Mom Hacks for Homework, Laundry and Lost Keys – Ep. 406

Laura

Welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. This week, we have our weekly check-ins. We have our special segment, What the Hack, where we share clever ways to find your keys and find your whimsy, and we close with our BFPs and BFNs for the week. Let's get started. Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 406. Hi, Shanna. Hello. Hello, hello. Shall we get right to it and start with your check-ins?

Shanna

Oh, I think we should. This week, I have a check-in about extracurricular activities. Ooh. We've had a surprising development on that front that I needed to talk about.

Laura

Oh, do tell. There's been drama in the past. I know that there's been softball drama and needing to wear wide-legged jeans at soccer practice drama. So I'm very curious what's going on now.

Shanna

All right. So this season we are doing softball, as I've mentioned before, for CeCe. and I've kind of pared down their activities, right? So we're a little bit more focused. And softball this season, the coaches are wonderful. They're really committed and they've decided that they're gonna practice three times a week. in the evenings. That's a lot. Plus a game on the weekend.

Laura

Plus a game four times a week.

Shanna

And at first I was like, excuse me, the Yagers don't do that. Like that is not possible for us, right? I was like, but it was nice because they made the Wednesday practice optional, right? So there was no pressure. So I was a little bit more like, I can opt into that because, you know, it's no hard commitment. So as a result, we started going to softball stuff four times a week. And I did not know how this was going to go. I get a lot of resistance from CECE about activities sometimes. And oftentimes I have to bring L along too, right? Because Steve's not home yet, so it's a big thing. Laura, this has been going great. What? Yes. I'm floored. And so, of course, I'm like sitting here trying to analyze. Like, what is different? What is happening here? What's the secret sauce here? What's the secret sauce?

Laura

That's interesting and fascinating and it totally makes sense when you say it out loud, you know? But it is also kind of making my stomach drop because as much as it might be more convenient for my kids, I'm the type of person who's like, I don't want to do something four nights a week.

Shanna

I know. I had to get into my own routine and figure out what I was going to do with that time. And so that helped too. I bring my folding chair. I bring my laptop. I connect my computer to my hotspot. I finish working for the day, doing stuff while they practice. I've had to make a bit of peace with the fact that I'm not always engaging with all the other parents. Like it's not social hour for me. It's like, Hi, how are you guys doing? I'm going to go sit in my folding chair and do my work, you know? So I feel like I'm able to use the time to be productive. It's outside. It's kind of the weather's nice. And so I'm trying to find ways to enjoy it, too. And I don't know. I'm just really happy with how things are going so far. I mean, knock on wood. This could all just completely disintegrate tomorrow. Who knows? But that's the week's check-in, right? It's a weekly check-in.

Laura

Yeah, at this very moment, doing great. When Elle has to come with you, how does it work? Can you actually get work done? Does she entertain herself?

Shanna

In the beginning of the season, she was pretty resistant to it. She didn't enjoy it. She would bring a book or something to do. But a surprising thing that's happened is that she's like reignited her interest in the sport and has been actually participating with the team during practice. She took it upon herself. a couple of weeks ago to go up to the coach and say, hey, can I go on the field and play with you guys and help? And he was like, yes, of course, you're the team's sister. You're part of the team. So now she's out there too, playing with them and hitting and batting and doing all kinds of stuff. And she's been enjoying that. So that's a nice way to keep her occupied there as well.

Laura

Well, that sounds really cool. I wish I could say the same thing about Augie's baseball practices, but Sebastian, I think, is also just too young. You know, he's actually usually been pretty good about entertaining himself, but that's when there's toys around and a safe space for him to run around. You know, when we take him to the baseball practice, we kind of have to keep an eye on him because he's always trying to climb the freaking bleachers.

Shanna

Mm-hmm.

Laura

I guess if I was okay with him trying to free solo the two story high bleachers without any spotting, he could entertain himself, but I'm not because I don't really want him falling 20 feet onto concrete.

Shanna

Well, I think you just need to get him some climbing gear and spend the practice being his ballet. Is that the right word? The ballet. Sure. Yeah, that sounds right. Oh, I know it's hard when they're younger siblings, right? I remember going to L's softball practices and bringing CECE when she was little. I literally would load up a beach wagon in the parking lot with blankets, chairs, snacks, bags full of activity books, toys, markers, like so many things for her to do because it's just, I didn't want to like run around chasing her all over the fields.

Laura

understandable. I'm still learning. But I'm really glad that you can do this. I mean, that makes it sound doable. You go somewhere, you have your little outdoor office while the girls get their exercise and have fun. And, you know, that doesn't sound bad at all.

Shanna

Yeah. Speaking of outdoor office, when I went to practice the other day at the field, there was a mom for a different team straight up got a folding table out of her car. It was about a maybe like a three foot folding table. put the legs down, set it up, sat on her cooler, set up her workstation right there at the field. It was just like working while her kid practiced. And I was like, that is genius. She's like, it's so great. It just folds up. I'm like, I need one. So I might take it to the next level, Laura, and get a folding table and bring it out to the field so I have a desk.

Laura

I mean, what do they expect working parents to do? It's truly my question. Right? Okay, we're going to have all these practices. We're going to have probably what times you practice.

Shanna

The earliest ones, they used to start at four, but after the time change, now they start at five, five, 30, which is a little bit better for working parents, but still.

Laura

But still, it's called a nine to five for a reason, right? Yeah. If you have a quote nine to five, which most people don't anyway, these days, like most people work till six, you still have to be at the office at five. Like how are you supposed to get home, get the kids ready for their practice, get them to the practice field without having to like put your work off and do it at the field. So I think that's really smart. I love it. I'm going to start looking for ways to utilize that time because otherwise it really just is such a time suck. Yeah.

Shanna

How is it going with Augie and his practices for baseball?

Laura

You know, honestly, Corey's bringing him to most of them. So far, so good. He doesn't want to go, but then once he's there, it's fine. So cautiously optimistic, you know? Mm-hmm. But honestly, I make Corey bring him 99% of the time. And usually that means that then I'm home with Sebastian because they also start late and Sebastian goes to bed or he should be in bed at least by eight, right? But if there are these, I think one of the practices is 630 to 745, right?

Shanna

Well, he signed them up for it, so... Exactly.

Laura

Well, last week during our big topic when we were talking about ADHD, you had talked about how you're on a wait list for OT and it was like a million years long. That might be it hyperbole, but essentially felt like it was forever. Well, we've also been on an OT waiting list for months and months and months, but this week we finally got a time slot that worked with our schedule and Augie went to his first OT appointment.

Shanna

Ooh, I'm really curious to hear how that went because if I'm 100% honest with you, I don't really know what occupational therapy is or does. So please tell me.

Laura

Unfortunately, I don't know entirely either. All I know is what I saw. So I know that OT is supposed to help kids work on things like real life things. Like I've heard of OT's helping kids with emotional regulation, with things like learning how to tie their shoes or improving their balance, sort of stuff like that. And this OT place also does feeding therapy, which is honestly the reason we were referred there in the first place because our pediatrician was starting to get a little concerned about his selective eating and was like, you know, you could try feeding therapy and see what happens, right? So we showed about the OT office, which is basically like a giant normal looking office building from the outside. But then you go inside and there's like a bunch of gyms, like kids playroom slash gyms in every room. Awesome. Oh yeah, Augie was like, this place is cool. I want to stay here.

Shanna

Yes.

Laura

And he loved it. And I gotta say, I actually am no clearer on what he's actually going to be working on. Yeah. So the first visit, of course, was just kind of getting To know the therapist and getting to know the place and getting our bearings and she did mention a couple things she wanted to work on like she was like okay well you know do x y z to start working on emotional regulation and will do you know this and this to start working on integrating. cross-body coordination. And I was just like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, you know, like trying to keep up, but I wasn't really getting all the steps. From what I could tell, he climbed a rock wall, he made an obstacle course, and he did some fun game where he like pulled himself along on like a little, like little wheelie platform while grabbing toys on either side of him. And- I could kind of see what the OT was trying to do with her magic.

Shanna

Yeah, that sounds really fun. And I'm sure there's obviously so much like science behind it that we just don't understand because it's not our world, right? But I wonder if it's that thing about kind of like creating new neural pathways. Like if he practices this type of cross body stuff, will it eventually kind of like train his brain to more often see things in that way.

Laura

Yeah, we'll see. Time will tell. The verdict on OT is I have no idea what's going on, but he freaking loves it.

Shanna

Man, that's awesome. I hear that a lot from parents that have their kids in OT that I know. One parent was like, my son loves OT so much that he said his OT therapist is his best friend. Like loves, loves it. Like maybe I should go into occupational therapy, like career pivot.

Laura

Oh, 100% had that idea. I was like, this looks like fun. I could do this. I know a lot about child development.

Shanna

Oh, of course.

Laura

Of course. Oh, no. How did you handle that? The same way I always handle it. Oh, you're jealous? Yeah, it's hard when we do different things. I'm at a loss of what to do more than that. You know what I mean? Like, I try not to indulge it too much. You don't all acknowledge it. I'll let him have his feelings for a little bit. I'm not stopping him from having his feelings, but I stop, like, spending a lot of time talking about it after a certain point, because I'm just like, okay, we get it. You're jealous. I don't know what else to do. I can't do what you're asking, which is sign you up for OT.

Shanna

Yes, exactly. And it might be a good lesson for him, or a good experience for him to go through. It's like he's got to experience the jealousy and realize that he can't have it too, and he'll survive. He'll have the feelings. have to accept it at some point, so maybe that'll actually be good for him.

Laura

One thing I always have in my back pocket is that I was the younger sister, like I was the younger sibling too, so I tell him that a lot. I'm like, you know, Uncle Jeff was two years older than me and he got to do a lot of cool stuff I didn't get to do. I actually don't remember if that's true. But I tell him that. Makes a good story. It makes a good story. Yeah. So at least I have that. But it's like they never cease to find ways to be jealous of each other about any perceived inequality. It's just it never fails. It's amazing.

Shanna

Well, is Sebastian jealous of baseball?

Laura

Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's jealous of baseball. He wants to go into the dugout. He wants to do all this other stuff. And we're just like, oh. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that is the life with two. Yeah. Yeah. But that is my check in for this week. Shall we move on to our special segment? Oh, yes.

Shanna

We're back, and this week's special segment is What the Hack, where we share some parenting tips and tricks and helpful tidbits for you all. Laura, you're up first. What's your first parenting hack?

Laura

Okay, this is a hack that I saw in one of those somewhat ridiculous hacks. compilation videos that you may see on like Instagram Reels or TikTok where it's like a whole series of like quote unquote parenting hacks they put together and usually like nine out of 10 of them are absolutely ridiculous and you'd never use them and you're like what the hell did I just watch? But I saw this one and I was like, oh, okay, I could have used this for Augie's second birthday. Oh, all right. On August 2nd birthday, it was still the pandemic, I was very, very pregnant with Sebastian and we decided just to have like an at-home celebration where I like filled up a ton of balloons just to have him wake up and have like an exciting morning, right?

Shanna

And given me the creeps with that phrase, don't say it again.

Laura

And they tied a string or ribbon to the bottom like you normally do on a balloon that would be bouncing up on the ceiling, right with helium. They strung that ribbon through the hole in the solo cup so they could keep it snug. And the balloon just sat on top of the solo cup then, right? Yes. stuck a piece of double-sided tape or rolled up masking tape on top of the balloon, took the broomstick, and as they held the ribbon so that it stayed snug, put it on the ceiling. And because the balloon is so light, all you need is a little piece of masking tape, and it stuck to the ceiling as though it were a balloon filled with helium.

Shanna

Oh, a homemade balloon ceiling sticker upper is what you're telling me. Exactly.

Laura

Love it. You don't have to have a ladder. And so they had their whole ceiling full of balloons, no helium, something I could have done the night before. And if you have kids young enough that they don't really know the difference and aren't going to be pulling them down, there you go, party solved.

Shanna

That's a great idea because I love the look of a ceiling full of balloons. Me too. I think it's just so festive with the ribbon hanging down. And I'm going to remember this for our next party because I think that'd be really fun. And I never like spending money on helium. And I also, isn't there a helium controversy? I don't know all about it, but I love this idea.

Laura

I've heard that helium is running out that it's going to get super expensive. My problem with helium is either you have to rent a helium canister that then you have to return the whole thing and it's expensive, or you buy one of those ones at Target or whatever that you have like 50 balloons worth in them or whatever. Then you have to figure out what the hell to do with that helium canister. Which is a pain in the ass. I just took one from the boys' birthdays to the hazardous waste disposal site in Glendale because I had to figure out a way to dispose of it. Oh, you can't just throw it in the trash? I think some of them you can and in some municipalities, but it's like you have to look it up and then you have to treat it properly. I remember one time I did put it in the recycling, but you had to like hammer into the side of it. It was just, I was, I'm not into that.

Shanna

No, I mean, my method is, for when I have gotten healing balloons is just to go to Party City and be like, hey, Phillies, please.

Laura

Hey, guess what? Party City doesn't even exist anymore, Shanna. You know where Party City's balloon center is now? Staples. Oh, I heard that. Staples. Staples has everything, man. I do love staples.

Shanna

Yeah, they've become quite the hub. There's like the Amazon Returns station, there's the Party City Balloon station, all kinds of stuff. So, there's a hack for you. You need balloons? Go to Staples.

Laura

I will say I live walking distance to Staples and I'm not mad about it.

Shanna

Yes, it's good. A 99 cent store too. The one near me does helium balloons too.

Laura

Okay, good tip. So that's my first hack. Shanna, would you like to bestow a hack upon us? Indeed, I would.

Shanna

Okay, here's a hack that made me think of you, Laura. And maybe it'll be helpful for you. I don't know. I hope so. I came across a post in the cleaning tips subreddit that I belong to because I'm cool like that and belong to all the cool subreddits and it was about getting grease or oil out of clothes like a tip for that and it immediately I remembered how you told me you always have like oil and grease stains on your clothes because of salad dressings and stuff like that, right?

Laura

I just thought about this yesterday because what I realized what it is is my boobs, they're so big. This is not a brag. I feel like once you get past a certain point, it stops being a brag and starts being like a hindrance. So they're so big and they're usually right above table level. And I was reaching for something that was in the middle of the table. And my boobs bumped into my dinner plate. And I was like, man. This is why I always have stains on my freaking boobs. Like it's either dropping from my mouth, which happens a lot, or I'm like leaning into a table. Just like they get in the way, man.

Shanna

They do. Well, hopefully you can save some of your clothes with this trick. So this person was like, I tried this hack. I can't believe it actually worked. What you do is you take your shirt with a stain on it, even if it's an old stain that's been through the washing machine and dryer. you pour baking soda on the stain, let it sit there for a while, and then you put parchment paper on top of the baking soda and then iron that. Just like put the iron on it for like 30 seconds. I guess chemical reactions, I don't know.

Laura

Yes. I'm going to have to try it. Yeah. So give it a try. Because I have plenty of shirts to try it on.

Shanna

Yes. Yes. Okay. Well, I hope it works for you. Fingers crossed. All right, Laura, do you have another hack for us?

Laura

Yes. I have another hack that I could have used as a child. It hasn't really applied to my parenting life yet, but it probably will for some of our listeners. So my kids love playing with costumes, but they don't love dressing up in like femme costumes. So we don't have any of those little plastic high heels that you get with costumes. But you know the ones I'm talking about, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we've had a couple of those in our household. I remember them from my childhood. And I remember loving them, but also being terrified of them because they are precarious, right? Like they are not. they're not meant for like proper wear, right? They are slippery, they're made out of plastic from front to back, nothing to help you walk on them, right?

Shanna

That is so genius. Right? It is so genius that the manufacturers of these goddamn slippery toy shoes need to be doing it. from the ghetto.

Laura

I can't believe these are sold in the first place without anything to stop these kids from slipping because they are so slippery. But anyway, I was hoping that would help some of our listeners because that looked very smart and I wish I could go back in time and tell my three-year-old self to put some of those on.

Shanna

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's great. I love that tip. Yeah. All right. You have another one? I do. I think I finally figured out how to not lose my keys in my bags, purses, et cetera. Wow. Okay. Yeah. No matter what, I just can never find these keys, right? I hang them up when I get home, but if I mindlessly put them in my bag or if I'm shopping, I throw them in there. It just doesn't matter. I will dig around forever trying to grab these keys out, and it drives me nuts. The other day, Cici went to a birthday party at her friend's house, and this is the friend whose parents own the claw machine business, okay? And so a fun part of her birthday parties are always that there's like a couple of claw machines set up and the kids can get as many prizes as they can catch. And of course, Cece's always like prizes and she caught so many.

Laura

It's like a buoy for your keys. Yeah. Interesting. I recently got a bigger bag because I've been using the like Uniqlo cross body bag that's like really small for years and I loved it because I was like, I don't need too much crap. Well, anyway, recently I was like, I need more crap. So I got a bigger bag and it came with A tether for your keys on those like hooks on a string right on the inside and i was like i'm not gonna use this when i started using it and i was like oh okay this is smart. this is a feature I need in all my bags going forward.

Shanna

Yes, I agree with you. That is a great feature. Some of my bags have them and I love it. I just don't use it enough, right? Because it's usually when I'm like rushing, I've got a lot of my mind, I hop out of the car and I just like toss my keys. And even though I've got the tether, I've got the hooks, I've got all these systems. Turns out I just need something tactile and big and fluffy. Love it. So I just need to reattach it. All right, Laura, what's your next hack?

Laura

OK, this is just a fun whimsical thing that I discovered a while back, actually. And I don't think I've talked about it on the show, but I finally did it. I finally implemented it. And I'm so pleased. So I discovered a TikTok ages ago that was like a person had set up an automation on their phone that anytime their phone connected to carplay in the car, and this is for Apple, of course, it played a safety announcement from a Disneyland ride. Like keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle, blah, blah, blah, right? You know, one of those. And I was like, oh man, my kids would love it. But I kind of forgot about that, right? Yeah. With Sebastian's newfound obsession with Disneyland. I'm like, I talked about it 24-7. I thought that I should revisit this. And I went ahead and downloaded four different safety spills from Disneyland rides.

Shanna

Oh, that is so great. Which one played today and did they recognize the ride it was from?

Laura

It was Astro Orbiters. Sebastian was like, it's Space Mountain. And I was like, no, it's close. You know what I mean? But they knew it was from a ride right away. They were like, oh my gosh, this is Disneyland. And yeah. I really wanted the haunted mansion to play first, and I guess I could have manufactured it to happen, but I just left it on the random one, so we'll see when that happens. But I think he's going to be super excited when that one comes up.

Shanna

I love this. I'm trying to think of what my kids would be delighted by, because I think they would think this is cool, but they don't have that connection with those safety instructions.

Laura

I'm like, hmm, I got to figure something out. Here's the thing, Shanna. You have a microphone. You know how to create audio. You could very easily cut snippets of songs. You could very easily get a voice changer to have you giving instructions to them, being like, oh, CECE, it's time to buckle up, or something like that. You know what I mean? Just have funny messages, which is kind of where I'm thinking I'm going to move on to once we're sick of the Disneyland thing, you know?

Shanna

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Laura

in cute things every day just to keep them on their toes. Just to make that part of our day that's always strudgery. You know what I mean? Like getting in the car, don't buckle up. It's time to go. We're going to be late. No, don't play with that thing you found on the floor. Come on. You know, just like give them something to look forward to and keep them on our toes.

Shanna

I think that's really, really fun. How much time do you recommend I commit to making these custom files for this?

Laura

Honestly, I know it sounds like it might be intimidating. I don't think it took me more than 10 minutes. All you have to do, I will send you and maybe we'll post a screenshot if we can figure out how to do it of the automation. But the random thing makes it a little bit more complicated. But if you're just picking one file, All you have to do is say, pick a file, play it. That's it. Like there's two steps to making the automation. So it's easy.

Shanna

But the steps involved of me writing custom scripts, recording them, changing my voice. How much time do you think I should commit to that?

Laura

That is up to you because the sky is the limit. I think maybe pick three funny things to say and just go with that. Yeah. Or you could record them saying funny things and then play it back to them.

Shanna

That's such a good idea. I love that. Will it work if you have an old-ass car where your phone just connects via Bluetooth, not necessarily through CarPlay? Because our Camry is older. That's the one I take them to school in, usually. The Leaf has it.

Laura

But what do I do here? Let me see. Let me see. OK, let's see. Bluetooth. Oh, yes. OK. So there is a Bluetooth automation. It says, and you choose your device so you can choose the Bluetooth device that's your car. So when your car is connected, run immediately. So, yep. The answer is yes. You can do it.

Shanna

Oh, my God. That's so genius to be able to pick the device. Because could you imagine I'm the DJ for softball, right? Like I connect to this giant speaker at the softball field and it automatically is like, oh, sissy. Hands and feet in the vehicle.

Laura

Amazing.

Shanna

Oh my God. That's such a fun hack.

Laura

I'm definitely going to try this. Yeah. Okay, Shanna, please keep your hands and feet inside the podcast at all times. Will you have us another hack, please?

Shanna

All right, all right. So as you know, homework time has been a challenge for me and my kids, for ages. And oftentimes, I try to make it more appealing by gamifying it, setting timers, just all kinds of things I've tried. And the newest one we've landed on has been a success. And I think it's a great hack for homework time or maybe any non-preferred task that has multiple steps that your kid might be struggling with. Okay. I'm pretty sure I've talked before on the show about Wheel of Names. I love Wheel of Names, right? Have you ever used that online?

Laura

I've used it in like the Buy Nothing group. You put everyone's names in and it picks a person to give your extra ream of copy or paper that you can't use.

Shanna

Because it's just so hard to decide who to give the ream of paper to. Let the robots choose. Yeah, so similar thing here, but I was like, hey, CECE, what if we use Wheel of Names and in each segment of the wheel, we put a different part of your homework. Then you spin it and whatever it lands on, that's what you're going to do next. Because there are multiple aspects of this first graders homework. I don't know about your school and our listeners schools at the first grade level, but it's like there's a reading fluency. There's spelling practice. There's the math practice. There's sometimes a grammar page every day, every day, right? And I think it's daunting for her to just kind of think about doing all of it. Wait, she gets that every day that much? Yeah, they give us a big packet at the beginning of the week with all the week's homework.

Laura

Wow, how many, wait, how many pages a week are we talking?

Shanna

Well, it's Monday through Thursday, so I don't know, maybe like 20? Oh, that's a lot.

Laura

That's a lot compared to us. We get those packets, but there's one for the week. Every Monday, Augie has to turn in his homework packet, but there's one reading assignment, one or two math assignments, one spelling assignment. There's probably six or seven pages he has to do a week.

Shanna

Oh, yeah, I would like that better. I would like that a lot better.

Laura

And, you know, over the week, we get to pick and choose on the day. But yeah, that's a lot. I can see how that would cause conflict.

Shanna

Yeah. So, you know, I've been kind of flexible with what we do and what we don't do. And I've worked with a teacher about that. But I do want her to do it or at least try. And I want her to practice this stuff. So, This was the idea this week. And she's like, yes, right? Because it's game of finance, making it a little more playful. And I know those things are really helpful for her. So I get it out. You can customize the wheel, which if you're not careful, that's a diversion that takes way too long. So like, let's just pick a picture of Radley and put it on the wheel. OK, that's it. And then you write in what each segment is. So it's like the sections I just mentioned. And then she's like, can I add one? I'm like, yes. I always let her add one silly one or something, whatever she wants to add. So if it lands on the silly one, it's a laugh, right? It's like, oh, haha.

Laura

Okay. All right. Let's look at this. Okay. We've got Wheel of Names. It says, we have a winner and it's fabric of the butts. What is fabric of the butts? There's also an abacus before it. What is happening here?

Shanna

I don't know. My best guess is that it's one of those things where it auto-suggests whatever next word or something. But why would my phone suggest butts? I don't know. I don't know. Anyways, this is what we're dealing with here. So there's always one funny, silly one. Anyway, just like taking a pause between the activities, the pages, doing the spin, seeing what it comes up with. I feel like it's just a nice way to keep her engaged. So I wanted to share the Wheel of Names hack that you might be able to implement in any part of your parenting life.

Laura

Honestly, that seems like such a good, I dare say, neuroscience-backed way to develop motivation for something. I was thinking about our friend Amy, who's been self-employed for a super long time as a graphic designer and photo editor, and I went over to her house once and she had two things going. She had a paper chain across her ceiling that represented all the steps that needed to happen in a certain project. And every time she finished one, she would take the chain off and throw it away. What? That's amazing. I know. And I was like, that's smart. And then the other thing she had was a jar of things she had to do. And she wrote down everything she needed to do on a sheet of paper, a slip of paper, folded up, put in the jar, and she would just shake it and pull something out. And I'm like, that sounds fun.

Shanna

Yes, that's really fun. And I'm going to try both of those with my kids. And maybe myself, too, because it is. It just makes it more enjoyable than just kind of like going through these routine things or things you have to do that aren't exciting. All right, Laura, do you have one more? What the heck for us? I do. I think we both have one more each, right? Yeah. Let's do them after the break. All right.

Laura

So I swore I had done this on the podcast before, but I posted this hack to TikTok as like a reply to someone else's video and you showed up in my comments being like, oh my gosh, this is genius. And I was like, uh, I swear I've told you this before and you're like, no, you haven't. And I was like, yes I have. And then we looked in the database and we're like, I guess I have it. So I need to share it because this is one of my favorite things that I've implemented in our house to help us with laundry. And as you all know, laundry is like an ongoing struggle for me. And I know it's an ongoing struggle for many, many, many, many, many people who are listening. Once you have kids, the laundry just explodes, like the quantity and the frequency. And it's just, I feel like I can never stay up to date with it.

Shanna

No, I think that's it. It's like a collapsible thing. You'd bend it up like you would a kid's tent or something, right? Kind of just... Yeah, exactly.

Laura

But my genius wasn't about the shape of the hamper, Shanna. It was about the color of the hamper because I noticed that you could buy multiple different colors of these hampers. They're pretty inexpensive. I think it's like a two pack for like 12 bucks or something like that, or at least the last time I bought some. And they came in multiple colors. And so I made a unilateral decision for our family. I was like, okay, everyone, from now on, red hampers are dirty and blue hampers are clean. And it's simple enough that everyone understands, you know, I didn't have to remind Corey, you know, because red, also like making the red one dirty, it's like, okay, red. Yeah, red is danger, right? Exactly.

Shanna

So I think you've really missed an opportunity to make the clean one green though, you know, you know, classic stop and go.

Laura

Two problems. One is Corey has a red, green color deficiency. So I needed to make sure that it was very clear. That makes sense. It is mild, it's not a super bad, it's not like full color blindness, but there are times where he's like, oh, could you go get me my brown shorts? And I'm like, you mean your green shorts? He's like, oh yeah, those. So red and blue was a better choice for us. Also, I didn't see green on their site. So red and blue. And it's so simple, the kids get it too, right? So I'll be like, oh, can you please put your socks in the red hamper? And, you know, we've been doing this for a couple of years and Sebastian got it right away because, you know, with two, they know their colors, right? So it's been so good.

Shanna

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah. You have been sitting on this hack since Sebastian was two. This is why I thought this was a new thing.

Laura

This is why I thought that I had talked about it before. Like I was convinced I had already talked about this. I thought it was old news.

Shanna

Wow. Yeah. My life could have been so different these last few years. I'm so sorry, Shanna. We're gonna start now. We're gonna start now.

Laura

But it's been working well for us. They don't last forever. You know, they are pretty cheap, these hampers. So eventually they start breaking down, but they last long enough that I feel like I get my use out of them. They would probably last longer if the kids didn't also use them as toys when they were empty. Lots of like hamper head wrestling matches going on around here. Potato sack races, I can only imagine. Truly anything. Also the cats love them. Right. So yeah. But the red hamper, blue hamper totally changed our lives. If you ever do happen to get on top of your laundry and have like a day where everything's done, you fold them up and you, you know, we slip them to the side of our washing machine. So they can be put out of the way if you are a person who actually puts away their clothes in a timely manner.

Shanna

That's great. That's what I need because our laundry room is so small and cramped. There's just no room for any baskets or anything. Yeah.

Laura

Yeah, you do have a tight space in there, but you totally have enough space to have like six of those folded right next to your washing machine. Or you can even put a little hook on the wall and hang them up.

Shanna

I love a hook. Oh my God. OK. You are giving me so many ideas. I'm loving this.

Laura

All right. I'm so sorry I never shared this before. It's okay. I forgive you. All right, Shanna. We have one more hack for our listeners and for me. So tell us how to improve our lives.

Shanna

All right, well, one thing you hear a lot with parenting kids that need to stay on track, get things done is like set timers for them, right? And, you know, I have fully embraced timers. We bought a couple like visual timers and one for each of the girls. And we sometimes will be like five minutes for getting ready for bed or, you know, different things. But what I've discovered is that the timer has become a bit of a source of anxiety. especially for CECE because it's like when it goes off, it's loud. And like the pressure of like knowing like, oh my gosh, I'm running out of time. She kind of shuts down sometimes. And I have stopped using the timers with her quite a bit. And then the other day, I was like, you know, I like the timers in that it's helping my kids learn how to sense time, right? And I think that's valuable.

Laura

Yeah. What is five minutes, right? Like you have to learn that in your body at some point, like what five minutes feels like.

Shanna

Right, exactly. And I want to keep encouraging that without being vague about time and without this anxiety of knowing that the alarm is going to go off. Even if it's on the silent mode, right? There's a silent mode where it just blinks with lights. It's just, I don't know, it's become kind of a trigger for her. And so I was like, you know what kids love? I think at least kids love is stop watches. where it's the opposite, right? It's not counting you down like, oh my gosh, the bomb is gonna explode at the end of this. It's more like, can I hit start and see how long it takes me? Or can I hit start and see how long I read? And then at the end of the task, when you're done with it, you can check the stopwatch and see how much time has passed. So I ordered two stopwatches for the kids, one each, and I wanted bare bones because some stopwatches now are just, they have too many functions.

Laura

Oh, yeah.

Shanna

And I wanted to kind of help CeCe get a sense of time with homework because it really is just an ongoing challenge and I'm not willing to spend two hours on first grade homework. So I kind of have said a thing where it's like 30 minutes You do what you can do. I say this part in my head. And if nothing gets done, it doesn't get done, right? But it's 30 minutes. So it's like, boom, start the stopwatch, kind of keep an eye on it, see where we are. But there's not that threat of not making it in time. So my hack, my last hack is stopwatches.

Laura

That's really smart. I have used them on my phone a little bit, but I hate having to bring my phone out, right? Because that then brings the allure of the phone out for both of us, right? Like, I'll be like, oh, just let me, I'll just check an email. So it's nice to have that very old fashioned digital thing there.

Shanna

All right, well that's it for me and my hacks and I believe that's it for our segment. Shall we move on to our BFPs and BFNs? I think we should.

Laura

We close every episode every week with a Big Fat Positive or a big fat negative from each of us. Shanna, do you have a BFP or a BFN for us?

Shanna

I have a BFP. Yay. I think I finally landed on a great water bottle. Like the perfect water bottle.

Laura

Yes. A topic almost as near and dear to my heart as pens, notebooks, and other stationery. Okay.

Shanna

I would agree with you, except that I love almost all stationery and pens and water bottles. I hate almost all of them because they fail me in so many ways. Like, especially the ones I get my kids, right? Because I'm like, I don't want to spend a fortune on a water bottle for my kids. They'll lose it. So I keep buying mid-range things like yellow brand or I don't even know what I've been buying. We have had so many water bottles where the lids break, the They end up leaking all over the place. These kids come home with saturated backpacks and homework more than I can tell you. And I'm just, I'm over it. And I took two of my moms grew up and was like, what are the water bottles people are liking? And overwhelmingly people are recommending the Owala brand.

Laura

You heard of this brand? Oh, I have. I don't own any, but I do know that there was a guy who beat off a home intruder with his Owala a few months ago. And it was a big news.

Shanna

Yep. Yep. I could see how it could double as a weapon. Um, so I went out and got one for myself because I've also been unhappy with my own water bottles. I recently had a Stanley and horrible. It leaked everywhere. No. And like, I'm just like, ugh. I'm done with this. So I went and got an Ovala just to see, oh my God. First of all, the sipping mechanism. Talk about perfection. It's called the free sip is the one I have. So you can either like sip through the straw or tip it and like drink it like that. So there's like two options built in. The sipping mechanism is great. There's no like too much pressure on the straw. So you have to suck so hard that your cheeks suck in. You feel like your eyeballs are popping out. That's part of my problem with water bottles. And the closing mechanism and the gaskets just work. They just work. I love it. So my kids are like, I want an Owala.

Laura

I don't have any because we have decided as a family, Corey and I have decided that as a family, our children are simple modern water bottle kids. And we just have to stick with it because we're so sick of all the mismatched lids. everything. Yeah. So Cory at some point was just like, we got to pick one. We just got to pick one. And I was like, all right, we're going to be a simple modern family. So we're kind of committed on that. But I have heard amazing things about the Owalas. And I got to say that I personally am on the hydro flask team for my water bottle needs. I recently did upgrade to their straw version and I'm obsessed with it. But I've moved on from tipping. I don't like the tip. I like the suck. I feel like that could get clipped out of context.

Shanna

I hear you though, look, these water bottles are so huge. And when you fill them up with ice and stuff, it's pretty heavy for a wrist to pick up tip and all that jazz. So I just, I love to just reach over, take a sip of roux. My only beef is that the one I got, I think it's like a 40 ounce or something. It doesn't fit in the cup holder of my car. So I do need to troubleshoot that.

Laura

I'm sure there's some kind of extender tool that someone makes. Yeah. Yeah. I need to look into that. Well, I am happy for you. That sounds like a real upgrade to your life.

Shanna

It is, but by the way, bonus hack that you just slipped under the radar there with picking one brand of water bottle for your kids and family because truly there are so many straws and lids and just it's water bottle chaos in our kitchen. So it's really smart to pick one brand so they could be interchangeable. It's just, yeah, at some point, the badness must end.

Laura

Yep, yep, yep, props to Cory. And what's crazy is that I know which straw goes with which cup. I like have, it's pushed useful information out of my brain. Like I can give you a whole taxonomy of every lid to straw pairing. But I can't remember important things like when I'm supposed to pick up my kid today. You know, I have to put that on the calendar.

Shanna

Yeah, well, you've mapped out the straws. So that's really that's really what matters, Laura.

Laura

So mine is that we took the kids to their, I think, official first concert this weekend. How exciting. Taylor, did you go see Tay-Tay? I wish. One of my big regrets in life is that I didn't get to go see the Ares tour. It's mostly because I was not as big of a fan of her at the beginning of the heiress tour and then two years later after I had gotten completely sucked in by all the live streams and all everything around the heiress tour She had left, you know, like Los Angeles was like one of the first stops. So I was I was too late to the party. Anyway, no, this was actually a concert put on by the Lodge Room in Highland Park, which is a very hip neighborhood in Los Angeles, very hip venue too, called the Rock and Roll Playhouse. Wait, the venue's called that or the concert was called that? It's a series of concerts at the Lodge Room called the Rock and Roll Playhouse.

Shanna

Four kids. So it's specifically for kids. The whole series, even fish and Grateful Dead.

Laura

Even Fish and Grateful Dead. So the idea is that it happens. It starts at like 11 a.m. on a weekend. Now you're talking. The volume is turned down a little, although I have to say it was a little loud still. But, you know, they try to make it a little bit quieter for the kids. It's only an hour long. And then they do things like bring out a parachute. You know, like a big parachute for the kids to play under and do kid-centric games and stuff. But they still had the bar open for the parents and they have snacks you can buy and stuff like that. So it's like a real concert experience just at a kid-friendly time. That is so fun. What did your kids think of it? They loved it. They thought it was really, really fun. I think if it had gone on any longer, they may have lost interest, but one hour was perfect.

Shanna

Um, yeah, if you ever see another one come up, will you let me know? I want to go. Oh, for sure. They have a lot.

Laura

So I will definitely let you know.

Shanna

I need one that's based on the music of Perry grip.

Laura

See, this is not what you're going to get. You're not going to get like the kids stuff, right? You're going to get like grown up music, quote unquote, for kids.

Shanna

Sweet. What a fun idea. I love that someone came up with this idea, started it, spread it around the country. I mean that, this is so cool. I can't wait to check it out.

Laura

I have a friend who is in a Radiohead cover band in Seattle and I told her she needs to reach out to these people and be like, Can we do a radiohead show for you? So I would definitely take my kids to that.

Shanna

Yeah. Kids need to know where your Tom York obsession started.

Laura

Mommy, why you don't may we to the guy that turned into the tweet? But yeah, that is my BFB, and I think that's it for the show. Wait, Alesshawna, do you have a review to read for us?

Shanna

Oh, I do. This is from Be Cohen. The title is My Favorite Podcast. I've been listening to BFB since I got pregnant with my daughter, who is now 16 months old. BFP has helped me so much through my parenting journey. I'm constantly using hacks. Hey, perfect for today's episode. I've learned from the podcast. The podcast helps make my commute to work enjoyable, and I think my daughter knows Laura and Shanna's voice by now, since I'm always listening when she's in the car with me. I started listening from the beginning two years ago, and I'm so sad to be almost caught up, but appreciate that Laura and Shanna continue to put out weekly episodes so many years in. Aw, thanks, B. Cohen. Thank you. And hi, baby. Hi. It's your aunties. Auntie Shanna and Auntie Laura. Say hello. Listeners, if you haven't had a chance yet, could you please do us a favor? Head on over to Apple Podcasts.

Laura

We are on all the social medias at BFP podcast. We have a website, Big Fat Positive podcast.com. And if you want to send us an email, send it to contact at Big Fat Positive podcast.com. And finally, if you want to join the coolest group of people on the internet, just search Facebook for BFP community. It's a private group, so you've got a request to join and answer those two membership questions so we know that you're not a robot, but once you do that, you'll be sent through to all the amazing conversations we're having in there.

Shanna

Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thanks for listening, everyone. Have a big, fat, positive week. Bye. Bye.