On A Budget? Lisa Osbourne Shares Her Favorite 'Mom Hacks'
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Before you throw out your child's dried-up markers or an empty tissue box, think about how you can stretch their use.
"Mommy hacks" are tricks to cutting corners on a budget. And a local mom is sharing some of her favorites with CBS2's Sharon Tay.
Meet Lisa Osbourne, mother to 2-year-old Pearl, wife to Jack Osborne and the vision behind RaddestMom.com, a budget-conscience blog with creative ideas called "mom hacks" — ways to milk everything you can out of something you already have.
"I really believe that moms, whenever they become a mother, you also become a little bit sort of a hustler. You kind of make a dollar out of 15 cents every time you can," she said.
Like turning old dried-out markers into new water colors.
"All you do is take the old marker and you dip it in some water and instantly it starts to bleed out the rest of the old ink. So, you basically just turn it into water color," she explained.
She has another tip for keeping your little one from falling out of the big-kid bed.
"You take three pool noodles. These are like $1 each, and you tape them up at the ends right here. Put these under one side of the fitted sheet underneath, and it really does not look that noticeable and keeps the kid in the bed. It's like an invisible bumper," she said.
Here's something you might already have in the kitchen.
"Glad Press'n Seal has a lot of uses," she said, including working "perfectly for art accidents" by peeling off a section and sticking it to the front of your child's shirt.
"And then whenever the kid's done, rip it off and toss it," Lisa demonstrated.
Here's a hack for those kids who can't seem to hit the trash can with their dirty tissues. Take a rubber band and bundle an empty tissue box with a full one. Once the tissue is used, it goes straight into the trash.
"If you're tired of your kids slamming doors, a great way to silence those doors is by placing a rubber band around one side of the handle, twisting it around the other side," Lisa said. "Whenever the door slams it doesn't have that locking slam. It will just kind of bounce back. So that's a great way to silence the door."
Lisa has an ice pack hack for bumps and bruises
"I like to use a simple kitchen sponge and then I just wet it... And then leave it in the freezer. And these are really great because after it freezes, they still get a little crunchy and moldable so they're really good for like knees and elbows," she said.
Lisa even has a hack for wine.
"The best way to do that is wet a couple of paper towels, fold them together, wrap it around the bottle and we're going to put it in then freezer for about 15 minutes," she said, showing how a bottle can be perfectly chilled in little time.
The key, Lisa says, is to be creative by repurposing the things you already have.
"Don't throw away anything until you know for sure that it's totally cashed out and you can't do anything else with it," she said.
If you have a mommy hack we'd like to know about it! You can leave your comment below or on our Facebook page.
