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Household Management Resources
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What are your favorite household/meal planning resources, whether it’s books, online printables, websites…I’m open :)!
First the toy question, now household stuff…can you guess what I’m doing this summer?!
Blessings and THANKS!
Cindy
Cindy,
I don’t have any books that I have personally used because I am one of those overly organized ones. But there are books out there.
One thing we were talking about at swimming today.. meal planning can easily be done by yourself with a little time. 1st thing I would do is make a graph and put the days of the week on one side and then breakfast, lunch and dinner (snacks also if you want) along the other side. 2nd people need to stop thinking they have to have a different menue every day of every week. Routien is one of the greatest things for kids, we at our home don’t even need a chart to know what we eat.. Monday is overnight oatmeal which is prpared sunday night, Tue is fresh smoothies, wednesday is homemade muffins (made the afternoon before) thurs again smoothies because they are the favorite and friday is our fun day with cereal. Sat. is the only off day cause we usually like to get going in the morning early so it might just be an apple? sunday’s we attend 8am mass so it’s some type of granola, fruit bar in the car.
Mind you with that easy breakfast every week the same thing my 9 year old is TOTALLY in charge of it. I do nothing for it unless he needs help with the muffins the afternoon before. Now I have time to get the ones under 2 ready in the morning!
Lunch is ALWAYS leftovers from the night before. I prepare extra and we reheat. Which then leaves the 8 year old responsible for lunch. I am free again to deal with the little ones.
As I do with dinner we have rotating 2 week dinner menue. Then once a month we do a special meal (somthing I wouldn’t/couldn’t do regularly) and that is at mom’s discression based on $$ for the special meal.
I hope that helps with at least 1 part of your question. I am a charter. I have 3 charts at all times on the fridge, meal, chores and daily! Keeps me where I belong and not here at the computer LOL (it is summer right?):0)
Blessings,
misty
Oh, yes! I should have included a request for personal experiences. I appreciate your input, Misty. I love charts, too. I am in need of redoing ours now that it is summer, one more has graduated, the little ones are more capable….
I especially like your idea for breakfasts that a 9yo can accomplish and lunches an 8yo can do. We do lots of leftovers for lunch also, but it’s more of ‘cleaning out the fridge’ and so can become a smorgasbord (read: big mess). I’ll give your idea a go.
I am glad that you are one of those organized ones, many of us can benefit from your knowledge, I’m sure. So share on, all of you organized ones!!
Blessings,
Cindy
Misty, now that I really look at your breakfast menues…that holds your children until lunch time? When I have tried to go real light like that, they are hounding me by 9:30 (since b’fast is at 7:30 at our house). Do you serve breakfast later?
Thanks,
C
Personally, I absolutely love any book from Denise Schofield. Unfortunately, her books are out of print but are worth finding. One of my favorites she has is ‘Confessions of an Organized Homemaker: The secrets of uncluttering your home and taking control of your life’ She covers everything – from menus to how to organize in each room, scheduling, daily planners – I have learned so much from her books. I checked her books out from our local library.
Good luck! 🙂
Rebecca
Hi Cindy
We love http://www.titus2.com – the Maxwells ministry has been a blessing to our family.
Also, another great site is http://www.maridelwiller.com She has- a “Get Organized Now” workshop bundle that includes everything from family routines, quick meal plans/ideas, decluttering, etc. All of it is priced very low as this is her ministry.
HTH
Blessings to you this summer!
Heather
Cindy,
Yes we also are early risers and we eat by 7:30 every morning also. Yes we do have snacks throughout the day.
I have always believed what they say, many small meals. So my children doo not get to bing eat at breakfast, 1 glass of smoothie, 1 bowl of oatmeal (& I have 5 VERY hungry boys who would eat 2 glasses of smoothie and 2 plus bowls of oatmeal.)
So what is snack.. I like simple things, apples, grapes, strawberries, wheat crackers w/ a slice of cheese, carrots. Snacks are not sugar filled though of course there is the rare occasion where I am thinking they deserve it! (Actually that’s moms way of saying I’m craving something sweet just don’t tell them)
Also, we have snack during literature time usually around 9:45-10ish. So they set there books down we meet in the family/living rm they snack, I read a great book and we discuss! That way no real time is lost for snack time and everyone is really involved in that reading cause they have a little something to help keep them still.
I also LOVE Titus 2’s website. They are very inspirational and full of idea’s.
Hope that helps a bit. Oh, and lunch is at 12ish give or take and then after my nappers get up they get another little snack. This also keeps everyone from getting cranky from being hungry but not really able to express that. Dinner is at 5 (unless dad calls and says he’ll be late then we wait) and depending on how things go I would say 50% of the time we do a treat with dad either during(at the table)devotions or before! Like I said LITTLE meals all through the day!!
Blessings,
Misty
Misty, do you mind posting just what your 2 week rotating dinner menu is?
Thanks for the reminder about Titus2; I’ve not looked at their site in quite a long time.
Maridell’s site is going to be helpful also and I actually own Denise’s books. I will have to pull them out again.
Blessings,
Cindy
Cindy,
There is also a wonderful site called http://www.urbanhomemaker.com by Marilyn Moll. And http://www.MarmeeDear.com I think is the name of the other one. Also, another great one is http://www.homemaking911.com. I hope all of these help. They all have books, and resources that help save time, money, meal prep. and planning, and sanity! LOL Ha Ha! Along with home management! They are all worth checking out! And the Urban homemaker one also has a free catalog you can order and check out all kinds of good books concerning these areas!
TTFN~ Have a good one!
Christie
Cindy,
My 2 week meal planner is based on 2 things: 1st – $$$$ cost, 2nd – weekly activites.
What do I mean. I like to make meals that will feed us dinner AND lunch the next day for as little as possible. We use organic when we can for health reasons and nurtrition. Weekly activites are also important in planning your 2 week cycle.
So 1st look at the things your family LOVES to eat. Jot them down no matter the cost. Then look at what they are? Think is this a healthy meal (this is just how I pick), could I make this a healthier meal, and will it get boring for me to make and them to eat? As I said earlier, I always have 1 or 2 idea’s in the back of my mind for the “special” dinners. (Please note we also buy a 1/2 of cow everyyear that is organic and that cost is saved and purchased at once)
2nd part is weeekly schdule. Like for us I want a big meal on Sundays that we can enjoy, but I also don’t want to do much cooking (it is the Lords day). So it is almost like clock work that we will have a crockpot meal on Sundays. Also, at least 1 or 2 other times during the week. So if you have a night that is busy that is the night you make the “quick” meal. Like Monday nights we have scheduled chiropractor appt. and it cuts our evenings so we always have an easy dinner.
One other thing my dinner menu changes between the warmer months (try not to use the oven) and the winter months (when it’s nice to have it going).
So your real question.. (sorry to ramble but just so you know how I get this together in a nutshell) here is my schedule for this week and next. (then in week 3 it starts over)Note: If $$ is REALLY tight.. we may do one of the really cheap meals 2 times and leave out the fish which is always more.
Sunday:Stuffed green peppers (crockpot)
Monday:Nachos
Tuesday: Pancakes (very cheep)
Wednesday: Black Bean Soup (also very cheep made w/ real beans)
Thursday: Fish & potatoes
Friday: Grill Chez (they can have deli meat if we have it)
Saturday:Spagetti
Sunday: Roast, potatoes, carrots (crockpot)
Monday: (I make a turkey every other month and then make turkey/rice soup) Turkey Soup
Tuesday:Breakfast (eggs, toast, bacon) or french toast & bacon
Wednesday:sloppy joes (crockpot)
Thursday: Tilapia (fish) w/ salsa over it
Friday: Pizza
Saturday:hotdogs (over the fire) & chips
This is our will call it summer schedule. We may have tacos’ instead of nachoes in wk 3. or have tamatoe soup instead in week 2.
You say .. some of these will not have left overs.. I know I have that always planned..options can be. PB & J, egg salad sandwhiches, cheese and crackers, an entire apple with peanut butter & my boys favorite GREEN smoothies with at least 1 or 2 lunches each week. Green smoothies is my way of getthing them to eat there greens cause a couple will not do salads YET! You want that receipe let me know!!
Hope that helps and boy can I write.. Can you tell what I love to do?? LOL
Blessings,
Misty
If you want more help I am very willing!!
HI,
Menusformoms.com is a great site for ideas for your evening meal time. If you sign up for their e-mail they will send you a meal plan for the following week on Mondays. You can go to their site for the recipes and grocery lists.
Hey Misty — I’d love to hear your green smoothie recipe.
Blessings,
Thanks for all the great input! I will try your smoothie recipe, Misty; we really enjoy juicing and ‘smoothie-ing?!?’ I made up a menu for the week with small breakfasts and an assigned snack. I think that is good to limit the intake at breakfast since it occurred to me that my guys fill up at breakfast and are still looking for a snack mid-morning. I think it is a habit, really. I’m having planned snacks because I find that when the snack machine hits, the kitchen is a mess all over again and I spend my time going from one meal to the next. I’m going to give them the, “Let’s try this for two weeks” speech. The girls will be easy; give them some rabbit food and they’re happy. It’s the boys that are going to take some convincing!
Anyway, I redid our chore charts and routines, got some really good rest last night, spent some time in the barn with the critters (which is sooo peaceful), and am looking for the Lord in all that we do.
Blessings,
Cindy
OH! And Misty, thank you for your menus! I went through our schedule, like you said, and came up with days we need to use the crockpot, days I want to serve vegetarian, and, long story short, made a master menu like yours around our family’s schedule.
And you know, this is one thing that this discussion board is so wonderful for. There is not a whole lot here that I’ve not learned and even initiated before in our home. But when the storms of life hit, it can get so overwhelming that I, for one, have a difficult time even coming up with a pb&j for lunch (since we’re talking food, here), let alone how to get housework done. It is good to relearn, rehash, share, and get back on track. Thanks so much.
Blessings…again 🙂
c
GREEN SMOOTHIES:
*1st time you make this I would suggest making it and then just telling them to try it. It may take a time or two but I have 5 and they all LOVE it now. They just have to get past the lettuce if they don’t like it.
Get the blender out:
fill w/ 3 cups water
2or3 ripe banana’s (makes it smooth)
Tbsp coconut oil (optional but is the best oil out there)
honey (this is to taste but usually 4 tbsp “might” do it)
then just stuff as much lettuce as you can in it *(remember ice berg does not have any nutritional value, use the lettuce mixes or spinach really is great for this cause it’s sweet)
Blended well!
Well love it and it’s great on the go! I hope some of you will give it a try.. like I said the 1st time I made it for the boys I got snubbed by 2 and 3 downed it. Then the next time the 2 who snubbed wanted to try it.. and the story goes.
I also, love this site! Thanks for all your support and talks.
Misty
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