{Do} Weekly Planner – shopping is a challenge

It’s been another up and down week. Grocery shopping is a challenge. I have a list of grocery items that DH can eat, but since we all go shopping as a family, or he does it on his own, I’m finding some items making their way back into the pantry. DH has agreed to see a dietitian after he goes for his next blood tests. Persistence is key.

1) Menu Planning

Grace loves the new Menu Planner – for all the wrong reasons. I’m finding little messages, or even the menu changed. Lucky I have a copy of my menu here that I can refer to. DH has decided he’s not a big fan of turkey (Grace doesn’t like it either) and since he also hates fish it’s not leaving much choice in the white meat department. So there will be chicken, chicken and more chicken….well not quite…

Here is this weeks menu…

Monday ~ Chicken Breast with Salad

Tuesday ~ Tomato & Red Bean Pasta

Wednesday ~ Vege Burgers with Salad

Thursday ~ Chicken stir fry with brown rice

Friday ~ Roast Chicken and Salad

Saturday ~ Vegetarian Sausage Rolls and Salad

Sunday ~ Lean Lamb, Potato and vegetables

I’m linking this menu plan up with Kat from the Organised Housewife.

2) Organize – My Daily Routine

I updated my recipe box last week as planned. I found a few more recipes in there that we can use – especially in the baking department. The more I’m achieving the more energy I’m finding. I’m now ready to tackle organizing my daily routine… again. There are many models out there. My fav is Habithacker (using Home Routines for my Brain On Paper). I’ve started receiving the daily emails and adding them to my routine, trying to stick to it daily.

This week Continue adding to my BOP and completing each Habithacker task daily.

3) Declutter Our House

I finally got to my linen cupboard! Before the towels and sheets had been messed up, games pulled out and basically it really got to me every time I opened the door. I decided that maybe one way I can stop the mess was by rolling the towels up. I’m interested to see how long it lasts before I have to tidy again. I also managed to discard 3 bags of old sheets ( 1 bag to the garage for use as drop sheets). I now have room to put the winter blankets away when they are no longer needed.

the linen cupboard - before

the linen cupboard - after

This week  I’m going to head back into the kitchen an sort the cupboards, especially the saucepans and plastic containers.

Here’s what I’ve tossed/donated so far:

1. Broken sandwich toaster
2. Old magazines

3. Cleaned out the cupboard under the stairs so we had space to store Christmas tree & decorations
4. Had light fittings installed (that were in the cupboard under the stairs for a year!) and discarded the boxes…  Hub wanted to keep the old light fittings but I put a stop to that

5. Sorted arts & crafts, threw out one bag trash
6. Re-arranged DD12′s room, threw out 4 bags trash
7. 1 bag DD12′s clothes to charity
8. 1 box DD12′s figurines and toys to charity

9. Cleaned out bathroom cupboard and threw out old make-up, lotions and potions
10. Organized jewelry and got rid of broken useless pieces

11. Sorted the Warranties and Manuals file. Threw out old manuals and expired warranties.
12. Attacked the filing tray. Filled the shredder twice.

13. Sorted through my old dress patterns and threw out the ones I know will never ever come back in fashion
14. Sorted through all my fabric stash which had been stored away for years. Threw out those bits that were unable to be used.
15. De-cluttered my Google Reader
16. Unsubscribed to emails I don’t follow or read
17. Old TV
18. Old microwave
19. Bike frame
20. Cardboard boxes
21. 2 bags of food from pantry/fridge/freezer tossed, 1 box given away
22. 3 bags of sheets from the linen cupboard

I’ll check back here next Monday with an update on my progress (hopefully) and a new set of goals.

{Do} Weekly Planner – Getting Our Food Groove On

Last week I mentioned we had to change our diet for health reasons. We’ve tried a couple of “healthy snack” recipes which are recommended as part of a liver diet, but they seem to still give DH grief, so a lot of our menu planning is going to be either trial and error or el-blando.

1) Menu Planning

I have FINALLY used some or the inspiration I’ve been gathering on Pinterest and made a Menu Planner in a frame. I’ve only just finished so I still have to put it on the wall and purchase a dry erase marker to write our menu on it.

Supplies:
Old Frame with Glass
White Paint
Patterned Paper – Sassafras Lass – Mix and Mend Collection – Delicate Olio
Alpha Title – Websters Pages – Ladies and Gents Collection – Storytellers
Other Alpha – Lily Bee Design – Happily Lost Collection
Thanks to the following for the inspiration :
makeandtakes.com
kikicreates.blogspot.com
Lain Ehmann

Now for this weeks menu…

Monday ~ Turkey with Salad

Tuesday ~ Soy & Sesame Marinated Chicken with brown rice

Wednesday ~ Trimmed Lamb with Salad

Thursday ~ Lean Beef stir fry with brown rice

Friday ~ Pasta with Roast Pumpkin

Saturday ~ Chicken, Potato and Vegetables

Sunday ~ Vegetarian Sausage Rolls with potato and salad

I’m linking this menu plan up with Katrina from the Organised Housewife.

2) Organize – Recipes

I am fairly organized when it comes to recipes, however I’ve started accumulating a few more over the last couple of weeks. I need to get these all into my recipe box.

This week I’m going to transfer new recipes to recipe box, and mark in the recipe books the ones that we can try. Maybe create a master list that can also be used for the menu plan.

3) Declutter Our House

We decluttered our pantry, fridge and freezer. I threw out 2 bags of foodstuffs that were past their use by date. (What a waste!) We also had a box of items left over which were still OK or unopened which we gave to relatives. I think someone ate all the really crappy junk food once they heard I was going to do a clean out.

This week I’ll get back to decluttering the linen closet. My new sheets arrived the other day and it would be nice to have a tidy closet to put them into.

Here’s what I’ve tossed/donated so far:

1. Broken sandwich toaster
2. Old magazines

3. Cleaned out the cupboard under the stairs so we had space to store Christmas tree & decorations
4. Had light fittings installed (that were in the cupboard under the stairs for a year!) and discarded the boxes…  Hub wanted to keep the old light fittings but I put a stop to that

5. Sorted arts & crafts, threw out one bag trash
6. Re-arranged DD12′s room, threw out 4 bags trash
7. 1 bag DD12′s clothes to charity
8. 1 box DD12′s figurines and toys to charity

9. Cleaned out bathroom cupboard and threw out old make-up, lotions and potions
10. Organized jewelry and got rid of broken useless pieces

11. Sorted the Warranties and Manuals file. Threw out old manuals and expired warranties.
12. Attacked the filing tray. Filled the shredder twice.

13. Sorted through my old dress patterns and threw out the ones I know will never ever come back in fashion
14. Sorted through all my fabric stash which had been stored away for years. Threw out those bits that were unable to be used.
15. De-cluttered my Google Reader
16. Unsubscribed to emails I don’t follow or read
17. Old TV
18. Old microwave
19. Bike frame
20. Cardboard boxes
21. 2 bags of food from pantry/fridge/freezer tossed, 1 box given away

I’ll check back here next Monday with an update on my progress (hopefully) and a new set of goals.