Cook out of your pantry!

There is much to say on this topic - but if you are scrambling on what to make for dinner tonight based on what you have on hand - please check out this site :

http://www.cookingbynumbers.com/

You can tell it what you have in your pantry and it will suggest recipes!

You can also visit allrecipes.com or recipezaar.com and search by ingredients.

Have fun in the kitchen with what you have!

Book Management

I am married to a man that **loves** to read. I love to read as well - but I am more of a read it and pass it on type of person.

One way to keep your home from becoming too cluttered with books is to join a book swap website:


http://www.bookmooch.com/ is a great site that you can sign up to give away books that you have and earn credits to get FREE BOOKS that you want sent directly to your home! All you pay is the cost of media mail to send out your book.


Go and pick 5 books to list on the site now and earn yourself some free books!
Getting it all together,

Meal Planning

Meal planning is key to saving wasted time, money and energy. I plan all of my meals for the following week on Friday mornings after I have cleaned out the fridge. I check the "par levels" on all of my staples and make my grocery list to head out on Sunday to stock up.

Here are some great tools to get you organized:

* Weekly Meal Plan Sheet :

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=r9PWBSAwtLDPmgwdPGyibwQ

* Grocery List so you can start tracking prices and manage your trip by zones:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rufkB9ibsMsQDCCtWpljoJg

A good friend also emailed me this wonderful site :

http://www.e-mealz.com/

For 1.25 a week you can get a meal plan designated for your family size and your dietary needs with the recipe, the approximate cost and a grocery list organized by zones of the store! This is a great service if you need some help with meal planning!

Getting it all together for dinner is a snap!

Birthday Management

Are you always running to the store to get a birthday card?

Keep track of all of your birthdays at http://www.birthdayalarm.com/ and make a plan for the year ( at least the month!) how many you will need. Purchase in bulk or make your own. Have them stamped ( use a forever stamp) with a return address label and ready to go!

I also keep a stack of small gift cards ready to throw in a card in a pinch.

Make sure you do not miss any one's birthday - they are important!!
Getting it all together for important days.

The Medicine Cabinet

When you are feeling icky the worst thing in the world is to be searching to see if you have what you need on hand, and if it is expired, and if you have enough.

Sort out your medications into categories. I sorted mine into the following:

1. First Aid Supplies
2. Cough and Cold
3. Allergy
4. Pain ( all of your Tylenol, Mortin etc.)
5. Each person in our family has a bin with their name for prescriptions

I purchased little silverware sorters from a dollar store to put all the meds in.
CHECK your medications expiration dates monthly.

Christmas in May??

I start my Christmas cards in May. I use my contact tracker to track all of my friends address changes, or any change in status throughout the year. I make sure that in May I send out a email to friends I have not touched base with in a while to see if I still have the correct information, and if not I would like to update my records.


May is a great month to do this as summer has not hit yet - and people are usually still not on vacation. Also - once falls starts and the onslaught of holidays begins it can be hard to get in touch.

Here is a sample of a contact tracker you can use:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rH9TIOdDQXMaQC6czsy34LA

Please update it as often as you can and keep in on your desktop.

In a future post I will tell you how to do a mass mailing in seconds :)
Getting it all together costs nothing!

How to Organize Your Spices in 4 Easy Steps!

1. Go to http://www.stilltasty.com/ to make sure what you have on hand is still fresh as a daisy! Remove and replace any staples with new fresh spices.

2. Purchase containers (Ikea has some great options like a 4 pack of glass jars for under 5.00) for all of your spices plus at least 3 extra - they all need to be exactly the same with the exception of a larger size for your salts and peppers. Also - purchase a spice stacker ( the two that are in the picture below were purchased from Target) so that you can see all of your spices once labeled.

3. Fire up your labeler or you can purchase some from Mabels Labels (http://www.mabel.ca/) and label all of your spices, alphabetize them to find them easily. (In the picture below all of the salts and peppers are in larger containers on top to refill grinders etc, and the smaller glass jars on the bottom are for the spices.) Put any bulk items that you use less at the top and the alphabetized daily use spices at the bottom on the spice stacker.

4. I made this list for you:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rFLC4tlE4e08QxWN65nVD_g

Edit it for what you have and laminate it and use Velcro to stick to the inner cabinet and mark down when you run out. When you make a grocery run - just grab your "Out of Sheet" and run to the store!

Getting it all together is spicy!!

Likey, Likey

After you finish de-cluttering any little area - put like with like and then containerize the heck out of it - label it with **love** ( because I do love a cute label!) and you will find that you are on your way to organization at it's finest. Here are some samples of cheap ideas to get your organizational juices flowing ...



KITCHEN -

Use a clear shoe box from a big box store or dollar store to put all rice mixes or potato mixes together.

LAUNDRY -

Use fabric bins with a space for a label to contain your laundry needs:

LIVING ROOM -

Magazines on a coffee table can be neatly stacked in a clearance serving tray.

Getting it all together,