Circling Through This Life

I had not really planned on writing a post about Meal Planning as part of my 5 Days of Home Organization but as the week drew closer I found myself pondering and re-visiting some old ideas.  Having a plan or being organized with menus can make the difference between eating home cooked food and living off of fast food.  It also means the difference between insanity and staying sane.  I have come to despise the question “what’s for dinner?”  If I have to stop and think about it, I get grouchy and irritable.  If I have meal plan I can just say “go look and see for yourself.” I have found that if I do not know what is for dinner by the time we’re eating lunch, I can practically guarantee that I will not be cooking and that we’ll be eating some type of take out. I’ve written about meal planning before.  I wrote about setting up and creating a rotating meal plan.  Part 1 talks about rotating menu plans and in Part 2 I walk you through how I set up my r...

Earlier this Crew year, I blogged about organizing my home school . It was part of a Blog Cruise.  I wanted to write again about organizing supplies.  Not just our school supplies but my office type supplies. There are three kinds of stores that I could spend hours and hours wondering and browsing.  They are not clothing stores.  Not shoe stores either.  Office Supply stores, Kitchen Gadgets and Books.  Consequently, my husband rarely takes me to the outlet mall.  (Truth be told he’s a sucker for the Kitchen Gadget and Book stores, too!) I love pencils and pens and all those neat little gadgets like clips and pins and containers to hold everything.  And the perfectionist who wants everything to match and be perfect drools and covets paper trays, markers and clipboards. Reality is not so pretty but I still have a need to be able to find a working pen or sharpened pencil without having to scrounge through the cushions of the couch.  Mugs and...

Originally I thought… hmm.. I should do one post for the Linen Closet and a second post for laundry.  But then I found (since I really talk too much anyway) that I had more to say than I thought I did so I need to combine topics.  And then I realized my laundry system isn’t really working now so maybe I don’t want to draw attention to it.  If I reveal my laundry secrets then you’ll know I’m not perfect. (and if you’ve been reading my Home Organization posts then you’ll know I really struggle with that inner perfectionist.) Well since we’re talking about laundry (and you’ll know I’m behind in laundry cause the linen closet picture has a big empty space.  That’s where the clean towels would go.  You know once the ones in the clean basket are folded and the ones in the hamper finally make it through the washer and dryer and get folded).  Oh right we were talking about laundry.  As with all other areas of my life,, I’m perfectionist.  Fortunately, ...

I’m just not sure I’ve mentioned enough just how much I hate not being able to find what I need.  I open the pantry door and grunt in frustration because I know the coconut oil is there and I need it.  But I can’t find it.  And then I have to move stuff around and things start falling on top of me.  AAAAAHHHHH!  You do not want to witness my melt down when that happens.  And when that happens, the girls know it’s time to clean the pantry. The really nice thing about having a pantry organization system is that, when things start to “fall apart”, it takes a lot less time and effort to restore the system into good working order.  I have a family of humans.  I love them but they are not perfect (and that really rubs the perfectionist in me the wrong way).  This means that no matter how much I have strived to teach them to put things back in the “proper” place at some point things get “shoved here or there or anywhere”.   I don’t thin...

About a year and a half ago I wrote a post for the TOS Blog Cruise for the theme "organizing your home school". I started that post with an explanation of why I need organization. I think it only fitting that on day 1 of a 5 Days of Home Organization that I again share why I need organization. And I think I need to explain something very important. Being organized and having it all together are TWO DIFFERENT animals. I may have several areas in my home that have some semblance of organization but I do not have it all together. With my perfectionist streak I am my own worst enemy! I get frazzled, flustered and frustrated when I cannot easily find what I am looking for.  If I need a pillowcase, I want to be able to just open the linen closet and grab one.  If I’m looking for the letter opener I want to be able to go to the bin and have it waiting there just for me.  When I open the pantry to find the glass jar of chives, I want it to be with all the other spices. ...

My dear readers, you may have noticed that occasionally I participate in the TOS Blog Cruise.  Well our Cruise Director, Marcy has organized a TOS Blog Hop!  Starting May 14th and running for 5 days the TOS Crew will be doing the 5 Days of… Blog Hop!  Each of the participants will be blogging about one topic or theme for 5 days.  I’ve heard that there will be topics such as “Using Technology in Homeschool”,  “Graduating a Homeschooler”, “Boy Scouts.”  I’ll be blogging for 5 days about Home Organization. Each of my posts will include a link to the TOS Homeschool Blog Post where you can hop between blogs.  At last count I thought I heard Marcy say “65 crew members”.    So carve some time out of your schedule.  Line up your beverage of choice and prepare to Blog Hop for 5 Days! Look for this Graphic in my sidebar to see my posts: Look for this Graphic on the participating blogs and in participating posts.  Oh and yes I’ll hav...