How to juggle like a mum!

Mum = boss. Da boss woman, the ninja, the juggler and doer of all family things. Curator of the finely tuned juggle that is keeping everyone fed, watered, transported, safe and loved. Mums juggle – fact. We are damn good at it – fact! So I wanted to celebrate the sheer awesomeness that is mothers with a fun post about how to juggle like a mum!

Yes – this is me juggling balls! I’m not actually very good at juggling balls but I am good at juggling life! It was an easy decision to name this blog JuggleMum – everyone who knows me agreed that it was an ideal name! But I am not the only juggling mama out there and so I wanted to ask my blogging friends for their own tips and hacks on how they get through the daily juggle. Here’s what they said:

Helen from Kiddy Charts: “Raise your daughter to be awesome so she can help remind you about things when you forget!” (This was one of my favourite tips!)

Lisa from Hollybobbs: “Lists help me when I need to remember a load of this, and I have so many reminders at on my phone for things like swimming lessons and stuff going on at school I need to take things in for.”

Kate from Family Fever: “Make packed lunches and lay clothes out every evening. Saves loads of time in the morning!”

Mary from Over 40 and a Mum to One: “I get breakfast things ready the night before, and leave my son’s reading book and spellings list on the breakfast table so we are ready to hit the ground running. After school snacks are ready at home before I pick him up and on Beavers Day, I make sure we have a quick and easy dinner so he has plenty of time to change, eat and play before we’re back out the door on time. Planning ahead is the only way!”

Anthea from ZingZing Tree: “Coffee … a bit more coffee and maybe some chocolate!”

Lucy from The Parent Game: “From their first term in reception, children are capable of getting changed into P.E. kit and back into their uniform, so give them the same responsibility at home. Even if you have to have a reward scheme to encourage them, it is well worth investing some time in getting them used to getting themselves ready early on. It’s good for them and saves you time in the morning!”

Liska from New Mum Online: “Have routines that they buy into so every day is the same and with a baby I pick very carefully what tasks do when she’s asleep. Washing dishes is a job I do while they’re awake as they both love being in the kitchen with me and the baby monitor doesn’t work out there!”

Joanne from Opposable Thumbs: “Never turn the TV on in the morning until everybody’s dressed & ready. The night before, think through everything you’ll need in the morning and get it ready and leave anything you need to take with you next to the front door, so you can’t miss it when you leave. If your child is in secondary school then they can probably make their own packed lunch, as long as you are cool with how many biscuits will go into said packed lunch.”

So as you can see, we all have our hands full but I found something that helped me this week when I had my hands full – literally! You may remember from a recent post that I was sent a Loopy iPhone case to review? This case has been a lifesaver to me recently – I haven’t dropped my phone once!

The Loopy Case is a new business from three brothers who wanted to come up with a solution for cracked screens and dropped phones after their Dad dropped his new iPhone just seconds after upgrading it! From working around the clock to come up with this simple but brilliant design, they managed to launch the business after a successful Kickstarter campaign which secured crowd funding to help them launch. Now this American brand is coming to the UK and has been making waves on Facebook in a big way to get lots of UK fans! I was delighted when they offered me a case to review so I could see how I used it on my daily juggle…

I used it in the cinema when I had my hands full with a drink and popcorn and my handbag. I’d usually put the phone in my bag when I’m walking around town but if I don’t have a bag, I have to carry the phone – it is a whole lot easier with a Loopy Case!

I also found it invaluable in a public loo. I could hang the phone on the door hook so I didn’t have to shove it down my bra (that has been done before!) and I liked that I could keep the phone out of my back pocket near a loo. How many times have people dropped a phone down the toilet that was in a back pocket?!

At home I was able to move my phone away from the kitchen sink water when I was doing the washing up and didn’t want the phone to get splashed. You don’t always realise your phone is in danger before your hands get wet!

I also held the phone in my teeth when rummaging around in my bag and I didn’t have pockets to use.

The guys at Loopy wanted me to use the case for at least 4 days before writing about it so I could see how valuable it would be in my life and now that I have it, I never want to let it go! When I upgrade my phone I will order a new Loopy case as it is part of my life now. The model I have is the Gold Signature Edition model that launches next month so they let me have this one pre-release! They are such great guys and a lot of fun. Their energy and enthusiasm for their product is clear in all the emails I’ve exchanged with them.

The Loopy case is cute to look at but the real genius is in how it impacts your everyday life in helpful ways all throughout the day, especially for active, on the go people. No more phone-face drops, easier screen reaching, no more expensive cracked screens, and the benefit of multi-grasping anything at anytime without worry – especially when you have full hands. Life in the loop has been pretty cool so far.

If you want to get yourself a Loopy Case then they retail for around £22 GBP (depending on currency exchange rate) and for more information check out www.loopycases.com. Thank you to Loopy Cases for the Gold Signature Edition iPhone case to review – it has really helped me to #StopTheDrop!

If you enjoyed this post you may also like tips for the daily juggle and the mum juggle.
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