The Netmums Podcast - S16 Ep1: Major Mum Hacks with Casey Major Bunce: Life-saving tips for the busy parent

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

In this episode of The Netmums Podcast, Wendy Golledge and Alison Perry are joined by the brilliant Casey Major Bunce, a mother of four and the creative mind behind Major Mum Hacks. Casey shares her incredible journey through motherhood, offering practical tips and life hacks that can save time, money, and sanity for busy families. The conversation covers: - The Reality of Family Holidays: Wendy opens up about her family's lack of overseas holidays and the honesty behind the struggles many parents face when it comes to finances and travel. - The Power of Preparation: Casey reveals her essential hacks for managing chaotic mornings, including the famous pancake muffin hack that has transformed breakfast for her family. - Visual Learning for Kids: The trio discusses the importance of visual aids in helping children understand daily routines and responsibilities, making mornings smoother for everyone. - Navigating Parenthood with Neurodiversity: Casey shares her experiences as a neurodiverse parent and how it has shaped her parenting style, including her recent autism diagnosis. - Family Outings Made Easy: From clever packing tips to keeping kids entertained on long journeys, Casey provides insights into making family outings more enjoyable and less stressful. - Embracing Imperfection: The discussion turns to the pressures of social media and the importance of being honest about the realities of parenting, including the challenges and messiness that come with it. Stay connected with Netmums for more parenting tips, community support, engaging content: Website: netmums.com / Instagram: @netmums  Proudly produced by Decibelle Creative / @decibelle_creative

You're listening to the Netmums podcast with me, Wendy Gollich. And me, Alison Perry. Coming up on this week's show. We've never been on holiday abroad as a family. My son's 14 years old. Now does that make me a bad mum? No, I don't think it makes me a bad mum, but that makes me someone that's honest on Instagram. The fact that some people can't afford it.

So instead of keep bashing people because they can't afford things, I think be inventive and that is something that I am. But before all of that... Welcome back to another episode everybody. Wendy, how are you doing today? I am really excited because I think today's guest is going to change my life. I actually genuinely think she is. I feel like a hamster on a wheel. There's this kind of like vague hope of spring in the air and I always feel a bit better in spring, but the genuine overwhelm is kicking my butt.

So I'm looking forward to this particular person giving me some advice. I hear you, I hear you. Interestingly, I had a conversation with our guest last year and since then I've implemented one of her life hacks. And I would say it is pretty life-changing. She told me to basically put little baskets belonging to each child on the bottom steps like you know you know all you

know all the stuff that builds up on the stairs and a basket per person and you just anything you find as you're going about the house it belongs to that person pop it in the basket and then they take it up each day and empty it and it comes back down oh my goodness it has revolutionized the amount of clutter in my house so I'm so excited to introduce to everybody else listening our guest today and we're joined by the queen of life hacks Casey Major Bumps she's a mum of four. She has risen to fame with her Major Mum Hacks social media content.

And every day, like we say, she shares brilliant, clever ways to save time, money and sanity with our kids. And now she's written a book, the big book of Major Mum Hacks. It's packed with tricks and tips to boss family life. Casey, a huge welcome to the Net Mums podcast. Oh, thank you so much for having me. Oh, you're very welcome. Now you've got four kids, including twins. Yes. How do you survive that daily juggle? And is there kind of like one, this is the hack that saves my sanity every single

day? I think that, I think for me the pancake muffin hack is the ultimate hack and I shared that like sort of a few years ago. It's, you know, it's been all over Instagram now on so many people's pages. People have tagged me because they do it now. And I think it's, it's such a simple thing. The fact that you can make something on the Sunday and it's covered you for the whole week. For those of us who don't know, what is the pancake muffin hack? For the uninitiated. So you can make your pancake mix up. I don't. I just use a normal pancake mix and I pop them in a muffin tin. So something you'd obviously put like cakes in like fairy cakes.

And I put some different toppings on. So you can put strawberries, you can put chocolate, you can put peanut butter, whatever you want on them inside them. And then you just bake in the oven and for around about 20 minutes. And then you do that on the Sunday and they literally last all week in the fridge

to the Friday. And you can heat them up in the oven, you can heat them up in the microwave. But what I love most is the fact there's no mess, they don't crumble. Like you can eat them in the car, you can eat them on the way to school, you don't have to worry about the kids dropping it all down themselves because they're not messy either. And they're just great because I think you get up in the morning, you're like, kids what do you want? And they're like, I don't want cereal. I'm like, right, okay. I don't want toast. And it's like, well, what do you want? They're like, I don't want cereal. Like, okay, I don't want toast. And it's like, well, what do you want? It's half

six. What do you want from me? So it's that kind of thing. And even for me, I use it all the time. And I really had a nightmare the other day. And I, my alarm clock didn't go off. So it was an absolute nightmare. I got up at half seven. I have to leave my house at half seven. So I have to get four kids ready in the space of like five minutes. And it was just, it was something from like a horror movie. And as we're walking out the door, I'm shoving pancake muffins in the kids faces. Eat, eat, eat, eat, go, go, go. That type of thing.

How old are your kids, Casey? So I've got a 14 year old, a nine year old, and then the twins are five. Because for me, it's the big one, she won't eat in the morning. Oh really? Will not eat. So the compromise we've had to kind of find is that she'll take an apple to school and that is, she will not eat till lunchtime. Can't do anything about it, have tried everything, gonna try the pancake muffin.

Definitely try the pancake muffins. And another thing I would say as well, if she doesn't eat, she may well drink, so like a smoothie or something like that, that you can just pre-make before, do you know what I mean? Even like, I know it sounds silly, but even a glass of orange juice, she's had something, it's got something in for her to have,

do you know what I mean? I do think though that the mornings, I feel feel like are the crunch point for so many families and that pancake hack just feels like it would make life easier. But what else do you do? In my house it's chaos in the mornings, especially with six-year-old twins trying to get them ready and out the door and a teenager. How do you, apart from the pancakes, the pancake muffins, how do you get everyone from the pancakes, you know the pancake muffins, how do you get everyone up and out without losing your mind? So for me I always think, and it's something so simple, is prep. So it is that night before

you and I always think the night before you is going to thank, you know, they're going to be like, the morning's going to be like, thank you so much for doing that for me. So I always think like you're helping future you. So normal things that everyone would do or should do is just make sure the fact that you've got, you know, the shoes by the door. That is, that's a killer. How many times have you gone round and gone, where's the other shoe? There you go. I've taken one all the way to school with only one shoe on before. I did go back and get her shoe, but I made her get in the car and then she was like,

I've only got one shoe on. I said, well you shouldn't have put them by the door. Wendy, I love it. I'm evil. No, it's not evil. At the end of the day, everyone's got their own parenting style but I am one of these mums where it is like, shoes by the front door, everything's been done. You've got your shirt, you've got your tie, you've got your gym bag packed and then for me it's

prep as well. So like as you know I've got a pet pig now and I will make his breakfast up the night before and I'll put it in the fridge. It's ready to go in the morning. Same with the dog stuff, they've got all their meat, it's already out, it's in the fridge and then all I'll do is I'll put the biscuits with it and they have that. And it's exactly the same with my morning coffee. I always have like an iced coffee no matter rain or shine. So I make my coffee the night before, I put it in the fridge. So all I've got to do is I've got to grab it in the morning. Car keys, make sure your car keys are in the same place, the same time every day. Because the amount of time we've gone, where are our car keys? It's just simple things like that.

on we've gone where are our car keys it's just simple things like that but just so yeah the kids sort of like know and like even like this for instance on the front of my book I've got like I don't know if you can see it the clock can you see the clock you see that clock yeah so it's like getting a clock and coloring it in and by that you could put like something at the side that is explained to the kids you know at this time this is what you should be doing. That's good. And it's a step by step and even on the front as well there's like, I've got another one where you'd have like, brush your teeth and things like that.

So on the front it would be sort of like an art caddy and then you've got like a step one brush your teeth, step two wash your face, step three brush your hair. Now these might be simple things but but as a mom, you are constantly saying the same things every single morning. You're bored, they're bored. So I think for me like it's important for children to have like a visual thing. And I think that's what the book's about. It's about being a visual learner for parents and kids. You know, I'm not sitting here saying I've got all the answers. I'm not sitting here saying that I'm a better mom, I can do it better. That's not what I'm saying because every child's different and every parent's different and you do you. You

do whatever you want to do and whatever works for your family. I'm just here to give ideas to try to help with, I've got four children, I'm neurodiverse, so are my children. And I think it's really, really important to understand that every child is different. And even my twins, you know, people say like, oh, God, they're so alike, they're identical, you know, are they the same? No, they're not. They're completely different. But work that out. Same DNA, same upbringing, but they are completely opposite. So it's nothing to do with my parenting style while they're different, that's to do with what you've got inside you. So when people say, oh, well, if you fed your kids vegetables when they were babies, they would all eat it. That's a lie, because my kids eat different things and they've been brought up the same way, they've got the same DNA. So it's not

always about your parenting, it's just who your child is, who your child was born as. And I think because I've had four different kids, I've had to really look around and think, right, that didn't work for you, but maybe this will. So I'm hoping that there's another parent out there that, you know, can't get their kids to eat breakfast, has trouble going back to school, you know, can't get up in the morning with the kids because the kids are a nightmare. They don't want to do what they're being told. But she will look at my book and she'll go, oh, I never thought of that.

But that's so simple. I'll give it a go. And it helps her. And even if it takes 5% of her stress away, that is what it's here for. That is why I did it. Yeah. So you became a mum at 19 and I'm guessing that was challenging. I didn't know my ass from my elbow when I was 19. So how did that go? What was it like? Yeah. So I fell pregnant at 19. And yeah, it was, I don't know, I think I was always, I always wanted to be a mum. I didn't excel in school. I did absolutely atrocious. I've got dyslexia, but I really struggled with reading, writing, and spelling. I left with no GCSEs.

I was a florist. I started out as a florist. That was my job. So I went to work and things like that. I've always worked. I've always worked since I was like 13 years old, but I didn't leave with any qualifications and I never shined anywhere. But having a baby, having a child, I actually did shine at being a mum. And I'm not saying, like I said, I'm not saying I was perfect, but I knew what I was doing. I knew that actually I absolutely adored this child. I love this child so much. And no matter what, I was going to make sure that this child was going to be like the best version of himself. And so for me, I was born to be a mum and yeah, I love being a mum and it is the most loveliest job in the world. It's the hardest, it's the most loneliness at times and sometimes

it absolutely kills you to the point where you know, you are, you know, you're lost, you feel lost. I'm not saying parenthood is like, you know, all rainbows and unicorns. But it is the best job in the world and we do it and then for some reason we think it must be the best job in the world because we do it again. Let's have another go! We'll have another one! Like, you want to put yourself through it but yeah, and there are some, there are still days and you know, and I always say this to people like, you know, I'm Casey, I'm major mum hacks and you know everyone's like oh you've always got your stuff together and you've always no

no no like I said I messed up the other morning I got up late my kids didn't brush their teeth I was in the car and I thought you weren't even brush your teeth so I've got four kids in the car chewing chewing gum that that that's real life that's my world too. There's chewing gum in both cars, both handbags. There's always chewing gum for the inevitable we haven't cleaned our teeth. And I always say that, does one bad day make you a bad mum? No, it really doesn't. It's one bad day. Put it in the bin, start again tomorrow. If you have a bad week, so what? It's not going to ruin the kids because they had chewing gum. It's like they're not going to go to counselling when they're they older and if they do that they really need to get some

problems. My mum gave me chewing gum one morning in India, she didn't brush my teeth. I'd be like really? Go and get some real problems. So it's not you know it's not the end of the world and I think as in society we beat ourselves up so much as mums we sort of think oh we haven't done this right, we haven't done this right, maybe their hair's not in place, oh God, oh, they're late to ride on a bike, stop it, chill out. Like, you just do the best what you can. I think as long as your kids are fed, they're happy, they smile and they feel loved, that, that, that's success. You've done it, you've cracked the code, you're amazing. And don't forget that.

That's so true. And you mentioned, mentioned you know that you have a baby and it's hard work and then you want to do it all over again but after having it Erin you then suffered from a second treatment in fertility didn't you and you struggled. Yes. You really wanted to have a second baby and you had fertility treatment which I'm guessing must have been I mean I've been through it myself it's emotionally emotionally tough, especially since your first pregnancy happened so easily without you even trying. And then all of a sudden you've got the, you really want to have a second baby and you're discovering that it's not happening. No, I think like, yeah, secondary fertility, obviously I'm very, very lucky. I already

had Erin, but you know, it doesn't really matter how many children you have got when you want a baby, you want a baby. And then like everyone else has fallen pregnant around you and you're like, really? Like what is going on there? And you just can't fall pregnant. And we had chlomid and everything like that. And we had miscarriages and things like that between. So yeah, that was really difficult. It was really, really difficult. But obviously we got Kaiser in the end and he's amazing, not without fault, like his birth and that was absolutely atrocious. And yeah, we nearly lost him and me, but he is my little miracle baby. He is and yeah, he's my choice trying child. He tries me every day. He's the reason

I've got this book because I just keep trying to make things like work out for him because he's just, he's completely different from my other three. What works for them will not work for him. And I'm like, okay, I've got to break them up. I've got to do it differently. I can do this. But he's brilliant. but he's a middle child and I'm the middle child and they always say middle child are always well rounded. So you understand it, yeah. And then after you had him, was it three rounds of IVF that you had? Yes, yeah, three rounds of IVF.

I mean, I had two rounds and I know how tough it can be. Did you have a limit in mind of how many you were prepared to go through or were you just like, whatever it takes? Yeah. So I'm the problem. I always say it to my husband. I'm the problem. And it's quite funny actually, because I will never forget when with Kaiser actually it was, we had a, he had to go and give his, you know, his stuff, his contribution to this baby, as I like to say it. And he had to go and get it tested, you know, and I'm driving and I've took it over to this place, they're testing it and they've rung me as I'm still driving. They're like, oh, we just want to ring you up and just tell you about

your husband's sperm and that. And I'm like, right, okay. Thinking, yeah, it's bad. And he's like, they're like, absolutely perfect. And I went, oh, right, okay. Yeah, it's really, really good. And I was like, okay, perfect count, perfect this. I was like, oh, wow. They're like, oh, right, okay. It's really, really good. And I was like, okay, perfect count, perfect this. I was like, oh, wow. They're like, yeah, yeah. So we're just like, you know, looking into you more. I was like, yep. And she's like, yeah. And I'm like, yeah. And I'm like, and then I'll run him up after. I was like, oh, he's all right. I was like, just want to let you know your sperm's perfect. And he's like, oh, that's amazing. I went, yeah, it's for you, isn't't it and I really copped and he's like well no

at least we both haven't got a problem. I was like oh great I'm the problem now no no I'm not saying that. There's a lot of no no I'm not saying that but. Oh blessing me must have been poop in his pants. It was but yeah I was the problem and I've got like really ageing X so when we went for IVF which I think I think if the girls are five now that'd been through, I probably would have been about 28, 27. I'd age an egg. So I'd like a count of nothing. I hadn't hardly any eggs. And it was like my egg quality was like a 40 year old, you know, what you would say a 40 year old, because obviously you're not going to say that because every 40 year old is different. But that's what you would say a 40 year old's because obviously you're not going to say that because every 40 year old is different. But that's what they would say. They would say, you know,

you've got the eggs of like a 40 year old. So we did have three rounds in mind. And then we were going to look at donor eggs. We were going to look at having donor eggs. And that was something we were very much looking into looking at different donors that maybe looked similar to me, blonde hair, blue eyes, that type of thing. And then we were just blessed the fact that that last round retrieved that perfect embryo and it was a perfect embryo. And there were two of them? Yeah, well, it was one. It split, didn't it? It split. Ah, okay. So my husband very much wanted two children and I very much wanted four. And we agreed on three and then we got four. So that and he just said, he said at the scan, you always get what you want, don't you? And I went, yes, I do.

And I always wanted two boys, two girls. But that pregnancy was far from a walk in the park as well, wasn't it? Because you've got a heart-shaped womb, is that right? Which sounds terribly romantic, but it's actually a pain in the ass, right? So tell us all about this and how it went. So I found that out when I was pregnant with Aaron, actually, my first. It was like a heart-shaped womb and that was about it, but it was fine. I carried Aaron fine. So I was assumed that I carried Kaiser fine. I had a twin with Kaiser, but unfortunately was fine. I carried Aaron fine. So I was assumed that I carried Kaiser fine. I had a twin with Kaiser, but unfortunately we lost his twin. But how they implanted is

because I've got a heart-shaped wound and it's like that one will implant like high and one will implant lower. So when we found pregnant with Kaiser, they were quite concerned the fact that it was twins. And they said the fact that we would, they thought that we would end up losing one, which obviously we did. But they assumed that we would probably lose the one at the bottom, not the one at the top. But the other one stopped growing and Kaiser was the little one at the bottom that they thought we'd lose, but we didn't. And then with the girls, obviously six weeks scan, scanned back forward, back forward, Women looked shocked. My husband nearly passed out. You've got twins. And I was thinking, shit, not again. But it

was different this time. I don't know what it was. With Kaiser, I almost felt like, yeah, this was going to happen. Like I was going to lose one and I'd have one baby. But with the girls, it was completely different. I was like, no, this isn't happening. I'm actually going to have two of them. I don't know why. One implanted there and one implanted there. My heart-shaped wound goes in the middle, but they did tell me it's very, very rare for them both to survive. I think it's one in five million for identical twins to be born via heart-shaped wounds. It's different for non, but because they share a placenta and they're close, because obviously with with separate they can implant different directions, but because

they're sharing a placenta they're close up. So yeah, it was a bit of a nightmare. They talked about, I can't think of the medical term, reduction. That was a reduction. So it's where they take one. It's such a hard way to describe it. Yes, but it's how this is how they call it. And I do get it. I do get it. Like we toyed with it for about three minutes where it was like we've done our VF. This is our last chance. Do we want to lose? Because it was very much like you probably are going to lose both and have no baby. But we sort of thought of worst case scenario and we were speaking and my husband said, what is your worst case scenario? And I said, losing one,

I said because knowing that the other one would always look like the other one. I said, and I would have known exactly what the gender was, exactly what it would have looked like. I said, so for me, that would be like the worst case. So if that was our worst case scenario and we didn't say losing both was, we're just gonna go for it and we went for it and thank God we went for it. And obviously it didn't go to plan. I was, you know, I had high premises to the point where, you know, I was on a drip for 16 weeks. I've got a blood clot in my lung because I was so dehydrated. 16 weeks, I got a blood clot in my lung because I was so dehydrated. They could not stop the sickness, they could not keep a drip in me

lung and it just, it was a nightmare. They didn't know what to do. And in the end, I got so dehydrated and where I was unable to move from severe high premises, I got a blood clot. So that was the next thing. And then I started bleeding around about 31 weeks. And we had to get the babies out. But that, yeah, again, that was me through everything that happened with carzo. I pushed for that. I was on blood finaners. And every time I took a blood finaner, I would lose more blood. So in the end, I was very much like, I'm not going to take these blood finaners. And they were like, but you need to take them, otherwise you're going to die. I said, I know, but I need you to get these babies out. They didn't want to get the babies out. They were very much like, we don't want to get

the babies out. They're too young. I knew that there was something wrong because I had exactly the same bleeding, the same sort of feeling as I did with Kaiser. Kaiser nearly died due to, unfortunately, hospital neglect and not listening to me because he had an abnormal placenta, so his placenta wasn't right. And apparently it can't happen twice but my first son had already had something similar. So they just said it was just a very unlucky thing, it would never happen again. It didn't show up in the scans but with the girls, I just knew it. So they delivered them and the first thing they said when I woke up was, because I was put under general, was, yeah, my midwife said, thank God you got them out. She said 48 hours.

She said they'd have been dead. She said their placenta, as soon as the midwife gave it to them, it just fell on the floor. It literally, it broke. It was broken. It was done. And she said it was just the worst thing she's ever seen. She was really, it was done. And she said it was just the worst thing she's ever seen. She was really, she was old school. So if I hadn't have pushed to get them out of any everything that didn't happen with cars hadn't have happened, I don't think I'd have the

girls now. So I'm so blessed the fact that, you know, even though it was horrific, everything that's happened over the course of having babies, I'm happy. It's okay. It's gone okay. In the end, it worked out. I've got four amazing children. Do you know, I am blessed. Yeah, yeah you are. But even since then you haven't been without kind of health issues and, you know, am I right in thinking that you quite recently have been diagnosed as autistic?

So I recently spoke about it, about being autistic. I got diagnosed in 2021. So I've known that I was autistic for quite a long time and ADHD, but I didn't speak about it online for quite a long time. I suppose it's just the whole thing. I started major mum hacks and I've never been called a genius in my life. a genius in my life. I didn't want that genius to be turned around to crazy. There is a lot of great understanding now for neurodiversity. However, there is still so much not known and people will still say, well, what's autism? You're not autistic. You can talk. You're not autistic. You can go out, that type of thing. I didn't want that to be turned around and for me that was quite like a fear.

So I sort of kept it back. But then when we talked about doing the book, there's something that the book had to be. So a lot of books that have been done, they're all writing. I'm not just talking about books that are obviously talking about yourself, obviously they would be writing. But there are loads of books that probably could have been done this way with pictures. So the person reading it can actually get a feel for the book. And for me, pictures were so important, colour coding was so important. And most of all were the videos as well, the QR codes

where some person can scan and watch a video of me slowly doing it because there are some things that even a picture, no matter how you've explained it, you're never going to understand. You're just not going to get it. And I wanted a mum to be able to pick up this book and if her child's having a bad day or she's having a bad day, she can literally show her the video and go, look, do you not just want to make this and calm down? And the kid can go, yeah. And for me, being a visual learner, being autistic, I wanted this book for everybody, not just for one type of family, not just for someone that can read. I wanted this book to be for the mum, the dad, the nan, the granddad, the kids, the book had to be for everyone.

So I had to sort of speak about my autism because otherwise it would have been crazy for me to come on and go, I've made this book and I want it visually and it's autistic and da da da da. And it's not autistic and it's not just for autistic people. Of course it's not, but it's for everyone. And that was the point. I didn't want it to be a select few, you know, inclusive. Yeah. And I am very inclusive. That is me in general. So we all know that social media is full of perfect parents, but real life isn't at all like that. No.

How do you handle that pressure of kind of being in the spotlight and parenting in the spotlight? So I think like for me, like my page is, you know, I think the way I talk doesn't necessarily fit the whole sort of thing. The way I talk, some people will say, is that Adele? And things like that. That's not the worst comparison, is it? Can you sing like Adele? No, I can't, but I could have a go. I've got my microphone, so you never know. Go on, do it. But yeah, loads of people are like, oh, she chav and all, what language is this? Because I speak really fast, I'm major, I'm hacks and follow

me for more. So I really, I think it's sort of the way I speak, like it's not necessary like, hi guys, so today we're going to do this and we're going to sit down with the kids and I'm going to make, and it's like, right, all you've got to do is you've got to go and get this, get this out of your cupboard exactly always do that um but I just think it's important to make sure the fact that yeah my sort of like my voice is like that my voice my voice is who I am true to myself and what I'm showing you might be a very um pretty video because I do love that type of like look and I do love making that content. I enjoy making that, I enjoy watching that. But I think the thing that takes it from a bit different and makes you think, oh, she is normal is the fact that she's not cooking

from scratch. The amount of times I've been called lazy. If I had a pound, if I had a pound for every time someone said, you're lazy, I would literally be a trillionaire because I get called it on a daily break, you're lazy. And I think, no, I'm not. I'm time conscious. I'm savvy. Like, we apparently, mums have got all the time in the world to do everything. And I think that's why it does break it a little bit apart. Just the fact that, you know, even though it is a very pleasing video maybe to watch, but my voice, the way I talk, the way I explain things, the way I show things as well, just the fact that you don't need to do this. You don't need to be like, spending four hours in the kitchen making something like, what are you doing? Like, who's got, if you've got that time, well done, it's amazing, go for it. But in reality, majority of us, we don't really have that time, you know, and mums today were expected to be like, you know, the most amazing wife, you know, look after our kids in a way that, you know, they used to do sort of back 20 years ago, 50 years ago, be all that nurturing, clean our husbands shoes, iron shirts, do the washing and then pay 50% of the bills.

It's like, well, hold on a minute, they never used to do that. So what happened there? Did we just like... Pickling, pickling, come on. Yeah, this is it. What are we doing? And I'm very lucky, my husband would never come home and go, is the house not clean? He would never but I have seen things where you know People have said the fact that you know, their husbands their partners have come in and said oh the house isn't clean And I'd be like why not a millionaire because you work all day

Where's the money if you want the house clean start earning the money and I just I think mums have to do everything So yeah for me, this is why I think I talk about these types of things. If you go into my stories, you just think she's absolute crackers, like what is going on there, because I very much do moan about things, just talk about how like, low mental, you know? And I think I would say that if someone can go onto my page and find a fact out, find something interesting, find something that's going gonna help them and make them laugh at the same time. Perfect. My job's done as far as I'm concerned. And I think that the time-saving hacks are brilliant but for me as well the money-saving hacks. I remember seeing you going to the cinema and

taking hot dogs with you. Yes. Cinema snacks are so expensive. It's disgusting. It is absolutely disgusting. And I also think it's sort of like, there's mums out there on a summer holiday that are barely afforded to be able to do anything, but maybe they can afford to take their child to the cinema for, the cinema for five pounds, six pounds. But what they can't afford to is buy a hot dog. And some kids might want a hot dog, but they can't afford it. So what they got to keep saying? No, no, no. And actually

by saying no, there's nothing wrong with saying no. I say no on a daily basis. No, you can't have a swimming pool. No, you can't have a swimming pool. No, you can't have this on Fortnite. No, you aren't getting that app. I say it all the time, but if a mum for something like that, she's trying to take her child out and she has to keep saying no, that makes her feel crap about herself because she can't afford it. It's not the fact she's saying no because she doesn't want her child to be a brat. It's a different no, isn't it? It's a different no. That's a hurtful no for her and that's crap. I

don't want her to feel like that. So that is why I did the hot dog thing and the nachos. You can take nacho cheese with you. Tell everyone what the hot dog thing is just in case people haven't seen your video. What's she had to just take? What's the hot dog? I don't know about hot dogs. What? So they're just hot dogs. So what you want to do, you want to get a flask, you want to fill it out with boiling water. Let that happen for about 10 minutes so the flask is completely warm. Take them out, make sure you've got warm hot dogs, put them in, in your bag, take your buns and take your hot dogs and take your ketchup. Done job. I know it sounds a bit mental, because people were writing in comments like, I'm going to take an airfryer and I thought, go for it. But the thing is, hot dogs are sold anyway at the cinema. I get you can't

take in like, I don't know, like maybe a pizza, I don't know, maybe because the smells quite bad or do you know what I mean? Something spicy, maybe I get that. But hot dogs are sold there. So a nachos. I did exactly the same thing with the nacho on my pages like it's in the book there's like a nacho cheese recipe it's three ingredients you can literally put the do the same thing put it in a flask take your nachos with you and you've got your cheesy nachos like done you know and it's not for everyone some people can afford that and the people that will comment like oh I wouldn't do this just don't bother going to the cinema because you can afford it. But what you didn't think about is the mums out there that

can't afford it. And that is why I am here. And that is why I do it. And that is what I do. That's how I live my life. People say, oh, you're tight. I'm thinking, no, I'm not tight, but I'm not the type of like, it's not normal. Is it you see online influencers going on holiday every six weeks? Oh, I'll tell you what, my 14 year old has never been on a plane. And that's not because I'm tight, it's because we've had to save up. We've had to be saving for house renovations. We've had to save for loads of stuff. We've got four kids to pay for. That is a lot of money. I don't want to get myself in debt to go on a Spain holiday, but we've never been on holiday abroad as a family. My son's 14 years old. Now, does that make me a

bad mum? No, I don't think it makes me a bad mum, but that makes me someone that's honest on Instagram. Some people can't afford it. So instead of keep bashing people because they can't afford things, I think be inventive and that is something that I am. And my mum was the same. My mum and dad was the same. They didn't have a lot of money. So we never ordered pizza. We never bought a dominoes, like Pizza Hut or a dominoes. Oh my God. No, my mum would buy a frozen pizza So we never ordered pizza, we never bought a Domino's, like Pizza Hut or Domino's. Oh my god, no, my mum would buy a frozen pizza and we'd decorate it. But I'm not scared. I've never spoke about that in counselling. I'm happy. I love the fact that my mum did that. Heather So what are your tips when you're travelling with kids? Like if you're,

you know, we go to Cornwall all the time because our family live in Cornwall. And now the girls are older, it's a little bit more manageable. But that thing of piling in the car and driving to the beach in England can be one of the most because you're doing something. I'm taking you to the beach. This is for you. What more do you want? And it's tell me how you make, what are your hacks for that? How do you make that a little bit less torturous

other than Sauvignon Blanc? So yeah, which you're not really allowed to do when you drive, so it's good to drive. Well I'm thinking someone else is driving. It's good, yeah, I was gonna say, my chauffeur. I'm sat with, I've got a flask, it's carved in a flask, and I'm sat with it in a flask. That's. Put it in a Stanley Cup,

no one will ever know. Exactly. just coffee babes. Yeah, no. So I always say the fact that you've got like, I always get them from B&M and they just go on to like, they can go in the shower. They're like toy holders and they've got like sticky ... Oh yeah. Like the net thing. Like the little suckers. They've got like suckers. Yeah. sticky. Yeah, like the net thing. Like the little suckers. They've got like suckers.

Yeah, suckers. That on a window, which is absolutely fine, absolutely safe. I just want to put it out there for anyone that's like driving. It's absolutely fine. Or you could always put it at the bottom or you can tie it to the back of the chair if you're worried, but it's fine. And you just want to put stuff in there. So you can get like books in there that you can colour, that's just using water. That's one thing that is great for definitely up to about seven in there. So you can get like books that you can color that's just using water. That's one thing that is great for definitely up to about seven year olds. You just put the water thing in there. There's if the water spills, who cares? It's a bit of water. You're about to go to the beach and it's not the end of the world. You want

to put like squishy toys in there. You can put like, I don't know, like a bag of crisps or like fruits and just some snacks. Just so the kids are constantly like, oh, oh, like we're going to do this. Oh, oh, I'm going to have a look at this now. I'm going to have a look at this. And also like I've got art caddies coming out of my ears. If I don't get my own art caddy one day, I'm going to be very depressed because I literally, I think I'll keep them in. The Casey caddy. Yeah, the Casey caddy. Right, patent pending. The Casey caddy. Yeah, the case. Right, patent pending. The Casey caddy, because I

have got art caddies everywhere over my house just for organization, but they are perfect. They're absolutely perfect for the car and they're perfect to put snacks in. They're perfect to put drinks in because what I love about them is the kids can hold them and they can eat so they're not spilling but once they're done You can just take them and it's like they're taken you can put all the rubbish in the front It's done. You can stack them all away. It's over that it's not all over your car the chips to drink the ice cream It's not everywhere. So that's another thing I do and also

iPad give him an iPad if you're going on a seven hour trip, oh my god, back in our day we didn't have an iPad, didn't you? Poor parents. Like, you know, just, oh look out the window. It's not the end of the world to let them have some time. No, no, it's definitely not. And if it stops you getting stressed, like they always say, don't they, when you're a new mum, if your baby's screaming at you and you can't cope, you're to put that baby down a cot safely and you're to walk downstairs and you're to make yourself a cup of tea or coffee. And once you feel better, then you're to go back upstairs and pick that baby up because that is a much safer option and better for your sanity than what it is dealing with a screaming baby that you can't cope with at that specific time.

And if you're in a car and you can't go anywhere, you've got to do what keeps you sane. A hundred percent and plus if you're driving and not drinking, I'm Stanley Cup. Tell me about this, I'm not suggesting you have a Stanley Cup full of Sauvignon Blanc at the wheel. I just thought I had to put it in there. But if you are driving and not drinking from a Stanley Cup, then I would suggest that you do give them things like iPads and stuff like that as well as everything that I've listed. Because if you're driving and they're saying mum, can you get this? Mum, mum, mum, mum. And you need to be focusing on that road,

not on them kids in the back going on and on at you because that is dangerous. So everything's there for it and I think that's it. I think it's sometimes, I've shared things about putting phones on the back of the cars and things that kids can watch and give them iPads and people have always said the fact that it feels good because it's like, oh, well, look, well, she's doing it. It's not the end of the world, is it? But I can do it.

And I think that's it. You shouldn't need that in society. You shouldn't need someone else to be like, this is all right. You shouldn't need that. But unfortunately, the way we are living, you do a lot of the time. So it's just about them types of things.

But I always think just keep, yeah, as long as you're happy, then that's perfect. And the kids will just got to do what you got to do with the kids. But yeah, always definitely like a busy bag for the kids to keep them entertained. If you're going on a long, long journey car journey. Another thing that I've done before when we went to, we went to Cornwall. So it was like a six, seven hour drive and it was like horrific. But the one thing that I did is I just got went to the Poundland, well B&M, Poundland, anywhere like that and just picked up just sort of like pound toys. I

wrapped them all in brown paper and I just every hour gave them out. And it's something so simple but they're waiting for it. They're like, oh, it's nearly 20 minutes. You can see it will be up to the hour and then shove it in the back and give them something else to look for an hour. You know what I mean? It's cost me sort of like 20 or 25 pound, but it's kept the kids up and they've all kept the toys. It's not like the toys were all chucked in the bin. So it's just saving your sanity as you can, you know? Finally, Casey, what is next for you? I would love to see you on TV, like a sort of sort your life out type of program, but you giving families life hacks to help them. Can we make

that happen? Yeah. So I don't know really. I am, everyone always asks what is next and I'm happy where I am. I'm happy on Instagram. I'm happy doing what I am doing. I am actually going to start being a radio presenter on Express FM one day a week and then I am moving to one day a week and plus my own show on a Saturday or Sunday. That's amazing. Yeah, so that is something that I'm really looking forward to because I do love a chat. So yeah, I don't really know. I'm happy where I am and I always say like, whatever happens will happen. I started this Instagram

account, didn't expect any of this. So it's like, it's been a bonus the whole way from start to finish. And if it all ends tomorrow, I'm okay with that as well. I've got the most beautiful, the most beautiful family and I've made so many connections over the last two years that I would have never ever had I've done things that I never thought that I would do so For me I am I'm happy where I am and if I get more amazing and if I don't I don't and I'm Chuffed I got a book and that's me done now. I'm over and out. Do you know I mean I'm like, it's me. I've got a book Fine, I'm cool. I'm chuffed. I've got a book and that's me done now. I'm over and out. Do you know what I mean? I'm like, it's me. I've got a book. I'm fine. I'm cool. I'm really happy. So yeah, whatever will be will be. Oh, thank you for joining us, Casey. It's been absolutely lovely to chat to you and

I would please like a share of the rights when you paint and pen the Casey Caddy. 100%. Lovely to meet you. See you later. Thank you the Casey caddy. 100%. Lovely to meet you. See you later. Thank you Casey. Bye. Don't forget you can get in touch with us on all social channels. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, just type in netmoms and you'll find us.

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