10 Time-Saving Tips To Make Your Life As A Busy Orange County Mom Easier

If you are like most moms, your day is filled to overflowing - from appointments, to practices, to shopping, to cooking and cleaning, as well as taking time for ourselves.  It's important to find ways to cut corners, be efficient and know all the short cuts!  Whether you are a working mom, or a stay at home mom, here are 10 Time Saving Tips for Busy Orange County Moms.  Add your own in the comments!

FOOD Time Savers

1. Meal Delivery – Pick up or have meals delivered right to your home or office. Susan’s Healthy Gourmet, located in Irvine, has lots of delicious and healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner options as well as Kid Sized meals, called Back Pack Lunches or Busy Bee Dinners. The $15 delivery fee includes twice weekly delivery or any single weekly delivery, or you can pick up your meals at one of their outlet locations ($3 convenience fee is added to each order).

2. PreAssembled Food Locations – Dream Dinners has locations in Anaheim, Tustin, Fountain Valley and Lake Forest. After choosing your menu, you attend a meal preparation session, where you will rotate through various stations scooping the prepped ingredients into your own bags or pans. After assembly, you take your items home and freeze until ready to cook! Fun to do with a friend and definitely worth the time on the front end.

3. Follow the Food Trucks – Roaming Hunger OC – There are new food trucks popping up everywhere, and it’s hard to know where and when these mobile eateries will be around for that lunch time or late night craving.   According to their website “Roaming Hunger keeps track of street food. We list street food vendors and provide information and means for you to go eat from them. With Roaming Hunger, you will never go hungry.”  With names like "Chunk-N-Chip" and "Bacon MANia" and "Oh For Sweets Sake", you are sure to find something for everyone in your family!

4. Crock Pot – This is the ultimate time saver for busy moms. There’s a reason there is a whole line of cookbooks called “Fix It And Forget It!’ There are thousands of recipes online, but here is good start.  The prep can be done in the morning, and when you get home, you have dinner ready to go...not to mention the delicious, mouth watering smell that welcomes you home!  NOTE:  Always cook with the lid on for the recommended time. Do not remove the lid during the first two hours of cooking unless the recipe calls for lid removal.

SHOPPING Time Savers

5. Supervised Play Areas For Kids - Trust me, your kids will be happier and you will be too if you have any kind of "serious" shopping to do!  Children who are between the heights of 37-50"" and potty-trained are welcome to spend up to an hour in Småland, IKEA's FREE, supervised children's play area.

At Living Spaces in Irvine and La Mirada, they have a supervised kid's fun room where children over 42 inches tall can watch movies and play video games while their parents shop.  They even hand out pagers to the parents in case your child needs you!


IN THE CAR Time Savers

6. Drive Thru Pharmacy – Click here for a list of CVS’s with a drive-thru window.

7. Drive Thru Cleaners - (15415 Jeffrey Road, Irvine) and Mr. Best Drive-Thru Cleaners ( 2939 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar), offers alterations, dry cleaning, ironing, and leather cleaning.

8. Self Service Movie Rentals - Redbox / Blockbuster Express – Go online, and reserve your movie or game in advance!

PERSONAL Time Savers

9. Gyms With Childcare - 24 Hour Fitness offers Kids’ Club, a fun, safe and supervised place for children ages 6 months to 12 years to play while you exercise.

10. Get a Sitter – Southern California Sitters which operates mainly in the Orange County and San Diego areas, offers sitters for few hours, overnight, daily, weekly or extended stays. You can book a sitter well in advance or they have dozens of sitters who are available "last minute".

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.

Five Summer Getaways Every Kid Should Experience (in the OC)

Ahhh summer. Long days with no school, playing outside, staying up late, camp fires and sleeping in. Going to the movies and going to the beach. June 21, 2011 marks the first official day of summer… What are some of your best summer memories?

Here is a short list of some of the best things that every Orange County kid should experience…add your own in the comments!

Disneyland Weekend, Anaheim

It’s the ultimate vacation destination, and we are lucky enough to live very close to the Happiest Place on Earth, aka Disneyland. Summer time IS prime time, so you need to be able to cope with the crowds, and have several plans in place for taking quiet breaks and recharging your (and your kids) batteries! If you plan to stay overnight, here is a link for “featured hotels near Disneyland Resort” from Booking.com. And here is the link for the Disneyland Hotel. From June 3 to September 5, 2011, check out the “Disney Soundsational Summer”! The Disneyland Resort has new attractions, dining and a “re-imagined” hotel pool with 2 water slides. Take advantage of later hours, be amazed by summertime-only fireworks shows and dance along to new entertainment.

Fire Pit/Beach Camping, Various Beaches

There are only a few places in Orange County where you can still have an old-fashioned, campfire. Nothing says “summer” more than playing all day in the water, winding down, bundling up to watch the sunset, and of course weenies and s’mores! That campfire smell and the black feet are sure signs of a perfect summer day! Here is a list of locations along with some helpful tips on what to bring! Fire rings at Newport and Doheny are usually staked out by about 6 a.m. On any given Saturday, most are claimed by 11 a.m.

Tent or RV camping at Doheny State Beach is a one-of-a-kind experience! From the beach front campsites to the train rattling through, to the midnight trips to the bathroom…it’s definitely something the kids need to experience at least once in their lives! Reserving campsites is the hard part. Reservations can be made at the Reserve America website, SIX months in advance. But, they do have cancellations, so you may get lucky!

Sawdust Art Festival, Laguna Beach

This yearly craft and art fair is so much fun for the whole family! This year, it runs June 24 through August 28, 2011. Enjoy live entertainment at three outdoor stages on the festival grounds. Musical acts of all genres, roving entertainment including circus acts, and much more are on schedule to perform during the festival. Click here for a calendar of special events! While you are in Laguna Beach, check out Main Beach, which is probably the most popular beach in Laguna Beach! It’s located directly in the middle of Laguna Beach where Broadway and Ocean Avenues intersect with Pacific Coast Highway. Here is information about the free, open air trolleys that run along PCH, Broadway and Laguna Canyon Road.

Angels Home Game, Anaheim

Take me out to the ballgame! Head out to a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim game this summer and make memories for you and your kids! Angel Stadium has fireworks and summer concerts, along with awesome giveaways if you go on a promotional giveaway night. Click here for a list of Promotions and Special Events. There is lots to do in the immediate area including The Block at Orange, Century Theaters, The Honda Center and The Santa Ana Zoo, just to name a few!

Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa

The OC Fair runs this year from July 15 to August 14, open Wednesday through Sunday. This is definitely a MUST do for the summer. From the live entertainment and sports arena, to the summer concert series at Pacific Amphitheater, to the midway games and carnival and greasy fair food, there is something for everyone! Your kids will be sure to remember the Fair and beg to come back next year! Check out the OC Fair website for deals and discounted admission days!

Make it a GREAT SUMMER! Get outside and enjoy the SUN!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Alamo blogging program, for a gift card worth $25. For more information on how you can participate, click here.