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.