for organization! It seems like as the holiday season counts down, store shelves previously filled with holiday gifts are filled with organizational products. I guess everyone must have "be more organized" on their list of resolutions for the new year. :)
I have been feeling less than organized lately. I function much better when I have a schedule, but if it is too tight I feel confined, if it is too loose I procrastinate. I have to find the perfect balance between the two. I have recently been working on a weekly schedule, along the lines of, if it is Monday I must be _____.
However I have no problem staying organized when it comes to meal planning and shopping, I have been doing this for years. About a million years ago when I was homeschooling my kids, it was imperative that I have a plan not just for dinner but breakfast, lunch and snacks as well. I learned to think once and then execute, execute, execute. That was a long time ago, and while I don't need to be so rigid in order to get everything done, I still practice meal planning to feed the men in my life. I have a few tricks to make it faster--Meatless Monday, Guy's Choice Thursday and my personal fave, Fast-Food Friday where I make my own version of take-out food. I'm currently loving Bobby Deen's Beer Battered Fish and Sweet Potato Chips. Yum. (Focus Jenn)
I have long used a spiral bound notebook for my meal planning and shopping. I got this idea a million years ago while homeschooling from I don't remember where or whom. Just want to give credit where credit is due. lol I open it up and on the left side I list the meals I plan to make for the week with any notes regarding location of the recipe(if it is new, cookbook, website, Pinterest), any additional baking or cooking I need to do, I've even used it to plan big events and small catering jobs. On the right side I list the ingredients I need to purchase for the recipes. This is my shopping list. Sure, there are always things I buy, replenish staples like fruit, veggies, hummus, eggs, milk, bread, etc and I add them to the list as needed. Once the notebook is filled it gets put away or thrown away, depending on my mood. This works for me for a few reasons: it is all in one spot; when I am blocked I can look back to previous plans and pull from there; when I am doing a big event or catering job I can look back at my old notes and tweak from there; and I can see how our needs have changed. So what does this have to do with scrapbooking? Well, the last time I replaced my spiral notebook, I jazzed up a little notebook using Memory Works Simple Stories Campout papers and embellies.
I went the extra mile and removed the spiral from this small notebook to cover the covers. Cover the covers, lol. Yes, that meant I had to re-punch each hole to re-twist in the spiral. For both the front and back. It was worth it to me to get the finish I wanted. I die cut the ovals and used the complimentary alphas to title the book. I did cover the words with Crystal Effects because I knew this book would get knocked around on the counter, in my bag, in the shopping cart, etc and I knew they'd be peeling off in no time so I wanted to reinforce them.
I covered the inside as well and lined the ugly, yellowish pocket with papers as well to tuck in coupons and receipts. I don't coupon a lot, only the few things I am brand-specific on. I tend to cook mostly from scratch with raw ingredients and I don't usually see coupons for meats, fruits and veggies. I do buy pre-made hummus. And lots of it. So I hunt down those Sabra coupons. lol Back to business. I like the little "This is how we roll" sticker because it is how we function best.
So go ahead and get organized and Enjoy!
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