Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A TRUE WFMW

Not that all of my WFMW posts aren't really things that work for me, but this is a solution that I figured out last night. And tried out this morning. And it WORKED!

When Miss M got home from preschool yesterday, I noticed that her backpack was wet. After a little sleuthing, I figured out that the condensation on the cold pack in her lunch box had leaked out of the lunchbox and into the bottom of her backpack. (The lunchbox was packed into her backpack to come home.) It's the first time I've ever packed a lunch that had to stay cold for that many hours, so even though we've had these lunchboxes for years I was surprised by the leak.

I needed a quick and easy solution, because it was two days until Thursday packets - and I didn't want to pull a bunch of soggy papers out of her backpack - yuck!

After the kids were in bed and I had some "down time" to think it through, I decided to wrap a thin (baby) washcloth around the ice pack today. When I got home with Miss M, I was pleased to see that the cloth had absorbed the condensation. I'll be anxious to see how it worked with Mister J's lunch - he's in a full day of school now, so there's more time for his cold pack to warm up and "sweat."

I think this might also work with the tube part of a sock - it would stay on better and also fit a variety of sizes/shapes of ice packs. I'm going to refine it a bit, and I'll be sure to post photos/updates when I do!

Thanks for stopping by, and hop on over to We Are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday posts!

my previous WFMW posts

8 comments:

The Buntens said...

Wouldn't this be great if you could sew and make special covers for these? What a great little business.

Sharon said...

That's brilliant! I have the same problem with a sippy cup and was wondering how to fix it.

Isn't funny how the simplest things can make all the difference?!

RLR said...

Janel - the thought had crossed my mind.... (Thanks for stopping by!)
Sharon - thanks ((blushes)) - and thanks for stopping by!

Lucy and Ethel said...

You have an award :)

http://thesuitelifeoflucyandethel.blogspot.com/2009/08/honest-scrap-award.html

Niki Jolene said...

Great tip! I wrote about packin lunches this week too.

:)

Come by and visit me over at Free 2 Be Frugal!

Heather said...

Awesome idea...let me know if the business idea is a serious one. I'll be your partner! :)

Mama Melissa said...

sounds like a great idea. i don't need to try this one yet, but i'll try to remember it for later! :)

melissa

Heidi Boos said...

What a great tip! Something so simple, but yet super useful.

Love your blog background...birdies are so cute!

Thanks for stopping by my blog last week for WFMW. Always fun to "see" a new face! ;)