Grocery Shopping

Like most people I tend to loath grocery shopping and as I have gotten older, all shopping. Spent the better part of the day working on the grocery list and the menu plan for the month. I have finally finished my master grocery list for the things we would normally buy.

The kids help with making the menu so of course they also get to help with the cooking and occasionally the shopping.

We started off talking about what we like to eat and of course what we tend to eat the most of during a month. We ended up with roughly 18 different dinners which includes a 'Fend for Yourself Night'.

Here is what our list looks like:

• Homemade Mac & Cheese
• Pizza
• Lasagna
• Spaghetti
• Meatloaf
• Hamburgers
• Chicken Strips
• Salmon
• Cod
• Pork Chops
• Pork roast
• Pot Roast
• Steak
• Pork Ribs
• Tacos
• Fajitas
• Breakfast
• Steak Strips
• New Recipe

I realize these are all fairly general but when I start with a blank month we think in terms of beef, pork, chicken, meatless, seafood, pasta, Mexican, & new recipe. We then build the menu around those main ideas adding sides, salads, vegetables etc. Once I have the month started we will work on the week by week menu's the week before so we do not repeat the same foods over and over again.

I have noticed we are in a food rut...nothing sounds good and we have ended up having so much of the same things this past month. Just the thought of food is disgusting right now.

Here is a copy of my master grocery list to download...click here.

I am also going to attach a master copy of a monthly budget to check out...click here

Home Management

So you have decided to get more organized? It really isn't as hard as it initially sounds. Start with something simple, put together a Home Management Binder.

A Home Management Binder is more than just a planner, it can be the most essential tool for the whole family. My Binder is in the office right next to the computer in my Organizing Utility Tote from Thirty-One. It goes with me to Girl Scouts and the VA. It contains all vital information. The Binder is actually pretty easy to set up and I will go through how I have set up mine.

In order to get started you will need a binder, I use a 2" binder with the clear sleeve for the cover, binding, and back, page dividers, I use 8 tab dividers without pockets, I also bought a pencil pouch to keep pens, highlighters and stickies in. I created my cover and decorated it with stickers to make it pretty. I made a binding end for when it is in the tote and I made a back page.

This is the Cover of our Binder

Tab #1 Family Profile
This is a basic sheet with our names, nicknames, DOB, Pets, address, and emergency contacts. Each family member then has their own sheet after that with medical conditions and medications. These I keep in individual sheet protectors. I have some additional sheets that I have placed here with misc information or inspirations for me. Downloadable forms ... click here.

Tab #2 Calendar
I created a single page to keep family birthdays and anniversaries organized. I keep all the school calendars here, sports schedules and an 2 page spread calendar to record what is going on. I have not found that I need a weekly calendar but I use Cozi for that. This is where the pens come in handy. I love color and since with Cozi the family is color coded I have carried that over to the calendar in my binder. It works great for me and I never have to write the names of who needs to be where.
I have made the Birthday and Special Events a download, click here
Here is the monthly calendar for download, click here

Tab #3 Contacts
I have not made my own contact sheets yet but am in the process, I will update when they are ready. I keep a separate sheet just for all of our VA Contacts, General Phone List of Family, Household Contacts for utilities, repairs, etc. Then finally an address book section for when the mood strikes me to actually send mail.

Tab #4 Internet Related
Next to the Calendar this is the second most used section of our Binder. I keep all the passwords and login information for the family.
Each child has their own sheet for their info. I have a list of all the household bills that are paid online, logins, account numbers, and passwords.
I also keep blog planning sheets here.

Tab #5 Home Management
I keep a master grocery list here as well as suggested items to always have on hand. There is copies of the household chore charts and a house schedule. This section is more for reference than actual use.

Tab #6 Finances
 I have an Excel file I use for our monthly budgeting but I use this section to note extra expenses which will be transferred to Excel later. Click here for a Sample Monthly Budget

Tab #7 Projects & Activities
Things I know are coming up, birthdays, holidays, dinners, travel, gift list...this is where it is kept.

Tab #8 Notes
Doctor notes I have taken, basically anything and everything

I keep the binder available for the whole family to go through but it must stay in the Office. This is a must keep when traveling and in the event of a 'bug out'.

I do not take complete credit...I found this on Pinterest and worked from there using different ideas and concepts from many others. Here is the link to my Pinterest Board.

Hope this helps.

Free Downloads

 Here is the basics of my Family Profile Form I used for my Home Management Binder. Under Nickname I also put mom or dad just in case of a true emergency.

 On Page 2 I only post emergency medical conditions since everyone has their own page after the family pages.
I put down pet conditions because our beagle cannot bark like a regular dog.

For our emergency contacts I have one local within our area, one out of area and one out of state.

 For the Individual sheets I have room for more details including Blood Type.











Here is a copy of our Family Chores. We can clean the house in just an hour a day unless we are in the daughters room. While I have no chores scheduled for the weekends we maintain the laundry, kitchen and living room.

Chores List

Family Profile Sheets

I hope this helps.

Downloads

I have started to put some downloads up on my blog. This will be a gradual process since I am still really new to the how-to's of Blogger.


If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to tell me. Special requests as well.
Maybe I should start an Etsy shop for my 'stuff'.?!?!

First Friday of the New Year

So here we are at the first Friday of the new year. As of right now the kids are working on school work and we are close to wrapping it up for the week. It has been a little challenging to get and keep kids on task after a two week vacation. We have gone back to setting an alarm to get up in the morning.

As for the organizing that I have begun we are actually on task and for the first time in a long while the laundry is folded after coming out of the dryer. Sometimes I amaze my myself! The new chore list is working as well with daily tasks and a different room everyday. We are going through and working on getting the whole house organized one step at a time.

I have also started to put together a Home Management Binder. The research alone on this has been mind boggling. There is so much to be found on this subject. I used different things from different sources and then made a few of my own. This is really a work in progress but is coming along just fine. Yesterday I made a cute cover for the binder. I have found a font I REALLY like and that is what I have decided to use throughout my binder. As this project progresses I will post some links and thank yous on here. In the mean time Pinterest has some wonderful resources as well.

Binder Cover

Family Chores

Enjoy!

Happy 2012

Hard to believe it is 2012! I really enjoy a new year with new beginnings and the fact spring comes next, like a rebirth. So glad the holidays are behind us. There is always so much stress and tension it makes it challenging to try to be together.

We enjoyed a great New Year's Eve with friends here at our house. The 5 kids played Nerf Guns EVERYWHERE...I think there are still bullets under our bed. They had so much fun. The kids were starting to get tired (and so were the Moms) we tuned into the New York Ball Drop Party and the kids saw that. They were so excited to watch the ball drop but bummed they missed Lady Gaga's performance, pretty funny coming from a bunch of 10 year old girls.

Looking forward to tomorrow and getting back to our schedule with school. I am lucky and have one more week off before my last two classes of my associates degree. Pretty excited!! Right now I am working on putting together a Home Management Binder to get better control of our life. I will also be putting together all important papers, documents, etc just in case of an emergency. I actually feel like a grown up.