Make My Life Easier Thursday: Translucent Packing Cubes
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There are many ways to pack a suitcase, but I fall squarely in Team Packing Cube.
I use packing cubes similar to these — one for each member of the family. These lightweight cubes have a mesh panel so you can quickly see what’s inside. These also have handles for carrying around your hotel room. I usually don’t bother unpacking, so these cubes make it easy to live out of your suitcase. Now if only they packed for me…
This set of three packing cubes (one small, one medium, and one large) is $27.99 at The Container Store.
Sales of note for 5/1/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – 20% off select Dyson hair tools with code + select clothes, shoes & more up to 50% off
- Ann Taylor – Friends of Ann Event: 30% off your entire purchase, including new arrivals (ends 5/4) + 40% off 1 full-price item (5/1 only)
- Banana Republic Factory – 40-60% everything + extra 25% off
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off all sale + $19 & up spring sale
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off must-have styles + up to extra 60% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – Up to 60% off everything + extra 60% off clearance
- M.M.LaFleur – Up to 25% off almost everything. Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – $20+ select favorites + 40% off 1 regular-price item + 30% off everything else
Welp. It happened. My (young) toddler bit someone at daycare. This isn’t a horrible surprise since she was bit twice recently. Any recommendations for books or TV shows on “no biting”?
Does anyone have any tips for a good way to get a car seat for a rental car in NYC? Maybe a car rental company that has been good for this? Or experience using Baby Quip in NYC? Or some other option?
We’re picking up the car at JFK airport and driving to Westchester. We had one experience renting a car seat from a rental car company (Avis) in another city, and it was ok, but not great. Would love to find a way to get a car seat that we feel good about (no accidents, etc.) that’s installed correctly (the one we got at Avis did not include a manual, so we tried our best with youtube videos, but it was pretty stressful). We’re going to be staying in NYC for a few days before we pickup the rental car, so there’s potential to get the car seat somewhere else in the city and then bring it with us when we pick up the rental, but to extent possible we can avoid lugging the seat around the city, the better. We have one two year old kid. We don’t want to bring her car seat on the plane for various reasons (she uses the FAA Cares Harness on the plane). Thanks in advance!
About 2 weeks ago, I told my 4yo that some browning bananas were sad. Now we have a conversation about the emotional lives of fruit every morning. I had to share because it’s both cute and driving me bonkers.
Can anyone share experiences of pushing back on homework volume for their kids? My ADHD 4th grader is really struggling with the volume. It probably wouldn’t take him more than the supposed 40 minutes they assign if he had any attention left to give at the end of the day but he doesn’t. It is taking more like an hour, ends the day on a really down note, and also really stresses me out helping to keep him focused while dealing with a younger sibling, etc.
I am thinking of emailing his teacher and saying we will do what we can in 40 min and whatever that is just has to be it for the day. It is every weekday and weekends so far this school year and we do almost no activities so that there is time for lots of needed unstructured and physical play.
School picture proofs came home in backpacks yesterday. They are circulating the parents’ whatsapp group and I am in fits of much needed laughter. They’ve made a bunch of 5 year olds look like the children of the corn. The woman taking my son’s passport photo (where you can’t smile) did a better job.
Parents are agitating for retakes but I’m not quite sure what the point is of school photos in 2022. I could take a better snap of my son in his school polo with my 5 year old iphone?
Since some of you were kind enough to follow along on my pregnancy journey, I just wanted to announce that Baby Emma made her way into the world this weekend! My delivery was a little chaotic – I went in for a routine checkup at 37+4 weeks, and was diagnosed with preeclampsia and induced on the spot. But all things considered, it went pretty well and my medical team was amazing. She’s a fabulous baby except for the fact that she thinks 2-6 am is baby play/workout time – she sleeps the rest of the time, and screams bloody murder while wriggling in the early morning. I just purchased a Halo velcro sleepsack which I’m hoping will help. Please share your best newborn advice!
Dumb question: If you have a drop-off birthday party at your house, how do you keep the kids occupied and entertained while people are still showing up? The weather will be nice, so I guess they could play in the front yard? The rest of the evening will happen indoors. Pizza, do a craft, watch a movie together.
Just a general Christmas gift suggestion- for far away relatives I love suggesting an advent calendar. They have all sorts of great ones and it’s so nice to have a little gift from grandma every day, and by design they are small.
Princess in Black fans – any other similar reading level (Short text, color illustrations, but longer “chapter” book) your kids like? Mine are 2.5 and 4.5 and these books hold both kids’ attention, plus I think they are pretty well-written. Looking to start giving some Christmas suggestions/avoid 100 plastic, noisy toys (yes, it is about my preferences too hahah)!
Also team packing cube. Each of the kids and DH and I have a different color set. Undies in small, t-shirts/tanks in medium, pants/shorts in large. Makes packing and unpacking so easy.
Pro tip – when you really what to maximize space – place packing cubes in vacuum bag and vacuum out the air between the clothes. This enables us to do 2 weeks holidays for 5 people with 2 suitcases.
Question for those of you who have the Tonies box/speaker. I got hit with the instagram ads hard for this yesterday and it’s piqued my interest in it as a possible Christmas gift. However, my 3.5 year old looooove books soooo much, that I’m unsure if he’d like the tonie box without a book with pictures to follow along with. I know there are the creative Tonies where you could record a book you already have. However, I am not trying to create more work:tasks for me. Thanks for any thoughts you have.