A Few of My New Favorite Things

Each month I hear about cool new products, teaching tools, expert-approved little tips that I like to remember, so I thought I’d share a few of them here around the beginning of each month and maybe have a slim chance of remembering them because I can’t keep a dern thing bouncing around my brain once I walk 5-feet in any direction from the point of input.

• I love, love, love to coupon! I've been couponing since I was in grade school and mom let me keep the rebate checks if I collected all the box tops and receipts. One of my fave new sites is www.grocerysmarts.com. Click on your state and it will run down the best coupons by store, where to print them or what flyer they arrived in at your mailbox. It's a super simple way to save cash without the tedious coupon hunting. I spent $7 on 10 items at a recent quick stop at Walgreens (didn't have the twins, so it was a luxury) and got L'Oreal shampoo and conditioner free!!! (I know, I really have to work on my photo skills.)
  
  
• I'm always looking for new ways to keep the kids occupied/obeying the dictator that is mommy. This came from a parenting magazine: Wake the kids with a riddle! You just give them one line after each a.m. accomplishment; i.e. making beds (who does that unless MIL is coming?), brushing teeth, peeing in that terrifying monster in the tiled room…Then give them the answer when they sit down to breakfast, or, after they have eaten half of breakfast, or just one bite of each offering, OK, just one bite of protein. Here's a quick few to help get you and your little ones out the door: Where do fish keep their cash? In a Riverbank! What walks all day on its head? A nail in a horseshoe!
• I've always known there was a good reason to hoard those free pizza magnets. Stick one on the car door as a reminder for that field-trip waiver or to load up the diaper bag before the 2-hour car trip to grandma's. When you go to open the car door, the placement of the tiny magnet can save loads of time in the morning running back and forth for paperwork, change of clothes, the kids. And if you’re really crafty, you can coat the magnet in chalk paint and write those really important but easily forgettable things on the tiny magnet, which I think is better. Looking at that magnet with keys in hand tempts me to swing by said pizza place. Here's a recipe for DIY chalk paint from www.inmyownstyle.com.
• I want to make this using felt! A customized clock with tiny pics of toothbrush, pants, breakfast, school house to get the kids motivated about what's happening that day. Every morning I get grilled on what the plans are for the day, and when. Put each on a velcro backing, just rip pics out of old mags, so you can switch it out as they graduate from library time to karate or ballet class, and then tiny lips with an X over it for quiet time (next to a glass of wine if it's after 8 p.m.!).

Share your tips with us! The twins and I would love to hear how you get through your day with love, laughter, lack of whining and a semblance of sanity!