Make My Life Easier Thursday: 100% New Zealand Wool Dryer Balls
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I just got these dryer balls to replace my old, cracked plastic ones, and they’re a huge improvement!
These 100% wool dryer balls cut down on static and drying time by separating laundry as it tumbles. They naturally soften fabrics without chemicals and reduce wrinkles. And they’re completely biodegradable and free from dyes and fragrances — perfect if you or your family have sensitive skin.
Consider getting two packs if you have a really large dryer.
These dryer balls are $9.49 for three at Target.
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Target – Car-seat trade-in event through 9/28 — bring in an old car seat to get a 20% discount on other baby/toddler stuff.
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
Apropos of yesterday’s discussion about names’ reflecting parents’ hope for their child: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/11/opinion/connie-chung-named-after.html
Another toddler sleep regression question (sorry!): do you just leave them in their cribs when they won’t fall asleep?
My 21 month old has suddenly started staying up for 2 hours past bedtime every night this week. We do the bedtime routine starting at 7:00, put her in her crib awake at 7:30 and leave, and she’s always asleep around 7:45/by 8:00. Except for every single night this week where she’s just been awake and talking/moving past 9:30. There’s sometimes a little bit of crying but nothing bad at all.
Last night I got her out at 8:15 and we read books in the semi-dark for 45 minutes before we tried bed again. She was wide awake the whole time and not showing any signs of being tired. Put her back in her crib at 9:00 and it still took her 20-30 minutes to fall asleep.
She gets about 11 hours of sleep at night (and has been trying to sleep in the next morning) and a 2 hour nap so I think we’re going to try pushing bed time back slightly, but I don’t think we’re expecting too much sleep.
What do we do??
I was paging through the last few days worth of posts and saw you mention bringing the Cosco Scenera Next on a trip to Europe. We‘re Europe-based and have the same car seat for when we travel to the US, but it’s not approved for use here, and car seat installation is physically different in European cars than in the US. If you‘ve already looked into all that, great. Just wanted to give you a heads up.
I am exhausted, and not because of my kids. My husband insists on waking me up at 5:30 every morning—turning on the lights, leaving the bedroom door open while banging around the house, asking me why I am not up yet, etc. In the Before Times we both needed to be up this early, but now we WFH and the school schedule has shifted later. To get 8 hours of sleep I’d have to be asleep by 9:30, but I am often out until past 9:00 for meetings and activities. This morning I asked him to let me sleep until at least 6:00, preferably 6:30, and he responded as if sleeping that late would be immoral. My brain no longer works and there is no good reason other than my husband’s insistence on waking me up. How can I convince him to let me sleep?
This is long. Appreciate anyone who sticks with me.
We’ve known our nanny a long time. She’s reliable, on time, professional, my daughter adores her. She nannied for us for about 18 months (stole her from our daycare at COVID) before she took a full-time student teaching position in August 2021. She’d been in school to become a teacher while she was with us, so we knew that was the long-term path. Fast forward to December 2022 our second nanny resigned because she was moving and old nanny came back because teaching position was eliminated. She agreed in December ’22 to start Jan of this year and stay with us until August/the school year started. She was/is looking for a full-time job while with us for these 8 months but committed to staying with us until her to-be-determined first day of school in August, also coinciding with DD goes to K. We’d probably have to spackle care together for a week or two in August as teachers report early, she could be in a different district, but we were ok with working with that unknown variable.
Well, nanny just told us yesterday that she’s taking a long-term sub position starting MONDAY for 6 weeks. Her mom, who we know well enough, watches a set of 4 year old twins in a neighboring town. They sometimes meet up (I have a 5-year old) so my daughter def knows the kids and the mom. Nanny’s solution is to just have DD tack on to her mom for the six weeks. Expectation is that we pay the same rate, would have to drive to this house (~15 mins, opposite direction of both of our works), and DD would just jump in to their schedule. Nanny currently takes DD to gymnastics and other activities and all of that would abruptly end (4 weeks left at gymnastics, an activity she LOVES, before summer break fwiw). At end of six weeks we revert back to how things were for the duration of the summer, until nanny gets a full-time teaching job or DD goes to K.
I don’t know this family from Adam. They also have a 6 year old in K right now who presumably would be child #4 after 2:30 pm each day and after school ends for summer break, which is two weeks before our nanny is out of her district. So mom (~60 years old) would have two 4 year olds, my five year old and a 6 year old, in a house, on a schedule and routine that is not hers, missing activities that she loves. Whereas it’s their house, frankly their nanny, and they’re 75% of the children, I have a fear my kid may be left behind, maybe be an oddball out? Her mom is fine, but just fine. A little sassy with kids, imho. We had the opportunity to bring her on once and we declined. This is effectively a nanny share, not on my terms whatsoever with a family I don’t know at all. I’ve had friends do nanny shares and they were nightmares, which is prob informing some of my reaction, too.
We love our nanny. I know why she’s making this choice for her career – the longterm sub could help her land a full time gig, but we’re fully out to dry here. I’m thinking that we agree to this arrangement starting Monday (because we sort of have no choice), one of us will take of Tuesday AM to bring her to gymnastics so that doesn’t have to be missed, and then actively try to find a summer nanny/college kid to take us through August. That sort of hangs nanny out to dry who was banking on coming back to work with us for the summer, but…. you left us first?? I think? ugh.
The disruption is so unfair to my daughter. She will be crushed that she won’t see nanny again, and so abruptly. Any wisdom? Follow my gut that we just need to go along with this plan and find a new solution? If we agree to this arrangement I have a giant fear that nanny will come back after these six weeks and find a teaching gig that needs her to report in like early August and then we have to figure out care for the full month of August, which would be a sucker punch after having to figure out these six weeks. Just no consistency for my kid, who is neurotypical, wonderful and smart but the disruption to schedules and whatnot will absolutely impact home life. Oh, and I’m 13 weeks pregnant. Icing on the chaos cake.
Was super interesting to hear how everyone celebrates Mother’s Day yesterday! Would be fun to hear how you celebrate your own/spouses and kids birthday.
Hi! Can someone explain to me a typical in-house counsel compensation structure? Not general counsel, but one of many attorneys in a particular department (IP) at a Fortune 100 company in the Midwest. I have only worked at a firm (12 years). I have an initial interview soon, and I assume compensation will come up. I have thoughts on overall pay based on some research I’ve done but also am concerned about saying something ignorant since it is a new system to me. I will also ask questions about their specific structure to guide my response. Any insight would be appreciated in advance though. Thanks!
I hate that i have to ask this question, but care package ideas for a 1.5 year old who has to spend 4 months in the hospital getting chemo?
Does anyone have a child with a learning disability that’s not ADHD and when did you start to notice it? I have three kids and the youngest is four. She is having a really hard time with number and letter recognition. If you verbally ask her “what’s the first letter” she’ll answer. And if you point to “5” in a line of numbers and ask what it is, she’ll count the others to get to 5. So the concepts are there, but the recognition isn’t. She’s still young so we were just kind of watching this, but it feels like there could be something different here. I’m mostly trying to decide if I should try to look into this or just wait because she’ll be testing for private kindergartens in the fall, and if she truly has some sort of learning disability that will require extra support I’d send her somewhere else. Her teachers haven’t flagged anything. But it’s clear her brain works differently from her two older siblings. She’s also very articulate and bright, and she is not on the spectrum if that adds any color. Help me think about how to approach this. Pediatrician? But they may say I’m overreacting for an early 4 year old.
Any ballpark ideas on what to pay a babysitter who’s staying with two toddlers and a preschooler? Three Covid babies meant that we never figured this out… and also that we’re way overdue for a date night. In DC, if that’s relevant. And these are former daycare teachers. TIA!
What are your daycares rules about potty training? Ours does not allow pull ups (even during naps) and told us to potty train at home over a weekend first, which is fine and make sense, but so far my 2.5 year old is making zero progress.
We got a note yesterday that if he’s not 100% potty trained and completely independent (wiping, changing clothes) with “no accidents” by the time he turns 3 this summer, he can’t move to the next room and they won’t have a spot for him to stay where he is.
Is this normal? My older child potty trained early so it was never an issue. The note was kind of harsh and left me pretty upset and stressed.
Do you volunteer or do community service? I have an only in preschool and have some spare time, and would like to give back to my community. I am inspired by my friends who volunteer as doulas for low-income women, work for Meals on Wheels, etc, however they don’t have kids. Some women at my office serve on the Board of Directors for nonprofits. How do you get on the Board for an org? Do you apply, or are you asked to serve?