Using the Changing Seasons to Simplify Your Closet

Twice a year, my husband and I rotate our clothes out. A lot of you may do this as well- you pull out your summer clothes when the weather starts warming up, and then put them away when it's time to bring out the winter jackets. We live in a small one bedroom apartment that has a single closet that holds everything from our camping gear to board games to Christmas decorations. This means that our actual space for clothes is limited and we've had to come up with ways to simplify our closet.

Rotating our clothes out each season has become one of the main ways that we keep our closet streamlined and efficient. Below are some of the ways we use clothes rotating to our benefit; I hope you'll find some of these ideas useful and contribute your own ideas in the comments below! 

Ask yourself three questions with each item of clothing that you are storing.  

1. Did I wear this item this season? This question is the main way we simplify our closets at the end of the season. If we haven't worn an item at the end of the season,  we put it in a pile to donate to the thrift store. If you didn't wear it through an entire season, what are the chances you'll wear it when you bring it out the next season? Sometimes if an item has particular nostalgic value and I didn't wear it that season, I'll keep it one more season and if I still haven't worn it after that second season, the nostalgic value has worn off and I can put it in the thrift store pile. 

2. Does this item still fit well? We all go through stages where our body may fit into clothes differently. Keeping maternity clothes around because you're planning on having more children is one thing; keeping clothes that are too big because you've lost weight and no longer fit into them is another thing. If I no longer fit into something or like how it fits on my body, it will go into the thrift store pile. 

3. Do I still like this wearing this item? I know that I go through seasons where I like different styles and my style changes a little bit. If there are items that I've had since college and feel like no longer fit my personality or style, those will go into the thrift store pile. Be honest with yourself- if you like the item simply because you wore it on a special date five years ago, but don't actually like wearing it now, then maybe it's time to simplify your closet and get rid of it. 

Utilize creative storage options to keep seasonal clothing out of the way. 

This obviously looks different for different people, but what we've found that works great for us are these under-bed storage containers.

 My husband and I each have our own that hold our seasonal clothing and stay out of sight and out of mind during the off season. The garage can be a great place to store seasonal clothes or perhaps an extra closet in a spare or guest bedroom. Getting creative and storing it in a place that's not normally used will help free up more functional space in your house. 

Don't replace everything you've discarded with other non-functional items. 

If most of us are honest with ourselves, we only wear a handful of items in our closet. Another vital component in doing this seasonal purge of clothing is having the self restraint to not go out and replace everything that you've just gotten rid of. I try and pay attention to the clothes that I wear on a consistent basis and try to buy clothes based off of that. I also keep in mind the clothes that got donated to the thrift store, and I try to remember why I no longer wore that item of clothing. Buying clothes out of impulse often leads to overcrowded and dysfunctional closets. Pay attention to the things you wear often and this will help you make better clothing purchases. 

By doing a seasonal purge of clothing and buying clothes according to what you often wear instead of what you like in the moment will really help to simplify and add functionality to your closet. 

What other ideas do you have to simplify your closet? 

Does anyone else do a clothing purge when rotating their clothes out? 

{This post first appeared over at The Simple Kind of Life Blog}

Meal Planning for a Month: FAQ & Tips

I've been talking about how I plan our meals a month at a time. Doing this requires two major steps: planning out your meals and then shopping for your meals. Since I've been telling people about my monthly meal planning endeavor, I get a few common questions. Below are my answers to these frequently asked questions and some tips that will make meal planning easier. These tips apply to meal planning in general- whether you're planning for a week or a month at a time. 

-FAQ-

What if you don't feel like eating what's on the scheduled day? 

I've gotten asked this question by almost every person I've told about our monthly meal planning. I'll be honest- this doesn't happen very much in our house. We love all kinds of food, as long as it's a hot yummy dinner, we both usually feel like it. 

That being said- some days we don't feel like it, we're too tired to cook, or we want to meet up with friends or family. When this happens we just switch that dinner to a different day. I'll usually just bump it to the next day or later in the week. At the end of the month there's always 3-4 dinners that I didn't land up making. I try to make these dinners that don't have a lot of perishable items- that way I'm not wasting ingredients and I have a handful of dinners to start my list with next month! 

What if I run out of food (i.e. no leftovers when you were planning on it or the recipe making less than you needed)? 

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that I always have a few emergency dinners on hand. These things are usually frozen pizza, spaghetti, or breakfast for dinner- things that don't spoil and can be cooked up quickly when we're in a pinch. 

What do I do if I have leftovers and wasn't planning on it? 

We almost always take leftovers for lunch because I've developed a strong dislike for sandwiches. Sometimes a recipe will make just a huge amount and when that happens I try to freeze half of it and use it either later in the month or for the next month- you get two meals that way! I love unplanned leftovers! 

How do coupons and taking advantage of sales work with this system? 

To be honest, I haven't quite figured this out yet. I just can't seem to get into couponing (maybe one day!), so I can't speak to that. I will say that the veggies and fruit we buy for salads and lunches are the ones that are on sale. I also browse the sales ad for the two times that we do shop- that way if there is a good deal going on (particularly on meat), I will stock up. I still go for the sale items when we do shop, but it's not as big of a part of my meal planning as it used to be. 

You will still save money with this plan because you are in the grocery store so much less, resulting in less impulse buys. Also, I've made a commitment to only going to the grocery store twice a month, so if something runs out before then I make do without until the next trip to the store. We really try to use all of our food and not letting things go to waste, and sometimes that means being a little creative (especially towards the end of the month). Your commitment to staying out of the stores will serve you and your wallet well. 

Doesn't your food go bad if you don't shop that often? 

In short, no. I've found that almost all fruits and veggies will last two weeks. I look for later expiration dates on things like milk and yogurt to ensure that they'll last two weeks. I also will freeze breads and meats so they'll stay good for awhile. We do make one quick shopping trip in the middle of the month to replenish fruits, veggies, and milk.

-TIPS-

Keep a running grocery list. 

We have a spot on our fridge where I write the menu for the week. Underneath the menu is a section where we write a list of things we run out whether it be milk or foil. We write it as soon as we realize it's out, that way we don't forget anything when we're at the store! 

Get your recipes organized. 

Every time I add a recipe to my dinner repertoire, I make sure I put where the recipe is from (Pinterest, cookbook etc.) That way, when I want to make the recipe again, I don't spend a ton of time just looking for the recipe. 

Make Pinterest work for you 

Pinterest can be your best friend or your worst enemy when it comes to planning. If you have a general "food" board that has 200 recipes and you find one you like, trying to find it again can be a nightmare. I learned this the hard way, and decided to make separate food boards- one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. I also have separate ones for desserts, veggies & sides, drinks, and snacks. 

Perhaps the best board I've created on Pinterest is my "Meals This Month" board. This is where I pin recipes that I'm cooking that month. That way, when it comes to make a recipe, I can go straight to that board and that recipe. 

I also created a "Pinned it and Did it" board. This board is where I pin projects or recipes that I have actually done. Not only does it serve as a great motivator to actually turn Pins into reality, it allows me to write a little blurb of recipes I've tried and remind myself why or why I didn't like it. This board is also stores previous recipes that I've tried and liked so I can find them easily. 

The key with making Pinterest work for you is getting organized- use those boards to your advantage! 

Brainstorm the next month during the current month. 

Like I addressed above, I'll often have 3-4 meals that weren't cooked. These automatically go onto next month's meals as do any frozen leftovers from the current month. I'll also write down specific ideas or pins that I liked in my planner, that way I can remember them when it comes to plan the next month's menu. By the time I start planning for the next month, I usually have 4-5 meals already planned making it that much easier! 

Be creative. 

Towards the end of your two weeks or the month (before you go to the store again), you may start running out of some ingredients. Instead of making an extra trip to the store get creative with the ingredients you have on hand. We ran out of bread for sandwiches one month, and instead of buying more, we took crackers cheese and meat and made some delicious adult lunchables! The more creative you can get, the less food you'll waste and the more money you'll save. 

Give yourself some grace. 

In all of life you need to give yourself some grace, and that includes menu planning. Maybe one of your new recipes bombed. Maybe you ran out of food after a week. It's okay. This whole menu planning idea has a big learning curve and the point of it is to ease your stress not cause it. Maybe you try it for a month and decide you hate it- great, go to something that's easier for you! I will say that it's taken me a couple of months for the process to get easier so if you're in your first month and thinking that it's something you might like- stick with it! It gets easier I promise! 

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I think that wraps up our week talking all about meal planning! It's something that's worked well for me, and I hope it can work for you too! 

Do you think you might try to meal plan for a month?

Meal Planning for a Month: Shop

Once you've got your plan of meals, then it's time to make your grocery lists and then head to the stores to finish the process. I've messed this process up a couple of times so I hope you can learn from my mistakes. 

1. Make your ingredient list

I used to just go through every dish and write down the ingredient list. I landed up with a giant list of ingredients that I had to go back through and sort. The main reason this method didn't work was that three weeks into the month I had no idea which dish needed the green bell pepper. 

What I have started doing is getting four sheets of paper. Each sheet represents one week of the month. I write each individual dish down, underline it, and write down all the ingredients needed for that dish. By doing this method, I'm able to have the ingredient list for each dish at my fingertips. This way, I know which recipe needs that green bell pepper!

I should mention that at this point, write down ingredients that you need for breakfast and lunch.  I explained in the last post that breakfast and lunch for us is usually pretty repetitive, so it's easy for me to write down the few staples that we need.  

(You can see here I have week 1 and 2 in separate columns along with each dish and their

 ingredients written underneath each corresponding week).

2. Sort your grocery list

This is probably the most excruciating and terrible part of this process. Now that you have your ingredient list compiled, it's time to combine all the ingredients into a cohesive shopping list. 

I sort my grocery list by food group (dairy, protein etc.) because that's how I make sense of everything. I later sort it by store (that part is easy- don't get intimidated!) I go through all my ingredient lists and write down all the dairy items that are needed. If I need 4 cups of cheese in one recipe and 2 cups in another, I'll go ahead and combine them on my grocery list and write "6 cups cheese". That way, I know the total amount of that ingredient that I'll need for the month. 

The most crucial part in this step is note which fruits/vegetables/perishable items will be used in the second half of the month. We do go to the store once halfway through the month to replenish our fruits, veggies, and milk supply because some things just don't last the entire month! (But almost everything is fine for two weeks). If there's a particular ingredient that will be used in the second half of the month, I put a "2" next to it. By doing this, I'm able to easily see what ingredients I won't need to get on my first trip, and then I'm usually able to write a "second trip" shopping list really quickly.

(My master grocery list sorted by food group)

3. Figure out your stores 

Once you have all your ingredients compiled, it's time to sort the shopping list by store. If you shop at one store for everything, you can just skip this step and get shopping. We shop at three main stores- Costco, King Soopers, and Walmart (Sprouts on the occasion). 

Instead of re-writing every ingredient (because at this point I'm really just ready to shoot myself), I use a highlighter system to sort by store. I take my grocery list (sorted by food group), and highlight all the Costco items in yellow, Walmart items in blue, and King Soopers items in pink. 

I'm a super visual person so this system works for me. Figure out something that works for you, but don't make it too hard on yourself (as in, don't rewrite your whole list if you can help it).  

(My master grocery list sorted by food group and then highlighted by stores. Anything

that's not highlighted are items I already had or was going to purchase on my mid-month 

shopping trip).

4. Hit the stores

By now, you probably have a couple page long grocery list that is pretty and highlighted. You're also probably exhausted and ready to go to a bar instead of a grocery store. I'll be honest- I usually plan my menu on a separate day that I shop. Doing both in the same day is just too much. Muster your courage, and get out there and shop. A few hours later you'll come back with 2.3 million grocery bags, and you'll collapse on your couch. You're almost done my friend, one more step! 

(My shopping buddy this month. No, we didn't take a selfie in an 

aisle of Costco, why would you think such a thing?)

5. Finish food prep and put away groceries. 

We usually have a couple things to prep when we get home. The most common things we have to do is shred rotisseirre chickens and put them in individual freezer bags and separate the big packages of chicken breasts we buy into smaller freezable packages. Occasionally I'll cook some pinto beans and chop some fruit or veggies. Most of the times I'll do the chicken, put away all the groceries and call it a day. 

I also will take 5-10 minutes to go back through my grocery list and write down every ingredient that has a "2" next to it on a sticky note. That way, my grocery list for the middle of the month is already compiled and I don't have to worry about it!

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Phew, you made it friend. Planning a monthly menu is a lot of work. Now do you see why you shouldn't jump into it right away? The first time I did it, the whole thing took probably 8-9 hours. Now it takes me about 6 hours and I'm hoping to get even quicker. It's a lot of work but it gets easier every month. And I cannot tell you how much it is worth it. 

For the past year, Mondays usually were my meal planning and grocery shopping day. It would only take me 1-2 hours total but I had to do it every single week. Now I spend one Monday a month, and the other three are free for whatever else I want to do! 

My shopping trip in the middle of the month usually isn't longer than an hour, leaving me able to spend my days off not grocery shopping. 

This plan will save you money: less time spent in the grocery store = less impulse buys = money saved. It requires planning and time, but it is SO worth it. 

To finish off the series, I answered some FAQs and compiled a list of tips. Please always feel free to email or comment with any other questions you might have! 

Meal Planning for a Month: Plan

We've been covering the basics of meal planning and now are ready to tackle the big kahuna- namely, meal planning for an entire month (in one sitting). It took me 15 months of regular, weekly meal planning to feel like I could tackle doing an entire month at once. The principles of the planning are the same it just takes a little longer, but it is oh so sweet to have to only do it once a month. 

Before you plan your monthly menu make sure that you have: 

1. A minimum of 10-15 meals on your "dinner repertoire". These are recipes that you know that you and your family love, that are fairly simple, and that you feel comfortable cooking. This list should not include that super complicated dish that you made off of Pinterest a few days ago. This staple list are your tried and true recipes. Click here to learn more about making your own list.

2. Planned an occasional two or even three week menu

I think it's important to work up to planning an entire month so if you're feeling comfortable in planning a weekly menu, go ahead and try planning a two-week menu. The first "month" I ever planned was November 2013 and we were going to be gone for a week because of Thanksgiving. I had been comfortably planning weekly or biweekly menus at this point, and I was glad to have a three week plan to bridge me over to the full month.

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Alright, let's do this thing. 

Sit down, arm yourself with a blank monthly calendar, your staple dinners list, your computer (or cookbooks) if you're planning on trying some new recipes, some colored pens or highlighters, and a chunk of time. 

First off, back to the first step we covered in Meal Planning 202: 

1. Write down all the obligations that you are aware of
This includes date nights, Bible studies, meal groups, trips away, work days. Plan meals for these days first. I plan all my work day dinners first because like I mentioned in my earlier post, Alex  is usually responsible for getting dinner ready when I work. Staple meals (i.e. spaghetti & meatballs) or crockpot dishes (i.e. BBQ chicken sandwiches) are usually the meals that are scheduled for days I work because they're easy and delicious. 

If you know that some of your dishes will make leftovers, go ahead and pencil in "Leftovers" for the next day or later in the month (if you plan on freezing the leftovers). 

(This was my calendar for January- you'll note that I penciled in date nights, our meal group with church, and work).

2. Choose the new recipes you want to try and schedule them 

I usually only try 2-3 new recipes a month, sometimes less and sometimes more depending on how ambitious I'm feeling. Schedule these 2-3 new recipes on days that you know (or at least think) that you will have the time and energy to cook them up. My new recipes for the month are always scheduled on a day I don't work and usually earlier in the week when I'm more likely to have energy and motivation to be in the kitchen. 

3. Pencil in the days you'll eat out 

We try and go on 2-3 date nights per month that usually include dinner. I'll go ahead and write these into the schedule (usually on a Friday or Saturday night). Often our date nights change from when I originally schedule them, and when that happens I just move the meal that was originally planned for when we go out  to the day that was a planned date night. 

4. Pencil in meals for all remaining days. 
After adding all your nightly obligations, new recipes, leftover  and takeout days, you should only have a handful of days left. I pull out my staple dinners list and fill in the rest of those days with recipes that are already tried and true. 

A few last thoughts before we talk about the shopping part of this gig in the next post: 

-I try to plan meals that share ingredients in the same two week time frame. For example. enchiladas and smothered burritos are regular occurrences in our household and both need most of the same ingredients. Because of this, we'll usually have enchiladas one week and then burritos early the next week. This ensures that I can use any leftover ingredients that I may have from the first week's dish in the second week's dish (i.e. black beans, chicken, green chile). This takes practice- don't get frustrated if you can't work it out the first couple times around. 

-I try to have 2-3 "backup" meal ideas a month. These usually are frozen pizzas, sandwiches, or breakfast for dinner. These backup meals are just in case I don't have leftovers when I was planning on them or if I'm too tired to make what was planned. These backup ideas shouldn't need much prep or extra ingredients, that way if you don't use them, you won't be wasting any ingredients. 

I'm not going to lie, the planning part of this whole ordeal is the hardest part. Once you've got your plan (and your lists which we'll go into more detail about in the next post), the shopping usually goes really smoothly and quickly and then you are done for another FOUR weeks!

Once you've done your plan, it's time to learn how to organize your grocery list and shopping trip.

Is it overwhelming to plan an entire monthly menu at once? What other tips do you have? 

{Linking up with Tuesday Talk at Sweet Little Ones blog!}

Meal Planning 202: Planning Your First Weekly Menu

In Meal Planning 101, we covered how to begin your dinner repertoire. I explained how this step is critical in successful meal planning and should not be skipped. Today, we'll chat about what it looks like to make your first weekly meal plan.

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Write out your week on a sheet of paper

Include days that you work, any nightly obligations you may have, and any other events that would mean you won't be home for dinner (i.e. date night, dinner with friends). 

For us, this schedule would look like: 

Monday:

Tuesday: Sarah Work

Wednesday: Sarah Work 

Thursday: 

Friday: Sarah Work 

Saturday: Date Night 

Sunday: 

Knowing the days that I work are crucial to my meal plan because I am gone from the house for a total of 14 hours, and Alex is usually the one that gets dinner ready. He's a great cook but I try to make it easy on him by planning a crockpot dish, leftovers, or something simple for those days. 

If you know you are going to have an especially long and/or stressful day at work, consider making those dinners easier and simpler.  

Fill in the meals for each day. 

Once you have your weekly obligations penciled in, it's time to pencil in all your meals. When you start out, it's important to not go crazy with the plan and get yourself overwhelmed. This may mean that you only plan three nights of dinners and have leftovers or takeout the rest. Below is a very typical week of meals when we started out: 

Monday: Mediterranean Pizza Skillet (this would be my one, and only one, new recipe for the week)

Tuesday: (Sarah Work) Grilled Cheese and soup (Campbell's to the rescue, y'all)

Wednesday: (Sarah Work) Spaghetti & Meatballs

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: (Sarah work) Breakfast for dinner (this has been everything from pancakes to cereal)

Saturday: Date night! (We go out for dinner) 

Sunday: Leftovers/Family Dinner

You can see above that I only planned 4 meals per week. One recipe was new, the rest were easy to make and off my "Dinner Repertoire". We would go out, and often on weekends we would have one meal at my in-laws house. Don't feel bad about starting out small. Maybe you plan and cook two meals and have leftovers the rest of the week- great idea! The point is to start small, and work your way into more extensive meal planning. 

Write all your ingredients down. 

Here is where I go through each dish individually and write down all the ingredients. Make sure to include any spices that you might need. A lot of times you'll find that you have many of the ingredients on hand (you probably would have bread and cheese on hand for grilled cheese sandwiches) and you only need to buy a handful of other things. 

Once you're done writing down dinner ingredients, add breakfast and lunch ingredients. 

I'll be honest- I don't plan breakfast or lunch (ain't nobody got time for that!) We're okay with repetition on these two meals so we usually just keep some staples around. Breakfast staples include eggs, cereal, oatmeal, and toast. Lunch staples include sandwich makings, fruit, and yogurt (sometimes chips or crackers). Each week when I'm making my grocery list, I just glance through our pantry and refrigerator to make sure we have enough of the staples to last us the week.  

Get shoppin! 

When I lived in a small town, I grocery shopped at three different stores because they each had their separate good deals. Now that I'm in the middle of a city, I often find it's not worth the gas and time to go all over creation to a bunch of different stores so I try to figure out which one or two stores have the best deals for the week and only go to those ones. 

Make sure you take your list of ingredients with you! I find it easiest to sort my grocery list by store just so that I don't forget any ingredient. Find a way that works for you because nothing is worse than having to go to the grocery store more than once! 

Once you've done your grocery shopping- well done! Put everything away, turn on a show, grab a drink, and try to forget it ever happened.

{Ready to try and meal plan for an entire month? Head over to Meal Plan for a Month to find out how!}

What other tips do you have for meal planning one week at a time? Do you plan breakfast or lunch? 

Meal Planning 101: Creating a Dinner Repertoire

I've been meal planning consistently for almost a year and a half now meaning that I've gotten the hang of it but I'm still not an expert. I actually hate meal planning and grocery shopping (they're my least favorite chores), but I hate not having a plan for dinner even more. Knocking out my planning and shopping in one sitting is a pain but it also means that I don't have to worry about dinner the rest of the time. Trust me, the trade-off is worth it. 

My latest jam has been meal planning for the entire month at a time. Everyone I tell about this either thinks I'm crazy, thinks it sounds like a cool idea, or thinks a little bit of both. Instead of jumping head first into how I meal plan for a month, I'm going to start with meal planning basics and end with the monthly plan. 

If you've never meal planned before, I beg of you- don't try and meal plan for an entire month your first go at it. Trust me, you'll hate it and never meal plan again in your life. When I started, planning 4-5 days was overwhelming enough. It's a process, don't jump in too quick or it won't work. Let's get started with the basics.

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Think about what you're already eating. 

Grab a piece of paper and pen and jot down 4-5 meals that you are already eating on a consistent basis. If this for you means chinese takeout, mexican takeout, and Dominoes, then go ahead and brainstorm 4-5 simple ideas of dinners you could make at home. 

Some ideas from my list: 

-Spaghetti and meatballs

-Macaroni and cheese 

-Breakfast for dinner ("brinner")

-Sandwiches 

-Frozen pizza 

-Hamburgers

This is the beginning of your dinner repertoire or your "dinner idea" list. Once you have 4-5 ideas written down, go onto the next step. 

Think about what you would like to eat 

Now brainstorm 4-5 things that you would like to have in your dinner menu rotation. These may be dishes your Mom made, dishes you've heard of that sound good, or even a theme of food you would like to eat more of (i.e. Mexican). These ideas should also be simple. Do not add lobster tail to this list. 

We added a couple of dishes: 

-Enchiladas (something my Mom makes frequently)
-Tater tot casserole (another one of my Mom's dishes)

-Chinese (we both love it but haven't cooked it at home much)

You will add these to the dinner repertoire list you created above. Ideally, this list will have about 5 go-to meals when you start out (if you don't have this many when you begin, don't worry!)

Each time you make a new meal, you will add it to your dinner repertoire if you feel like you would want to eat it again. In order to make it onto our dinner list, the meal has to be delicious, simple, contain common ingredients, and something we would want to eat again. 

Do NOT go Pinterest crazy 

When I first started meal planning I felt like I had no ideas so I would hop on Pinterest to try and find dinner ideas for each night that week. Don't do this.  Too many new recipes all at once will almost guaranteed overwhelm you and make you feel defeated before you even start. I started limiting myself to one new recipe a week, and then drawing from my list of staple dishes (that you brainstormed above) for the rest of the dinners.

Creating your own repertoire of dinner ideas is the essential foundation to meal planning. This list has made meal planning so much easier, and is what ultimately allowed me to feel confident in planning meals for the entire month. Do NOT skip this step. 

(This is my dinner repertoire list. They are all simple and delicious recipes that we LOVE. Note that next to each dinner I put where it's from whether it's a cookbook or Pinterest. This list is right next to me every time I plan a menu).

Ready for the next step? Head on over to Meal Planning 202: Planning Your First Weekly Menu

Do you have a list of dinner ideas that are tried and true? If you do, what are some of the meals on it? If you don't, do you think creating a repertoire could help you start to meal plan?