Working mum lifesaving hacks

Lucy Chesterton

Updated 13 April 2017 at 9:44 pm

Everyone knows the standard hacks to get you out of the house on time when you're a working mum. Stuff like packing lunches the night before, and getting up before the baby for your shower. But these lifesaving tips are next-level useful and the stuff I've found that (through trial and error) are actually invaluable. Read on and you'll always be on time, stress-free and you'll arrive at work with clean clothes and always have great (easy) hairstyles.

1. Dress your baby in the day’s outfit UNDER their pyjamas or their onesie the night before. Once you’ve fed them breakfast, you can strip off the dirty outer layer, add shoes, and you're ready to roll.

2. Buy a T-shirt that you can wear over your work outfit until you leave the house. This means you save getting baby’s breakfast, drool or worse on you. You’ll also avoid last-minute clothes changes.

3. Set a 'go-time' alarm on your phone that goes off ten minutes before you have to leave. When it goes off, you know it’s business time! Drop everything and hustle out the door.

4. Make it part of your weekend routine to check your Opal card is topped up or, if you drive, fill the tank with petrol. It's so frustrating missing the train by seconds, or being late because of an avoidable petrol stop.

5. If possible, put all your bags in the car the night before. If you have a partner who leaves first, ask them to always take the bags to the car on their way out the door. it's really eye-opening how much time and hassle this simple trick saves. It means your realise the night before if something is missing and you also only have to make one trip to the car in the morning.

6. Perfect a 10-second mum failsafe hairstyle (like in our video) so you always look polished with close to zero effort to avoid wasting time at home. You can walk into work at least looking presentable.

7. If you’re always forgetting stuff, try a checklist on the fridge or attaching a luggage tag to your child’s daycare bag with a list of the essentials, like extra change of clothes, lunch, security toy.

8. Double up on important items like a hat for bub, sunscreen and so on so you’re not forever unpacking and repacking and checking bub’s daycare bag. Just leave the key items in there all the time.

9. Buy a sticky bowl. These clever bowls stick to bub's hightable and can't be thrown on the ground. Babies can feed themselves dry, easy-to-clean snacks (like sultanas or cheese sticks) in the morning while you race around. No mess, no fuss!

10. Get a coffee machine and use it. Everything's easier after a coffee.

11. For advanced hacking, when you do the laundry, put complete outfits in clear ziploc bags (including underwear, socks, hair accessories), so you can pick a bag and have a whole outfit ready each day.

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