12 parents told us the one trick that gives them time back in their day.

We are a hop, skip and a jump until Christmas, and there's so much to do. Right now, time is not on our side. 

So, on a recent episode of This Glorious Mess, we decided to brainstorm some solutions, born from a desire to cut corners and save time.

We shared some of our own hacks, as well as some game-changing crowd-sourced ones, which parents actually use to get them through this period.

To give the gift of time back. 

Watch: This Glorious Mess hosts Tegan Natoli and Annaliese Todd discuss if they could delete Instagram off their phone. Post continues after video.

So, here is a roundup of the very best hacks to get the minutes back in your day, from me, my co-host Tegan Natoli and some from the Mamamia community.

Annaliese's 'lazy gewl' time saving hacks.

As soon as you can, abandon school drop off.

"It's a silver lining of having children getting older, but I no longer do school drop off.

"They are tween-aged and catch the bus, not a school bus but a regular people bus. They had to learn how to navigate their way there, and time when to leave the house.

"Resilience building life skills for them, so, so much time saving for me."

Ditch the grocery store.

"I live alone half the time, and when I don't have my kids, I eat like a cat and I don't have much food in the house. So when I get my children back, there is nothing to feed them.

"Instead of going to the grocery store, I just get all the school snacks and groceries delivered the night before. Cutting out driving, parking, schlepping up the aisles. They arrive at my door."

Laundry night owl.

"I don't like washing clothes on the weekends, so I do all my washing on weeknights. I'll do a load after work, and then I'll hang it up at night or put it in the dryer.

"Evenings are usually Netflix and Instagram doom-scrolling time. So I try to fill them with as much house jobs and life admin as I can to free up the weekends, allowing for more fun."

Two birds, one set of headphones.

"I listen to a lot of podcasts. And so, when I'm at the kids' little athletics, which is two to three hours standing around a field, I wear headphones and listen to podcasts.

"Which means I can dip in and out of small talk with other parents, win-win."

Tegan's time saving life hacks.

Lean in to the laundromat.

"During really busy times, I take all the undies, knickers, socks, pyjamas, sheets, towels, the big and little stuff that is annoying, and just dump it at the laundromat and pick it up clean, dry and folded.

"Or if you've just come back from a holiday, when there are seven suitcases worth of washing. I just take it straight to the laundromat, and then it comes back done. It will save you hours." 

An old school calendar for your kitchen

"I use a family calendar, but an old school physical one. I've got five people to coordinate. So each person has a daily column. Having it in the kitchen and on paper.

"You can get it off your phone or device, get it out of your head and look at it the night before and each morning." 

Staggered packing.

"If you happen to be going on a family holiday over the next month or two, start slowly packing.

"Putting the things that you won't need between now and then, like your sunscreen, toiletries, a medical box, and add things straight from the washing cycle in the lead up so its not a last minute scramble."

You can listen to the full episode here. Post continues below.

But wait, we wanted more help.

So, we did what we do best, we outsourced. We put it out to the Mamamia community. And here's what they recommended.

Time saving hacks from our community.

Purchase the right materials.

"Don't buy clothing that needs to be dry-cleaned or ironed."

Ditch the paperback.

"If you like to read, get an audio book. Flip it on while you're driving, folding laundry, or showering."

No dishwasher, no worries.

"Paper plates and cups on nights where you've had a huge day or are exhausted."

Have a communications hub.

"Having a joint email address for all family related communications. Then it's linked to a joint calendar. So, all decision makers in the household have access to all the information and not one person is responsible."

No manual vacuuming.

"A robot vacuum cleaner saved my marriage."

Less shared space.

"Two bathrooms. My husband has the ensuite, and it's up to him if he ever wants to clean it. The door remains closed, and I never go in there. My bathroom is a glorious, clean retreat and I have never been happier and only have my mess to clean."

Outsource.

"If you can afford it, hire a cleaner."

Arm yourself with ready meals.

"Pre-cooked healthy meals that we just heat up so we don't spend our evenings cooking and cleaning."

Work smarter, not harder.

"Investing in SMART appliances, so everything is on an app and a perfectly synced timer - so the robots do the work when I'm at work."

More social time, less social media.

"Delete Instagram from your phone."

And there you have it.

I'm not sure if I will ever evolve to the stage of being able to delete Instagram from my phone. But we hope by sharing these cutting corner strategies you can get some well-earned time back.

What are your time-saving hacks? Share in the comments below.

Feature Image: Canva/Instagram: @tigga_natoli / @annaliese_todd.