Get to know us a bit more with the High School Sweetheart tag…slightly altered…you’ll see why 🙂
Recipe Organization and Meal Planning
Here’s how we organize our recipes, make meal planning easy so I can shop sales, and save money by not wasting food.
It really boils down to three keys for us: having an easy access space for our recipes in a quick access binder, freezing foods we won’t eat right away and having ready to go meals in the freezer, and doing a bi-monthly fridge cleanout.
DOWNLOAD MY FREEZER GUIDE HERE and stop food waste! You can freeze just about anything from milk, to butter, to fruit!
Here’s what I use to create my recipe binder. I was inspired by Alejandra.tv to create this system:
Two of my favorite websites for creating recipes on the fly are Super Cook and My Fridge Food.
How do you save on food and plan your meals? Would love to hear what you are doing at your house!
Organization Motivation + Tips
REFINISH FURNITURE WITHOUT SANDING
So this post is all about a super score that I shared on Instagram. I walked into Lowe’s..and they were going to THROW AWAY a brand new Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations Kit. Yeah, you read that right. Throw it away because there was paint spilled on it. And I was all over it like Peppa Pig in her muddy puddles. (Sorry, mom of a toddler over here, haha!)
Anyway, there was this FANTASTIC piece outside of my in-law’s storage garage that the previous owners had left. And…there were mice living inside of it. Grody to the max. Ah I knew it was worthy of a makeover, though…so here’s what I did. Completely free and so easy to do.
Don’t have a sander? It’s easy to makeover furniture. I would totally do this again! Couldn’t wait to show you guys!
Want to see the acrylic water DIY from this video? Click here!
Dollar Tree Haul!
Donor’s Choose Donations!
If you saw in this video, Chevy sent me $200 to give to classrooms in need through Donor’s Choose.
As a teacher of 8 years, I genuinely “get it”. I know how hard the public school system is. I was so excited to see so many of your comments with suggestions for classrooms deserving of this help. It was extremely difficult for me to try to choose a select few to support, especially feeling like this $200 was such a drop in the ocean compared to the need.
However, something encouraging I found was from the time I posted the video, to the time I set to make donations, many of the projects had been 100% filled. Almost half of them raised all the money they needed before I could get there! This made me so overjoyed.
I chose to give $20 to 10 classrooms as a way of spending the $200. Is $20 a lot? No. But it’s something. And a bunch of little somethings add up to a huge blessing for kids in need. <3
1) Tasha is a subscriber of mine (also a teacher) and she shared Mrs. A’s classroom of special education students who need to learn in a hand-on and visual way, and they don’t even have a classroom projector.
2) Mrs. B works in a high-poverty school and needs non-fiction reading for her students.
3) Mrs. C’s book project in California. These are 3rd graders, the age that has been shown to decide your future as a reader and life-longer learner. Let’s get them reading!!!
4) Mrs. H’s classroom in NC. This is a very rural area with a large non-English speaking, Hispanic population. My students have iPads at my school, so I know the learning impact these can have, and how much can come from them, but also how crucial they are in helping with a language barrier.
5) Mrs. V is one of my subscribers! She teaches Pre-K students in high-poverty Title I, where gangs, poverty and violence are in close proximity. So happy to support her classroom. Love ya, girl!
6) Mrs. L’s school is in need of two iPad minis. It is located in the poorest Congressional District in the nation and specifically most students are living at or below the poverty line, receive free lunch, many are homeless, living in shelters and an increasing population of students are new immigrants from Latin America and Africa who are struggling with English. This project to purchase two iPads for the classroom (just 2 for an entire classroom!) is nearly funded. They are so, so close to their goal!
7) This is for Mrs. V’s class in NY to support their music program and help send some awesome kiddos to American Young Voices Children’s Choir!
8) Mrs. B’s classroom is in need of a document camera for her students with severe communication abilities and autism. She teaches 2nd grade. What a fantastic resource for them!
9) Mrs. S’s elementary students need art supplies! Watercolors, paint brushes…so they can study the masters and explore the arts. Love it!
10) Mr. H’s room needs to purchase rocket kits. Let’s instill the importance of science in our kids.
It felt so good to give to these wonderful teachers! Many of these teachers have already written me kind thank-you responses, just to say that they appreciated our support.
If you feel called to help, these are some fantastic classrooms worth supporting!
HOW ORGANIZE YOUR FILES– and keep them organized!
File organization is tough. I was there for years. My system was out of control, I couldn’t streamline it (or keep up with it), and I kept having to create new folders. And then more new folders. And more new folders. And papers were literally busting at the seams of existing folders and breaking them. I could not (for the life of me) figure out what I was doing wrong. Plus my desk started to feel the effects since my filing cabinet was a disaster. Overflow to the max. Anyone else out there feel this way? I asked on Instagram, and lots of you sent me pictures of your paper clutter that was driving you bananas. I knew I wasn’t the only one.
And then I found the FreedomFiler Home Filing Kit
. It seriously changed the life of my paper clutter. (This post is not sponsored by Freedom Filer, I purchased it with my own money in 2012).
What’s even cooler is that you get to see how it looks NOW, three years after installation. This isn’t a system that I just put into place so it looks nice and pretty now, but becomes a disaster in a few months time. This system works and I know it because I’ve lived it. If I can do it, you can!
You can use the FreedomFiler in the traditional way that you’ve been using for your entire life. Each item, store, car, person, whatever, has a folder. And then you have a million folders that will eventually get out of control. AGAIN. It’s a glorified filing system that is color coded and will fail just as miserably as anything you have every done.
BUT–if you CHANGE THE WAY YOU SEE YOUR FILES, AND BREAK THEM DOWN INTO 4 SEPARATE CATEGORIES, then this system will work it.
Here is what will drive your system:
1) Desk organizer for active files
2) Tax files
3) Vital Records and Warranties and Manuals
4) Remove/Replace
5) EVERYTHING ELSE–THIS WILL ACCOUNT FOR 95% OF YOUR FILES! This is stored in monthly folders that are purged every two years. THIS IS THE KEY TO IT ALL
Watch the video and it will make sense. Yay for files that stay clutter free and work FOR you rather than against you!
Post contains affiliate links.
Easy BULK COOKING: Stuffed Shells
I love making budget friendly, easy, and healthful food for my family. I want to save as much time as possible, so this is an easy way to cook three meals in one day…less clean-up, less extra work. Win-win!
*PRINT THE RECIPE HERE: STUFFED SHELLS*
This recipe was adapted from The Way To His Heart blog, who had adapted it from from A Pinch of This & That. It’s fun take yummy food and adapt the recipe to make it fit your taste and family!
Budget + Thoughtful Baby Shower Gift Idea
When I first saw this post from Eryn Lynum on her blog from Famine to Foodie, I cried. Full on cried reading it. It was beautiful. Beautifully written, and so powerful.
I adapted her blog post, shortening and re-wording a bit, to create a baby shower gift for Carson’s sitter who is with him when I am at work.
You can download my adaptation here: The gift of $9.36
Watch this video to see why I loved it so much…
PANTRY ORGANIZATION
The one place in my home where I DON’T use dollar bins. There, I said it. And it’s important I explain why.
This is a high traffic zone with heavy items, and to truly maximize space, the way I wanted to, I spent more for bins that are extremely large and sturdy. And boy do they ever work. I have had this system in place for 3 years, and it’s been functioning so well for my family. I focus on functional, not pretty. It’s easy to maintain and I love it.
By far my favorite products are these Clear Over-The-Door Shoe Organizers and my Stackable Can Rack Organizer
. It saves so much space! They are perfect if you are dealing with a tiny pantry and love cooking.
Here’s one Dollar Tree Product I do love for pantries! These amazing labels! They have made them so cute since I bought mine, too!
Edit: If you are having a hard time finding these labels in stock at your local Dollar Tree: You can also find something similar in a 24 pack here!
The bins I have are no longer available from the container store, but the labels are. They are on sale for just $1.99 right now!
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