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STACE PARENTING

Stacey Solomon’s best parenting hacks which will make being a mum-of-four a cinch including fines for making a mess

STACEY Solomon is expecting another pickle as she and Joe Swash announced they are pregnant with their second child together.

As well as Rex, two, the Loose Women star, 31, is also mum to Leighton, eight, and Zach, 12, from a previous relationship, making the new baby her fourth child.

Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash are expecting their second child together
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Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash are expecting their second child togetherCredit: Eroteme

However, it is unlikely that super-organised Stacey will be overwhelmed by the latest addition to the family as she already has a myriad of parenting hacks in her arsenal.

Stacey, who is engaged to marry Joe next year, has revealed some of her top tips for keeping her family home in the least chaotic state possible. 

The TV star has been cooking up creative snacks for them to munch on, and also dishing out light-hearted fines if they cause a mess...

Getting her kids to eat their fruit

The mum-of-three showed exactly how she keeps sons eating healthily - and it just takes a bit of creativity. 

Stacey has been busy creating incredible animal-shaped fruit snacks for her three boys - and other mums are highly impressed. 

Stacey made this impressive peacock out of grapes, avocado, blueberries and sweet potato
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Stacey made this impressive peacock out of grapes, avocado, blueberries and sweet potato
Stacey highly impressed fans with this watermelon pig
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Stacey highly impressed fans with this watermelon pig
 These kiwi and grape turtles also went down well on social media
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These kiwi and grape turtles also went down well with her kids

She has been serving up platters of fruit of sheep made from grapes and turtles made from kiwis. 

Her imaginative designs have so impressed her followers, that she added a highlights tab full of the platters she has made over the past few weeks. 

Keeping kids cool in the heatwave

Stacey revealed that she puts baby wipes in the freezer to keep them chilled for days out.

Stacey Solomon has revealed how she freezes baby wipes to cool her kids down on hot days
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Stacey revealed that she keeps baby wipes in the freezer to keep her kids cool

She revealed that she adds frozen water, frozen sweet potato, nappies, a spare outfit, iced coffee and the ingenious frozen baby wipes to the rucksack. 

Stacey explained to her 3million followers: “The frozen wipes are like a cool pack that I can use to wipe myself down with too.”

Keeps everyone happy with multiple screens

Stacey joked she's "given up" on parenting after she shared a picture of her sons simultaneously playing video games and watching TV.

The Loose Women panellist took to Instagram to snap her boys relaxing on grey bean bags while they juggled the screens.

 Stacey Solomon joked that she's "given up" on parenting after she shared a hilarious Instagram shot of her sons
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Stacey made sure everyone was happy by giving them their own screens

In the shot, Stacey's feet could be seen while Friends, the episode titled The One with Ross's Wedding, played on their flat screen television.

She admitted that she didn't have the "energy" to fight her "no games during the week" rule.

She captioned the shot: "Totally given up on parenting and it's only Monday.

"So much for no games during the week and one at a time play (because there's no way on this earth I'm moving the TVs into the front room).”

Fines for creating mess

Stacey is known for her spotless home
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Stacey is known for her spotless home and tries to make sure her kids don't cause chaos
She came up with a genius parenting hack to ensure the snack cupboard remained in order
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She came up with a genius parenting hack to ensure the snack cupboard remained in order

Regular followers of the star's Instagram will know she loves to keep her Essex home super tidy.

She has shown how to use a coat hanger to make bed sheets perfectly smooth, and has re-used old bottles to make chic candle holders.

However, with three youngsters running around the house, it can be hard to keep everything spotless.

So, Stacey came up with a genius way to ensure the boys cleared up after themselves.

She introduced "fines" for anyone messing up the family snack cupboard in the kitchen, and joked she would start charging for its contents.

Explaining the system in a post, she wrote: "There is now a new system.

"It's going to cost 20p pocket money for each snack and ANYONE caught not putting things back properly gets a 50p penalty."

Food prepping for the week ahead

Rather than opting for a last minute supermarket dash, Stacey preps her fridge for the week ahead and she even colour codes her fruit and veg.

The mum filmed her "refill hour" for Instagram and you won't believe how tidy the fridge is in her Essex home.

Stacey dedicates time to prepping her fridge for the week ahead
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Stacey dedicates time to prepping her fridge for the week aheadCredit: Instagram
She even colour-coordinated her fruit and veg drawers
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She even colour-coordinated her fruit and veg drawersCredit: Instagram

Writing on her stories, she said: "Cleaned and sorted the fridge, check.

"Oh I've missed refill hour... I can't wait until the kitchen is done and I get to sort everything properly.

"Now I know exactly what we need from the food shop. Meat, fish, milk, butter."

In the finished fridge, Stacey had organised green veg like broccoli and cucumber into one crisper drawer, with red bits like strawberries, raspberries, peppers and tomatoes into another.

Stops baby Rex from stealing their TV remote control

 Stacey shared the genius hack with her followers
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Stacey shared the genius hack for stopping Rex from stealing the remote with her followers
 She bought another version of their remote from eBay
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She bought another version of their remote from eBay
 The star said that Rex has finally been fooled
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The star said that Rex has finally been fooled

Stacey has shared a genius hack that she has found to stop baby Rex from stealing their TV remote control.

The TV star bought a toy version for the little one's first birthday, but was disappointed when he wasn't fooled by the trick.

Now the creative mum has found another solution - and was shocked that it worked out cheaper than Rex's toy.

Sharing a video of the smiling boy playing with a remote on her Instagram Story, Stacey chuckled: "I went on eBay and bought Rex the same remote as our remote.

"I just didn't put the batteries in - it was cheaper than his bloomin' toy remote!

"Much better."

Get baby Rex to wear his sun hat and glasses

Stacey Solomon revealed how she gets her 11-month-old son Rex to wear his sun hat and glasses for the garden
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Stacey revealed how she gets Rex to wear his sun hat and glasses for the garden
Stacey explained how she distracts Rex to get him in his hat
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Stacey explained how she distracts Rex to get him in his hat

Stacey has revealed how she manages to get her young son Rex to happily wear his sun hat and glasses when outside. 

She said the key to keeping her young tot protected and wearing his gear is to redirect his attention when dressing him. 

Stacey wrote: “Soooo LOADS of you ask me how I get Rex to wear his sunglasses and hat. I put them on indoors. 

“And then the key is DISTRACTION. Distract distract distract.”

Stacey showed a video of her giving her suncream bottle to Rex to play with while she put on his protective items. 

Keeps crayons tidy

Stacey previously shared how she organised all of the crayons by colour in a see-through chest of drawers
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Stacey previously shared how she organised all of the crayons by colour in a see-through chest of drawers

Stacey is fast becoming a guru for house hacks and storage solutions, and recently showed fans how she keeps her sons' crayons tidy. 

She shared how she bought a large collection of crayons for her three kids for Christmas but she wanted to find a way to keep them neat. 

Her solution was to buy a mini chest of see-through drawers to organise the different colours. 

Stacey with her Instagram followers: “Bought these for the boys and I’m going to sort them out in little drawers.”

The clip shows her finally manage to rip some tissue off, shouting “yes”.

She shared a video of her sorting the crayons by colour, with the caption: “I’m enjoying this far too much”.

Washes their ball pit balls in the bath

 Stacey Solomon washed her balls in the bath
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Stacey washes the kids' balls in the bath

Stacey showed everyone how she washes her "balls" - and by that she means the balls in Rex's ball pit.

Stacey chucked them in the bath, dried them, then put them in a vacuum sealed bag.

The mum-of-three wrote over the post: "Time to wash my balls... I'm going to Milton bath and dry these then put them in a suction bag ad change colours for a little while.

"Left my balls soaking, hoovered the pit, and now putting in some Susan balls. I'll switch over every few months because I love changing little things now and then."

Going to the loo with a baby

 She shared two mum hacks after getting stuck on the loo
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She shared two mum hacks after getting stuck on the loo

Stacey shared a hilarious tip for being able to use the loo while holding a baby.

Stacey welcomed baby Rex with partner Joe, in May 2019, and shared a parenting tip she recently discovered on social media.

She said she was forced to take Rex on a trip to the loo with her, and shared a clip from the bathroom.

Sat on the toilet, Stacey told her Instagram fans that she was in a spot of bother as she couldn’t get to the toilet roll.

Stacey flips the camera to show a pile of loo roll on the floor, as she shares the two ‘mum hacks’ she’s just learned.

She said: “So this has taught me two things, buy the cheaper toilet roll because the expensive one doesn’t rip, and also, put toilet roll closer.”

READ MORE SUN STORIES

Stacey told fans her bin is ‘too nice to put tampons in’ after revamping it with creative hack.

She is also creative with household hacks, wowing fans earlier today when she revealed that she had organised her knickers into old baby wipe dispensers.

Stacey Solomon shares easy baking hack to speed up making cakes with the kids
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