I’m participating in 52 weeks to an Organized Home at Home Storage Solutions 101. Check it out for tips on organizing every area of your home.

Week 9 – Organize Contact Information: This is something that I did as I was sending thank you’s out after the wedding, so not much to report here.

Week 10 – Organize Mail: When our mail comes in, my husband sets it on the corner of the kitchen counter, above the trash and I sort through it and throw out any junk mail or things we don’t need. I go through the store fliers to see if any of the things we normally use are on sale and gather up the coupons that I might use. To be honest, after that, the remaining mail sits on the corner of the counter for a few days before I take care of it. So this is something I will have to continue to work on.

Week 11 – Organize Bills: This is another one that I have pretty well under control. We pay all our bills online, and most of the statements come through the email. I have an excel spreadsheet that lists all our monthly expenses in the approximate order that they are due. This not only helps me to budget, but also keep track of what bills need to be paid, when and which ones are already taken care of. In one column I have the due dates (some bills are due on the same day every month and some are approximate). In the next column, I have the bill name. Then, the budgeted amount is last. The budgeted amount is either the set amount (for bills that don’t change like internet, phone, rent, etc.) or rounded up from the highest monthly statement we’ve had (for fluctuating bills like gas, electric, etc.) Knowing that I have the max amount budgeted means that I don’t have to worry about not having quite enough, and when there is extra, it can be added to the saving account.

I sit down to pay the bills and go over statements once a week, usually on payday or the day after. As I pay the bills, I put an “x” in the column after the budgeted amount so I know what I’ve already paid. At the beginning of each month I delete the x’s from the previous month and start clean. I also receive email confirmation when I’ve paid any bills and those emails are stores in a folder in my email.

Hopefully after this week, I’ll be more on top of my organization posts – and any posts for that matter

Filed under: 52 Weeks, organization by Rachel
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Make sure to add your recipes and food posts to the link-up at the bottom!

There are a lot of things I buy because of convenience, but while becoming more aware of the things in our food and trying to save money, I’ve become very interested in things that I can make myself. Here are a few of the things I’ve found that I never even thought to make myself:

Cream of “Something” Soup

Filed under: DIY, food, Food Friday, Recipes by Rachel
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Recap Week 8 – Meal Planning

Like I said, I’ve been working on planning my meals ahead of time. I really don’t enjoy coming home from work and having no idea what to make for supper. But, it needs to become a habit, so it’s something I’ll have to continue to work on. But I did come up with this to make it a little easier:

I’ve designed this to-do list for Monday through Sunday with spaces for morning tasks and afternoon/evening tasks because that’s how I like to break up my day. In the Sunday spot, I wrote in a reminder to take a day to spend with your family, not rushing around trying to get anything else done. You could also use the Sunday spot to write in a verse you’d like to meditate on for the week. And, I’ve included a line for meal planning!

Sunday evening (or sometimes Monday morning) I try to take a few minutes to write down the things I would like/need to accomplish for that week. This also is the time for me to plan my meals, check the freezer and add any missing ingredients to my store list.

Rather than printing out a page for each week (which you could do if you wanted to plan a few weeks at a time) I printed out one page and put it in a cheap (less than $5, found near the poster frames) 11×14 floating frame from Walmart. Now, I can write on it with dry-erase markers and change it each week. Because the frame is larger than the design, there is also room to write notes or doodle, and you could even add a page of scrapbook paper behind to pretty-up the frame.

Before filling the frame, I wrote in a few of the things that I do on a weekly basis. For example, “every” Wednesday and Saturday mornings I “plan to” do laundry, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays I vacuum the downstairs, etc. I wrote that on the paper under the glass, so I don’t have to write it in every week.

To download your own, click an image below:

You can find this week’s challenge for organizing contact info at Home Storage Solutions 101.

Filed under: 52 Weeks, downloads, food, organization, Printables by Rachel
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Make sure to add your recipes and food posts to the link-up at the bottom!

I’m still thinking in backpack mode as we’re planning our trip. So, this week I have another DIY recipe that would be great for backpacking, camping, hiking or even just a snack to take to work!

Making your own granola/trail-mix can not only save you money, but it also allows you to control exactly what goes into it. And it’s easy!

Download the pdf recipe card (5×3 recipe card)

Ingredients:
2 T honey
2 T coconut oil (optional)
1 cup oats
1 T chia seeds
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/8 cup cranberries
1/8 cup goji berries (or cranberries)
1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a small saucepan, melt coconut oil and honey on low, just long enough to make it a smooth liquid. Remove from heat and stir in oats, chia seeds and any other small add-in.

Spread granola mixture in a jelly-roll pan, and bake for 5 minutes. Allow to cool.

Break up granola into bite size pieces and put in a quart-size ziplock bag. Add the almonds, berries, sunflower seeds and any additional add-in. Shake well to incorporate.

Also participating in:

Filed under: camping, DIY, food, Food Friday, organic by Rachel
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I haven’t had a lot to post about the challenges for the last two weeks, so here’s a quick recap of week 5-7:

Week 5 – Recipes and Cookbooks

I didn’t have a lot to do here. Most of my cookbooks are stored on a shelf out of the way except the few that I use the most often which are between book ends on my dishwasher. My recipe binder was a bit of a disaster, but I went through it and sorted out recipes that either I had made and didn’t like or knew I would never make. Then I organized the rest by type (side dish, soup, dessert, etc.) I get most of my new recipes from the internet and have found Pinterest a great place to store them, though I’m thinking about making multiple categories on the site to make it even easier to find what I’m looking for.

Week 6 – Home Recycling Center

I few months ago, I wanted to try recycling. I bought a 3-bin laundry sorter to divide plastic, glass, metal, and we slowly filled it up. The problem lied in the fact that there is no recycling center in our town and the nearest recycling center isn’t very handy. So, it didn’t last very long. However, in our house, we compost and I save and reuse whatever I can. I usually take my own bags to the grocery store, we have reusable water bottles, and I even wash and reuse freezer bags when I can. So we do some recycling ourselves.

Week 7 – Organizing Coupons

This one I really needed to do. I had some coupons in my folder that expired last October. I went through and clipped the ones I might use and through out anything for items that I never buy. I have plans to organize this a little more and hopefully I’ll have something to share soon.

Now, on to week 8 – Meal Planning, the final week in the kitchen. I just started planning meals ahead of time, and to be honest, I haven’t been very consistent in it. I do notice how much easier it is when I already know what we’ve having for dinner and what I need to get out beforehand rather than waiting until it’s time to make supper and having to come up with something. But it’s a habit that I’m still trying to form, so this week I’ll be working on organizing this.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Rachel
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