Monday, April 23, 2012

Day 23 - Spring 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge



Welcome to Day 23 of the 30 Day Clutter Buster Challenge!  Today I went above and beyond the call of duty.  Today I decluttered 43 things!


Yes, more pens!  Seriously, how many pens can one person accumulate?  Apparently, quite a few!  The pile on the left is for the garbage since they don't work.  The pile on the right is in the donation pile - which is getting huge and is being picked up tomorrow!  In the centre I had some stickers that I used to put on the calendar whenever I remembered to exercise.  I haven't exercised in a while so obviously a sticker was not motivation enough.  There is also a staple remover and a date stamp that hasn't been used since July 15, 2007.  I could tell the exact date since, well, it's a date stamp!  I think this may be it for the pens, I hope.

I also wanted to show you my finished product for my Menu Planning Calendar.  I finished it this morning and I can't believe how well it turned out.



I even have a column for lunch ideas.



I bought a small tackle box from Walmart to store the extras.



I kept some blank magnetic paper so that I can write in some meals.  At some point I can take them out and transfer the ones we want to keep onto the computer and print them out so that they look nice a neat.

I've tried menu planning so many different ways.  I tried writing it on the calendar but the calendar ended up looking so messy.  Besides there was always that one meal that we never got around to eating - in my house it was usually meatloaf.  I would add it into the next week's meal plan (since I already had all the ingredients) and, for whatever reason, it would get skipped again.  My calendar started to look like all we ate was meatloaf and we hadn't had it once!

I also tried writing it on a piece of paper but that paper would get lost and if the paper got thrown out then I would have a hard time remembering what was planned for the rest of the week.  I tried online programs such a Cozi for my menu planning but I could only access it from my computer and not from any other device like my phone or iPad.  Turning on the computer to find out what needed to be defrosted for dinner was a pain.

I'm hoping this new calendar will help make meal planning easier.  That's the thing about organizing systems, if you find that one way isn't working for you and your family, it's time for a change.

Do you menu plan?  Share with us some of your tips to make it easier.

4 comments:

  1. I've been following you all this month and it's been inspirational.

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    1. Thank you Charlotte! I am always amazed that someone has actually read anything I post!

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  2. I am horrible about commenting, but I have been following along...I moved into my home back in October and was in that stuck with living out of boxes still...following you, I have been unpacking and De-cluttering as I went along with each room...I am seeing Day light and am Organized along the way!!!!!

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    1. Thanks so much for joining us Hazel! It's so wonderful when we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel isn't it?! Good luck with getting everything unpacked!

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