March 29, 2024

Preparing For a New Season!

NoClutterZone_Boyd

It’s that time of year again, ladies!  Fall is here and winter is soon upon us.  It’s time to declutter those closets!!

Living in Kentucky where it goes from blazing hot to freezing cold, I have to admit I have a lot of clothes that I really only wear a few months out of the year. Due to limited drawer and closet space, I have come up with a routine that I learned from my own mom. This is a way to help keep you organized. It always seems to me that I feel better the more organized and tidy my house is. Being a single mom with two little boys, there is a beautiful mess in my home all the time. So I like to clear out unneeded clutter when I can.

Items Needed:

  •  Boxes or Totes
  •  Markers or Labels

Directions:

  •  Go through each person’s clothing individually and pull out the clothing they will not be wearing for the upcoming season. Also, this is a good time to pull out items that you no longer need, or no longer fit. You can save them for a garage sale or donate them to a friend or to a non-profit agency, like Goodwill or Salvation Army.
  •  Put the clothes in a box. I always use a separate box for each family member. If you would like, you can use the plastic totes with lids to store the items.
  •  Label the boxes or totes with the person’s name and what clothing is inside. Example: “Tristan’s Summer Clothes”
  •  Store the boxes out of the way, until they are needed again.

I hope you find this decluttering tip helpful. Little things can make a big difference in the long run.

Happy Cleaning!

Amy

How To Make a Home Management Binder

Home Management Binder …also known as a Household Binder.  The first question you may have is, “What Is It?

This is where I keep things that are important to me; things that help me manage my home more effeciently. My Command Center, so to speak. In this binder, I keep things such as:

  • Schedule
  • Meal Planner
  • Recipes
  • Cleaning Schedule
  • Kid’s Stuff
  • Contacts
  • Blog Schedule
  • To-Do / Projects

Binder1
For this project, you will need the following items:

3-ring Notebook – 3-inch
Sheet Protectors
8 Divider Sheets
8 Index Dividers

Directions:

You will begin by inserting your dividers into your notebook, and attaching the index labels. You will label each of your index tabs with the categories listed above.

Then you will begin adding in your inserts. I’ve listed several below, with links to take you to the free downloads, in some cases.

The first thing you will see when you open my binder is the Homemakers Creed, and a lot of other marriage or family-oriented inserts found on Darlene Schacht’s website (Time Warp Wife). Click on the link above to be taken to this awesome FREE printable!! You will find a lot of the inserts in my binder are from Darlene’s website.  Just click here: www.time-warp-wife.blogspot.com and click on the Freebies tab.

The freebies I have downloaded from Darlene’s site, and have added into my binder are:

  • Homemakers Creed
  • The Proverbs 31 Woman
  • The Ultimate Marriage Vow
  • Marriage Manifesto
  • Mommy Manifesto

SCHEDULE
The next thing you will see is the first section of my binder: Daily Planning Goals and Calendars. I find my calendar printable, again from Darlene’s website. Click on the link above to download your free calendar printable. This particular calendar from her site is awesome! Each monthly calendar includes the calendar, a To-Do list, Hope-To-Do List, Prayer Requests, Reminders, Thinking Ahead, Bible Reading, Groceries, People to Call. I love these calendars!!! You will also find my Birthday calendar. This calendar lists the birthdays of all family members.

MENUS
In this section of my binder, you will find:

  • Grocery List
  • Meal Planner
  • Coupon Pocket
  • Freezer Inventory
  • Pantry Inventory
  • Freezer Storage Cheat Sheet
  • Produce Buying Guide
  • Internal Cooking Temperature Cheat Sheet

RECIPES
This is where I store printed recipes that I love!

HOME CLEANING ROUTINE
In this section of my binder, you will find:

  • 60 Uses for Baking Soda
  • Daily Housekeeping Schedule (time warp wife)
  • Weekly Chores for Life (time warp wife)
  • My Zone Cleaning Schedule from FlyLady.com

If you haven’t tried FlyLady.com yet, give it a try! Each week, you are given a zone in your home to clean. She gives you a complete list of what to accomplish in each of those zones. Pretty cool stuff!

Binder2

KIDS
In this section of my binder, you will find:

Quick References for Kids

  • House Rules
  • Chores Chart for my kids
  • School District Directory
  • School Lunch Menu for each month
  • School Calendar – I tore this calendar apart so I could put each month in a sheet protector. Since it is the calendar for our school district, I went through each month and highlighted our school’s events for the whole year, including PTO meetings, holidays, spring break, early dismissal, and so on.
  • Classroom Handbook from our daughter’s teacher
  • Birthday List of each student in class

I have also included things for my own personal use that will help me pray for and encourage kids that come through our home through the Safe Families For Children organization, as well as my own kids and grandkids!

  • 31 Ways to Inspire Your Children
  • 31 Ways to Pray for Your Children
  • 31 Prayer Card for Your Children (time warp wife)

CONTACT LIST
In this section of my binder, you will find:

  • Contact List from my husband’s work
  • Medical Staff & Provider Directory for our community
  • Ultimate Contact Sheet that lists the numbers for grandparents, doctor, dentist, hospital, pharmacy, school, coaches/teachers, vet, housekeeper, insurance agent, miscellaneous. I downloaded this document from SimpleOrganizedLiving.com

BLOG
In this section of my binder, you will find information for my personal blog:

  • Monthly Blog Schedule
  • Weekly Blog Schedule – breaks my month down into Ideas/Projects, To-Do’s, Weekly Statistics, Bloggers to Encourage. It’s always a good idea to find bloggers to encourage. Blogging can be a pretty lonely job sometimes!! 🙂
  • Website Log-ins sheet
  • HTML Codes Cheat Sheet

TO DO / PROJECTS
In this section, you will find nothing but notebook paper. I use this section for things like vacation to-do’s, home projects, holiday/birthday shopping ideas, and more.

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I hope you have enjoyed a sneak peek into my Home Management Binder, and a little bit into my own personal life! I think having a good system like this is important, as it can help us stay organized and focused on the things that need to be done. I always feel good at the end of the day when I can look back at my list and see the items that have been checked off! I can go to sleep feeling quite an accomplishment has been achieved! A very good feeling!

Blessings,

Christi

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If you would like more housekeeping, home organization tips, recipes, and more from Christi’s personal blog, visit her at:

www.ChristiWilson.blogspot.com

Meal Planning 101 – Week 2 – Meal Planning Binder & Menu Planners

 

Hello!  Welcome to Week 2 of Meal Planning 101!  I’m glad you decided to come back and learn more about being successful in Meal Planning!  Meal Planning takes some effort, and that effort takes some organization.  Once you have a “system” in place, it’s just a matter of input from that point on!  So this week I want to talk about creating a Meal Planning Binder and Menu Planners.  This binder will help get you and keep you organized in your meal planning efforts.

My Meal Planning Binder is something that I look at least a couple of times a day!  I know… I get little nuts about it… but I am always looking for new recipes to add to my binder.  I love to try new recipes!  I have discovered some amazing meals by experimenting with my own created recipes, along with ones that I have been given by family, friends, and those I find right here by our “GCH:What’s on Your Plate?” page, and Pinterest.

Instead of giving you directions on how to make my own binder, I’m going to reference a couple of Pinterest links that will give you all kinds of binder ideas!  It’s really up to YOU how you want your binder to look and feel.

For my own binder, I include sections that include my Menu Planner for the Month, and for the Week, along with a Grocery list, Pantry/Freezer List, and a Recipes section.  I also keep a zippered pencil holder (like they use in school) to keep all my coupons in.  Personally, I am not a big coupon person!  I like them, but I do not go crazy with them!  I pick out a few that I know I will use, for products that I know we love and use on a regular basis!  You may be different than I am.  I have seen women who have coupon binders that are in 3-inch 3-ring binders, and it’s loaded with baseball card protector sheets that hold their coupons.  Way more effort than I want to put into my grocery shopping!  We’ll talk about this further in a later blog!

But before I forget, here are the Pinterest links to the Menu Planner binders: 

http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=Meal+Planner+Binders

http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=Menu+Planning+binders

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Now, let’s start with the first things that will be placed inside your binder:  Monthly Menu, Weekly Menu, Freezer / Pantry List, Grocery List, and of course, your coupons.  But for now, let’s talk about your Menu Planner.

In looking through tons and tons of Pinterest links for the perfect Menu Planner, I stumbled across one located at: www.amybayliss.com.  She offers customizable Menu Planners such as the one below.  I love this because I can type this up on my computer and make it look nice and neat!  I can change it anytime I want, and create new meals each month.  Sometimes, I leave certain meals on the menu planner because they are some of our favorites!  So this is really a convenient planner for me to us.  You may choose the planner that allows you to write in the meals for the month, or the week.  Again, it’s just a personal preference.  There is no right or wrong way to do this!  It’s all about doing it, and then finding the system that works for YOU!

Monthly Menu Planner

This exact form was found on: http://amybayliss.com/2011/08/planners-goals-calendars-church-and-ministry-sections-part-2/.   I just used the “Calendar” download.  You can change the name of the month, so you have a new form to use each month.  Amy’s site offers a lot of awesome free printables!

In my meal planning, I always start by making a list of what I have in my pantry and freezer.  That way I know what I have on hand, and what I will need to purchase.

My next step is to make a list of all of the meals that we love.  Each week, I also include a “Leftovers” night and I add this to my Menu Planner!  I hate to see food go to waste!  Nothing gripes me more than to have to throw something away just because I didn’t add it into a new meal!  So I plan at least one night a week for leftovers!  Some people don’t like leftovers…again, personal preference!

We also plan for at least two nights a month for going to a restaurant.  This might include our Date Night meal, or a meal out with friends; whichever one it happens to be, it gets put on my Menu Planner.  So what that means is that I have to plan ahead for these nights.  My husband has the craziest work schedule where he works 3 days on, and 3 days off.  So we never have a normal weekend like most couples do!  We take our weekends as we can get them!  So I take his work calendar and sit down and choose one night a month for our Date Night, and leave room for at least one more night for eating with friends.  Again…put it on your Menu Planner!!

Once I have my list of groceries on hand from my pantry and freezer, and I have written down all of my favorite meals, I start making my menu for the month!  My freezer, pantry, and favorite meals lists can just be updated as I go!  This is the first time-consuming activity that you will have, but once it’s done, it’s pretty easy to maintain!  We’re getting you closer to Menu Planning success!   Trust me, once you make your binder and a monthly menu, it will make your life so much easier for the remainder of the month!  No more planning for another 30 days!

After you have completed your Monthly Menu, your next step is to break down the Monthly menu into a Weekly menu.  Here is where you will see just seven days of menus.  Write out a Weekly menu for every week on our Monthly menu.  Once you do it, it’s done for the month, and for each week; then it’s just a matter of grabbing the next weeks form to see what’s on the menu.  You can even just use a simple piece of notebook paper to do this, if you wish.  You really don’t need any special forms, etc.  You’ll be glad you took the time at the beginning of the month to do this!  Trust me!

For Meal Planner forms, do a search on Pinterest for “free weekly meal planner printables”; there are many of them out there.  I use a lot of Amy’s forms from her site because they are customizable!  I just love the way she has formatted them, and makes it so easy for me to input my own information!  Again, you will want to search for forms that are going to work for YOU!  If they don’t work for YOU, you won’t keep up with it!  So find something that works for you and one that you enjoy working with!

Now that we have our meals planned for the month and week, it’s time to put together our Shopping List.  We’ll discuss our Shopping List and coupons next week.  You will store all of this inside your Menu Planning Binder, in the proper sections.

I hope you are enjoying this series.  If you want, please share a link to the Menu Planner that you use!  You never know if someone else will find your Menu Planner convenient for them, as well!

See you next week!

Christi

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A Virtuous Woman uses her time wisely. She works diligently to complete her daily tasks. She does not spend time dwelling on those things that do not please the Lord. (Proverbs 31: 13, Proverbs 31: 19, Proverbs 31: 27, Ecclesiastes 3, Proverbs 16: 9, Philippians 4:8)



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If you would like to send a private message to Christi in regards to this blog, please email her at: Christi@girlfriendscoffeehour.com