Why I Stopped Making a Menu Plan

I used to make a menu plan, two weeks at a time to coincide with my grocery days.  But I stopped. 

I know, I know, everyone says to make a menu - it saves you time, it saves you money.

Well, it can but it can also waste a lot of time, for me anyway.

I would spend way too much time going through recipes, deciding what looked good and where it would fit in my week and then make my grocery list based on my menu. 

But do you know what happened, things would come up and we wouldn't follow the menu. Or a certain day and meal would come up and I just really wasn't in the mood for that particular meal that day. It eneded up being a waste of my time. 

So, I found a system that works much better for me.

Preparing for Christmas All Year

This year for Christmas I did very little planning ahead, perhaps none at all. I want to do better next year. 

I think I could put more thought and effort into each gift if I started much earlier. I think I could save money by watching sales or making more presents. I think my husband would be happy if I didn't spend so much money all at once. I think I would enjoy more of the Christmas season if I had most of the shopping done ahead of time. I think I would have more time to bake cookies and candy with my children to take to our neighbors. I just think it's a good idea to start much, MUCH earlier.

There's one problem. Okay two.

One, it kind of overwhelms me trying to figure out exactly how to start planning for Christmas in January.

Two, I'm a procrastinator.

I can overcome number two, I am getting better in this area.

About number one, you can help me.

How do you plan ahead? 

How do you plan gifts yet make it something that person won't buy between now and Christmas?

How do you handle the people you draw names for when your family doesn't draw names until thanksgiving?

How do you keep track of what you have for whom?

I would love to hear your ideas for planning ahead.

 I really am determined to do something each month, starting in January, to prepare for Christmas next year. I've already been pinning ideas for crafts and Christmas ideas.

I'm looking forward to hearing your suggestions!

 I plan to do posts sharing how I'm planning ahead each month, so that, maybe, I can encourage others to make the most of their Christmas as well.

Blessings,

Rashel

Planning to Succeed

With any journey you take, you must make plans if you want to succeed. Sometimes that means setting goals, it may mean choosing a destination or other times it means doing the little things ahead of time that make your journey easier. 

I think all of the things mentioned are important when you are on a journey to better health. 

If we don't take the necessary steps to help us succeed it's the same as sabotaging ourselves. One of the steps I must do to stay on target with my Trim Healthy Mama journey is to plan drinks and snacks ahead of time. I have learned that if I don't have these things prepared, I am much more likely to choose an unhealthy option - some sugar filled lemonade or just maybe a handful of chips. 

Emergency Meal Kit Challenge

Amy over at Homestead Revival is hosting an Emergency Meal Kit Challenge and I decided I wanted to participate as this has really been on my heart lately. My meal is very simple and can be made with store bought ingredients as I have, or with home canned ingredients; the choice is yours.

Bean Burritos:

Refried Beans

Taco Sauce

Black Olives

Tortillas

Canned fruit - I show oranges because those are a big hit with my family

Now normally I would add onion and shredded cheese, but those won't last in my meal kit; so if I have them at the time of the emergency, I could use them. Like I said, my meal is very simple but it is also one my family would eat and would not require any water and very little warming up (you could even eat it as is if necessary). I would probably also add some bottled water or some kind of drink to go alongside.

I've really enjoyed reading some of the ideas shared on her site, click on the link above to check it out.

Blessings,

Rashel

*Yes, my taco sauce is an open half used jar. It is what I had on hand when I took the picture. I recommend a new jar for your kit :)

Local Tornado Damage

I'm sure most of you have seen the tornado damage of Joplin on tv, but let me tell you it isn't anything like seeing it in person. I have family in Joplin and we live 15 minutes away and got some damage ourselves, not to our home but outside stuff. My Mom, my Grandma, my Aunt and my Great Grandpa all lost their homes in the storm but they are all safe. Praise God! I've been there the last two days helping to salvage whatever we could. We were able to save quite a bit of pictures and kitchen stuff from my mom's. It's just all a mess.

Today will be spent at home cleaning the pictures I got out of Mom's and getting them to storage. I also have to clean out our fridge. Something happened to it during the power outage and it isn't working right. We had generators to keep it going but it didn't help, it is something wrong with the fridge. So we saved our big freezer with the generator, but I think we lost everything in the fridge in the house. I'm not looking forward to cleaning it out but I keep thinking how blessed I am just to have one to clean out. There are so many people here that don't now.

Please keep praying, the weather today looks like more rain. We had tornado warnings again last night! It just keeps raining and storming which isn't helping the rescue efforts. The sun did come out yesterday and that was such a blessing after working in rain all day Monday. There is still alot of work to do in Joplin and people still missing, so please keep praying.

Blessings,
Rashel

Food Storage Challenge

I found this challenge through Sara's blog and it led me to Plans 4 You. So visit one of them to find out what it is all about.