cup holder. i keep one in the car for me, because there's not always food where i am going! (stick some of your mini muffin creations in there!)

7. assorted clear plastic bottles (vegetable or canola oil bottles, etc) for craft items- 

   Popsicle sticks, beads, string, ribbons, crayons, markers, etc! clear so you can see what they are and if they bust or get destroyed WHO CARES! and easy to pour the thing out without dumping them everywhere. 

8. cereal boxes- 

   magazine holders. cut the correctly and they wont be strong enough for a magazines but make things easy to sort bills and file papers or newspapers!

9. melted down glass candles and their lids- 

   ash trays. now i don't smoke or allow people to smoke around me, but i do use matches and this is where i put them. i use a large empty candle jar to hold my box of matches and a small one for used matches that are blown out.

long story short make things in mini muffin tins, organize your photos and toys, and recycle- but not until after you have used the old crap for something else! 

 oh the things you think of when you can't afford a stupid magazine holder for $10 or are sick of messed up weird shaped pancakes (seriously, BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE)!

hopefully i blew your mind at least once today! and shout out to my sister- happy birthday!