Whether you’re a stay-at-home or working mom, being a mother is a full time job, right. Managing family schedules, arranging extra-curricular activities for your children, overseeing homework and having dinner ready in time can be stressful, not to mention that you still want to curve out some time for yourself to recharge.
Having a home printer can help take some of the stress out of a mum’s daily activities Epson, offers some helpful hints to make the most out of your printer at home.
Take advantage of mobile connectivity
In the case of last-minute school projects – let’s say your child needs a few urgent home-made posters of their favourite things – make use of your home printer’s mobile functionality to multi-task. Many printers nowadays offer printing directly from your smartphone with apps such as Epson iPrint. This means that your child can easily search for and print the images they need, while you prepare for bath time.
Print your picture-perfect memories
In the good old days before smartphones and selfies existed, you would load your children into the car for a photo session at the studios. From first steps, college graduations to grandchildren, being a mum is filled with precious moments that should be captured and remembered. The ease of portable devices now also means you can capture those spontaneous moments – after all – they say that the best photos are those that you don’t pose for.
Explore the inner photographer in you and save yourself the task of planning a studio visit, by investing in a Wi-Fi-enabled home photo-printer that enables you to print your favourite memories directly from your tablet or smartphone. The comfort of printing at home means that you can seamlessly update your images, add additional photos of family celebrations or even a new pet.
Put together your own DIY cook book for the budding foodie in you
Being a mum means you care about your child’s nutrition and endeavour to incorporate foods that are not only healthy but delicious too. After rushing home from office meetings and attending to household duties, you will probably be left scrambling to put something together for dinner.
Channel your inner Miss Mandi by putting together your own DIY cook book filled with unique recipes and great photos of your “throwdowns”. Share your love for creating DIY cook books with fellow moms and foodie friends, by printing personalized recipe ideas and gifts such as kitchen cleaning and organization hacks in cute mason jars to help them get started.
For those recipes that you have been dying to try from the growing stacks of your favourite magazines as well as your favourite foodie bloggers, clear the clutter as you scan and store your favourite recipes instead. Organise your menus by saving recipes to a Google Drive folder, or better yet, a Pinterest board, for easy reference.
Encourage your children to help in managing household chores
With a host of digital games and services on offer, movies to watch and social media, kids can easily spend hours glued to a screen. Start encouraging your children to participate in household chores with something simple like packing away their toys after playtime. Create a toy storage station with a few different sized plastic tubs, and with the help of an Epson Label Printer, label each of the tubs to keep toys organised. You can also use the label printer to print out your children’s names, and place them on a board next to the toy station. Each time they pack their toys away in the correct place, they can earn a star or smiley-face sticker that you can print out beforehand.
For every five stars earned, your children could earn Ksh20 to add to their piggy bank of savings. This will not only help them get excited and motivated to participate in house hold chores, but it will also ease some of the pressure on you, giving you some time to put your feet up. Use family night to switch up the chores, hand out rewards, as well as assign weird and wacky tidy-up challenges to keep them motivated.
Party planning on a budget
Planning parties and hosting doesn’t have to be a time-consuming and expensive process. Once you’ve decided on the theme for your event use your home printer to create décor, signage, party packs, and personalized gifts for your guests.
You can find plenty of inspirational ideas online, and a simple trip to the crafts store to buy coloured cardboard and a few sticky labels can save you hours of searching for the right décor. If it’s a birthday party, get the older kids involved in the creative process and make it a family effort.