Mom LifeIf you are anything like I was, you sit down at the beginning of the week with the best of intentions to get organized as a mom and make your list of things you’ll need that week.
Groceries, check!
Diapers, check!
Butt paste, check!
A new glue stick, check!
You’re geared up mentally, you prepare snack cups full of the things you know will stave off the hangry, and you load up the kids to hit the stores to buy everything your family needs for the week.
That’s not so bad…if that was the end of it.
But you know it isn’t.
There is the unloading and loading of kids at each store, the constant power struggles, the unloading the bags with the kids under your feet at the end…but none of that is the worst part to me.
The worst is the moment, less than a day later usually, when I realize I forgot something. Which means another trip out to the stores. Another round of loading and unloading…and for just ONE item.
Well mama, brace yourself, because I realized that I was doing the errand day shuffle for no reason. When I learned about this option, it changed my daily life. I consider this to be my best organizational tool as a mom.
Are you ready for it? Here it is…
Related: 9 Quick and Clever Mealtime Hacks for Busy Moms
Best Organizational Tools for Moms
You can shop online, have it delivered to your doorstep and spend less than you will at a conventional store. These are my top 3 online shopping resources to get the best deal and save your sanity.
Amazon Prime
I’m pretty sure my family keeps the UPS man in business because once I joined Amazon Prime I basically stopped shopping in the store, except for groceries.
The problem with online shopping is that you need the item quick right?
Before, I didn’t have time to wait a couple weeks to get what I needed. But when I realized Amazon will ship the item to me, FREE, in 2 days? Problem solved.
Real life scenario: We are getting dangerously low on butt paste, I’m in the middle of a crazy day and chances are I’m not going to remember this in 10 minutes. No problem, I finish changing the diaper I’m working on, whip out my phone, open the Amazon app and select the Amazon Prime product I want.
Now, in the matter of a couple minutes maximum, I ordered the one item it would have taken me 30 minutes (on a good day) to go to the store and grab AND it will arrive on my doorstep (even better than a drive through) in two days!
Amazon Subscribe and Save
Would you believe me if I said it gets even easier than the scenario I just told you about? Well, for the items we know we are going to use always subscribe and save makes it effortless. Talk about saving time!
The added bonus is that it’ll save you money too! Amazon offers a discount when you subscribe to an item. I started by subscribing to diapers, pull ups and wipes to save time and money. And then it hit me.
One day I was walking through the grocery store, kids in the cart, groceries in the cart, almost to the frozen food and I realized I still had room in my cart for more groceries! Those clunky diaper and wipe boxes weren’t filling up half of my cart anymore because they are arriving automatically at my doorstep every month!
So. Much. Easier! So I started subscribing and saving on toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues…get all those clunky items out of my cart! There are over 50,000 products you can subscribe and save to.
Plus, once you subscribe to five items, Amazon will give you an additional discount. Who doesn’t want to shop easier and cheaper?
Target REDcard
The grocery store that I shop at doesn’t carry kids floss and eye makeup remover is something I’m just kind of picky about. I had to make an additional trip to Target on top of my Grocery trips and Amazon clicks.
Until I realized that with my Target REDCard I could always get FREE shipping and they don’t increase the price of the items online or require you to buy a certain amount of the item in order to get the free shipping! (Actually with the REDCard you always get 5% off of your entire purchase from Target so you save money.)
So I downloaded the Target app, plugged in my info and now when the kids floss is running low, I just open my app, find their floss and buy it with my REDCard to ship to my house!
It does take longer to receive the item than Amazon Prime because it doesn’t have the Free Two-Day shipping, but there have been a bunch of things that I either want in the Target brand or are cheaper at Target so I buy them there and in a week or two they arrive at my doorstep.
I do this with basically everything: we need a new glue stick? The baby is running low on training toothpaste? My son’s shoes are starting to get a little snug? No problem – I’ll order it from Target. And I love getting the extra 5% discount!
Another gem?
Anytime you get something you don’t love from Target, you always have the option of just returning in the store. I did this when I was trying to decide which curtains to buy and bought a couple different panels from Target to see what looked the best.
And I always do this when I actually get a chance to shop for me – because you know I’m not going to drag the kids in the changing room at Target, it made it so easy: order online, try on at home! I keep what I love, return to the store what I don’t love.
I’m not sure how my mother survived parenting little ones without the digital age! This has saved me so much time, money, and sanity! So go for it mama, start streamlining your shopping and instead of spending all of your time getting everyone in and out of the car, implement this simple organizational tool and start trying out some of those self-care activities you’re always dreaming of…
Hi, have you heard of Amazon Prime Now! Where Amazon deliver to you within 2 hours of your order!! I love this service for the emergencies!!