Ten time-saving tips to make your life as a busy mom easier #StarbucksApp

Time to give you another Top 10 list! This one is 10 Time-saving tips to make your life as a busy mom easier! Do you have any tips? What would your top 10 be? I know that most that I do revolves around my husband and children. Here are tips that I've found useful.

 #1 Buy Gift cards: I use to be the type that thought gift cards received as a gift were silly and not a thoughtful gift. Well I don't think that anymore. They save you time and a lot of companies like Amazon or Starbucks, you can purchase online and send electronically to friends & family who live far away.

#2 Write Notes on your arm: OK not as large as this LOVE note but use your arm to jot down a time that you need to stop what you are doing and cook dinner for your family.  Use your arm, it is yours, you have it "handy" so use it.

#3 Purchase Make-up online- Get hooked up with a consultant online and order what you need. You will save time and money. I can never find what I need in the store and when I'm there I'm looking and trying everything. Find one set of products you love, use them over and over. This saves a lot of time.

#4 Fry Bacon- I bet you weren't expecting something about bacon to be in a top 10 time-saving tips list. Do you love bacon? What about chicken? Cook all the bacon you need for the month at once and freeze it. Do the same thing for chicken and other meats.  Freeze them and pull them out when needed. This will save you a lot of time and unwanted trips to the store where you will also spend more money.

#5 Bake your own bread and desserts- This will save you time. You can have baked products whenever you want them versus whenever you can get to the store. This will save you money on wasted bread, too. Besides the bread and desserts, cook more at home and plan out your meals. You save a lot of time if you are organized and not waiting for someone else to cook your meals.

#6 Take your own Family photos-As much as I love professional photographers, I'm all for doing my own photos. Plan your shots around events when everyone is dressed nice. Take a few different shots, have someone snap a few pictures for you and then edit them yourself. You can easily upload and click to order pictures of your family, kid school and sports photos at your convenience. You save time by not waiting at a studio and waiting on prints, etc. When you do your own photos you have more opportunities to use them to make photo gifts, cards, etc for family members, too.

#7 Freezer stocked with frozen treats- This is handy for the summer months. Have your freezer stocked with yummy treats and you will save time running out to the ice cream shop when everyone is craving a cool treat. I love these new Shakes and Smoothies because the kiddos can make it on their own!

#8 Get outside HELP! Ok so I don't recommend you hiring someone "goofy" but I do recommend having older, responsible teens help you out at home. Summer time these teens have extra time on their hands and are always looking for odd jobs to do. Have them come play legos or swim or take your rowdy children on a hike to give you a change to get work done at home. Use teens to help do yard work, wash your car, plant flowers, etc. Pay them, feed them and in the end you will have saved your self some time.

#9 Get a cherry pitter- Ok you don't have to get one but if you are like us and love cherries this is the quickest way to get the pits out of the way.  Invest in little gadgets like this one to save you time. You can pit the cherries, have one of those goofy teens help you and freeze them for the winter months. Do the same with any in-season fruit.

#10 Purchase electronics- Ok gadget people will love this one. I do suggest ebook to save you a lot of time as a mom. There are a lot of times I've searched and searched for books that I want to read but with none to be found. If you order an ebook you can have it within minutes. More and more schools are putting their books in ebook form as well as their required reading list.

I hope this 10 time-saving tips will help your life as a busy mom easier. They are random but I had fun writing them. What do you recommend? DO you are agree on any of these?

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Starbucks blogging program, for a gift card worth $30. For more information on how you can participate, click here.