There don’t seem to be many places where I can look up a list of tools that other moms have tried and use for their day to day survival. This includes simple things like sending cards for birthdays, ordering birthday gifts, communication tips, calendar tools, childcare, and backup childcare options. I’m the kind of person who thinks literally, so I like concrete examples that I can use, so you will see lots of those in my blog. In this post, I’ll share the services that I have used, as well as some other services that I’ve seen used to great effect.

Working Mom Survival Tools

1. Cardstore.com – You can order cards for all occasions from Cardstore.com. They will even sign, stamp, and address them, and deliver them on the date of your choosing up to 365 days in advance. This works for all cards inside of the domestic USA. They will send cards to other countries, but you can’t schedule them months out. Best of all, they will keep your address book, so you can just click, and ship. Super easy.
2. Google Calendar – We use a Family Calendar to keep track of all of the family activities. Sometimes, we are going 3 or 4 different ways at once, so coordination is a must.
3. Pick up and Drop off Dry Cleaning, such as Medlin Davis Dry Cleaning. Some dry cleaning companies will pick up the bag off your front porch, and return everything back to the front porch a few days later. This saves a lot of driving time for you.
4. Amazon.com Gift Reminder- You can set up all of your family/friends who you shop for, and save things to your “idea book”. If they have a wish list already, you can order off of their wish list.  Best of all, they’ll send you an email reminder for the people you’d like reminders for. They will wrap gifts, and ship them.
5. AuPairCare.com – This is the agency that I’ve worked with for a number of years for my au-pairs. I highly recommend their service, and we have been bowled over several times by their responsiveness whenever we’ve had an issue. (That’s super important, because when you need help, waiting is not an option!)
6. Drop In Childcare – If you need a babysitter for a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday, or in the evening, or just as backup, there are a number of reputable drop-in childcare places around me. They are awesome for those last minute needs.
7. Care.com – A clearing house website that lists a variety of different tutors, nannies, and other caregivers. I’ve not used them, but several colleagues have with great success. There are other, similar websites, and it is possible to find a backup childcare option through them as well.

There are lots more out there, I’m sure. What are your favorite services? What do you do that saves your proverbial bacon?