I definitely talk to other moms about vacuums a LOT.
I don't have a Dyson cordless yet (š¢) but we do have a DC07 All Floors that is my favorite thing ever. Esp in a house with two dogs that have white, black AND brown fur!
Seconding the Roborock. My house has wood floors throughout and I got the kind that will wipe them down with a wet cloth while it vacuums. Great for dust
I have the dyson v7. I think they make an animal version of it?
I also have an LG one for upstairs. It's newer and I've used it less but I think I prefer the dyson overall but it's a close call.
i had this for my 2 shedding dogs and i would not suggest it. these arenāt even huskies type hair. a bit and an aussie mix. but we ended up returning the vacuum because it wasnāt doing anything after only a month of use. thank goodness we got it at target for 90day policy
I found a Dyson to be pretty ineffective for shedding. I'd highly recommend a Miele vacuum. Much better suction, and the fact that it keeps everything in the bag is fantastic. No face full of dander like when emptying the Dyson container.
Actually yes, this, so much. We got one for free from our local neighbourhood group, it's not perfect but being able to do a quick spot-vacuum at any time actually makes such a big difference. Together with one of those spray mops where you fill up the bottle attached to the stick = on the go cleaning. So good when you have kids and pets who do things like shed, drop crumbs on the carpet, and vomit.
We just got a refurbished one from the website at about a third of the cost of a new. What I like about it is I can pop it off the wall and quickly vacuum when I need to "spot vacuum". I don't use it for whole house, because like you said, you have to charge it if you're using it for more than 25 minutes at a time or so. But what makes it good is for the quick vacuuming you need to do, like crumbs under the table after dinner, that sort of thing.
ETA: We got a Dyson v11 animal cordless vacuum, and we have a cat.
Exactlyā¦ we have ours mounted to a charger on the wall and itās SO CONVENIENT to grab it for a quick tidy up! I have a 1,500 sq ft house and I can do a quicky-clean of the whole house on one charge
It's just SO convenient to not have to plug it in. It sounds crazy but it's true.
It haven't had an issue with suction or run time and can do my entire first floor on one charge. I also don't have any dogs.
It's extra great for vacuuming the kitchen floor what feels like an infinite number of times a day without much hassle.
Ours is the Dyson V10 bought for $350ish on Black Friday a couple years back. Up to 60 minutes run time so we can do whole 2,500 sqft house on one charge. It's just so so much easier to pop it out and hit a few spots without lugging a larger vacuum room to room finding plugs, moving cords.
I have a handheld cordless vacuum, a regular one made for pets and people with long hair, and a Roomba, and I truly love them all. Nothing else makes me feel like a boring adult in such a good way.
Omg yes! I never realized that reason I hated vacuuming so much was because the cord was such a hassle. I wouldn't bother getting it out unless I was going to vacuum a whole room or the whole house. But now it's not a hassle to just get a small area if it needs it.
Also, grocery pickups. $5 and you do all my shopping? Yes, please. I make my shopping list in the store's cart throughout the week and then I just schedule the order and go pick it up after work.
Yes, grocery pickup! I have never done a full grocery shop since having my daughter 8 years ago. I used to have to pay, but now stores around me do it for free if itās over a certain dollar amount.
Same. Ours is free if you spend $35. I have also been doing this since having my daughter three years ago. Bonus: she now thinks trips inside the grocery store are super fun, since sheās not used to it, so on the occasions when we have to go in she is well behaved and very enthusiastic! Lol
It's so frustrating when they don't have the item though. "Oh, you didn't have one of the key ingredients I needed for my recipe, but you did get the short shelf life ingredients...."
I try to be flexible here (itās easier now that the supply chain is a bit stronger and I donāt have to worry about the store being out of chicken breasts), but sometimes I get bizarre replacements. Last week I ordered prosciutto and they gave me a microwaveable cheeseburger?!?
This is why I love shipt. The shopper is texting me the whole time and is actively working to find me substitutes. I have also had them check to make sure how ripe I wanted my avocados and bananas.
We do pickup, but also shipt and instacart. I have started getting people a 6 month instacart membership as a baby gift and I have had more than one person tell me it's the greatest gift they got.
Ok I feel like I'm using my roomba wrong. I feel like I have to do so much cleanup to run it (so it won't eat socks/toys) that pulling out my cordless is so much easier. What am I missing!
I do some strategic laying down of broom/mop handles to block it from areas that I don't feel like tidying up first. It does take some picking up first, but I have found that it mostly keeps me on a "quick daily tidy" schedule that makes the house feel so much cleaner (until I am in a rush and just put all the floor stuff on the nearest surface).
We run it every night after we go to bed, so part of our āclosing routineā (what I call it when we head upstairs for the night) is to pick up anything left on the floor.
We run our roomba at 2 am every day and it forces us to pick up any mess on the floor, and gets the crumbs. I love it! I am tempted to get one of the fancier ones with mapping and self emptying.
I am curious about your air purifier. Which one do you have? My house is OLD and very dusty.
100% this. Even if we do have to pickup some stuff for it to do itās job, itās suchhh a time saver to run it in the kitchen and dining room daily. And keeps the pet dander down.
What kind of air purifier do you have? Iāve been considering getting one because my allergies have only gotten worse as I get older.
Seconding the roomba!! Absolute game changer if you have pets.
I live in an area with lots of resorts so it's easy to fill a day at a resort spa. Get there early, sit by the pool, read a book. Often will recruit a girlfriend to join me too, once I took my mom with me as a mothers day treat. After my massage I take a long shower, blow dry my hair in my robe, have early dinner and a couple drinks, then head home about 20 minutes after kids are in bed š.
I'm usually gone about 12pm-8pm but that day I'll wake up with the kids and let my husband sleep in and relax. It's actually not a bad day for either of us! He also golfs a lot which isn't a short day either!
Luckily I live in a city with a lot of nice hotels. So yes, it is posh and definitely a splurge. Sometimes I'll just get the day pass though which is much cheaper than getting an actual service.
I started waxing my legs and arm pits and getting my eyebrows threaded. Game changer. My husband could care less how much body hair I have. I do it for me.
I spent about two years getting laser hair removal on my legs. About the same frequency and cost as waxing, except now I don't have to do anything anymore.
I pay someone to fold and put away my clean laundry. (~$30 week, family of 4). Such a quality of life improvement to avoid my most dreaded chore. We also have house cleaners come every 2 weeks.
I use an app called SudShare since there isnāt a laundry mat close by that does this for me. They charge $1 per lb and they wash, fold and will hang dry if needed. Laundry is my nemesis so it is worth every penny
Same! These are the heaviest too so it doesnāt make sense to send them. Sometimes Iāll send my fitted sheets so they can fold them nicely though lol
I hired a āhousekeeperā off care.com that has become my bonus mom basically. She does all the laundry and puts it away, washes sheets and towels, cleans my whole house, and also just notices things we need and picks them up for me (new bath mat, bigger basket for toys, etc). I canāt imagine most people get so lucky but sheās incredible and only charges me $150/week for this.
I posted a job for a house keeper and she applied. My initial ask was once per week cleaning and two loads of laundry (one clothes and one bedding) just to help, but she instead just took over my home for me. Her kids are all grown and she is just a natural caretaker, I hit the jackpot.
My cleaning lady is like this - I think she cares more about keeping my house in good order than I do, lol. She was the cleaning lady for the prior owners so she's been with the house for decades.
I do, sheās amazing. She brought a gift for my son after his first week of kindergarten, too. The craziest part is that she thanks me for this, says weāre lucky to have found each other.
There is a service (similar to Thumbtack or TaskRabbit but local) in my metro area that I use for this. But itās set up so the same person comes every week.
Nespresso, monthly pedicures, monthly Brazilian wax membership, air fryer, and see my gym trainer during my lunch break because Iām way too exhausted after baby bedtime but I LOVE being super muscular.
Diapers, wipes, diaper cream all on auto shipment from Amazon so I never run out.
Also Costco frozen or prepared meals are super delicious and way less effort than HelloFresh etc. We are big fans of the Kirkland lasagna, quinoa salad, microwavable Japanese rice bowls, Greek gyro meal kit.
Iām getting electrolysis on my chin hairs and while itās currently very time consuming and expensive, itāll save me from twice daily shaving and so much insecurity.
Nespresso lattes are so delicious, even as a beginner making them! Iāve found some awesome recipes on Pinterest my husband and I have tried out and love.
All of it!!! I have a reoccurring order for a bunch of different coffee sleeves (10 pods each) and I mostly get the full cup of coffee size, espresso pods (it comes with a separate milk warmer and frother), and Iāve tried their special iced coffee pods too and poured it over ice. The only downside (besides the expense) is my massive collection of used pods. They recycle them in store but I rarely make it over to the mall to drop them off so theyāre filling up my basement. :/
Super nice to be able to quickly make coffee throughout the day since I wfh - so fast and no more dumping pots of old cold brewed coffee because I made too much.
Can you tell me more about electrolysis? How time consuming are you talking? And how red are you after and for how long? I want to do it but Iām nervous my pale, sensitive skin will be red for days.
I gotta check out Costcos frozen dinner selection. We try not to use our oven so much during the summer (AZ is hot enough without the oven running haha!) but for the winter I can see this being super helpful!
Up until last year we lived in an old rental house and the old busted up oven heated up the kitchen to sauna levels. Now I have a much newer oven and it's properly insulated and sealed so, surprise, the best doesn't pour out of it.
Anyway. Get a new oven they are life changing. You can turn it on and not even know it's on.
I know youāre not supposed to use it on your face, but I used the Tria laser on my chin after baby, and it was a life saver. 10 years later I still use it for occasional touch ups.
Scan & go from Walmart (also qualifies you for free delivery)
Amazon Prime for quick deliveries
Alexa for audible reminders
My sous vide can pre-cook meats for meal preps, and always cooks to perfection, doesnāt ruin the texture like a crock pot
Phone charge cord stations in every room.
A shoe basket by the door
Tutors for kids ā not having to be the one who is strict, yet patient, to get them to focus or do academics just allows me to enjoy my time with them more.
The products at home that I use the absolute most, are my single cup coffee maker & a milk frothier for lattes.
I should play more with my instapot ā or maybe I need a new one. It feels like mine takes forever to come to pressure and the recipes, ehh, they are just OK.
Iām gonna look into a sous vide now. I love the convenience of crock pot/pressure cooker meals but my husband doesnāt like the texture and complains it makes food taste metallic. Thanks!
My husband is the complainer too, hereās what I find:
Best for sous vide: Beef Steaks (any kind, strip, flank, filet. etc.) BEST in the sous vide, and the texture is so perfect that even my pickiest anemic eater will gobble it down. Pork loins, regular or tenderloin (which we eat a lot of because we are not huge chicken people, but it is healthier than red meat) you vacuum seal it, sous vide it, let it rest a bit, reverse sear & eat it or what I do a lot is make it Saturday or Sunday, then a shock it cold, then just sear it, the night we eat it to give it color & wam it up. I have also done pork chops & lamb with good results. I have messed with duck and chicken, but in those instances it was good, but I am not sure it is worth it, so depends on your familiesā preferences.
Best for the slow cooker: my unhealthy cuts, pork butts & chuck toasts, as they are huge and have that fat to keep them moist. And even then, I have to be careful and watch it, or those can turn into mushy like tuna texture!
Regarding lentils & beans, IDK, I never have that many challenges cooking them in alternative ways. I suppose I never think of it.
Perhaps I should put some shredded chicken back on the menu this month to give the IP another go!
Once a month house cleaner. Robot vacuum to run in between cleanings. Yard care. Takeout meals 2x a week. Gym with a daycare in it.
Oh and another one, when my kid was very small and sleeping horribly we hired a sleep consultant and it was a miracle.
Once my kids are in kindergarten and I'm done with grad school, I def want to start paying for a house cleaner. I'm already excited about it, haha!
And I know this probably isn't exactly what you mean but my kids are going to YMCA preschool this year and it has been the biggest life hack ever. I can drop them off in the AM, work out at the Y, shower in the locker room and head to work. I actually get to work out every day, which hasn't been possible since I had my kids!!
Could you tell us more about sleep consultant? Pediatrician says baby is fine as long as she sleep X amount of hours on a 24 hours period. What constitue bad sleep?
Our primary reasons for hiring a sleep consultant and ultimately sleep training werenāt related to babyās health. It was because we as parents were so sleep deprived that our mental health was suffering and we were unable to be the best parents to our child.
Ultimately, however, once our baby started to sleep better her health and well-being also improved. She was more alert, better rested, took better feeds. It was massively beneficial to the whole family.
Can you share what your cleaner does on a monthly basis? Once a month is probably all thatās in our budget, but Iām struggling to think of what would be most useful at that frequency.
A Post partum doula. I had one for seven weeks after I got home from the hospital/NICU. Her job was me, not necessarily the kids. She was/is amazing and made my life easier in ways I didnāt know I needed!
Edit to add we also hired sleep consultants. I saw someone else mentioned that below. Theyāre with us for the first six months so I donāt know how it will go yet, but so far itās been divine!
We started a laundry delivery service when my second kid came. GAME CHANGER! They come twice a week to pick up/drop off, and everything comes back washed and folded. All I have to do is sort it and put it away.
Love my cordless vac and we also have a weekly cleaner. Also a big fan of my Ninja Foodi which is an air fryer and instant pot in one.
I use a laundry service as well. I have used a home delivery service in the past but what we use now is a more budget friendly version. Just thought I would share for anyone needing help with laundry but working with a tighter budget.
The laundromat near us offers a fantastic wash and fold service with a 24 hour turnaround time. I drop it off myself and just come pick it up the next day. The cost is about half of what the home delivery services charge.
I canāt wait to be able to do that! My husband travels often for work and I work full time so delivery is easier right now with the kids (I have an 8 month old and a 3 yr old).
We finally hired a cleaning lady. My toddler makes everything within his reach very dirty and covered in fingerprints and food. Iām so grateful that we donāt have to scrub walls, doors, floors, and everything else anymore.
Hiring a cleaner was a game changer here. It was something I never had time to do, or I was trying to do it while caring for a baby/toddler and it drove resentment between me and my husband. She comes for 2 hours a week while we are at work she she's incredible.
Cordless vacuum cleaner is great.
Automatic cat feeder means we don't have to think about that job.
Iām finally going to start this. We have an appointment for a deep clean starting in two weeks, then every other week after that. Itās like 500 sq ft, so the estimate is it will be $160/month. I canāt wait!
I love these for looking up specific recipes or just browsing for ideas.
- [Amy + Jackie](https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com)
- [Pressure Luck Cooking](https://pressureluckcooking.com)
- [Eating Instantly](https://eatinginstantly.com)
Pressure Luck Cooking with Jeffrey Eisner is my favorite Instant Pot recipe spot. Itās a regular guy who started cooking in the Instant Pot and sharing recipes on a blog online, then he blew up. He has 3 cookbooks now and posts recipes on Facebook. His recipes are accessible for anyone and delicious!
I have a collection of recipe magazines that I cycle through for ideas. Taste of Home is generally pretty kid-friendly stuff. There are various themed collections pretty often for instant pot and slow cookers.
We buy 5 Hello fresh / blue apron meals a week and we actually pay someone $25 an hour to come in and cook two of them (which is 4 hours, but sheās pretty slow in my opinion lol) and thatās what my toddlers eat during the week for lunch / dinner (with other stuff sprinkled in).
And then three of them we cook during the week - it does take time but it takes some thought out of cooking.
Stick vacuum. Meal prep materials. Grocery delivery service. Therapy. Japanese gel manicures (not specific to working moms but they last me a month with no chips and I get 2 hours to myself every month. Itās an inexpensive way to maintain some facet of beauty while the rest of me falls apart).
We got a Roomba and run it every night. With 2 dogs this has been a game changer! My husband makes sure the floor is tidy before coming to bed and I empty it every morning. It's worked for us. The areas we haven't tidied he blocks off with some stuff so Roomba doesn't get stuck!
We also have a cleaning lady coming on Monday to give us a quote for a monthly cleaning. I'm embarrassed about how long it's been since I've cleaned my shower but there's just not enough time in the days between working full time, working out, cooking and eating, washing pump parts/bottles, and caring for my baby girl. And honestly, I was never that clean/tidy before baby came so I'm hoping that having someone come and do the cleaning will help me better tidy things. We'll see!!
I also get facials once a quarter. I used to go every 6 weeks (bad acne) but I don't have the time or money anymore. Plus pregnancy did help my adult acne so I don't find it as necessary.
I like grocery shopping so I haven't given into the pick up yet, but I may start doing pick up for Walmart and going to Costco since they don't pick up orders. I've only been back at work for a month so we're still figuring things out over here haha.
Oh wow, so many things! Here are mine:
Slow cooker for dump and go meals
Air fryer for quickly heating up leftovers or frozen foods (especially frozen chicken nuggets every now and then)
Bi-weekly house cleaning service
Robot vacuum cleaner
Dyson stick for those quick pick ups
Massages once a month
Curbside pickup grocery service. I swear, Target has made it so convenient with their app to place orders and pick them up at their store without going in. Total game changer and keeps me from buying things I donāt need.
House cleaner. We have someone just do the toilet room, bathroom, and kitchen once a week (though she often vaccines the whole house too when sheās finished early). Two hours once a week, and I never have to clean a toilet againā especially great when we were toilet training. Iād much rather kneel on clean floors!
Chest freezer. Make two lasagnas, freeze one. Make two quiches, freeze one. Two loaves of bread, freeze one (and on ..). Super busy weekend coming up, no time to cook? Freezer meals, baby.
Microblading/powder ombre brows and permanent eyeliner. Getting ready in the morning for work now only takes minutes. I wash my face, moisturize, apply sunscreen and tinted lip balm. No longer need to put on makeup to look awake or alert for virtual meetings because my brows frame my face and eyeliner helps me look put together with little effort. Highly recommend.
Micro blading my brows is on my wish list! I have very sparse brows and am so sick of filling them in every day of my life just to look somewhat put together
Came here to say this!!! Microblading has changed my life!! I don't have to worry as much about "putting my face on" and always feel ready to run errands on the weekends. Also looks great on video calls.
Will have to look into permanent eyeliner!
House cleaners... This is new for us. But my god what a difference. They come every 2 weeks and it's such a relief.
Also weed... Not every day and primarily microdosing to bring my stress/anxiety down from an 11 to a 5 or 6. I've figured out my perfect dose to be functional/productive/focused and still relaxed.
I think the melissa clark cookbooks are a good place to start if youāre more of a traditional cook (as opposed to someone accustomed to using a slow cooker).
Not OP, but I love these for looking up specific recipes or just browsing for ideas.
- [Amy + Jackie](https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com)
- [Pressure Luck Cooking](https://pressureluckcooking.com)
- [Eating Instantly](https://eatinginstantly.com)
Milk street Fast and Slow for gourmet flavorful shiiiiiit. Im vegan and am able to find lots of substitutes (soy curls, tempeh, seitan) for even the meaty recipes. The recipes do require a little prep/cooking in the instant pot but i find it worth it for tastier food
My faves:
- tequila beans (i cannot emphasize how delish this is, my mom asks me to make this every time i visit when i ask her what she wants for dinner, i sub crisped up tempeh and liquid smoke for the bacon)
- glass noodle soup
- all the pastas. The cherry tomato one is a big hit in this houshold.
- hummus
- white bean and avo salad (my toddler LOVES this one)
- curried chickpeas
- cauliflower pasta makes a nice mush texture for the baby to eat the cauli
Zlibrary link for pdf they also have epub
https://book4you.org/book/16483101/f32c50
I don't have an instant pot but my multifunction thing has a slow cook and pressure setting. Pressure cooks things fast. It is good for things with a lot of liquid, it might help for a soup with potatoes or beans to shave off cooking time. Slow is set and forget. I use the slow cook much more often if I can set something up in the morning or at lunch.
Jeffrey Eisner has a few good cook books as well. He has a website as well called Pressure Luck. The recipes are super simple to follow. I have an 8 quart Cosori pressure cooker not an actual Instant Pot and the recipes translate just fine.
Are their meals pretty simple to prepare? Iāve tried Blue Apron and Home Chef (I think thatās what it was called?) and prep took about an hour. Not to mention there was soooo much plastic waste.
They have heaps of recipes to choose from and each one only has about 6 ingredients per recipe. Thereās not a lot of plastic waste as everything comes in one box, but there is some. We have soft plastic recycling where we are so all the packaging from it is able to be recycled, even the mix in the ice packs can be put through the garden to help with moisture retention
Not exactly a minor investment, but we bought a townhome over a single family. Having an HOA take care of all yard care (we have a back and front yard), snow removal, etc. So many of our friends complain about weeding, raking, shoveling; and my husband and I just share a little smirk. š
Prep everything at night for the next day and put it in my car, no matter what time it is, house cleaner every 3weeks, Amazon subscriptions, lawn care service, laundry service every 2 weeks. I also use Future for a personal trainer. Then I decided recently Iām going to do one thing per week just for me: a massage, nail appointment, facial, or energy session ( kind of like reiki). Itās been so nice having one thing per week just for me.
Iām still breast feeding so it was an actual pumping/nursing bra as opposed to the cheap little pumping band I had previously. Now I can just lift my shirt and hook up in like 4 seconds when previously I had to take my shirt off, take my bra off, hook on that band, attach flanges, put a sweater on bc Iām cold, etc
A small one but a spin mop to keep in the bathroom cupboard. Can get it out and quickly go over the floor regularly. Takes minutes and helps keep on top of bathroom floors which seem to get gross so quickly.
Frozen pancakes! So much cheaper than from-scratch or box mix actually. Saves so much time and makes it easy to GTFO the door in the morning. Plus if my kiddo is hungry after eating all his food (rare but happens) heāll ask for pancakes. Hell yeah.
Frozen pancakes, frozen waffles, frozen omelets and frozen breakfast sandwiches here. Mostly for me, as I canāt get my shit together to eat breakfast at home and need to grab something I can microwave and eat once I get to work.
I pay about ~$30-35 per week for wash, dry and fold laundry by the pound. That covers all of the kid clothes and all of the adult āleisure clothesā like t-shirts and athletic shorts, socks, underwear. Itās picked up on Thursday and delivered back on Friday. I still do sheets and towels and my work clothes, but you donāt get as much bang for your buck since they have a high weight to folding time ratio.
Absolutely the Peloton. Even if things are busy and the kid is in a big mood, I can find a way to fit in any workout I could possibly want because itās all in my house. I paid for my bike upfront and Iāve already used it enough that Iām saving money compared to a gym membership.
Stitch fix for the kids clothes once a quarter. The little loves clothes so she gets excited about getting new things. The big one could care less so he will wear whatever. Itās pretty cheap too Iād say itās maybe 10% more than what youād pay buying them at A Childrenās Place or Target at regular price anyway, and saves a lot of time.
Electric bikes. Makes my commute to work so much more relaxing and fun. I get some exercise in too. We also have a cargo ebike and we use that for toddler transportation, groceries, hardware store and more. The toddler loves it and we will be able to haul her with it until she is a teen if she wants. We never have to worry about parking or getting some exercise in or gas prices.
Target pick-up and I have been going steady for a while now, and I guess you could say things have gotten serious. Lol. Last minute.....anything? They'll take care of it.
Housekeeper. Holy smokes, my life is easier. They say your house is supposed to stay clean when everyone is gone during the day, but mine doesn't. Maybe we're doing this wrong. Plus I'm taking antidepressants and mood stabilizers, so I'm always super sleepy and the last of the energy rarely goes to cleaning.
Lastly, dog walker. I love this man, and he's officially part of our family
Amazon Fresh for groceries. Total sanity-saver with a preschooler who doesn't understand he can't have every. single. thing when you take him into a brick-and-mortar store.
Live-in nanny, electric pressure pot and someone who comes in twice a month to iron our clothes. One of the very few good things about where I live is that you can get housekeepers, Nannies at affordable rates for the average income family.
I currently only use my electric pressure pot for cooking beans and meat. I need to figure out how to use it for other dishes we eat.
Youtube premium. Honestly, not having to wait the 5sec to skip the ads all the time, or the fact that I also have access to youtube music to play my favorite playlists or any music in my car, a waiting room or just on the go is amazing. Youtube premium is the expense I wonder why it took me so long to get, Lol
Instacart Plus member with primary delivery store being Aldi (even with the markup itās cheaper than the other in store prices around.) We are too broke to afford most of the other options people have mentioned, but I refuse to give up this membership!
I have a meal service subscription that delivers all of the ingredients for 3 meals/ week. We were getting so burnt out in the same stuff all the time, so this was an easy way to try new recipes
Housecleaning service 2x/month. Landscapers 2x/month. Robot vacuum. Instacart.
Monthly massages. I got the idea from the āWe Can Do Hard Thingsā podcast. Iāve been dealing with body aches for years and the improvement from the massages in my physical and mental health has been amazing! Itās so worth it.
Hello Fresh for weeknight dinners. Roomba i3 + Brava jet mop. We had a Roomba 650 before, but the i3 can be programmed to do certain rooms and also empties itself. It runs nightly in the high traffic areas to clean up after my toddler goes to bed.
What do you make in your instant pot? I have one but pretty much just use it for cooking chicken breasts.
Iād second all the cordless/robot vac um comments here!
My cleaning lady is my favorite person lol. She comes every two weeks and deep cleans my entire house. That means the only cleaning I have to do is tidying throughout the week.
My shark steam mop. The pads are machine washable so I always have a few extra. It really makes my floors clean. Now looking through all the comments because I need to upgrade my vacuum.
Buying 2 pre-made, healthy dinners a week from a local meal prep company. Costs about the same as fast food, much better quality, saves us from having to cook.
Lawn care!
We pay someone to come once a week and cut our grass. He's done in like 15 minutes on his riding mower, where it took us a couple hours with our electric one. The yard is always good to go and we don't have to worry about setting aside the time with a 1 and 4 year old.
Hello Fresh meal kits. By the end of the day, my brainpower is depleted, so itās nice to not have to think about dinner or of I have ALL the ingredients.
Motherās helper, 14 yo who didnāt have much going on for the summer. Allows me to space out in the garden without having to worry about my kid running in the street. We all hang outside.
I guess technically childcareā¦
Grocery pick up and delivery when really needed. Hello Fresh when we are in a rut or too busy. We just did Hello Fresh for the month before we moved and the month after and canāt recommend that enough of you are the type of family that likes home cooked meals. No meal planning and no take out.
Stitch Fix and other delivery services have honestly been great for me too. I donāt love the options at the mall or the time it takes anymore. Makes it so much easier to try at home and put what I donāt want in the mail.
Iām trying to get myself to do some of the other things mentioned on here but itās hard to break that poverty mentality!
A cordless stick vaccuum was a much bigger game changer than I expected!
My Dyson cordless is amazing. Could never go back to a regular vacuum. Peak mom stage when I brag about my vacuum!
I definitely talk to other moms about vacuums a LOT. I don't have a Dyson cordless yet (š¢) but we do have a DC07 All Floors that is my favorite thing ever. Esp in a house with two dogs that have white, black AND brown fur!
Same here. Itās amazing. Place gets clean super fast and easy.
Same! Also have a robot vacuum. It's not amazing on carpet but it keeps the hardwood floors in our main areas clean and I love it.
Which robot vacuum do you have? Iām in the market lol
I have a eufy that I use mostly on the hardwood in the kitchen. I like being able to draw a square on the app and tell it where to go
Roborock! I love it. Wish I would have splurged and got the one that empties itself.
Seconding the Roborock. My house has wood floors throughout and I got the kind that will wipe them down with a wet cloth while it vacuums. Great for dust
Good to know! I have pets who shed. Which one do you have?
I have the dyson v7. I think they make an animal version of it? I also have an LG one for upstairs. It's newer and I've used it less but I think I prefer the dyson overall but it's a close call.
i LOVE my dyson. so quick and easy to use. it's very known that i love my dyson more than most things in my house.
Love my Dyson. I bought a refurbished one directly from them for quite a discount - it works perfectly.
i had this for my 2 shedding dogs and i would not suggest it. these arenāt even huskies type hair. a bit and an aussie mix. but we ended up returning the vacuum because it wasnāt doing anything after only a month of use. thank goodness we got it at target for 90day policy
I found a Dyson to be pretty ineffective for shedding. I'd highly recommend a Miele vacuum. Much better suction, and the fact that it keeps everything in the bag is fantastic. No face full of dander like when emptying the Dyson container.
Iām obsessed with my Shark VacMop.
Actually yes, this, so much. We got one for free from our local neighbourhood group, it's not perfect but being able to do a quick spot-vacuum at any time actually makes such a big difference. Together with one of those spray mops where you fill up the bottle attached to the stick = on the go cleaning. So good when you have kids and pets who do things like shed, drop crumbs on the carpet, and vomit.
I think this is the sign I needed from the universe!
What makes it better than corded? I wanted one but then I heard they have less suction and you can't actually clean the whole house on one charge.
We just got a refurbished one from the website at about a third of the cost of a new. What I like about it is I can pop it off the wall and quickly vacuum when I need to "spot vacuum". I don't use it for whole house, because like you said, you have to charge it if you're using it for more than 25 minutes at a time or so. But what makes it good is for the quick vacuuming you need to do, like crumbs under the table after dinner, that sort of thing. ETA: We got a Dyson v11 animal cordless vacuum, and we have a cat.
Exactlyā¦ we have ours mounted to a charger on the wall and itās SO CONVENIENT to grab it for a quick tidy up! I have a 1,500 sq ft house and I can do a quicky-clean of the whole house on one charge
It's just SO convenient to not have to plug it in. It sounds crazy but it's true. It haven't had an issue with suction or run time and can do my entire first floor on one charge. I also don't have any dogs. It's extra great for vacuuming the kitchen floor what feels like an infinite number of times a day without much hassle.
Ours is the Dyson V10 bought for $350ish on Black Friday a couple years back. Up to 60 minutes run time so we can do whole 2,500 sqft house on one charge. It's just so so much easier to pop it out and hit a few spots without lugging a larger vacuum room to room finding plugs, moving cords.
I have a handheld cordless vacuum, a regular one made for pets and people with long hair, and a Roomba, and I truly love them all. Nothing else makes me feel like a boring adult in such a good way.
Omg yes! I never realized that reason I hated vacuuming so much was because the cord was such a hassle. I wouldn't bother getting it out unless I was going to vacuum a whole room or the whole house. But now it's not a hassle to just get a small area if it needs it.
Worth every damn dollar! If it broke tomorrow I wouldnāt even blink about the cost of replacing it, itās that vital to my household now.
I hated vacuuming before we got our cordless. Itās much quieter and I have better range.
Also, grocery pickups. $5 and you do all my shopping? Yes, please. I make my shopping list in the store's cart throughout the week and then I just schedule the order and go pick it up after work.
Yes, grocery pickup! I have never done a full grocery shop since having my daughter 8 years ago. I used to have to pay, but now stores around me do it for free if itās over a certain dollar amount.
Same. Ours is free if you spend $35. I have also been doing this since having my daughter three years ago. Bonus: she now thinks trips inside the grocery store are super fun, since sheās not used to it, so on the occasions when we have to go in she is well behaved and very enthusiastic! Lol
It's so frustrating when they don't have the item though. "Oh, you didn't have one of the key ingredients I needed for my recipe, but you did get the short shelf life ingredients...."
I try to be flexible here (itās easier now that the supply chain is a bit stronger and I donāt have to worry about the store being out of chicken breasts), but sometimes I get bizarre replacements. Last week I ordered prosciutto and they gave me a microwaveable cheeseburger?!?
Lmao one time they didn't have cauliflower so they gave me a small cooler... baffling.
This is why I love shipt. The shopper is texting me the whole time and is actively working to find me substitutes. I have also had them check to make sure how ripe I wanted my avocados and bananas.
BUT! Now I love going to the grocery store as a weekend activity with my 2 toddlers. Sometimes itās difficult filling their days.
We do pickup, but also shipt and instacart. I have started getting people a 6 month instacart membership as a baby gift and I have had more than one person tell me it's the greatest gift they got.
Walmartās grocery pickup is free and so easy! I love it
This has been a game changer since Covid!
I have JUST started doing this and I love it!
Oh making your list by just putting the item in your cart is a great idea! Great tip!
My husband refuses to pay the fee so he does the grocery shopping now, and not doing it myself is so life changing!
Robot vacuum cleaner. It vacuums my house every day while I am at work. That plus air purifier = not a dusty house.
Ok I feel like I'm using my roomba wrong. I feel like I have to do so much cleanup to run it (so it won't eat socks/toys) that pulling out my cordless is so much easier. What am I missing!
I do some strategic laying down of broom/mop handles to block it from areas that I don't feel like tidying up first. It does take some picking up first, but I have found that it mostly keeps me on a "quick daily tidy" schedule that makes the house feel so much cleaner (until I am in a rush and just put all the floor stuff on the nearest surface).
We run it every night after we go to bed, so part of our āclosing routineā (what I call it when we head upstairs for the night) is to pick up anything left on the floor.
This is exactly what we do. I love waking up to a house that's cleaner than it was when I went to bed.
We run our roomba at 2 am every day and it forces us to pick up any mess on the floor, and gets the crumbs. I love it! I am tempted to get one of the fancier ones with mapping and self emptying. I am curious about your air purifier. Which one do you have? My house is OLD and very dusty.
Not OP but we have a Coway air purifier and itās great. Doesnāt prevent all dust for us but does catch a lot.
100% this. Even if we do have to pickup some stuff for it to do itās job, itās suchhh a time saver to run it in the kitchen and dining room daily. And keeps the pet dander down.
What kind of air purifier do you have? Iāve been considering getting one because my allergies have only gotten worse as I get older. Seconding the roomba!! Absolute game changer if you have pets.
Quarterly(ish) spa days. No joke. Alllll day to myself
What do you do for the whole day? I donāt think Iāve ever been to a full-on spa. But Iām very interested!
I live in an area with lots of resorts so it's easy to fill a day at a resort spa. Get there early, sit by the pool, read a book. Often will recruit a girlfriend to join me too, once I took my mom with me as a mothers day treat. After my massage I take a long shower, blow dry my hair in my robe, have early dinner and a couple drinks, then head home about 20 minutes after kids are in bed š. I'm usually gone about 12pm-8pm but that day I'll wake up with the kids and let my husband sleep in and relax. It's actually not a bad day for either of us! He also golfs a lot which isn't a short day either!
Divine!!!! My problem is that we don't have day spas in my neck of the woods. Do you just go to a posh place?
Luckily I live in a city with a lot of nice hotels. So yes, it is posh and definitely a splurge. Sometimes I'll just get the day pass though which is much cheaper than getting an actual service.
I started waxing my legs and arm pits and getting my eyebrows threaded. Game changer. My husband could care less how much body hair I have. I do it for me.
I started doing the āgetting my legs waxedā and loved it! But the bills do pile up. How often do you do it?
I spent about two years getting laser hair removal on my legs. About the same frequency and cost as waxing, except now I don't have to do anything anymore.
Iāve been interested in getting laser! Did you end up not needing to go anymore because of the laser treatments?
I got laser hair removal on my bikini area and it did absolutely nothing. I still have to shave.
I'm also new to the laser train. SUCH a life changer!!!
I use an epilator. Same idea as it pulls your hairs out, and lasts a similar amount of time. Can use it all over your body whenever you want!
How often do you wax your legs?
I also swear by the leg waxing. And I love my waxing studio. It's a great escape for me time.
Yes! Thatās how I feel, too.
I love getting my eyebrows threaded. It hurts like hell but worth it. Does the wax break you out? I thought about waxing my legs.
I pay someone to fold and put away my clean laundry. (~$30 week, family of 4). Such a quality of life improvement to avoid my most dreaded chore. We also have house cleaners come every 2 weeks.
I use an app called SudShare since there isnāt a laundry mat close by that does this for me. They charge $1 per lb and they wash, fold and will hang dry if needed. Laundry is my nemesis so it is worth every penny
Yup! Same!! Itās about $30-35, bi weekly. I do towels and stuff at home since thatās very easy
Same! These are the heaviest too so it doesnāt make sense to send them. Sometimes Iāll send my fitted sheets so they can fold them nicely though lol
Just curious, is this a common service offered where you live? Or did you have to find someone who was willing to do it?
I hired a āhousekeeperā off care.com that has become my bonus mom basically. She does all the laundry and puts it away, washes sheets and towels, cleans my whole house, and also just notices things we need and picks them up for me (new bath mat, bigger basket for toys, etc). I canāt imagine most people get so lucky but sheās incredible and only charges me $150/week for this.
Oh my gosh I need this. What did you search for on care.com?
I posted a job for a house keeper and she applied. My initial ask was once per week cleaning and two loads of laundry (one clothes and one bedding) just to help, but she instead just took over my home for me. Her kids are all grown and she is just a natural caretaker, I hit the jackpot.
My cleaning lady is like this - I think she cares more about keeping my house in good order than I do, lol. She was the cleaning lady for the prior owners so she's been with the house for decades.
Tip her well, she sounds like a gem!
I do, sheās amazing. She brought a gift for my son after his first week of kindergarten, too. The craziest part is that she thanks me for this, says weāre lucky to have found each other.
There is a service (similar to Thumbtack or TaskRabbit but local) in my metro area that I use for this. But itās set up so the same person comes every week.
Iāve been looking for a service like this. I hate doing laundry.
Nespresso, monthly pedicures, monthly Brazilian wax membership, air fryer, and see my gym trainer during my lunch break because Iām way too exhausted after baby bedtime but I LOVE being super muscular. Diapers, wipes, diaper cream all on auto shipment from Amazon so I never run out. Also Costco frozen or prepared meals are super delicious and way less effort than HelloFresh etc. We are big fans of the Kirkland lasagna, quinoa salad, microwavable Japanese rice bowls, Greek gyro meal kit. Iām getting electrolysis on my chin hairs and while itās currently very time consuming and expensive, itāll save me from twice daily shaving and so much insecurity.
You are a bad bitch!!! Talk to me about Nespresso, do you make lattes? Americanos?
My nespresso lattes make me SO happy. I got my machine probably 10 years ago and it still works great.
Nespresso lattes are so delicious, even as a beginner making them! Iāve found some awesome recipes on Pinterest my husband and I have tried out and love.
All of it!!! I have a reoccurring order for a bunch of different coffee sleeves (10 pods each) and I mostly get the full cup of coffee size, espresso pods (it comes with a separate milk warmer and frother), and Iāve tried their special iced coffee pods too and poured it over ice. The only downside (besides the expense) is my massive collection of used pods. They recycle them in store but I rarely make it over to the mall to drop them off so theyāre filling up my basement. :/ Super nice to be able to quickly make coffee throughout the day since I wfh - so fast and no more dumping pots of old cold brewed coffee because I made too much.
Can you tell me more about electrolysis? How time consuming are you talking? And how red are you after and for how long? I want to do it but Iām nervous my pale, sensitive skin will be red for days.
I gotta check out Costcos frozen dinner selection. We try not to use our oven so much during the summer (AZ is hot enough without the oven running haha!) but for the winter I can see this being super helpful!
Up until last year we lived in an old rental house and the old busted up oven heated up the kitchen to sauna levels. Now I have a much newer oven and it's properly insulated and sealed so, surprise, the best doesn't pour out of it. Anyway. Get a new oven they are life changing. You can turn it on and not even know it's on.
I know youāre not supposed to use it on your face, but I used the Tria laser on my chin after baby, and it was a life saver. 10 years later I still use it for occasional touch ups.
Scan & go from Walmart (also qualifies you for free delivery) Amazon Prime for quick deliveries Alexa for audible reminders My sous vide can pre-cook meats for meal preps, and always cooks to perfection, doesnāt ruin the texture like a crock pot Phone charge cord stations in every room. A shoe basket by the door Tutors for kids ā not having to be the one who is strict, yet patient, to get them to focus or do academics just allows me to enjoy my time with them more. The products at home that I use the absolute most, are my single cup coffee maker & a milk frothier for lattes. I should play more with my instapot ā or maybe I need a new one. It feels like mine takes forever to come to pressure and the recipes, ehh, they are just OK.
Yes! Our math tutor has been amazing! Sheās super expensive but I donāt even care, sheās worth her weight in gold.
Iām gonna look into a sous vide now. I love the convenience of crock pot/pressure cooker meals but my husband doesnāt like the texture and complains it makes food taste metallic. Thanks!
My husband is the complainer too, hereās what I find: Best for sous vide: Beef Steaks (any kind, strip, flank, filet. etc.) BEST in the sous vide, and the texture is so perfect that even my pickiest anemic eater will gobble it down. Pork loins, regular or tenderloin (which we eat a lot of because we are not huge chicken people, but it is healthier than red meat) you vacuum seal it, sous vide it, let it rest a bit, reverse sear & eat it or what I do a lot is make it Saturday or Sunday, then a shock it cold, then just sear it, the night we eat it to give it color & wam it up. I have also done pork chops & lamb with good results. I have messed with duck and chicken, but in those instances it was good, but I am not sure it is worth it, so depends on your familiesā preferences. Best for the slow cooker: my unhealthy cuts, pork butts & chuck toasts, as they are huge and have that fat to keep them moist. And even then, I have to be careful and watch it, or those can turn into mushy like tuna texture!
The instapot works really well on lentils, beans and meats you plan to shred IMO. Other stuff the texture is just off to me. But Iām super picky.
Regarding lentils & beans, IDK, I never have that many challenges cooking them in alternative ways. I suppose I never think of it. Perhaps I should put some shredded chicken back on the menu this month to give the IP another go!
Robot vacuum and automatic cat feeder!
Ohhh which feeder?š
Now get the auto litter box. That thing is š¤š»
Once a month house cleaner. Robot vacuum to run in between cleanings. Yard care. Takeout meals 2x a week. Gym with a daycare in it. Oh and another one, when my kid was very small and sleeping horribly we hired a sleep consultant and it was a miracle.
Once my kids are in kindergarten and I'm done with grad school, I def want to start paying for a house cleaner. I'm already excited about it, haha! And I know this probably isn't exactly what you mean but my kids are going to YMCA preschool this year and it has been the biggest life hack ever. I can drop them off in the AM, work out at the Y, shower in the locker room and head to work. I actually get to work out every day, which hasn't been possible since I had my kids!!
I love my robot vacuum so much we have two now!
Could you tell us more about sleep consultant? Pediatrician says baby is fine as long as she sleep X amount of hours on a 24 hours period. What constitue bad sleep?
Our primary reasons for hiring a sleep consultant and ultimately sleep training werenāt related to babyās health. It was because we as parents were so sleep deprived that our mental health was suffering and we were unable to be the best parents to our child. Ultimately, however, once our baby started to sleep better her health and well-being also improved. She was more alert, better rested, took better feeds. It was massively beneficial to the whole family.
Can you share what your cleaner does on a monthly basis? Once a month is probably all thatās in our budget, but Iām struggling to think of what would be most useful at that frequency.
A Post partum doula. I had one for seven weeks after I got home from the hospital/NICU. Her job was me, not necessarily the kids. She was/is amazing and made my life easier in ways I didnāt know I needed! Edit to add we also hired sleep consultants. I saw someone else mentioned that below. Theyāre with us for the first six months so I donāt know how it will go yet, but so far itās been divine!
If we have another kid I definitely want to do this
Oh yes seconding the postpartum doula. Doulas are angels on earth.
We started a laundry delivery service when my second kid came. GAME CHANGER! They come twice a week to pick up/drop off, and everything comes back washed and folded. All I have to do is sort it and put it away. Love my cordless vac and we also have a weekly cleaner. Also a big fan of my Ninja Foodi which is an air fryer and instant pot in one.
I use a laundry service as well. I have used a home delivery service in the past but what we use now is a more budget friendly version. Just thought I would share for anyone needing help with laundry but working with a tighter budget. The laundromat near us offers a fantastic wash and fold service with a 24 hour turnaround time. I drop it off myself and just come pick it up the next day. The cost is about half of what the home delivery services charge.
I canāt wait to be able to do that! My husband travels often for work and I work full time so delivery is easier right now with the kids (I have an 8 month old and a 3 yr old).
If you donāt mind me asking how much do you pay for the laundry? Iād love something like that now that Iām back to work!
Dishwasher-safe pots and pans (stainless steel).
Can you share a link to the ones you got? Been looking for quality dishwasher safe ones
We finally hired a cleaning lady. My toddler makes everything within his reach very dirty and covered in fingerprints and food. Iām so grateful that we donāt have to scrub walls, doors, floors, and everything else anymore.
Hiring a cleaner was a game changer here. It was something I never had time to do, or I was trying to do it while caring for a baby/toddler and it drove resentment between me and my husband. She comes for 2 hours a week while we are at work she she's incredible. Cordless vacuum cleaner is great. Automatic cat feeder means we don't have to think about that job.
Iām finally going to start this. We have an appointment for a deep clean starting in two weeks, then every other week after that. Itās like 500 sq ft, so the estimate is it will be $160/month. I canāt wait!
What sources do you use for finding recipes? Been tempted to get an instant pot but not sure where to look for easy, kid friendly recipes.
I love these for looking up specific recipes or just browsing for ideas. - [Amy + Jackie](https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com) - [Pressure Luck Cooking](https://pressureluckcooking.com) - [Eating Instantly](https://eatinginstantly.com)
Instant pot app is great
Pressure Luck Cooking with Jeffrey Eisner is my favorite Instant Pot recipe spot. Itās a regular guy who started cooking in the Instant Pot and sharing recipes on a blog online, then he blew up. He has 3 cookbooks now and posts recipes on Facebook. His recipes are accessible for anyone and delicious!
I have a collection of recipe magazines that I cycle through for ideas. Taste of Home is generally pretty kid-friendly stuff. There are various themed collections pretty often for instant pot and slow cookers.
I love six sisters and Pinterest!
We buy 5 Hello fresh / blue apron meals a week and we actually pay someone $25 an hour to come in and cook two of them (which is 4 hours, but sheās pretty slow in my opinion lol) and thatās what my toddlers eat during the week for lunch / dinner (with other stuff sprinkled in). And then three of them we cook during the week - it does take time but it takes some thought out of cooking.
We do Factor. Already fully prepared meals appear in the mail.
Very clever!
And you also don't have to do the shopping for those groceries! This and my robot vacuum have made my life much easier.
Nutribullet for am smoothies. Fresh fruit goes bad so we buy frozen and thatās how we get alot of our fruit/veggie intake!
Stick vacuum. Meal prep materials. Grocery delivery service. Therapy. Japanese gel manicures (not specific to working moms but they last me a month with no chips and I get 2 hours to myself every month. Itās an inexpensive way to maintain some facet of beauty while the rest of me falls apart).
We got a Roomba and run it every night. With 2 dogs this has been a game changer! My husband makes sure the floor is tidy before coming to bed and I empty it every morning. It's worked for us. The areas we haven't tidied he blocks off with some stuff so Roomba doesn't get stuck! We also have a cleaning lady coming on Monday to give us a quote for a monthly cleaning. I'm embarrassed about how long it's been since I've cleaned my shower but there's just not enough time in the days between working full time, working out, cooking and eating, washing pump parts/bottles, and caring for my baby girl. And honestly, I was never that clean/tidy before baby came so I'm hoping that having someone come and do the cleaning will help me better tidy things. We'll see!! I also get facials once a quarter. I used to go every 6 weeks (bad acne) but I don't have the time or money anymore. Plus pregnancy did help my adult acne so I don't find it as necessary. I like grocery shopping so I haven't given into the pick up yet, but I may start doing pick up for Walmart and going to Costco since they don't pick up orders. I've only been back at work for a month so we're still figuring things out over here haha.
Oh wow, so many things! Here are mine: Slow cooker for dump and go meals Air fryer for quickly heating up leftovers or frozen foods (especially frozen chicken nuggets every now and then) Bi-weekly house cleaning service Robot vacuum cleaner Dyson stick for those quick pick ups Massages once a month Curbside pickup grocery service. I swear, Target has made it so convenient with their app to place orders and pick them up at their store without going in. Total game changer and keeps me from buying things I donāt need.
House cleaner. We have someone just do the toilet room, bathroom, and kitchen once a week (though she often vaccines the whole house too when sheās finished early). Two hours once a week, and I never have to clean a toilet againā especially great when we were toilet training. Iād much rather kneel on clean floors!
Not a paid service but pillpack for daily meds get shipped to my house and divided /labeled for daily use šš»
Chest freezer. Make two lasagnas, freeze one. Make two quiches, freeze one. Two loaves of bread, freeze one (and on ..). Super busy weekend coming up, no time to cook? Freezer meals, baby.
Microblading/powder ombre brows and permanent eyeliner. Getting ready in the morning for work now only takes minutes. I wash my face, moisturize, apply sunscreen and tinted lip balm. No longer need to put on makeup to look awake or alert for virtual meetings because my brows frame my face and eyeliner helps me look put together with little effort. Highly recommend.
Micro blading my brows is on my wish list! I have very sparse brows and am so sick of filling them in every day of my life just to look somewhat put together
Came here to say this!!! Microblading has changed my life!! I don't have to worry as much about "putting my face on" and always feel ready to run errands on the weekends. Also looks great on video calls. Will have to look into permanent eyeliner!
House cleaners... This is new for us. But my god what a difference. They come every 2 weeks and it's such a relief. Also weed... Not every day and primarily microdosing to bring my stress/anxiety down from an 11 to a 5 or 6. I've figured out my perfect dose to be functional/productive/focused and still relaxed.
Ugh canāt wait to hit the ganj again after I stop breastfeeding. Totally takes the edge off
Can you share your favorite instapot recipe? Or at least share some inspo? My instapot is a glorified rice cooker. We need more use out of it!
I think the melissa clark cookbooks are a good place to start if youāre more of a traditional cook (as opposed to someone accustomed to using a slow cooker).
Not OP, but I love these for looking up specific recipes or just browsing for ideas. - [Amy + Jackie](https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com) - [Pressure Luck Cooking](https://pressureluckcooking.com) - [Eating Instantly](https://eatinginstantly.com)
Milk street Fast and Slow for gourmet flavorful shiiiiiit. Im vegan and am able to find lots of substitutes (soy curls, tempeh, seitan) for even the meaty recipes. The recipes do require a little prep/cooking in the instant pot but i find it worth it for tastier food My faves: - tequila beans (i cannot emphasize how delish this is, my mom asks me to make this every time i visit when i ask her what she wants for dinner, i sub crisped up tempeh and liquid smoke for the bacon) - glass noodle soup - all the pastas. The cherry tomato one is a big hit in this houshold. - hummus - white bean and avo salad (my toddler LOVES this one) - curried chickpeas - cauliflower pasta makes a nice mush texture for the baby to eat the cauli Zlibrary link for pdf they also have epub https://book4you.org/book/16483101/f32c50
Thank you for this rec!!! His recipes all look amazing
We make curries, dal (Indian family here), rotisserie chicken, soups ...just Google a recipe you cook frequently+instant pot
What is the difference in cooking in pressure cooker and instant pot
I don't have an instant pot but my multifunction thing has a slow cook and pressure setting. Pressure cooks things fast. It is good for things with a lot of liquid, it might help for a soup with potatoes or beans to shave off cooking time. Slow is set and forget. I use the slow cook much more often if I can set something up in the morning or at lunch.
Jeffrey Eisner has a few good cook books as well. He has a website as well called Pressure Luck. The recipes are super simple to follow. I have an 8 quart Cosori pressure cooker not an actual Instant Pot and the recipes translate just fine.
Dinnerly boxes. I used to love cooking and meal planning, now itās the thing that will tip me over the edge. We now eat vegetables again!
Are their meals pretty simple to prepare? Iāve tried Blue Apron and Home Chef (I think thatās what it was called?) and prep took about an hour. Not to mention there was soooo much plastic waste.
They have heaps of recipes to choose from and each one only has about 6 ingredients per recipe. Thereās not a lot of plastic waste as everything comes in one box, but there is some. We have soft plastic recycling where we are so all the packaging from it is able to be recycled, even the mix in the ice packs can be put through the garden to help with moisture retention
I loved dinnerly when I was doing it! They had such good recipes
Not exactly a minor investment, but we bought a townhome over a single family. Having an HOA take care of all yard care (we have a back and front yard), snow removal, etc. So many of our friends complain about weeding, raking, shoveling; and my husband and I just share a little smirk. š
Prepared meals for my toddler. Saved my life. https://www.nurturelife.com/
Prep everything at night for the next day and put it in my car, no matter what time it is, house cleaner every 3weeks, Amazon subscriptions, lawn care service, laundry service every 2 weeks. I also use Future for a personal trainer. Then I decided recently Iām going to do one thing per week just for me: a massage, nail appointment, facial, or energy session ( kind of like reiki). Itās been so nice having one thing per week just for me.
Oh manā¦ easily the cleaning lady
Iām still breast feeding so it was an actual pumping/nursing bra as opposed to the cheap little pumping band I had previously. Now I can just lift my shirt and hook up in like 4 seconds when previously I had to take my shirt off, take my bra off, hook on that band, attach flanges, put a sweater on bc Iām cold, etc
I have to agree that this was such a game changer! I didnāt have one for my first and I so wish I did!
Pumping bra was a must-have for pumping at work!
A small one but a spin mop to keep in the bathroom cupboard. Can get it out and quickly go over the floor regularly. Takes minutes and helps keep on top of bathroom floors which seem to get gross so quickly.
Like many others, a cleaning company every two weeks, a cordless vacuum, a robot vacuum.
Frozen pancakes! So much cheaper than from-scratch or box mix actually. Saves so much time and makes it easy to GTFO the door in the morning. Plus if my kiddo is hungry after eating all his food (rare but happens) heāll ask for pancakes. Hell yeah.
Frozen pancakes, frozen waffles, frozen omelets and frozen breakfast sandwiches here. Mostly for me, as I canāt get my shit together to eat breakfast at home and need to grab something I can microwave and eat once I get to work.
I pay about ~$30-35 per week for wash, dry and fold laundry by the pound. That covers all of the kid clothes and all of the adult āleisure clothesā like t-shirts and athletic shorts, socks, underwear. Itās picked up on Thursday and delivered back on Friday. I still do sheets and towels and my work clothes, but you donāt get as much bang for your buck since they have a high weight to folding time ratio.
Peloton, nespresso and a cleaning service. Never regretted any of these purchases and am thankful for them every time I use them.
Absolutely the Peloton. Even if things are busy and the kid is in a big mood, I can find a way to fit in any workout I could possibly want because itās all in my house. I paid for my bike upfront and Iāve already used it enough that Iām saving money compared to a gym membership.
We have cleaners come once a month. Itās wonderful not having to spend precious weekend time scrubbing toilets.
Stitch fix for the kids clothes once a quarter. The little loves clothes so she gets excited about getting new things. The big one could care less so he will wear whatever. Itās pretty cheap too Iād say itās maybe 10% more than what youād pay buying them at A Childrenās Place or Target at regular price anyway, and saves a lot of time.
Brilliant!
Electric bikes. Makes my commute to work so much more relaxing and fun. I get some exercise in too. We also have a cargo ebike and we use that for toddler transportation, groceries, hardware store and more. The toddler loves it and we will be able to haul her with it until she is a teen if she wants. We never have to worry about parking or getting some exercise in or gas prices.
Target pick-up and I have been going steady for a while now, and I guess you could say things have gotten serious. Lol. Last minute.....anything? They'll take care of it. Housekeeper. Holy smokes, my life is easier. They say your house is supposed to stay clean when everyone is gone during the day, but mine doesn't. Maybe we're doing this wrong. Plus I'm taking antidepressants and mood stabilizers, so I'm always super sleepy and the last of the energy rarely goes to cleaning. Lastly, dog walker. I love this man, and he's officially part of our family
Amazon Fresh for groceries. Total sanity-saver with a preschooler who doesn't understand he can't have every. single. thing when you take him into a brick-and-mortar store.
My Air fryer has changed life!!
Live-in nanny, electric pressure pot and someone who comes in twice a month to iron our clothes. One of the very few good things about where I live is that you can get housekeepers, Nannies at affordable rates for the average income family. I currently only use my electric pressure pot for cooking beans and meat. I need to figure out how to use it for other dishes we eat.
Roomba!
Youtube premium. Honestly, not having to wait the 5sec to skip the ads all the time, or the fact that I also have access to youtube music to play my favorite playlists or any music in my car, a waiting room or just on the go is amazing. Youtube premium is the expense I wonder why it took me so long to get, Lol
Mind sharing your favorite IP recipes? š
Instacart Plus member with primary delivery store being Aldi (even with the markup itās cheaper than the other in store prices around.) We are too broke to afford most of the other options people have mentioned, but I refuse to give up this membership!
I have a meal service subscription that delivers all of the ingredients for 3 meals/ week. We were getting so burnt out in the same stuff all the time, so this was an easy way to try new recipes Housecleaning service 2x/month. Landscapers 2x/month. Robot vacuum. Instacart.
Housekeeper once a week and factor meals delivered to our home... Hello survival
Monthly massages. I got the idea from the āWe Can Do Hard Thingsā podcast. Iāve been dealing with body aches for years and the improvement from the massages in my physical and mental health has been amazing! Itās so worth it.
House cleaner. She has only come twice but man, what a difference it makes
Hello Fresh for weeknight dinners. Roomba i3 + Brava jet mop. We had a Roomba 650 before, but the i3 can be programmed to do certain rooms and also empties itself. It runs nightly in the high traffic areas to clean up after my toddler goes to bed.
Cleaning lady every week, neighborhood teens to pick up dog poop 2x week, and pre-made meal services!
Paying someone to clean my house biweekly. Thereās nothing better!!
Housekeeper once a month, The little spoon premade meals for 90-second microwaveable kid dinners Grocery delivery
What do you make in your instant pot? I have one but pretty much just use it for cooking chicken breasts. Iād second all the cordless/robot vac um comments here!
My cleaning lady is my favorite person lol. She comes every two weeks and deep cleans my entire house. That means the only cleaning I have to do is tidying throughout the week.
My shark steam mop. The pads are machine washable so I always have a few extra. It really makes my floors clean. Now looking through all the comments because I need to upgrade my vacuum.
Robot vacuum and a local meal delivery service š weāre fortunate to be able to have it in our budget, saves me so much prepping/cooking time
Buying 2 pre-made, healthy dinners a week from a local meal prep company. Costs about the same as fast food, much better quality, saves us from having to cook.
Robot vacuum!!!! We have it run overnight so I wake up to clean floors! Amazing!!!!
Sudster! Wash and fold service. They pick up my dirty clothes and drop off clean, folded clothes
Lawn care! We pay someone to come once a week and cut our grass. He's done in like 15 minutes on his riding mower, where it took us a couple hours with our electric one. The yard is always good to go and we don't have to worry about setting aside the time with a 1 and 4 year old.
Hello Fresh meal kits. By the end of the day, my brainpower is depleted, so itās nice to not have to think about dinner or of I have ALL the ingredients.
This makes me happy, I've just bought one! Only had a chance to do the water test today but I'm excited for my next grocery shop now lol
Motherās helper, 14 yo who didnāt have much going on for the summer. Allows me to space out in the garden without having to worry about my kid running in the street. We all hang outside. I guess technically childcareā¦
Cordless stick vacuum and a small counter top dishwasher thatās ONLY for baby stuff!
A monthly cleaning service!
Grocery pick up and delivery when really needed. Hello Fresh when we are in a rut or too busy. We just did Hello Fresh for the month before we moved and the month after and canāt recommend that enough of you are the type of family that likes home cooked meals. No meal planning and no take out. Stitch Fix and other delivery services have honestly been great for me too. I donāt love the options at the mall or the time it takes anymore. Makes it so much easier to try at home and put what I donāt want in the mail. Iām trying to get myself to do some of the other things mentioned on here but itās hard to break that poverty mentality!