Maid for Monday: How the Leftover Chart has saved our marriage!

Most people I know, physically or through the blog world, who cook for their families every night of the week have a leftover night. Whether it’s a weekly thing or every other week when things get piled up in the fridge, they have a leftover night (or some call it a FIY night…fix it yourself).

So, how do you organize your leftovers? I’ve been pondering that question for months now. I have been working to organize my pantry and freezer, so I can be intentional with my meal plans and work towards Whole Food eating and the organization sheets got me thinking. I could use one of those for my leftovers!!

I don’t know about you, but I love lists!! I love making them, looking at them, crossing things off of them…I just love lists. In fact, it might be an unhealthy obsession I have. I have been known, on rare occasions, to make a list that told where my other lists were. Yes, I realize that makes me a nerd, but I’m over that fact and I fully embrace it now!!

You can download the PDF version here. 

Especially, when this list has saved our marriage! Okay, not that our marriage was in trouble to begin with, but leftover nights were quite stressful around our house. The Hubster would look at the meal plan and see it was leftover night and then proceed to open the refrigerator and stare into it like it was a blank canvas waiting for paint. Then, he would calmly ask, “Where are the leftovers?” SERIOUSLY?!?!? You mean, all the Tupperware/Rubbermaid storage containers didn’t give it away?

Okay, don't completely cringe at my fridge. It needs to be cleaned out badly. However...do you see the containers? Kinda hard to miss, don't ya think? And not just because the red arrows are giving them away to you right now, but even without them wouldn't you be able to see the "leftover" containers? And don't mind that I have an un-healthy obsession with buying pickles. Whether we're out of them or not I always have to buy more. I don't know what that's about. OH...and that nasty "cheese dip" on the top shelf...yeah...I didn't buy that - just for the record!


We probably ought to move on before our marriage takes a downward spiral.


So, once he's located the containers and pulled them out comes the all important question…”How long ago did we have this? Is it still good?” And let me tell you, when I’m trying to wash up the littles and get them in their chairs all these slightly annoying questions (since the meal plan is neatly posted on the front of the inside refrigerator, of which he is currently staring into!!!) were simply not good for our marriage. Not to mention the kids are usually getting quite antsy by this time and are talking to me trying to carry on a conversation complete with unrecognizable words (you know those 2 & 3 yr old words that no one on earth understands) all the while their stomachs are wasting away into nothing (the 6yr old is quite dramatic these days) and the babe needs to be fed (something only I can cure at this time). Needless to say, meal times can get a little hectic around here.

So, I created this handy-dandy Leftover Chart to help save our marriage. I laminated it and use a sharpie (it’s okay…it wipes off as long as its not left too long) to write in the meals. I post it on our freezer door in the garage (so it’s not unsightly in our kitchen). It works like a charm!! You can download the PDF version here.

And while I was at it, I made another Weekly Meal Plan page. Feel free to download and print as many as you like! I'm working on some other ones right now, so I hope to have those done soon! Stay tuned!!!

How do you keep track of your leftovers? Do you have a specific night planned for leftovers at your house?

Blessings,

Annette

Linking up with these wonderful parties:

The Better Mom, What Joy Is Mine, An Original Belle, The Prairie Homestead, Raising Arrows, The Straightened Path, Growing Home, Time-Warp Wife, Deep Roots At Home, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, The Imperfect Housewife,  Raising Homemakers, Women Living Well, Our Simple Country Life, Holy-Spirit Led Homeschooling

52 Fridays: Weekly Update #12

Here goes this week’s report. You can read more about my journey beginning with Week 1. Feel free to join me and Crystal in this journey.

1. DAILY quiet time: This week I’ve not been getting on the computer daily. It’s been a rough week. I’m not sure why this week was worse than any of the past two months, but it was. I know that’s when I need to be in God’s Word even more, but I haven’t. I will do better! I get my emails through biblegateway.com and a women’s devotional through Proverbs 31 devotions. Such great tools – be sure to check them out! 

2. Weekly weight loss: Well, I still haven’t figured out when the best time to do the Wii Fit is, but I did get on it the other night and weigh myself. I have lost 1.1 lbs. in the last 13 days. Not much. A little less than I wanted to lose in 2 weeks, but at least it’s a loss and not a gain, right?! I guess cutting back on my portions has helped! 

3. Vintage Remedies 8 weeks to Real Foods: Printed a food pantry inventory list from here. Plan to work on that today. Here’s to hoping! 

4. Homeschool Fun: We had a rough week in this area. We did find some great online math games to help him. I also bought a math game for him. Saw some great experiments to try, but they didn’t fit our lesson. Hoping to do some of them in the next couple weeks. 

5. Organization: Not much to report here. I’ve got great ideas, but lack either the funds or the time! Working on new, inexpensive options!! 

6. Staying caught up: Kept up pretty good this week. Finishing my laundry today to get caught up again for the weekend. Dishes have been caught up all week!!! YAY!!! 

7. Blog changes: I am still working on the design of my blog and getting things just the way I want them before we go live. But, I hope to have everything up and running for a reveal on April 2^nd!!!! I will give you all fair warning before hand so you can be ready for the launch! I can NOT even tell you how excited I am!

 Are you a homeschooling mom? What are some of your favorite ways to “mix-it-up” a bit during the week to make it more fun and exciting?

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a blessed weekend!

Blessings,

Annette

Maid for Mondays: How to make the most of a small…ish space

Photo credit

If you’re like me, you probably have a small…ish space in your house that you need help with. Well, I hope this post will help you with just that. Our house is 1600+ sq ft and we have 6 people living here. Now, that doesn’t sound too bad, until you realize the only reason we have that much room is the previous owners enclosed most of the garage to make more of a living room space. The old living room is the dining room area and the kitchen…well, it’s just all different.

Don’t get me wrong, I love our living space. But, it quickly became apparent to me when our 4^th child was born that I needed to do something different. The closets in the kids’ rooms are so small and not good for multiple children’s clothes. That is what eventually led me to make our laundry room/extra space into a central closet of sorts. (I’m still working on it, but it’s getting there.)

But, what about some of those other spaces in your house? How can you make that small, narrow utility/linen closet work for you? Well, here are some tips I hope will help you.

1. Decide what you need out of that space, not just what you want.
2. Organization is KEY!!!
3. Be creative for storage. Re-purpose things like furniture, boxes (see tutorials here, here and here). This beside the fridge, slide-out can pantry is A-MAZING!!!
4. Think outside the box! This site gives 22 Tips to organize your craft room! WOW!!!
5. Purging as you go is a great way to get rid of those things you don’t use (or might be outdated in a pantry) and makes room for the items you really need the space for.
6. Painting the space is a very inexpensive way to re-do a space!

Now that you’ve figured out what you need out of the space and found some practical ways to organize it, here are steps to take so you can begin changing your space.

1. Take some measurements of your space. You’ve got to know what you’re working with!
2. Draw out a plan for your space. There are quite a few FREE online planners you can use. I just googled Free Online space planner and found some great sites. These three are my favorite: Floorplanner.com, 3 Dream, and Icovia Room Planner. Or you could do it the “old-fashioned” way and use graph paper!! I just like to draw it myself, but seeing the 3-D planners was quite intriguing.
3. Once you’ve got your plan in place, it’s time to start doing! But, plan carefully. Don’t set unrealistic expectations for the project. A hall closet re-do might take a well-planned afternoon. But, a pantry might take an entire weekend…or longer!
4. Enlist some good help!! Now if you have older kids, they should be great help. But, if you’re like me and have 4 young kiddos, you’re going to need some major help!! My kids are very curious and would mean well wanting to “help”, but they can get seriously hurt. Plus, Mommy is still Mommy and so I am not much help to my husband when I’m Mommy.
5. Make it happen!!! I don’t know about you all, but for me this can seem like the hardest step. I don’t know if it’s nerves about messing up or what, but I can plan and plan and plan to my hearts content. But actually getting it done is so difficult for me.

So, there you have it! Annette’s practical tips for making the most of a small…ish space!!

Have you re-done a small…ish space in your home? What tips to you have?

Thanks for stopping by and sharing with us!! Be sure to leave a comment or link so we can all benefit!

Blessings,

Annette

Maid for Mondays: Kitchen Organization Week 3 and Stain Removal Tip

So, this week brought yet another set of challenges. See this post for more on my week. But, I was able to get last week’s challenge completed. Now, I didn’t create the zones she talks about because we eat at home most of the time, the Hubster doesn’t take meals to work and we already schedule a day each week for leftovers. But, it was REALLY nice to clean out both refrigerators and freezers!! I like being able to look at everything in my fridge without having to move things around. It’s nice.

So, this next week I’m SUPER excited!!! The challenge is organizing cookbooks and recipes!!! Just what I’ve been wanting to tackle! YAY!!!

Are you going to join me this week? You should!! You can start anytime! Just go here to sign up and join me as we tackle our home…one week at a time!!!

Stain Removal Tip

With four kids, and three of them under the age of 3 (at least until Friday), you can imagine most of their clothes have stains on them. I used to spend hours and sometimes days trying to get stains out of our kids’ clothes. Not just dirt or grass stains, but you know…those “stinky” ones?! Yeah…we get those too! (Hope you’re not eating when you read this!) So, here's how you can get those stains out...easily!! 

Here’s a picture of one of Bekah’s stinky messes.

Step 1: Remove clothing from child! DUH!!!

Step 2: Set washing machine to the HOT setting. Just the regular HOT setting. (Not the gentle cycle. There's not enough agitation in it to work out the stain.)

Step 3: Set your water level. If you only have the stained item to wash you can put it on small. If you have several items I would put it on large.

Step 4: BEFORE you put the clothes in, put in your laundry detergent. Then, also add about ¼ cup of vinegar and if you have a Downy ball (or something similar) you will want to add a small amount of vinegar in it to run during the rinse cycle.

Step 5: Add clothes to the wash. You’ll want to make sure the clothes are adequately covered with water. And, if you have to increase the water level, go ahead.

Step 6: Take clothes out of wash and admire their cleanliness!!! Ahhh...isn't it beautiful? I love looking at nice, clean, newly washed clothes! (Yep...I might be a nerd.)

Can you believe it? NO scrubbing and NO harmful, smelly chemicals!!! It’s just that simple!

NOTE: I’ve done this MANY times on pajamas, t-shirts, jeans and unders. I’ve not actually tried this on grass stains, but it does work on dirt/mud stains as well as those “stinky” ones!

Hope this makes your life a little simpler.

Happy Organizing and Happy Stain Removing!

Blessings,

Annette


Linking up at: 

I am also linking to a Blog Hop at Homemaker by Choice! Join us!

Maid for Mondays: Kitchen organization - Week 2

"But, seeing as my littles are still sick, the pantry may have to be tackled next week. But I will have my cabinets and countertops cleaned and cleared for a fresh, new start!  I'm a little behind in my 52 week challenge (found here). But, life happens and I'm hopeful that I will catch up this week. So, this week I'm actually tackling 2 weeks at once. WOW!!!  I just hope I can make it all happen."

Those were my famous last words from last weeks post. Did I set myself up for failure or what?! I'm just gonna be honest with ya'll - it didn't all happen. I know...I know...shame on me. And, I really don't mean to give another excuse, but my best days to really deep clean or clean things out are Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. So, with 2 doctor's appointments and a surgery (tubes for our oldest daughter) scheduled on Wednesday for Friday (yes, just 2 days out) I got a little sidetracked. The list of "To Do" got pushed aside as I made babysitting plans for the boys on Friday morning (starting at 5:30am), the pre-op appointment, grocery shopping for the week (payday is Wed) and a host of other things floating around in my head! I also had to write and schedule my blog post for Friday and at least start my Saturday post. WOW!!! So much to do in a couple of days time. (Not to mention "mister mouse's" birthday party on Sunday that I was still preparing for! I've decided to call our almost 3yo "mister mouse" because that's how he talks to us...with a little mousy voice. Its so cute!)

HOWEVER...I did manage to get my island and countertops cleaned up! So, the week wasn't a total failure! But, as I've tried to remind myself...life happens and I must keep going. I am behind in my organization challenge, but the good thing is I can pick up where I left off!! I'm excited to tackle the cabinets this week! If I'm feeling REALLY ambitious I just might tackle the pantry, but we shall see. I've decided to take a cabinet each day to work my way around the kitchen. I might even do two a day, but at least one! That way I don't have things ALL over my kitchen that I can't get put back up before dinner prep time.

So, this week I've decided to take it slow in hopes that I'll get things done, while keeping up with the rest of my chores. This is an on-going problem I have...trying to tackle to much at once and then feeling like a failure when it doesn't happen. So, this year I'm turning over a new leaf and deciding not to feel like a failure and move on. But, I am still pushing forward with my home organization!

Blessings,

Annette

Who wants to join me in this 52 week challenge to getting our homes organized? Let me know if you're in!

Today I'm linking up to:

Maid for Monday: Organizing your Kitchen

If you're the cook in the family, you may well know how frustrating it is when the kitchen is a mess. When my kitchen, pantry, cabinets, etc are a mess I feel scattered and unable to concentrate or even function sometimes. The past few weeks my kitchen has gotten out of control. I'm ashamed to say its an absolute PIG STY!! I'm even going to include a picture of the chaotic mess. Okay, here goes...I can't believe I'm doing this...

This is the island. Our "catch-all" if you will. The cabinets you see on the right are actually just free-standing cabinets with a hutch on top. They're not built-in. And, they're stuffed to the brim!!

Don't mind the cabinets that aren't painted yet. We're still working on that too.

How embarrassing! There is only one person, besides my mother and grandmothers, who is allowed in my house when it looks like this. And, I HATE THAT!!!! I love to host people in our home. But, when my kitchen looks like this - forget it! I also feel very out-of-sorts when my kitchen is this messy.

One of my goals this year is to be more organized in our home. So, this week I'm going to tackle the kitchen. My goal is to completely go through each and every cabinet and drawer sorting through the pots, pans, glasses, mugs, kid plates/cups, Tupperware, silverware and random dish I may own. I'm going to make 4 piles - TO KEEP, TO SELL, TO DONATE and TRASH. I'm hoping most of it will stay in the TO KEEP pile, but we shall see. I know there are some dishes I've never even used since we moved in 4 years ago. So, why do I need them? I will either sell or donate those items. I imagine my TO SELL pile to be fairly minimal and my TO DONATE pile to be substantial. I'm not sure how the TRASH pile will go, so that should be interesting (the hubster can't stand to get rid of anything related to cooking or baking. No seriously, its him!).

Part of my problem is lack of use-able cabinet space!! I've got GREAT cabinets in my island, but they are literally the width of the island! And I've got pots and pans stuffed way in the back that I can't even get to! So, one thing I've got to figure out is how to remedy that issue. Some things may need to wait until payday, but at least I'll have an idea and a more exact vision of what needs to happen for me to have the organized kitchen I've always wanted!!

But, seeing as my littles are still sick, the pantry may have to be tackled next week. But I will have my cabinets and countertops cleaned and cleared for a fresh, new start!  I'm a little behind in my 52 week challenge (found here). But, life happens and I'm hopeful that I will catch up this week. So, this week I'm actually tackling 2 weeks at once. WOW!!!  I just hope I can make it all happen.

So who's with me?? Who wants to join me in this 52 week challenge to getting our homes organized? Let me know if you're in!

Blessings,
Annette