As if being a mum wasn’t challenging enough, the past year has forced most to take on the responsibility of babysitter, housekeeper, cook, office worker, teacher, and a shoulder to lean on! If it sounds like an awful lot to do for one person, that’s because it is. With so much on our plates, housework seems impossible to fit in.
Thankfully, many clever gadgets can make life easier (and dare we say more fun?) for busy mums! Here’s a list of life-changing appliances you’ll absolutely love.
Blender
Aside from blending up your favourite smoothies and milkshakes, a blender can also make soups, sauces, and purees. Rather than separately buying a bulky food processor or a limited-use immersion blender, invest in a blender with multiple settings. Depending on your need, these settings can include pulse, heat, pulverise, crush, and extract. An engine above 500 watts usually means you can even make your own nut butter and baby food as taught here on practicalparenting.com. If you’ve got a larger family, opt for one that can hold at least 900g.
Rice Cooker
As a multi-tasking mum, having a multi-purpose kitchen appliance that you don’t have to keep checking on is a godsend. Rice cookers are a great investment since many models can also cook other grains (quinoa, bulger, millet), steam vegetables, and even bake cakes. According to weknowrice.com, models with fuzzy logic technology are particularly foolproof. It lets you pre-set the time you want it to start cooking, and when it’s done, it will automatically shut off. You can literally set it, forget it, and still enjoy a perfectly cooked meal.
Heated Drying Rack
Do you hate emptying the dryer? Then maybe it’s time to add a heated drying rack to your home! Compared to a normal tumble dryer, these cost less and use up less room. Because of the heating function, you can be assured your clothes will dry properly without developing any weird damp smell. If you’ve got clothes that aren’t dryer-friendly, you can dry them quickly and safely here, too.
Robot Vacuum
This is especially helpful if you’ve got pets or little kids. A robot vacuum can be used on most surfaces and runs for an average of 60 minutes. While they can run on their own, models that have Wi-Fi connectivity can even be connected to Alexa or Google Assistant – meaning they can respond to voice commands. You don’t have to worry about it knocking stuff down either, as it has built-in sensors that help it navigate around rooms autonomously.
Power Scrubber
If you hate cleaning the bathroom, you’re not alone. Survey results on bharattimes.com showed cleaning the bathroom was the most despised household chore for Aussies. While we still don’t have an appliance that ensures we never have to clean the toilet, power scrubbers make the task a million times easier. Some models come with their own handheld unit, but others simply come in the form of brush heads that can be attached to your power drills. You can use these to clean tiles, grout, tubs, rims, and counters in half the time, and half the effort.
Mug Warmer
Of course, it wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t include an appliance that’s purely for your relaxation. As abc.ne reports, everyone knows how serious Australian coffee culture is. But for busy mums – especially ones stuck in lockdown – it’s almost impossible to get a coffee break. Often, you pour yourself a cup only to let it go cold while you tend to everything but yourself. With a mug warmer, you can come back to the warm comforting coffee you deserve anytime!
A lot of the time, we busy mums put ourselves at the bottom of the list. But it’s important to remember that before we can take care of others, we first have to care for ourselves. Aside from getting some helpful appliances, look into these other self-care activities on northernbeachesmums.com.au.
Exclusively written for Northern Beaches Mums by Brittany Jeramie. Brittany Jeramie is a freelance lifestyle writer from Perth. As a mum of two, she likes to spend her free time testing new home gadgets and growing her own salad greens.