There is some stuff in life that is useless, but once you know it, well you just can’t get it out of your head. And when you realize that it is actually useful, well that’s even better. This eclectic collection of tips has come from experience on the front line, and I can say that they actually work!

With a massive focus around the world on reducing waste, it never ceases to amaze me that we ignore such useful things right under our noses. Now I am not a totally organized mom who remembers to buy the mega large bottle of ketchup to refill the family sized one, every second day! So invariably our household has a large supply of these family sized babies. Useful, you bet! From using it as a glue dispenser to my favorite, which is helping my tween and teen not leave pancake batter all over the kitchen. I have trained my aspiring cooks to use the funnel and decant their mixture into the bottle. This then allows them to either get creative with their pancake shapes, or at the very least have boring shaped pancakes.

The slime craze has personally driven me mad. I have uncovered pots of unsuccessful potions in every conceivable and inconceivable spot around our home. It drives me nuts, super nuts, but it did get me thinking. I have a super tactile, super wriggly daughter. She cannot keep still for love nor money, not that we have ever offered her any decent amounts of money. She loves slime. It is tactile and it keeps her need for movement satisfied and allows her to engage her brain. Does this sound like your little cherub too? I knew that no teacher on this planet would sanction a pot of slime during any lesson, so I got creative. Miss Wriggle now has Blu Tac in her pencil case at school. She uses this when her teacher is talking and she is not allowed to move. She uses it when she is talking and is allowed to move. She uses it when she knows it will help. It works. She is focused. And for you teachers out there, I use it in all my classes with secondary kids too!

Every now and again you stumble upon an idea that is deliciously brilliant, and this is one of them. Ice cream is one of my favorite treats, summer or winter. I can think of nothing better than sinking my chops into a double choc chip waffle cone…until it inevitably ends up down the front of my white blouse, without fail. This was simply the way it had to be if our little tribe enjoyed ice cream. That is until I discovered that a simple marshmallow squashed into the bottom of that glorious waffle cone will not only finish off my favorite treat delightfully, but save my clothes from invariable ruin! Winners all round.

I love hacks. I love trying them, I love sharing them, but most importantly I love learning new ones.