Wall Mounted Hair Dryer

I had grown weary of find a good spot for the hairdryer in our main bathroom. Its neatest incarnation was with the cord wrapped around the handle and then placed in a basket on the counter. That, of course, meant having to unwrap and replug the cord every time we used it. Leaving it plugged in and resting on the counter was ugly and potentially hazardous with 2 young boys in the house. I loved the convenience and safety of the wall mounted dryers that are ubiquitous in hotel rooms nowadays, and I thought we could surely find something similar for our bathroom. It wasn't easy as no local retailers carried such a thing. Eventually I found a dealer online who hooked us up with an Andus wall mounted dryer. Jason installed it and it is always handy, but never in the way.

Hand Towel Ring

Our small half-bath doesn't have a towel bar and our plaster walls are notoriously hard to mount things upon, so we've never tried to mount a nice one. We've been using a 3M hook with their Command adhesive strip. It sticks to the walls well, but also comes off easily without leaving a mark or residue. We have several by the front door for coats, keys, umbrellas, etc. However, their slick plastic surface doesn't grab onto hand towels well.

Jason and I can usually balance them on the hook, but the boys struggle which usually leaves the towel crumpled on the floor underneath the hook. To fix this, I sewed a white plastic ring onto the towels. The ring fits on the hook, so the boys can easily hang up the towels.

Neck Pillows for Headbands

I found that a neck pillow is a great way to keep my headbands together. They don't get tangled. They are easy to view and grab when I'm rushing around in the morning. I can throw the whole thing quickly in a drawer, but it is pretty enough to leave out.

Denture-Style Toothbrush Cleaning

To clean the grime of old toothpaste off of our toothbrushes, I invert them in a cup of water and drop in two effervescent denture cleaning tablets before I go to bed. In the morning, I rinse them off, and they're good to go.

Car Coupon Organizer

I used to keep coupons in a plastic card file, but it was clunky to take to the store. I went to Office Max and found a small accordion-style file folder. I've divided it up into sections by the most popular stores I shop at and then some general categories. Besides coupons, I keep gift cards and shopping lists, gift ideas, etc. there. I keep it between the 2 front seats in my minivan and at long stoplights I will often sort through it, looking for expired coupons. It's always there when I need it and I save lots of money having these handy.

Hanging Easter Eggs

We've seen these around town, so this year we decided to hang plastic easter eggs from a little tree in front of our house that had yet to bud or bloom due to our late Spring. It made the barren tree much more festive. I threaded kitchen twine through holes in the bottoms of the eggs with a "needle" that I made out of a doubled over length of thin wire. I knotted the two ends of the twine together inside the eggs to make a loop of twine. I closed the eggs and hung them on the tree. They can be saved for next year as long as the twine holds up.

Lime Guacamole

I found that squeezing fresh lime juice on my homemade guacamole helps preserve the color and tastes great. I typically mash up one ripe avacado, mix in a dash of granulated garlic, kosher salt and ground pepper to taste, and then squeeze a quarter lime wedge over the whole thing.

Pool Noodle in Bed

My husband found this post about traveling with kids, suggesting to bring a pool noodle along to slip under the sheet at the edge of the bed to give kids a reminder not to roll off the bed. My 3 year-old is sleeping in his old converted crib. It has three walls and is open on the front. Like his brother, he likes to sleep on the edges of the bed; so, we bought one of those bedrails that slips under the mattress, but only extends partway down the bed, giving him a spot to climb into bed from. He prefers to sleep with entire body on the pillow across the width of the bed - but lately, he's gotten too long to do that. This meant his head was getting shoved into the net portion of the bedrail, making him look like a fish caught in a net. I've coaxed him into lying lengthwise now. Yesterday I removed the rail and slipped in a pool noodle we bought. After a nap and a full night in bed, it seems to be working.

Mommy Tips: The Blog

I've found, developed, stolen, or otherwise obtained numerous little tips that help make my day more efficient and running smoothly. The smoother things go, the more time I have to spend with the kids and the more sanity I have left at the end of the day. After debuting them on our family web site, I'm going to post them here to their own blog. Please feel free to disagree or add new ideas in the comments section.
-Becky