When you plan your meals it will help to simplify the hectic back to school season. You’ll make fewer trips to the grocery store and waste less money on food that didn’t make it into a meal. I often freeze trimmed chicken breasts and steak tips with teriyaki sauce in freezer bags. Take them out of the freezer and thaw overnight. If you forget to take them out, defrost quickly in a pot of room tempurature water. Grill and serve with rice, veggies or salad and dinner’s done. Think about some of your family’s (easy) favorite meals and have those pantry items on hand to complete the meal. My kids like the Al Frescos Chicken & Apple sausages, so I usually have those in the fridge. They freeze well too.
When you make your master grocery list, think about what meals you will cook each day of the week ahead. If you intentially cook extras you can plan to have leftovers on a busy evening. When I meal plan, I think about whether I am “on” for carpool duty or have an event in the evening. When planning meals for those evenings I often make a double batch the night before and plan for leftovers. When you create your meal plan and grocery list, go through your pantry to see what items you need for each meal so you use what you have and don’t waste money (and space in your pantry!) on unnecessary items. Check out our previous post about streamlining your master grocery list here. Combined with a weekly meal plan you’ll be efficient at the grocery store as well as in the kitchen! {free meal planning printable here}
‘Tis the season…for back to school shopping – or at least that’s what most stores and marketers will tell you. And while it’s true that kids of all ages do usually need a few things to start the school year off, it’s all too easy to fall victim to the back to school campaigns in every store, website and your inbox. While one overzealous back to school shopping trip may seem harmless, it all adds up – in wasted money, cluttered spaces and added stress taking care of the excess stuff you don’t need. Here’s how to stop the back to school madness in 3 easy steps: 
Let’s face it – most of us feel overwhelmed by too many to-do’s on a daily basis. But while there is always a lot to do in the lives most of us live, I often remind myself that it doesn’t have to all get done today. Many of us do benefit from a running to-do list – a place to capture to-do’s on “paper” and get them out of our head – but looking at that list every morning as what needs to get done can easily be overwhelming. 
When you’re starting an organizing project, it can be helpful to give yourself a jump-start with a quick purge of easy and obvious items you can let go of. It’s like peeling back the first layer so you can more clearly see where you’re headed next. Starting with a quick purge also helps you build momentum that will keep you going. If tackling your closet is on your project list, here are 10 ideas of things you can let go of today to jump-start your progress! 
School’s out and summer’s here! For many of us, summer signals a new slightly more relaxed schedule – time off from school or work, weekend or week-long trips and fewer regular commitments. Despite the lack of structure, summer can still be a great time to get some of your organizing projects done. Start your summer off right by creating your summer project list. This should be a list of a few – no more than 5 – projects that you want to complete by the end of the season. It can be whatever you want, but I recommend choosing projects that give you some enjoyment to capture that spirit of summer fun!
