52 Weeks of Organizing~Week 4

This week is kids stuff! Just like with the silverware I had a problem with too many plates, bowls and cups. I recently ditched about 70% of them but our current set up is still not working for me.

Before we get into that, last week was not so great!

Our drawer by the stove is tiny, I was having a hard time finding a silverware tray that will fit in it and has 6 spots. I did go through the kids stuff and it is way more manageable. I had to do some moving around of stuff to make room for it somewhere else! And I ordered a bigger one on Amazon that should be here soon! Let's see how many times I try to put the hot pads in the wrong drawer though!

That is probably half of the amount of silverware we used to have!

I have been waiting for these plastic dishes to be on clearance. They finally went on clearance, we snagged enough to have a couple meals worth for the kids. Now I have even more of a reason to deal with the kid stuff!  I didn't take a picture of the lunch box drawer, but let me tell you, it is a MESS! We have about 10 sandwich holders, but our kids rarely take a sandwich to school for lunch anymore.
We splurged a little and got them each a thermos that keeps food hot for 5 hours. That is plenty of time between when we leave the house and they have lunch at school. Best purchase we have made in a while. They are so silly excited about their hot lunches and leftovers are the easiest thing to reheat and stick in a thermos, win win for us and them!

I am pretty sure the kids stuff will be moved to a different drawer and those pink blue and green stuff will be gone!

Meal Plan Week #5

This is the roughest week of the month for us, I don't want to go to the grocery store yet (but I did) and by the end of the day I am too tired to think about cooking for a week! 

Whining over.. gotta do it once in a while

Monday~Chicken, Pasta & Veggies

Easy and everyone will at it!

Tuesday~Beef and lentil stew

A little intimidated by the lentils in this, I'll share if it turns out to not be a flop!

Wednesday~Steak and Potatoes

Cheating this week and using the precooked steak bites from Costco

Thursday~Chicken Tacos

Friday~Mini Pizza

Everyone makes their own, no complaining!

Saturday~Stroganoff

I need something easy!

Sunday~Leftovers

We have 2 Birthday Parties this weekend, I am sure we will have plenty of leftovers!

Hoping this meal planning gets easier to stick with and plan. Been rough so far!

52 Weeks of Organizing~ Week #4

Week 4 is the silverware drawer.

I went a little crazy a couple weeks ago and moved silverware, so the job is already partway done.

But first, lets look at last week!

I keep the lids under the oven, cause I rarely use them.

That shelf? Yeah, it was at the bottom of the cabinet just sitting there! I had NO idea it was another shelf! Got some pegs for a couple bucks and now the space is much better! Our big pots fit just fine in the back, they were being used though!

I am a sucker for the Target Dollar Spot silverware, always so cute!

I also think I would have an easier time if we were using half our silverware.

We have too much, it is well past time for a purge of kids silverware for sure!

Come back next week :)

Emergency Planning

It was one of my goals last year, but I didn't really have a good grasp on what we needed even for a minimal emergency pack.

This year I am starting with lists! I don't know what to save for or slowly build up if I don't have a list!

Pinterest is my go to for ideas! I started a Emergency Pack board. I'm sure not all of these pins will be helpful, some will be repeats and some won't pertain to us. I know I won't be able to finish them up in 1 month. I probably won't even be able to read them all in 1 month. Adding a little each month until we feel comfortable with what is in them.

Anyone have a list already?
What is the 1 thing you HAVE to have in your packs?


This is the list I have so far, I liked how some of them were organized by type of thing, like Emergency, Hygiene, Lighting and Food.

Emergency
Small First Aid Kit
Whistle
pocket knife
face masks
emergency blanket
water filter
Flashlight

Hygiene
Hand Sanitizer
Chapstick
toothbrush and toothpaste
Sunscreen
Shampoo


Lighting
Flashlight w/extra batteries
Glow sticks
Emergency Candles
Waterproof Matches


Other Stuff
Cash, in small bills
Pencil and Paper

Food
Water
3 days worth of food, non perishable

Clothes
Socks, multiple pairs
Underwear
Sweats
Long Sleeve Shirt
Waterproof Poncho
T shirts

This is just my starting list, I am sure this small list alone will take me far longer than I want it to anyway!
Share any lists you have! I love a good list or Pinterest Board!!

Meal Plan Monday Week #4

Monday~ Leftovers

We ate out over the weekend, so much for sticking to a meal plan. But at least there are leftovers!

Tuesday~Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes

We love the Trader Joes Turkey Meatballs, easy dinner!

Wednesday~Pork Roast

Nothing fancy, just in the crock pot, with leftover mashed potatoes!

Thursday~Chicken Taco's

Easy dinner because Thursday nights are crazy!

Friday~Roasted Veggies and Steak

My mom gave us some super delish steaks from Costco, that even I will have a hard time screwing up!

Saturday~ Goulash

Although, I might ditch everyone and go out with friends! And I still haven't made the recipe I posted about before. Definitely going to not make my 21/31 day meal plan goal for January!

Sunday~Turkey

We need to make room in the freezer and they had great deals on Turkey's over the holidays!

No idea what I will make with it, whatever we have an abundance of.

52 Weeks of Organizing~Week 3!

Week 2 was SO much harder. For 1: I have too much stuff, 2: Our house is a party prep disaster right now!

Check out the before pics here.

These cabinets aren't perfect, but I did purge some stuff and finally got those brown boxes out of the way, they were just extra dishes, finally had room for them in the dish cabinet.

I like to stick with mostly white or clear big pieces so they go with nearly everything and I am not storing a bunch of extra stuff.

Seriously, when I said it was a disaster, I was not joking! Bucket of Valentine's Day stuff, 2 Birthday Parties in a couple weeks all lead to this disaster!

Week 3 is pots and pans. I didn't take any before pictures but I did just realize while I was cleaning out the other cabinet that there is a whole other shelf that isn't put up, I am about to make some more room in the little pots and pans cabinet!

Meal Plan Monday Week #3

Two weeks in and so far so good! Going to be taking advantage of the crockpot and easy meals this week, working some OT.

Monday~ Chili

I like to put pureed pumpkin in ours. Find the almost recipe here

Tuesday~ Chicken Stroganoff

Wednesday~ Spaghetti

I make batches of marinara, usually enough for 2 meals at a time.

I use:

1 big can of fire roasted tomatoes (blended, no chunks here!)

1 small can of tomato sauce

Italian seasoning

little red wine

and 1/2 -1C Spicy V8

Couple splashes of Worcestershire Sauce

 Just let it simmer to combine well

Thursday~ Pork Roast & Veggies

  I watch for the pork tenderloins to go on sale and grab a couple, they are just the right size.

Friday~ Leftovers

Saturday~ Baked Potatoes

 We just wrap them in foil and stick them in the crock pot

Load them up with veggies, leftovers and some cheese.

Sunday~ Chicken Enchilada/Pasta

Sometimes I just don't have the time to put together a whole pan of enchiladas. Instead, I will throw some enchilada sauce, chicken, cheese and pasta together with some veggies and call it good!

Sticking to these meal plans where I am not buying extra ingredients or letting stuff go to waste is how we help keep our grocery budget down! So far this month I have done our big grocery trip and Costco and have spent $175.

Organizing~Week 2

Week 1 was fun! I finally got rid of some cake pans I have had far too long, reduced some baking stuff and did some overall purging of dishes!

 

See the before HERE.

 

After

 

 

 

Donated a lot of mixing bowls, I still have too many, but they all fit with plenty of room so I am keeping them! The plastic  ones with the pour spouts are my favorite to use, the colorful are my favorite to look at :)

 

Week 2 is still in the kitchen, serving stuff. I have SO MUCH. I rarely use it but I don't see me getting rid of nearly as much. I keep a lot of it above my craft stuff which is a crazy mess right now. 2 birthday parties coming up in a few weeks.

Our kitchen looks like the clearance isle after Easter and Halloween.

I can still do a little work around the chaos. 

 

Goodness these ones are horrible!

 

Some of this stuff just is going to have to stay here but hopefully I can eliminate a little and get it set up better.

 

Anyone else start some organizing this last week? I love to see how others make things work for them! Share your posts, Instagram or Pinterest!


 



Meal Plan Monday Week #2

Keeping up with my meal planning goal, here is Week #2

  

Monday~ Lasagna

We use Hamburger in ours, homemade sauce and ricotta when it's on sale

 

Tuesday~ Stroganoff

Since I am thawing and browning hamburger anyway.

 

Wednesday~ Cashew Chicken

This is a new one for us!

 It looks SO good! All basic ingredients we mostly have on hand

 

 

Thursday~ Grilled Cheese &Soup

 

 

Friday~ Salmon &Orzo with Veggies

I just put our salmon under the broiler for 8 min on each side with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

 

Saturday~ Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes 

Sometimes I just need an easy dinner.

 

Sunday~ Chicken Tortilla Soup

You can find our recipe here

 



Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014! How we ended the year!

I say this every month but seriously, SO FAST!

December was amazing, we had some good times with our kid crew and extended family.

2013 has come to an end and here is how we ended up with our goals.

 

Self
 

I feel better about how I handle relationships and am realizing more and more how freeing it is to let toxic ones go, even the slightly toxic ones take more time and energy than I have to give.

I've learned I don't motivate myself enough for solo workouts and I need group exercise, that Starbucks isn't a necessity for me and how much I appreciate the little day to day things, and miss them when I am working.
None of my goals, besides the 15 pounds, are things that end, so those are all still my goal!

Home

Still love and use my HMB, added a little, removed some stuff too
I did super with clutter and getting rid of stuff, but there will be even more next year!
Not much for the DIY home/bath products
Didn't add a single thing to our puny stock pile
And one more year where emergency packs aren't complete, but better than last year.

*December was great! I got our 2014 planner all put together and ready.
We purged a whole lot of stuff and we are starting the year off with a pretty tidy house, one of my very favorite things!

Budget 

We met almost all of our 2013 goals!
Gave up paid for coffee, worked my tooshy off, paid off some debt, meal planned my brains out and Target sees me once or twice a week, usually not that much.
I didn't have time to read nearly as much as I would have liked, however, when I did they were freebies or library goodies for the most part.
I didn't sew ANYTHING. Boo, but I did decide that since I wasn't sewing I needed to go through and  pack up the fabric, got rid of about half of it.
We ended up paying off just short off just about $30,000 in 2013. Not done but that's a good chunk!


Check out our 2014 goals HERE