A Little Organizing

Hello friends! I have spent the day at home and it makes me so happy!!!

I have been loving on my house a little bit and it feels so good when I'm all done with a clean house!

 

The master bath, well we don't really have one. It is right off the living room and the only full bath in this old farm house. The vanity in this bathroom kinda belongs to me. At least I took it over from the very beginning. My husband has very few beauty items so they go in the half bath which is also our laundry room. I know...kinda confusing. Just keep in mind this is an old house!

 

So this is my drawer in the bathroom vanity.

 

It holds all of my makeup, brushes, pony tail holders, headbands, moisturizer, nail polish and file, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff.

 

It drives my husband CRAZY! He hates how messy it is, so I decided to clean it out!

 

 

Isn't that so much better! Can you tell the difference? I think I can. You wouldn't believe how much stuff I threw out. Really I did.

 

I love organizing!

It's been a busy few days around here!! 

I'm super excited! I went to target today and saved $23.13 just with my coupons!!! It totally rocks!!

I'm not what you would call a "coupon-er" but I try and get the Sunday paper and cut out the ones in there. I also have a few I get on line. Then when everything falls into place perfectly....I save money! Gotta love it!

Ok, so last week sometime my friend who will be known as "Flantastic" asked me if I had a weekly menu plan...I try and have one. It goes a little like this....

I have a Monthly/Weekly planner and usually Sunday evening I sit down and think about what I want to fix for the up coming week and what is going on that week. I write down on my planner each dinner meal on a day of the week. For instance...

Monday - Pot Roast, potatoes and carrots

Tuesday - Penne alla Betsy with homemade rolls

Wednesday - Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup

Thursday - Mom's House ( we don't eat there every week for those of you who were wondering)

Friday - Vegetable soup

I decide what to fix according to what I have to do that day. Wednesday I pick something easy and quick because we have church that night. Tuesday a new recipe and homemade bread because I'm home most of the day. You get the picture..

Monday is my grocery day. I love having the store to myself in the morning and getting to know the faces that work there! I'm a very routine kinda person. It makes life easier.

When I am planning my menu I am also thinking about what goes in each meal. I try to use some of the ingredients more than once in a week. Like green pepper. If I know something will only take half a pepper, I try and make something on a different night that will also take green pepper. That way I am making the most of what I buy and not being wasteful. 

As for Saturday and Sunday, they are usually up in the air. Saturday is when I will fix a good breakfast and then we will go see family a lot of times. Sunday afternoon we either go to one of our parents or out to lunch. Sunday night I always try and keep something easy on hand to fix. Last week it was casadillas (Did I spell that right?). I have a casadilla maker and I used left over chicken and cheese with salsa and sour cream. Pretty yummy and really easy. The weekends are when I try and use leftovers.

Homestead Revival has this free download for a menu planner.Check it out!

I may have to expound on this menu plan idea....

there is so much to say...

If you need a new recipe to try for this week go to the Farm Kitchen page and it might give you an idea. I'm always trying different things. Tonight it is "Penne Alla Betsy" from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook. I love pasta! It's my favorite...I am also making no-knead dinner rolls. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Favorite Things Friday....

So, I know this is Favorite Things Friday, however every Friday is to much pressure and takes the fun out of it. So maybe I will do it once a month. That being said....this is one of my favorite things....organizing!! Or rather having things be organized. The fun part is when it is all nice and neat. Not the part of sorting and purging.

I love to cook and am always looking at new recipes. Tearing them out of magazines, printing them off the internet, copying them from a cooking show, calling my mom. I love to try new recipes! However when you have been saving all these pieces of paper forever and you use a lot of them, but they are stashed in a corner somewhere or box, it is hard to find anything. A few years ago i decided to put all of these loose papers in a three ring binder with page protectors. I seperated them into different categories, breakfast, bread, soup, main course, side dish, dessert, drinks, pasta. This worked great and I loved it.

I put tabs to separate the categories.

A few years down the road.....a new pile and stash of loose papers. I didn't have any page protectors but I did have a binder. So I just hole punched all the loose recipes and added them in. 

I now have enough for two binders

This one is solely dedicated to desserts!!

It is such a great feeling when you get all your stuff organized and in a designated space! Love It!!

I also like to wright on the recipe whether or not we liked it!

That way I know I have made it before and if it is worth making again! This works well. Try it!