The Best Resources for Starting Off Your Year Well- in my opinion

I originally started writing this on January 2- a week ago- the very day that the flu ended up sweeping in and kicking my family's butt (right off… I no longer have a butt, quite literally, because of it). So, I realize that we are already 9 days into the new year and I failed to recommend these resources in a timely fashion. BUT they are still useful and maybe they'll greet you at about the time that some of the things you thought would work for the new year just aren't and you need a different choice! Well, here they are- my favorite Resources for not only starting off but, in general, living this year well!

Motherhood–

Desperate by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson is currently rocking my world, as I may have mentioned the other day. And since it is launch week there are still tons of giveaways going on- like this one for a YEAR of massages! They also have a free 7-day devotional you can sign up for that will be delivered straight to your inbox for a week.

Hope for the Weary Mom is another one that has been offering me up encouragement and well, hope lately! 😉 They also have a study going on right now on their site to delve even deeper into this wonderful ebook.

ITakeJoy.com– Sally Clarkson's blog is a daily wellspring of wisdom and encouragement for this motherhood journey. It goes hand-in-hand with Desperate and should not be missed.

Homemaking–

The Confident Mom Weekly Planner is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Susan Heid has obviously put so many hours into creating this straightforward and incredibly helpful planner for moms who want to get a better handle on life! I just started using it and I am adoring the way she has each task broken up into manageable portions and has seemingly taken EVERYTHING into account! I'll be doing a more full review on this planner in about a week.

Quiet Times-

#SheReadsTruth– This is what I have been reading every morning and it is just so well done, filled with grace. It's short but packed with goodness and a nice resource if you just don't have the time to really delve into a study.

Good Morning Girls– These ladies are about to kick off their winter study in Luke. Simple, downloadable materials that allow you to delve a little deeper into study and application, plus when you're done you will have written out all the scripture that you studied.

Hello Mornings– Their new session also kicks off in a few weeks. They have lots of helpful resources, including a Bible study, and are packed with great motivation to get up and get rolling in the Monrning before your kiddos.

Precept Studies– Always a favorite resource for really good, in-depth studies that leave you feeling filled. They take more time but they are worth it!

 

Hopefully these have given you some ideas and will help encourage you all thorough the year! Now, would you share with me some of your favorite resources for getting on track this year?

 

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It’s Finally Here- the 2012 Meal Planner!!

**Update** The brand new, 2013 Meal Planner is now up and available for download on this post.  Enjoy!

I finally did it! I got the 2012 year-long menu planner revised and uploaded to a more friendly platform (aka- it’s NOT going to ask you to pay!!). I know many of you have been very patiently waiting and I am glad I could bring it to you at last!
It is pretty much the same as the original, only updated to only be for 2012 (January- December) and, of course, I had to jazz it up a bit with the new color of the year (tangerine tango)! Want a little peek?

Oh, ok!

Plus I have six more fun and useful pages just waiting for you to snag them (for free!)! You can access this PDF right HERE via Google Docs or you can simply click on either of the pics above!

You can still access all the directions for putting together your meal planning binder on this post…

And detailed directions for how to actually accomplish all that planning here on this post.

The only thing I ask, if you choose to download my planner, is that you leave a comment to let me know what you think! I just love to hear from you guys! Oh, and if you wanted to subscribe to my blog too, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings. 😉

Happy New Year Meal Planning!

Freezer Breakfasts- the ins and outs (with printable plan)

Alright, I know there have been many of you wanting to get your hands on this little printable and I am so sorry I wasn’t able to post it sooner! I was working on getting some permissions for reposting and now have everything good and clear so we’re ready to roll!

Basically, I came up with this plan when I was considering our school year, our routine, the boys need for good protein in the morning and my intense dislike of anything before about 10:00 am. While I am working very hard to get up at the wretched hour of 6:00 (and possibly earlier as I get more used to it) I knew that I wanted to be able to devote as much of that quiet alone time as possible to the Lord, blogging and possibly even exercise (Gasp! Can you believe I actually uttered that last word?! Christa, don’t laugh!).

So anyhoo, the whole idea of freezer dinners popped into my head and it dawned on me, “Hey! Why not do that for breakfast instead?!” So I created a plan and that is exactly what I did! The plan I am posting today is for 4 weeks of September (so starting on Monday). I hope to be posting the October plan soon also so that you guys can get an earlier jump on it. This first plan includes the following recipes:
Coconut pancakes (from Health, Home, Happy)
Banana Carrot Muffins
Dutch Babies
Quiche (or fritatta) w/ leftovers for Friday

You can download the full printable right here– please excuse the last two black pages, my computer was freaking out a bit.

The printable includes a full set of instructions along with shopping list and tips, but here are a few more little tidbits for you to consider-

-To keep bags standing upright, place them in a large bowl or box.

-If you are planning on making these breakfasts alone and not in a group (which can be very handy but plan on a full day of work!) then I recommend that you make one or two breakfasts over the span of a week or two leading up to when you will actually need them. It makes the whole process less daunting and more doable.

-Batters are most easily made in one large sum and split evenly between all the bags but it is best to use a large kitchen mixer such as the BOSCH Universal Plus Mixer. (I used this technique with both the muffins and the pancakes but I really probably could have done it with all 4 recipes)

-I found with the pancakes that a combination of all three sweeteners (honey, coconut milk and applesauce) was our favorite AND letting the batter sit overnight before cooking helped combat the dryer texture that these scrumptious pancakes can lean towards.

-Don’t misplace a bag and split all your ingredients between three bags instead of four and then have to scoop some out of every bag to make that fourth bag that you obviously will need if you don’t want to have to be dealing with breakfast on some random Thursday morning four weeks from now! Not that that happened or anything.

-If you have a smaller family, like myself, I found that cutting down some of the recipes was plenty sufficient for us. I only made a 2x batch of coconut pancake batter instead of a 4x batch and I only made 3 batches of muffins since they make 18 per recipe (this was one that I just split evenly between the bags and it worked brilliantly).

-And one last little tip- to pour batters out of their bags (especially handy when filling muffin tins) snip one corner off the freezer bag and squeeze it out like a pastry bag. Seriously- you will want to kiss me!

And that’s it! Let me tell you, it feels sooooo good to have all those breakfasts neatly lined up on the top shelf of my freezer, knowing that I won’t have to resort to any last-minute stressed-out bowls of cereal and my boys will be getting a good dose of protein before each and every school day- even on the days we have to head off early to co-op!

Yes, yes, I do believe this is the smartest thing I have done in quite sometime, if I do say so myself! So go on, go make yourself feel as smart as I do! 😉

View this document on Scribd

Oh, and just a little plug, the coconut pancake recipe is from this site, which offers a ton of other awesome grain-free recipes and meal plans (Cara was kind enough to allow me to repost her recipe and get me signed up with this affiliate link)!

Putting together your Meal Plan Binder for the year

****UPDATE-  The 2013 version of the menu planner is up and ready for you to download (for free)!  So, after you read this post head on over to this one to download the fresh and free version!****

My dearest apologies to all of you for not having this post up as quickly as I thought I would! Our back-to-homeschool week (and weekend leading up to it) have been a little crazier than I had hoped and there just haven’t been enough hours in the day. Plus I am getting used to a new little piece of technology (which I will probably be sharing about in the near future) so that is thrown a curve ball into the whole matter as well- not a bad one, but a curve ball none the less.

I digress- back to the topic at hand- putting together that crazy, year-long meal plan binder! By now I am hoping that you have been able to accumulate all your materials, but just for a little refresher, here is what you will need:

• A two inch binder
• My printables for a year of meal planning (see this post)
• Lots of sheet protectors
• Packing tape
• Decorative paper to jazz up your binder a bit

So here’s the low down on how to put it all together-

First you will need to place all 12 of your calendars in sheet protectors (whether they are filled out of not). This is the main reason that I like to use regular sheet protectors (and not the fit-to-page size where you actually have to whole punch the pages) because I know I will have to be taking these calendars in and out to change things if need be and so forth so just easier to be able to slide them in and out.

Second, I take my packing tape and create tabs (using the ones provided in my printable) directly on these sheet protectors. I just placed the label in the middle of a piece of the tape, stuck the front side to the sheet protector, folded it over, and voila’! Don’t they look snazzy?!

Third, I place two sheets worth of weekly shopping lists behind each calendar (four lists total).

Fourth, and this is the part that can take a little bit of work but it’s worth it, I place a copy of every recipe I will be using that month (unless it is in an actual cookbook that I own) in sheet protectors to avoid cooking splatters and in the order I will be using them behind the shopping lists. It is so helpful to not have to be hunting down recipes and it is much easier this way to have them all on hand so that you can easily fill out your shopping lists and maximize your purchased ingredients.

Now you may be thinking, “Does this mean I am supposed to put the recipes for every month in there right now?” The answer is, “Yes!” And yes, that does mean that you will be making multiple copies of recipes, but in the long run it is such a timesaver and you will be able to reuse these multiple copies for years to come (so don’t come crying to me about trees and ink!). Do remember, however, that you will hopefully be incorporating long-term freezer meals into the mix, so you will only need to put the recipe in the binder for the month that you will be making extra to freeze, and you of course won’t need to put in any recipes for nights you are having leftovers or plan to be going out. So, see, it really isn’t that bad!

Now, I am going to put in a little alternative here in case you happen to be one of those lucky souls who has gone mostly techy and been blessed with an iPad. There is a wonderful app called The Recipe Box that allows you to easily cut and paste your own recipes into it along with including pictures, notes, sources and the easy ability to print or email in a really nice format. It lacks the advantage of having all your recipes easily in order but they are quick to find and look so professional and beautiful. Although I haven’t yet found any wonderful meal planning calendars, you could always just use iCal or Google calendars, or whatever calendar it is that you use.

I must admit that as much as I love technology and have been oogling over The Recipe Box app there is still just something special about having a well organized and attractive meal plan binder sitting in my kitchen. Call it my obsession with paper, but I will just always be drawn to those concrete homemaking journals that can truly become a legacy to pass down to your children. It’s up to you- heck, go wild and do both!

So there you have it! It’s that simple! A chunk of work now that will save you headaches and money all year long (and really, for years to come)! And if you happened to miss my post the other day about how you do the actual planning part of this task, then be sure to pop over to that post to get the full skinny!

I would LOVE to see your binders when they’re done and I am always open to questions and suggestions, so don’t be shy! Thank for stopping by and have fun planning! 😉

Meal Planning a Year at a Time- Yes it can be done!

***UPDATE- The 2013 version of the year-long meal planner is now available!  Check out this post for the snazzy, pepped up and very FREE printable- after you read this one of course! 😉 ***

Well, here it is- one of the big doosie posts I’ve heard so many of you are looking forward to (I can only hope it lives up to the hype)! Today I am going to tell you how to plan your meals out for a year- yes, I said a year. By the time we are done here today you will know how to map out a working outline for your year that will only need a few tweaks along the way and incorporate some manageable freezer cooking and, I promise, will greatly simplify your life! Be sure to stop back by tomorrow though, when I show how to organize all of your recipes and the whole master plan into an attractive show-piece for your kitchen! (Ok, so it’s just a jazzed up binder! BUT I love mine and am proud to have it out in my kitchen!)
First, before we really get planning though, let’s talk about why you would even want to tackle this project- ya know, for you skeptics out there! So, just to get you motivated (and possibly convinced), here are my

Top 5 Reasons to Plan Your Meals Out For a Year:

1. Save Time– in more than one way!! Never face the 4:00 witching hour again! Having a plan set in place months in advance gives you peace of mind and one less thing to think about. Plus, as you make certain meals in triplicate to freeze for future months and are able to get big prepwork jobs done (since you know what needs to be prepped so far out) you save yourself oodles of wasted time by doing those tedious jobs all at once!
2. Save Money! Having a long-term plan allows you to buy nonperishable items in bulk, saving you a huge chunk of change! You never thought you needed that 5lb can of olives from the wholesale warehouse before, but now that you’ve planned out your meals and discover that in the next couple of months you have 6 recipes containing olives and 2 of them you are planning to make in larger quantities so that you can freeze some, you realize that that 5lb can is a bargain compared to the multiple small cans you would buy over that same time period! And that isn’t even mentioning all the cash you will save by not having to run to the store for those last-minute forgotten items, since, ya know, you’ve had everything planned out and detailed shopping lists written! Oh, and have I mentioned the last-minute eating out savings you will also incur? See, the benefits just keep spilling out!
3. Diversify your meals! I don’t know about you, but when I did monthly freezer cooking my husband hated the monotony of the meals, week after week! When I plan out a year at a time I am able to make sure I am spreading things out and not cooking the same thing all the time. I find this so much easier to do when I am looking at the big picture!
4. Reuse plans! Just think, next year at this time, your work will be done! How stinking awesome is that!?! Aside from the minor tweaks and additions of new meals you will want to make every year, you have got your basic working plan in place after your first year and never have to go back to square one of meal planning again! Since you have planned a year, each month will be seasonally based and customized to your unique family! Booya!
5. Feel like a homemaking queen! This just might be my favorite perk! I mean seriously, you feel pretty ridiculously good about your organizational and homemaking skills when you accomplish this feat that sounds so daunting to the average Joe-Blow who hasn’t yet been enlightened with the simple steps I’m about to reveal to you! 😀 I should hand out badges or something!!

So, have I reeled you in yet? Are you ready to give it a go? You’d be crazy not to, right?! Ok, buckle up! Let’s get started!First of all, we are going to be making one of these puppies…

…but actually not until tomorrow!  However, you will need the planning forms.  And since I love you more than my luggage, I have uploaded the entire set to Google Docs for you, (see this post for the link)). So, go run over there and print them out really quick! Pages 1 & 2 you will need only 1 copy of, but you will need 12 copies of page 3 (the calendar) and 26 copies of page 4 (the shopping lists). Pages 5 & 6 (the recipe cards/pages) are for you to use however you like ( I am hoping to figure out how to make them editable so that you can type in your recipes- or cut and paste- but that might take a bit before it happens).
All printed and ready to roll? Awesome! Here are the other things you will need to complete your menu binder (but remember, we won’t be putting it all together until tomorrow)-

• Sheet protectors (a LOT of them!)
• Packing tape (or a 12-pack of dividers, but ONLY if you are using page-sized sheet protectors!)
• Decorative paper (just to pretty up the covers, as you can see on mine)

 
Ok, now set your binder aside until my next post and just get out your calendars. This is where the diligence begins- ya know, the part when you are actually going to plan out all the meals! Don’t freak out! Let me simplify it for you.
First– think about the needs of your family on a weekly basis. What does your schedule look like during the week? Is there a certain day of the week that an easy soup or crockpot meal would typically come in really handy? Is there an even crazier night that it would be super helpful to just be eating leftovers? Are you one of those families that likes Mexican on Monday, Italian on Tuesday, Chinese on Wednesday, and so forth? Use this knowledge to formulate your basic weekly routine.
Let me give you an example of the basic routine we are going to be following this year. I know that as we travel the world with our homeschool curriculum this year, Monday nights are probably gong to be the best for eating ethnically from the particular country we are studying. So every other Monday I have planned a dish from those countries. I have filled in the other Mondays either with a second dish from that country, or a tried and true recipe that we love. Tuesdays I am primarily reserving for new dishes that I have found (or will find along the way- remember, this plan is flexible and is meant to fit your life. I’ll be going into this more in a minute). Wednesdays we have an activity in the later evening, so I have planned to make a crockpot meal or soup AND I will be making a large enough quantity so that we can have leftovers on Thursday, since that is our craziest day and night of the week (Co-op all day followed by hip-hop and eventually basketball! Sheesh!). Many Fridays my boys will likely be hangin’ with the grandparents, so I have tried to plan a meal that is more parent than kid friendly and is a smaller dish. With that said, I try to keep a few alternatives easily on hand in case they are home that evening and I need to switch things up. Saturdays and Sundays I also try to plan easy foods (that often have leftovers)- like homemade pizza or a roast for pulled meat sandwiches.
Alright, you still with me? Have you mapped out the typical weekly needs of your family? Great! Moving on!

Next we are going to take into consideration all those little hiccups that occur throughout the year- and by that I mean the things that break you out of your mapped out routine, such as holidays, birthdays, dinner with friends, etc… The holidays are pretty easy to manage- just don’t plan those days! I figure that we will be with our extended family those days and even if I am helping prepare the meal it is a joint effort and not something that I need to plan for. Around each birthday I typically leave one night open with no plan, figuring that we will be getting together with family or going out. I also leave one or two weekend nights open each month for the possibility of getting together with friends or family. It doesn’t really matter which weekend nights I leave open though, since they can easily be switched around (its more about the number of meals planned than the exact night they were planned for in this case). When it comes right down to it, of course other things always arise throughout the year that will cause you to have to break away from the plan which is fine- the point is that you have the plan in place as a back up. The plan doesn’t master you- you master the plan!

Now that you have taken all your scheduling needs into consideration, it is time to get down to the nitty-gritty! Start filling in that big blank canvas! Don’t feel like you have to follow the order of the days. I find it is easier if I go through and plan all my Wednesdays, making sure I don’t repeat things too often and so on. I’ll then thumb through my recipes for the ones my family really loves and go through the next few months plugging them in once a month or so, so that the kids are satisfied but The Carpenter isn’t burnt out! I plan hardier dishes through the winter months and allow for more salads and lighter fare in the spring and summer. I try to incorporate seasonal sidedishes and even throw in a big fancy dessert here and there just to bless my family’s socks off!
So what if you discover a dish mid-year that you want to add but have no room in your schedule? Do you just wait for next year? Well, of course not! That would be silly! As I mentioned above, I actually plan that my Tuesdays will be new dish night, most of the time. So I just leave start leaving my Tuesdays open on my plan (a few months out), figuring that I will be filling them in with new dishes I find along the way. My one stipulation is that I always have a full schedule for 2-3 months so that I don’t end up getting caught one night with nothing on the agenda. And if I run across a recipe that I really want to try sooner, well I just switch it out! I planned it, it’s my prerogative to switch it if I want!
Also, on that note, what do you do with the new dishes that you try and like and want to start working into your schedule before next year? Well, I leave one or two days open every month (once again, a few months out) to start working those new and well-loved recipes into our regular mix. Always remember to make the plan work for you- just don’t get behind in filling in the little stuff throughout the year or you’ll be kicking yourself and defeating the whole purpose of all this preplanning! 🙂
Now, what if you are looking at all those empty dates and thinking, “There is no way I have enough recipes to fill all this in without repeating every other week!” or you just aren’t sure where to get new recipes to fill in your “new recipe day” with? Well, let me give you a few of my favorite go-to sources:

• Pinterest!!! There is just nothing like the visual plethora of meal options on the beloved Pinterest! Seriously- this is my first destination when looking for new material!
• The Pioneer Woman– oh the deliciousness that spills out of that woman’s blog! And hey, her show on Food Network starts on August 27- so you can check her out there too!
• A Year of Slow Cooking– a different slowcooker recipe for every day of the year!
• Mel’s Kitchen Cafe– This lady has some awesome stuff! Love, love, love! Some of our favorite recipes are straight from her archives!
• Granola Mom 4 God– My dear friend has some rockin’ whole food recipes! Just this week she posted on how she makes countertop yogurt (no cooking!)- I must try! We love the Almond Flour Chicken Bites she posted a while back- in fact we just had it last night!

 
Just keep working at it. To be totally honest this process is time consuming, so you may even want to set aside some time for a number of days, just to not get overwhelmed! I think you will be surprised to find, though, just how much of a roll you get on as you begin filling in those little blank spaces!

Alright- go get to work!  I’ll see you tomorrow and we’ll bang out that cute binder I showed you!!

Routine Clean- a basic routine to keep your house manageable

I have read countless blog pots, visited dozens of websites and even read a few books on how to keep my home clean.  And while many of them have been inspiring, even motivational, much more of the time they seem to over-complicate things or give me too much to accomplish at once.  For instance, I like Fly Lady, but the whole idea of completing a Monday Morning Home Blessing Hour (where you essentially clean your entire home in one hour) is just not practical for this mama of small children and rarely got finished in an hour!  I also like 31 Days to clean and think that the general cleaning schedule is pretty good, but it works on a monthly rotation and I like to think more in terms of weekly rotations with my cleaning.

So, taking all of this into consideration I decided to create my own weekly cleaning routine to work off of and it looks like this:

Monday: Clean Bathrooms, Change out Towels, Change Sheets

Tuesday: Dust, Vacuum, Mop

Wednesday: Wipe Down Kitchen Appliances, Quick Wipe Down of Bathrooms

Thursday: Vacuum, Declutter, Run Errands

Friday: Clean out Car, Clean out Purse, Quick Wipe Down of Bathrooms

Saturday: Vacuum, Basic Meal Prep For Week

Sunday: Chilax!

In addition to the weekly routine I also try to keep my kitchen cleaned up throughout the day and make sure the sink and counters and empty and wiped down before I go to bed.  We are also working with the boys on having them put away toys they are finished playing with before they get out new ones to try and cut down the clutter during the day.  For deeper cleaning tasks I will likely be returning to the idea of Fly Lady‘s zones and hope to accomplish the deep-cleaning schedule from 31 Days to Clean at least once a year.

You will notice on my post the other day about our routines that I have figured time into my day to accomplish these tasks and I have also set time aside for the boys to be working on their own chores.  As members of this family and residents of this household we expect them to contribute and want to instill the value of hard work from an early age.  I hope to post soon about what our chore system looks like.

And finally, because I have to have these tasks in a visible spot so that I remember what I need to do, and because I am in the middle of jazzing up our schoolroom/office/studio, it was only fitting that I make a cute printable to display on one of my clipboards that will hang on the wall behind my desk.

…and here is a copy for you!

View this document on Scribd

Enjoy!  And Happy Homemaking!

Over and Over Again- our basic routine and how to create one for your family

Every year I try to sit down and map-out a routine for our family.  The routine that I sit down and type is what I hope our ideal day would look like.  While we don’t always stick to that exact model (ok, a lot of the time) it is a wonderful tool to have as a basis f0r how we want our days to run.  Just the sitting down and planning out of a routine on my computer that begins at my alarm and ends when my head hits the pillow is a wonderful way to keep myself in check with my priorities and get me in the right mindset for being an organized and devoted homemaker.  The end product of actually having a printed out map to our day is invaluable to maximizing my time and keeping those priorities in their right place- first.

So, here is the actual routine that we will be working off of this year.  Please remember, as I said above, that this is a map- a way of getting to a calm and less chaotic day- and is not set in stone.  This plan is the ideal day but I treat it as a framework.  All times are meant to be general references not specific, alarm-ringing starting and stopping points.  So, without further ado, give it a gander-

Also, just because I am planning obsessed, I have also created a routine specifically for our Thursdays- co-op/errand/extracurricular activity day (and yes, other then the errands it just so happens that everything happened to fall on Thursdays!).  So here you can have a peek at that-

So now, just in case I have gotten you all jazzed about making a similar plan for your family, I thought I would provide you with a few tips to get you started.

Things to consider:

-What routines are already naturally in place without even trying?  Things such as napping/sleeping times, meal times, cranky times and happy times.  Take all of these into account when considering what will work best for your family.

-Make a list of all the things you hope to see happen on a daily basis.  Now be realistic and rewrite the list with what you think you can actually make happen on a daily basis.  Figure out the most important ones and then fill in the lesser important things around those.

-Do you have different days with different needs like we do?  Try to create a main-frame routine with all your basics and then alter it as needed.  Create as many different typed-out routines as you think you will need for the possible variations that can arise in a week, that way you always have a map to work off of.

Implementing:

-Start slow!  Take a week where you are just going to go for the big things, getting you and the kids used to the over all basic flow.  Then the next week you can add in more of the smaller items that you would like to see happen everyday. This is especially important if you are making major alterations to sleeping habits.  Just take it little bits at a time!

-Be consistent but don’t get down on yourself if things get off for a day.

-Use your time frames as a loose guide and don’t let them box you into a prison.  It is more about the order and flow of the day then it is about exact times.  However, with that I will say that a good rule of thumb is that if activities with the kids are lengthening the time frames you have planned it is probably a reasonable time to stretch them, whereas if your tasks are getting in the way of your set timeframes (such as spending a longer amount of time on the computer than you had allotted- something I know nothing about! ;-/) then you probably need to keep yourself in check and move on to the next task at hand.

-Make your routine plans easily accessible, even have multiple copies.  Post one on the fridge, one next to your desk, one in the bathroom- whatever it takes to help remind you of what you should be doing when.

-Don’t be afraid to tweak or even start completely over again!  Your routine has to work for your family or there is really no point!  Your routine should be a source of structure that allows freedom to accomplish what you need to accomplish in a day, along with giving you space to breathe and relax.  In the end it should bring you joy and extra hours you didn’t even know you had.

-If it all begins to feel like too much, just do the next thing!

How do you plan your days?  Or do you at all?  What things have worked and what things haven’t?  I would love for you to share!  And if any of you are interested in a Blog Hop on this very topic, just give a little shout and I’ll set one up in a jiffy!

Mission Organize 2011- The Whole Shabang!

As I’ve mentioned before, I have been trying to get as organized as humanly possible for this upcoming school year, in every aspect of our life, so that we can have as much success and as few distractions possible!  There are so many different things I have been doing that it would be overwhelming to write it all in one post.  So, I’ve decided to break it into a whole end of summer series called Mission Organize 2011.  Over the next week and a half I will be sharing the total break down of how I have been getting ready for our life come August 22- D Day- aka the first day of school!

You can expect the following posts (and any others I happen to think of along the way!):

• Implementing the File System– aka. Mama’s Workbox System (with a printable!)
• Over and Over Again– our basic routine and how to create one for your family
• Routine Clean– a basic routine to keep your house manageable (with Printable)
• Meal Planning a Year at a Time (I know it sounds crazy, but it’s AWE-some!)
• Freezer Breakfasts– a huge time saver and great way to deliver quality breakfasts for your fam without all the early-morning fuss (with printable!)
• The Value of Beauty– Why making your space beautiful matters and some tips for getting there

If there is any thing else you would specifically like me to write about then I do sincerely hope you will let me know.  I am really hoping for feedback on all these posts and I would love to know if anyone would be interested in Blog Hops associated with any of them!  Just say the word!