today's 15is.........organization.
If you were to pop over here and take a look at my closet, or entry way, right now...i don't think you would call me an organized person. I definitely prefer things clean and put away, but sometimes i need a staging area. right now that is my closet. the entry way is just an ongoing conveyor belt of stuff, it generally gets purged daily, so there's not much i can do about it. Regardless, I would like to offer a few organizational tips.
There are countless books about how to get organized. But I believe that even the "messiest" people already have a system. YOU are the one who has to maintain it. even if you had a professional organizer come in, if it isn't easy for you to maintain, then it doesn't do any good (i.e. my closet!)
Most of the books on organizing, just show you how to make a pretty box to put your mail in...(?! mine would sit in there forever. out of sight out of mind!) I am not going to walk you through project that doesn't suit your needs. There is plenty of advice out there for that.
The kind of organizing projects i am interested in involve universal conundrums, like how to organize your week, so that you can get all your tasks and chores done....how to stock up presents for kid birthday parties (and get gift suggestions as well)....less stressful holidays....etc.
Today, I will briefly tackle grocery shopping and meal planning.
Spending 15 minutes planning your week or even month's meals, will save you hours in the long run.
I used to go to the store and just pick around. I barely had time to get there, let alone make a list.
What a difference having a plan makes. I not only save time, I save money by only buying what I need.
I know that sounds obvious to some and daunting to others. I have found these solutions from years of trial and error.
First of all, if you are like me, it's nice to have a recipe to give you an idea of what you would like to cook. I tear out recipes from magazines (and even cook books) and slide them into clear plastic sleeves that i keep in a binder.
Actually, they only go in there if we have tried the recipe and liked it. Then i flip through the binder to remind myself of the recipes, and write down all the ingredients. I tend to cook roughly 3 to 4 meals a week. I focus on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday*. Thursday is some sort of left over, or take out. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are more casual, or we're out with friends. If i'm really organized, i will make a meatloaf or lasagna to have in the fridge. Plus, during the weekend, my husband is around to help out, during the dinner hour, and happens to be a whiz at looking in the fridge and making a delicious meal out of nothing!
When it comes time to go to the store, i see what i already have in the pantry and cross those off. Then when i go, i get the items for the recipes plus anything else we need in the house. I minimize impulse buys, or things i won't end up using....leeks?
Speaking of stores. I have a few of my favorites. I do love the produce at whole foods, but they are expensive and don't carry the non-perishables that i like.
I don't like Safeway (all around expensive and do not carry enough organics).
I love Trader Joes! They carry local produce and most everything that we like to snack on, but i don't buy my meats there.
We have a specialty store in town that has beautiful produce and meats, but the rest of their items are pretty expensive.
So, that leaves something like COSTCO or the like. I don't love going to Costco because it's far from my house and really only carries one or two items that I need (Downy softener and organic cleaning supplies), that isn't carried by Trader Joes.
Enter SMART-N-FINAL. They are my new secret weapon! They not only carry Downy and Tide, they carry organic cleaners, Horizon milk, name brand breads, produce, meats and cheeses. They are a mix between Safeway and Costco but with better prices. Also, you can either buy in bulk or normal sized (products that fit in your pantry!)
Before, i used to suffer through Safeway and then maybe hit Trader Joes. But we were subsisting on poultry because you can get a decent organic fryer and ground turkey at Safeway. No Salmon or beef to speak of. It was just too expensive after one run to safeway, to go and buy specialty seafood or meats.
When i discovered Smart-n-Final, I could shop for the same things for 1/4 the price of the same goods from Safeway. At Safeway, my average bill would be around $400.00. The same food and amount at Smart and Final would be around $150.00. I was so excited the first time i did the comparison, i wanted to shout it to the world and tell everyone! really, i was that excited.
This saved me enough money to be able to go to Trader Joes and Diablo Foods for the extras and seafood and meat that we love!
Yes, I am going to 3 different stores, but I buy 2 of everything when I go to Trader Joes and Smart-n-Final, and i get 3 or 4 different kinds of meat at the specialty store and freeze them. I intersperse them with organic chicken bought in bulk, or a simple soup, thereby enabling me to only have to shop once a week.
It all seems so simple to me now, and really takes no longer than 15 minutes to plan a month of menus and write out a few shopping lists. But when I first started figuring this system out, it took me quite a while. 15 minutes at a time, I would concentrate on one aspect of refining my system. To find and cut out recipes of all kinds to build the Westphal Family recipe book, place the good ones in the sleeves, learn how to shop effectively, compare different stores and write out better shopping lists. I would spend around 15 minutes at a time to figure out how i could best suit my family's needs.
Having a family recipe book is also good for perfecting your trademark recipes. I was getting pretty good at grilling a chicken breast and roasting new potatoes and steaming a vegetable. When one too many nights passed when I was frantically thawing chicken breasts in the microwave at 6:00; or guests were coming and i had no idea what to make them! (i more often than not would look at a recipe that i had never tried before and go full throttle, stressing the whole family out for days beforehand!) I knew it was time, I learned how to "cook". I would marvel at the cooking shows where they would feature the chef going into a store and saying "oh, i'll grab a few of these radishes and make chicken tetrazini (just making this part up!). They had such a repertoire in their minds of recipes that they could make anything out of anything. I also wanted my kids remembering "mom's famous spaghetti sauce, or mom's famous chicken kiev". At the time, it was just "mom's famous non-descript food on the table."
*For a while there, I would make a large roasted chicken with vegetables for Monday. Tuesday is always taco night here...i would embellish that title to include enchiladas or tortilla stack, and use the rest of the leftover chicken and some ground turkey. Wednesday was always soup night. I would get yummy bread and salad and make a simple vegetable soup (or add any of the meat that was leftover).
Done:)
Currently my family is tired of that line up, which is when i turn to my recipe book. But generally Monday night is chicken night, Tuesday is some sort of Mexican food and Wednesday is vegetarian.
thanks for tuning in!
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