Table of Contents

-Introduction
-Did you know?
-Monthly Mission – Calendars and Meal Planning
-Check Out These Pages! – Relevant pages and new site additions
-I Can't Find My...

Introduction

Summer break is officially here for us. I have a list of things we plan to do, along with doing our third year of Self Sufficiency Boot Camp. That’s where I teach my kids to do basic things they should be able to do on their own. In the beginning it was things like how to pour their own drinks, but now we’re working on phone skills and tricky stuff like that. Not that they don’t still need a refresher course on how to wipe up their messes. They will thank me someday, I’m sure.

Click the logo above to learn more!

Did you know…

According to Food Marketing Institute, on average, consumers make 1.7 trips to the grocery store per week.

Supporting this, a poll taken by Money Smart Family, 39% of people go once a week, 23% go twice a week, 11% go three times a week, and 8% go four or more times a week! I don’t want to think about standing in the check-out line 4 or more times a week, or the time and gas to get there and back each time.

On the other end, 15% go only twice a month and 3% go only once a month.

I am a once-a-week person. And with my meal planning and grocery list that matches the store layout, my trips are typically an hour or less and I shop for a family of four. This allows me to get fresh perishables each week and take advantage of any weekly deals.

How often do you go to the grocery store? Could you save yourself some time and money with a little pre-planning? (Check out the June Monthly Mission below.)

Resources:

http://www.fmi.org/research-resources/supermarket-facts#sthash.f12lb7Dv.dpuf

http://www.moneysmartfamily.com/polls/grocery-store

Getting organized isn’t just about decluttering and cleaning up your spaces for more efficient use. Living a more organized life includes putting in place processes and routines that help your home run more smoothly. Three very helpful organizing strategies in my home are the use of a calendar, meal planning and routines. To read more about the monthly mission for June, click here.

If you’re in a hurry to put some order back into your home, perhaps Mimi Tanner's unique method will give you that jumpstart. Check out her method at Declutter Fast: How To Get Your Home In Order Almost Immediately.

Here are some pertinent pages on the website you may have missed along with any new pages.

Home Filing System - Keep all your paperwork in order so you can find what you need at a moments notice, and learn what to keep and what to toss.

Organizing Children's Artwork - School is over and you have piles of artwork that your talented kids brought home. What should you do with it all?

Travel Planning Tips - Are you planning a trip over the summer break? Here are some tips to make your planning and packing go a lot smoother.

Organizing Your Day - Suggestions on how to better organize your day so you can get more done in less time and with less stress.

Garage Makeover - before and after photos of my personal garage makeover. See how we tackled the problems and ended up with a functional garage.

Streamline Your Morning Routine - Ideas to help you get out the door in the morning and be on time for work or school.

Go ahead and fill in the blank, “I can’t find my…”. Yeah, it happens to everyone! Currently, I can’t find my camera cables to take photos off my camera. I know it’s here somewhere because I used it not that long ago.

This current dilemma reminds me of the Toothbrush Principle for organizing. We all use a toothbrush and when we’re done with it, we put it away in the only place we have designated for it. I have never grabbed for my toothbrush to find it’s not there. Have you? Our toothbrushes have a designated home, and if it’s not there, it’s because we’re using it. Shouldn’t all things be this simple?

I even have a place where I put my cables to various items. However, that isn’t enough! It’s pointless if we don’t actually put things away when we’re done with them. And I know I’ve mentioned this before, but not putting things away is one of the biggest problems I see with keeping the house organized.

So, if we want to stop asking ourselves the question “where is my….?” then we need to do this one simple thing. Give everything a home, and actually put it there when we’re not using it, just like we do with our toothbrush!

Now, if I can only find my camera cable.

Until next time, happy organizing!

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com

Coupons powered by Coupons.com