There is nothing worse then looking at the clock and realizing it's almost supper and you have no idea what you're going to make. This is what I lived with for many years and when I did plan the meals out, it was the same meals every few weeks. I had little desire to cook because the food wasn't exciting to me.
I tried a couple different meal planning services out there but found I hated getting the recipe lists and grocery list and not being able to use several recipes. There were several we wouldn't eat, I didn't have time or it was impossible to adapt to be dairy free. It felt like a waste of money not being able to use what I paid for.
Well a year ago I came across a deal on Build a Menu. I figured I could try it out for a few months and see what I thought. Since it's been a year, I'm sure you've already guessed that I really like the program and I do!
So what is so great about Build a Menu?
- Well I love being able to choose from many different recipes for many different diets. We use as many gluten free and Trim Healthy Mama recipes we can and also a few that make my husband happy. Plus they rotate recipes every few weeks so you don't get a massive list of recipes.
- Recipes we love, we heart and it will be in our favorites folder and we can use it anytime.
- There are 3 different types of plans: Classic, Done for You, and Premium. Classic is what we have. You chose from a limited amount of recipes, Done for You is what you expect. The menu is planned for you. Premium gives a the massive list of recipes from their database.
- After I've picked my menu, I get a grocery list with an estimated cost. I love this feature. If you have three recipes that you need 1/2 a bag of cheese, it will combine it so you are only buying what you need.
- I can pick from grocery stores near me or there is an any grocery store choice. Recipes are chosen based on sales at those particular stores, saving you money.
- Part of your membership goes to support charities. Mine is set up to support Compassion International.
- Forget your list at home, don't worry just download the app! I love this and use it when I'm cooking.
So are you curious to check it out? I'd appreciate it if you clicked through my affiliate link by Clicking Here.
Well I finally talked my husband into actually building bunk beds for the girls. I found the idea of triple bunk beds on Pintrest. I thought it was a great idea with three girls. My husband wasn't sure since we do have a 4 bedroom house. We want to keep one room for guests and my craft room plus some storage, so two would always have to share. I don't want to deal with fighting over who shares with who.
We finally came to the conclusion that we could use one room for my sewing and crafts and the other could be turned into a school room for as long as we home school. Both can still be used for guests.
Well husband and I threw some ideas around. We liked the idea but didn't love the plan we found that was mounted to the wall. My husband decided to use posts to make it sturdy and mount the beds to that instead.
I didn't want an actual ladder, like the plans we had found, since the girls are still pretty little and steps wouldn't work, so my husband made a combination of the two.
My husband is a rock-star and finished building it in one weekend. By that Wednesday he was able to put it together and the next day we took a trip to IKEA to get mattresses.
We haven't moved the two year old down yet. I took her crib apart and turned it into the toddler bed at the same time as the other two got her bunk bed. She can't handle being with her sisters yet.
I also don't want the three year old, who is currently on the bottom bunk, crawling out of the middle bunk in the middle night. She is in our room at least once a week.
It is ready for the little one when the little one is ready to move in with her sisters even if it will be another couple of years.
Well to get a jump on my goals for 2014, the last week of December I was spent putting together my Household Binder. I keep adding as I go, when I find something lacking. There are some really great household binder printables out there, but none really seemed to fit as a whole. I took one here, one there and feel pretty confident with what I currently have.
From organzinghomelife.com I took the daily and weekly chore chart. This helps to break up my day so I'm not looking at the clock and trying to do everything as I'm trying to cook supper. I also have a couple chores each day that need to be completed and there is usually enough time in the morning to complete them. I lamented this after creating my daily and weekly chores, so I could just check things off with dry erase markers everyday.
http://www.organizinghomelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Blank-Chore-List-Snapshot.png
I also took the monthly zones from organizinghomelife.com. In my house there are 4 zones that need a lot of work: laundry room, bedrooms, kitchen, and my sewing room. Small chores that need to be done monthly are listed in each zone. This I also laminated making it easy to check off and reuse.
http://www.organizinghomelife.com/archives/4433
Because we have a lot of insurance policies, I also printed those and the password and username sheet. There are many more to chose from just check out Organizing Home Life.
Over on Money Saving Mom I printed off a menu planner and a monthly/ semi-monthly cleaning list. These were both laminated, making checking off easy with dry erase markers.
On imom.com I printed off their cute calender to keep appointments and schedules organized.
I printed off my 2014 goals and my book list for 2014 so I can cross things off as I complete them. I also lamented a page to write my weekly goals on. I also put a notebook in to take notes for anything but specifically for blog ideas and organization.
Last but not least, I printed off a prayer journal from AmyBayliss.com. I love it because it is simple, but pretty. It has a space for date, person, fulfillment date, prayer request and any scripture that might be beneficial.
My prayer is that I use my household binder to keep me organized and motivated to keep my house and family well taken care of. If you haven't made a household binder, I strongly encourage you to take a look at what's out there and see what might work for you.
