9 time-saving tips parents can actually use

1. Vacuum up Rainbow Loom elastics directly from their packaging.

2. Buy new socks. Take half the pairs and immediately throw one sock into the garbage. Run the other half over rusty nails.

3. Pull out your ingredients for dinner. Feed your kids a piece of bread and two bites of broccoli. Dump the rest on the floor.

4. Make the hunt for stray shoes, hats, mitts, water bottles and sunglasses an official part of getting ready to leave. Better yet, stay home.

5. Just pay $5 upfront whenever you take out a library book.

6. Kick over your kid’s sandcastle when it’s time to leave the park so you can get on with the screaming and crying.

7. Stand over your kid saying, “Do your homework,” repeatedly until she writes one sentence. Then put everything back into her school bag unfinished.

8. Take a few swipes at your kid with a damp wash cloth, pour a cup of water on the bathroom floor and call it a bath.

9. Breastfeed your baby down and then wake her up repeatedly until you find yourself weeping in a crumpled ball on the floor of the nursery. Oh wait. That doesn’t save any time, does it?