How to Get out the Door Faster with a Toddler
This post was written in collaboration with joy. All opinions are my own.
If you have a toddler in your house, you’ve probably experienced the chaos of getting out the door on time, and maybe you’ve wondered if there’s a trick to how to get out the door faster. Sometimes, it’s just about the little wins – like when you and your toddler both leave the house in something other than pajamas.
Before our little guy was born, the advice I received most often about parenting was “sleep when the baby sleeps.”
Well, that’s actually terrific advice, but if I’m honest, that pretty much never happened for us. While I truly value sleep, there was always plenty of other stuff to do when the baby was down.
Milo is a little older now, he sleeps really well through the night, and he takes two naps a day. Thank goodness! He gets plenty of rest and so do we. Now that we’ve tackled the major win of getting our child to sleep, I use his rest time to tackle some smaller wins.
I’ve put together a few little hacks I’ve learned to help me get out the door faster in the mornings.
Shower and Fix Hair at Night
Milo goes to sleep at 6:30 pm pretty much every night. So after that, it’s party time. I only wash my hair 2-3 times a week. So a few times a week, I put Milo down, then hop in the shower to wash my hair. If I’m feeling really extra, I’ll blow dry and style it, too. That way, the next day, I need less “get ready” time. On days I don’t wash my hair, it’s dry shampoo, dry shampoo, dry shampoo.
Shave During Nap-time
I don’t wash my hair every day, but I try to shave a bit more often than I wash my hair. On non-hair-washing days, I like to utilize nap-time to shave my legs with joy and glee, a new line of razors, shave mousse and shave gel only available at Walmart.
I take a moment to myself, listen to a podcast, and enjoy the surprisingly good shave I get with a joy razor for their low price. I love the design of joy it has a nonslip grip that is designed to give you total control, even when the razor is wet. To accompany joy, glee shave mousse comes in a refreshing summer lily scent and the shave gel (my favorite) offers a rich lather in calming cucumber and aloe. You can grab both joy and glee (and either a four pack or eight pack of refills) only at Walmart for a super affordable price!
Use a Tinted Moisturizer
This is a small one that makes a big difference in my makeup routine. When I’m doing my makeup in the morning, I find that it goes so much faster when I use a tinted moisturizer than when I use regular foundation. It provides a flawless finish but requires much less blending so your makeup routine is over in a flash.
Non-Beauty Routine Tips
A few other things I do to save time in the mornings are: set out everything we need the night before, pack the diaper bag (don’t forget water and snacks), lay out his outfit and mine, and make sure the stroller is in the car. That way, I’m not running around the house trying to find everything I need while I’ll also trying to get ready, get the little one dressed, and load up the car! Believe me, I have been in that boat way too many times and I know it’s a recipe for disaster.
How do you manage your time to help you get out the door faster with a toddler?
