Kansas Gal Crafts Gets Organized!

Hello, lovely readers!

It's been awhile, I know, and I've missed you. I'm glad you're here, though!

Happy New Year - almost! I thought this was a good time to hit you with some of the changes I'm implementing this year.

Budgeting and Meal Planning

I know. I'm basically Martha Stewart. (Please, please think I'm Martha. Except no jail time, but really I don't care. I love her anyway!)

We're hoping to purchase a house in 2016, so we're pinching pennies wherever we can. That means we have to run a tighter ship budget-wise. All of this is connected to staying on top of weekly meal planning and shopping and bill paying (etc., etc.. etc., all the boring but important stuff).

My best friend here in Chico and fellow mom of a toddler AND an infant (she's a superhero), Michelle, started a spreadsheet with meal ideas and make-ahead items for us and another local mom. This was so helpful in creating a database of meals to choose from each week.

I also have a recipe box with display holder that has become useful in planning meals and keeping it organized by day. I just put the recipe cards in order of days of the week and change the order as the days go by.

All of this was working nicely, but I kept leaving things off of my grocery list, or missing a day of the week, and not realizing it until the night would arrive, only then, elbow deep in toddler poop, would I scramble (eggs, literally) to come up with dinner options.

I needed a new planned with a meal planning insert!

I love my Erin Condren planner for teaching, but spending seventy plus dollars for a family planner seemed crazy. So I set out to make my own. I used MS Word and created this gem using a font I downloaded online! It cost me $15 at Office Depot to print and bind like a notebook. AWESOME.

Spending less on stuff and investing in friendships

This one is hard for me because well, shopping. Not the friendship part. Or, at least I hope not. I love shopping and I'm constantly seeing things that I "need". Plus, I work part-time in retail and it's nearly impossible not to take advantage of my discount.

Plus, well, shopping, okay?!

I discovered a way that for me is going to be really fun to avoid "stuff" that I "need" (don't need). Card making. (What is she talking about!?) I know. This sounds crazy. But it's actually been quite a fun way for me to spend my time during naps doing something productive, with pretty "stuff", making crafts, which I love, and thinking about my friends I'm going to give them to.

I made one set of Valentines cards.

And then I couldn't stop. I ended up with close to 80 cards in 2 days. I was a maniac, so I put the ones I don't plan on sending out on Etsy. You can buy them here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ErinKHorst?ref=hdr_shop_menu

An old school alarm clock...and no night time cell phone use

My husband bought me an old school alarm clock so that I won't look at Pinterest late at night before bed...and during the middle of the night, at 4 am, and when I wake up. The phone has now been annexed to the kitchen at bedtime and can't come out until I peel myself out from under the covers.

FREEDOM!

I'm excited for a wonderful 2016 full of family and friends. What are your resolutions?

XO,

Erin