7 ways to NOT be late in the mornings

So there are only 7 sleeps until Christmas, and I don't know about you but time is really of the essence right now.  With nativities to attend, presents to wrap, parties to attend (alright, "party", let's not get over excited) and endless chores to get done saving a minute here or there can make a real difference.

Sometimes, it doesn't matter how early you set your alarm, or how prepared you think you are, the universe conspires against you to make you late.  It only takes a split second to miss your train, or bus, or tube and often that will make the difference as to whether you make your meeting, or gets the children to school on time, or make your first pilot-training session... Who knows right?

So how do you save time?

1. Reduce the travelling.  By this I mean, the numerous times you end up charging backwards and forwards through your apartment, or up and down the stairs of your house to fetch lippy, your purse, your phone.  It sounds obvious but have a place for everything that makes sense and always put things back where they live.

2. Pack your handbag the night before. It's like being back at school isn't it? But it works. If you mess about swoping handbags around in a morning you will be a) late and b) annoyed you left something in the other bag.

Morning Chaos! When the children just WON'T let you out.

Picture Credit: Truewoman.com

What's the worse thing your child has ever done to delay your progress in the morning? More specifically; to delay your progress first thing in the morning when you are, as usual, running late anyway and need to take them to school and nursery before getting yourself (dressed) to work.

My morning rush today included an impromptu bath and a hair drying session.  Hmmmm.  Not what you'd expect when the girls had a bath last night which included the full shampoo and conditioner treatment.  The problem, I think, is that they are now pretty independent and that lulls me into an unfortunate sense of security.

My problems started when I sent them into the bathroom to brush their teeth.  5 minutes.  Tops.  That's how long they were in there whilst I popped in my contact lenses and did my makeup in my bedroom.  5 minutes is all it took to turn them from two dressed and ready to go to school & nursery children into one "nude, stood in the bath with soap all over her, but no water," child and 1one "surreptitiously stirring a mixture of goodness knows what bath products in the bowl," child.

Obviously I was fairly taken aback.

"What are you doing?" I stupidly asked, as if it wasn't obvious that they were clearly having a bath and mixing a potion respectively 10 minutes before we are due to pile into the car.

I didn't panic.  Much.  They had luckily had enough fun and Younger (the one in the bath) was getting cold and was pretty keen to get out.  So I quickly rinsed her off with a sponge, lifted her out, wrapped her in a towel and asked the Elder to help get the Younger's dress and leggings on whilst I finished getting dressed.

The recovery was good.  I went downstairs and the Elder followed me.  The first thing I noticed about the Younger when she followed us was that she didn't have her leggings on.  The second thing I noticed was that she had very, very, very white legs.

"What have you done?" I asked stupidly, as it was obvious they'd decided that talc was required and had been very generous in the application.  The Elder rolled her eyes.

Luckily, the excess talc came off easily and the Younger happily carried on getting those leggings on.

OK, I am thinking.  We are still on schedule.  Excellent work.  Crisis averted.  Super mummying.

I hadn't quite counted on the sneaky nature of the Elder's morning sabotage.

It was time to quickly plait the Elder's hair.  Hmmmm.  Why is the top of her hair all greasy and smells fruity?  Could it be that in the potion-making stage upstairs she decided to condition her own hair?  Without water?  In just one spot?

Of course it did.

I had to quickly walk her to the nearest sink, rinse her hair to the best of my ability with her leaning back over the sink, so that her school uniform didn't get drenched.  Then hold the hair up, to avoid dripping, whilst she walked through to the lounge, to quickly dry it with a hair dryer.

How we got to school and nursery on time this morning I have NO IDEA.  Perhaps it was recompense for the ridiculous amount of rain!

So what's the best 'delaying tactic' your children have ever used?

5 Quick Ironing Tips - For Busy Women

So you've barely got time to throw on the lippy in the morning, never mind get all those clothes ironed.  How can you speed up the process to leave yourself time for a cuppa?

1.  Prioritise 

When you haven't got time to iron the shirts, how do you think you've got time to mess about ironing those tea towels, or that under sheet for your eldest's bed?  Scrap that!  Tea towels should be folded and put away as soon as they are dry - no ironing required.  Under sheets?  Come on!  You are going to lie on them and they'll be hidden under the duvet anyway.  Fold them and go.  The same goes for children's vests, pants (knickers, not trousers), socks, tights, pyjamas and, if you can bear it, pillow cases and top sheets.  Most of these items won't be seen and those that will won't retain creases for long.  I know some folk who iron the gusset of pants to get rid of bacteria.  I figure that if I've cleaned them properly it shouldn't be an issue.

2.  Don't Over-dry

Over the winter months our clothes inevitably end up on dryers next to the radiator.  This is an effective way of drying clothes, but the tendency is for them to over-dry.  Cotton based clothes like men's shirts can be a nightmare to iron when they are over-dry.  The best plan is to get them off that dryer the second they are dry.  In fact, they should be very slightly moist and should be ironed as quickly as possible once they are off that dryer.

3.  Use Water

You need a water spray bottle to get those 'over-dry' sections moist before ironing them.  And if you have a steam iron, use it!  Water is your best friend.  You need enough so that the crease is wet before you iron it, and dry afterwards.

4.  Foil

Get a reflective ironing board cover.  They reflect the heat back up to the underside of the material.  Lining the underside of your own cover with foil has much the same effect and is cheaper.

5.  Go Large

Use the largest ironing board you can cope with.  The added space will allow the clothes to sit on top without slipping and allow you to iron bigger sections before having to more the clothes along.


And with that folks; off you go for that cuppa!

New Year, New Tips: How to get out of the house on time.

Wondering how to get out of the house on time in the morning with two children to get ready as well as yourself?

I've finally worked this one out. Unfortunately the biggest contributing factor to success is waking up at a sufficiently early hour. When the children having been waking up in the night, it's all to tempting to stay in bed until they wake up. Especially when their usual hour of waking is about 6am! I find that sleeping in with them when they choose to, results in a more rested mummy, but requires huge speed to catch up and get out of the door! So I guess it's your call.

In our house I have worked out that I need to have both children downstairs eating breakfast by 7am at the latest. Then it's upstairs to change and dress the youngest whilst the eldest plays; into the shower by 7.30am, out by 7.45am, dress eldest and myself by 7.50am, makeup by 7.55am and downstairs by 8am. If I hit the 8am target I can then dry my hair properly whilst they play for a while, check we have the bags ready, get shoes, coats, hats, scarfs and gloves on, and get them out of the door by 8.30am. By the time I've dropped them off at respective nurseries and driven to work it's 9.15/9.30am if I'm lucky.

For those of you without children this will sound like a ridiculously long time to be awake before arriving at work! Up at 6.30am. At work by 9.30am? That's 3 hours for goodness sake!

Yes; and you'll often spend 20 minutes repeatedly putting on stubborn child's coat because the second you turn your back they've taken it off. Which fool designed a coat with 'poppers' down the front? Probably a pal of the mummy who keeps dressing the child in said coat because it's pretty and goes in the washing machine easily!

Other tricks to reduce 'crazy' moments in the morning include:

• Laying out your makeup, contact lenses, perfume, and work outfit, the night before; ensuring to select shoes, lingerie and jewelry that work with the outfit as well. I've been caught out all too often, having selected a white shirt for work the night before, only to find in the morning that the required white bra is in the wash!
• Packing the children's bags with spare outfits, nappies, hats/scarfs/gloves, etc the night before and placing by the front door,
• Selecting the children's outfits the night before. (I fail on this one more often than not!)

I'm also finding that allowing the elder to 'help' with my makeup actually speeds things up. She just gets to put a tiny dab of neutral eyeshadow on for me (gently!) and will stand waiting patiently for her makeup moment for a good few minutes, allowing the rest of the makeup to go on without hitch.

I hope some of that helps!? And if you have any other helpful tips on the morning rush, let me know!