Jenallyson - The Project Girl - Fun Easy Craft Projects including Home Improvement and Decorating - For Women and Moms » Organization

Capsule Menu Planning

Lauren — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:00:32 +0000

Last summer, I had a client (I was a real estate agent in my pre-mommy life) with three kids under the age of six. Their family of five was living in a 1,200-sqare-foot condo, and although the quarters seemed tight, their household worked like a well-oiled machine. Every drawer had a label; every task had a responsible party. There were dry-erase and magnet boards all over the place detailing dinners for the next month and which child was in charge of things as simple as saying a prayer before dinner.

I snapped photos of their dry-erase boards during an open house and sent them to my husband with “LOL” as the message. Little did I know that I would be implementing some of the same systems a year later! (Mommyhood has a way of doing that to you!)

So when I recently discovered The Project Girl’s free downloadable menu planner and grocery list forms (via Violet Lulu – thank you!), I was ecstatic. I’ve been struggling with keeping our pantry stocked and our refrigerator full (without filling the compost with wasted produce I never got around to using), and I love finding ways to save money and be more efficient. Plus, the forms are super cute and look great printed and posted on the fridge (or in a binder!).

But…I wanted to take it a step further. A couple steps further, actually.

You’ve heard of the capsule wardrobe, right? Well, I’ve created a capsule menu planner. First, I took The Project Girl’s free downloadable menu planning forms and made them editable using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Now, I don’t have to print them out to fill in the blanks. I can simply work on my plans using the computer and print them when I’m done. The beauty of this system is that I can save them as PDFs and re-use them later by updating the dates and needed grocery items. (The Project Girl’s free downloadable menu planning forms are at the end of the post.)

But wait…it gets better. I took my haphazardly organized (if organized at all) recipe binder and organized it into a capsule menu planner.

First, I gave it a cute cover. I mean, what’s the point of doing something if it’s not cute?!

Next, I put my menu plan for this week into a sheet protector and inserted it into the front of the binder. I use the one that has dinners only on it (version two at the end of this post) since my husband and I do breakfast and lunch separately (usually leftovers or sandwiches).

Here’s a detail view of my menu planner for the week:

After the menu planner page, I moved all my recipes for the week to the front of the binder right after the menu plan. That way, I don’t have to go looking for them each day. (There’s another great reason for this that I’ll share in my follow-up post!)

I also added a sheet protector to hold coupons. On my menu planner page, I put a (c) next to the grocery items for which I want a reminder that I have a coupon. (Now, if only my daughter would stop squealing and distracting me at the checkout like she did today – therefore totally making me forget to use my coupons! Grrrrr…)

When you head to the grocery store, you can either take your own binder or just pull out the menu planner page and your coupons. I took my whole binder today, but my little girl kept throwing it on the ground. Next time, I’ll just stick my list in my pocket!

You could even add tabs for different types of dishes and to keep your current dishes (the ones you’ve picked for the week) in front of your binder. I like to put desserts and staple items like bread (I bake my sandwich bread fresh every two weeks) at the end of my binder.

The whole process of planning my menu for this week took about half an hour, but the awesome thing is that I can recycle this menu plan in future weeks. All I’ll have to do is re-open the PDF on my computer and edit the grocery list based on what I already have in my pantry/fridge at that time. Just be sure to save your PDFs in a certain folder on your computer, and use filenames that will be easy to connect to your printed menu (like the date of the menu).

OH, did I mention that this system saves me money? And not just from using the coupons (or forgetting to use them like I did today). That’s right – instead of wandering the aisles aimlessly, buying too many perishables, making impulse shopping decisions and/or buying duplicate items that I already have in my pantry, I got only exactly what I needed and could use within the week. My final bill was about 25% less than my normal amount for one week.

Sound awesome? I know, right?! You can download your editable forms by clicking on the images below. Version one includes spaces for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Version two, the one I use, just has a “meals” section which I use for dinners only.

So there you have it – a fun and easy way to get yourself more organized every week. Are you loving it? Yes?! Great – because I have another great way to make meal preparation super easy and quick. (But you don’t have to sacrifice making gourmet, restaurant-quality meals for your family). Sound awesome? Check out my follow up post on ruthie pearl – Be Your Own Sous Chef. Be sure to say hello when you stop by!

How do YOU plan to use The Project Girl’s free downloadable menu planning forms?

Motivated Monday… on Tuesday… *Mileage Log

Jen Allyson — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:19:10 +0000

This isn’t really household organization, but many of you need to record mileage on your vehicles. We record mileage on a really ratty piece of paper, so I’m looking forward to using this cute form. l made it so that it could be folded in half or cut in half so that it takes up less space in your car.

Click on the image below to begin download of PDF file

Click on the images above to download a PDF version of my printable Be a Healthier You Checklist. The downloadable PDFs in this article (and across my entire site) are free for personal use only. If you would like to blog about this free download, please accompany any images from my site with a credit and link back to this article. As a courtesy please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this page. At this time, no customizations of this or any of my forms are available. Forms are a free download AS IS. Also since you’ve made it this far, please subscribe to my RSS feed and facebook page so you can find me again! And don’t forget to tell your friends

Hybrid – My Creative Life Book

Angie — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:20:05 +0000

January is one of my favourite months of the year. Yes it’s a long winter month and one where we really tighten our belts to compensate for the excesses of the Holiday period. Yet I love looking forward, to the New Year to come – to making plans and declaring goals.

This is one of the reasons I ADORE this site! Jen is just a planning genius, isn’t she? I share her love of list-making and this year I’ve given myself a head start by creating a hybrid year planner. I call mine ‘My Creative Life Book’, in the hopes that these plans and goals that I commit to pen and paper will inspire me throughout the year.

For my planner I’ve used Jen’s Weekly Planner 2012 digital kit, a few of her fab organising freebies as well as a few supplies (I like to keep my hybrid projects quick an easy and ultimately STRESS FREE!).

Here’s what I used:

Jen’s Weekly Planner 2012 Kit, available at Design House Digital. These files are editable pdfs that you can alter to suit your own needs (as I’ve done).
Free files available here at TPG Blog: Perpetual Birthday Calendar & 2 Week Schedule
One sheet of Jen’s Stella & Rose Patterned Cardstock (for my cover)_.
My Binding machine (I bought a super cheap one from my local stationery store).
A piece of recylced card for my back cover.
Paper for printing (I used that best quality I could find).
Some lined paper to add for my journaling and random lists (you can never have too many lists!).

This is an easy-peasy project. Simply decide what forms will work for you, print them out and bind using the binding of your choice. Alternatively, simply use a ring binder!

And there you have it – a creative start to what is certain to be a creative year!

Happy New Year Hugs to you all!

Motivated Mondays – Be a Healthier You *Free Download

Jen Allyson — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:27:09 +0000

I made this nice little checklist to keep me on track daily with my health goals. I included mind and soul options as well since it’s not just about eating right. This sheet you can keep in your binder whole, or cut each of the individual boxes out and keep them with your “to-do” list or planner for that day.

Click on the image below to begin download of PDF file

Closet Clean Up

Nicole — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:00:06 +0000

With the New Year here, I am sure many of you have goals/resolutions/tasks/jobs set for yourself to complete.

One job I started working on is cleaning out my closet.

This entails pulling anything out of my closet that is on the floor and sorting through the pile, as well as looking throughand sorting each clothing item that is hanging up.

What made this task a little bit better….having a friend there to help sort and share her opinion on clothing!

I tried many things on.
If I wasn’t sure about it, I tried it on.
If I liked it but my friend wasn’t sure, I tried it on.
If I haven’t worn it in a long time, I tried it on.
There were a few items where my friend didn’t even say a word, I could just tell by the look on her face that she didn’t like something.
So to the consign/Goodwill pile it went.

Honestly, I still have a mess. The final product has yet to be seen.

Some tips I have picked up along the way or things that I just do….

1. Use hangers that are all the same color/style.
For some reason, I feel that having white hangers helps make things more organized.

2. Look at each piece of clothing.
Make sure there aren’t any missing buttons or something else wrong with the item.
Also, if your pants or shirt could use a quick press, pull out your iron and ironing board.

3. Group clothing by type, then by color.
Some people organize their clothes by color only, I like to group mine by type as well.
Camis, tank tops, dress shirts, plain tshirts, long-sleeved shirts, Iowa State clothing, pants/jeans, dresses, casual tshirts.

4. Every few months, I hang my clothes with the hanger going the wrong way.
This way, after another few months, if the hanger is still the wrong way, that means I haven’t worn it…..so I should get rid of it.
I will admit, I use to have a hard time with that. But now, I’m ready to clean stuff out!

5. Put dryer sheets on my shelves, to keep my closet smelling nice.
Who doesn’t want a closet that smells good?

What tips/suggestions do you have for cleaning out and organizing your closet?

I’ll share my completed closet next month, as well as any tips you have to share.

So until then, grab a friend, and help each other clean out and organize your closets!

Motivated Monday – Become a better you! *free download

Jen Allyson — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:35:15 +0000

I like to compartmentalize my goals, and so I made this “become a better you” form that allows me to specify areas of my life that I want to work on, and have 3 small or big goals or activities within each of those areas. Here is how I filled out mine:

The nice thing about this form is you can use it all year long. Maybe at the beginning of each week or month you can sit down and quickly decide a handful of goals/activities that you want to accomplish that month to keep you on track with being the best you you can be.

I’ve included a free download of the form completely blank, and one with the subjects already filled out.

Click on the images below to begin download of PDF file

Click on the images above to download a PDF version of my printable Become a Better You Worksheet. The downloadable PDFs in this article (and across my entire site) are free for personal use only. If you would like to blog about this free download, please accompany and images from my site with a credit and link back to this article. As a courtesy please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this page. At this time, no customizations of this or any of my forms are available. Forms are a free download AS IS. Also since you’ve made it this far, please subscribe to my RSS feed and facebook page so you can find me again! And don’t forget to tell your friends

Motivated Mondays – Christmas edition! *Free Downloads

Jen Allyson — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:49:38 +0000

Okay so I know Christmas is less than a week away, but I am so behind so this is still going to work for me! But even if you’re Christmas is all done and organized you can remember this for next year.

So I created a checklist with 5 major columns, and under each of those columns are a bunch of check-boxes for different activities, parties, gifts etc that you need to schedule, accomplish, shop for etc. This is a great over-view type of document that you can use to schedule all your various Christmas happenings. Since everyone’s Christmas activities are so vastly different, I made this form an EDITABLE PDF file. You can’t change the categories ( I should have done that too, but it’s too late now!) but you can change all the existing checkbox text as well as add text to all of the existing checkboxes. And you can save the file and reprint next Christmas so you have a good idea of all the things you need to do for Christmas.

Click on the images below to begin download of PDF file

And since Christmas is a week away, I created a simple Christmas Countdown with 7 days leading up to Christmas. This one will have to be printed out to be filled in, but you can quickly write up all the things you need to get done this week… like STARTING TO SHOP for Christmas gifts… or is that just me??

Click on the image below to begin download of PDF file

Click on the images above to download a PDF version of my printable Christmas Checklist and Countdown forms. The downloadable PDFs in this article (and across my entire site) are free for personal use only. If you would like to blog about this free download, please accompany and images from my site with a credit and link back to this article. As a courtesy please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this page. At this time, no customizations of this or any of my forms are available. Forms are a free download AS IS. Also since you’ve made it this far, please subscribe to my RSS feed and facebook page so you can find me again! And don’t forget to tell your friends

2012 Planner now available + Digital Sale

Jen Allyson — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:58:03 +0000

I can’t believe how close to Christmas we are getting! And after that the new year. So I set aside some time to get my 2012 weekly planner finished. I have gotten a ton of emails asking if I was bringing it back this year, so hopefully if you asked you are checking back to see if it’s been released.

The 2012 planner is the same as last year except – due to some great feedback – I updated the place that used to be the “shopping list” to just say “List” and below there are no categories. The “list” can be changed to say whatever you want, and when you change it once it will change for the entire year. The boxes below are still separated but with no headers and are editable but will change interdependently and not as a group or throughout the year. This should make it much easier to use this space in a custom way.

Here is a close-up of how the pages work. Each of the daily and weekly chores are editable. The Daily chores will populate throughout the year. So if you don’t like to exercise (who does??) then you can change that to say “take a shower” etc. and it will change to “take a shower” on every single week. The weekly chores are independent though, so you can add and change week by week, but not for the entire year. I believe that you can do a find & replace though that would change something like “clean garage” to “clean gutters” if you don’t have a garage, and really like cleaning your gutters.

The planner is 25% off this weekend only (Saturday & Sunday) December 17 & 18th 2011. The rest of my digital shop is 25% off as well as one free digital kit and three dollar kits (prices marked are sale prices).

Have a great holiday season!

Motivated Monday – Holiday House guest planner

Jen Allyson — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:50:58 +0000

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it and if you plan on hosting overnight guests it can be a lot of work. Stay organized by using my Holiday House Guest Planner. I divided this planner into 4 sections: preparations, accomodations, meals, and activities. Then along the bottom there is a 1 week schedule where you can write in the days of the week leading up to and including your guest’s visit.

(Click on the image to begin PDF download)

Click on the form image above to download a PDF version of my printable Holiday House Guest Planner. The downloadable PDF in this article (and across my entire site) are free for personal use only. If you would like to blog about this free download, please accompany and images from my site with a credit and link back to this article. As a courtesy please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this page. At this time, no customizations of this or any of my forms are available. Forms are a free download AS IS, no customization or changes can be made.

Motivated Monday – Storage container index *free download

Jen Allyson — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:01:16 +0000

If you’re like me, you have tons of storage bins for your holiday decorations. And they are probably unlabeled. So when a holiday comes your husband has to take ALL of the bins from the top shelf and you have to go through every single one until you find all of the bins for any given holiday. Or is it just me? Well hopefully this awesome seasonal storage container index will take some time and grief away from your holiday bin storage. And since you’re about to pack up your Halloween decorations, there is no time like the present to get organizing!

Click image below to begin download.

This is how the index is filled out:

And then you cut the label out on the right and attach it to your storage bin:

The remainder of the sheet becomes your index and you 3-hole punch it and put it in your holiday binder for quick reference when you need to take out your holiday decorations next year!

Click on the form images above to download a PDF version of my printable seasonal storage container index. The downloadable PDFs in this article (and across my entire site) are free for personal use only. If you would like to blog about this free download, please accompany and images from my site with a credit and link back to this article. As a courtesy please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this page. At this time, no customizations of this or any of my forms are available. Forms are a free download AS IS.