Everything needs a home!
It is important that every household has a box or bin to put the things that you would like to donate.
How many times do you:
- put a pair of pants on your child and find out that they are too small? We tend to put them back in the drawer and say to ourselves, “I’ll deal with that at another time”.
- look at an item of wall decor and say to yourself that you are sick of it. You would be ready to donate it, but instead time goes by and there it stays.
This happens because we don’t have a place to put these items.
Instead of setting them down or piling them somewhere – put them right into the donation box. When the box is full – take the time to deliver it to your local thrift store. If you always have a donation bag on the go you are more likely to keep-up with what needs to be passed along. This is a great habit to get into!
Everything needs a home, including things on there way out the door to the Thrift Shop.
Tired of making lunches everyday?
If you have school aged children in the house perhaps you feel rushed in the morning if you are trying to make lunches before everyone heads out the door.
Here is system to promote independence for the children and cause less stress for all. Every Saturday spend some time preparing lunches for the week. Do a bulk prep of all the items you can do ahead of time for lunches. Purchase yogurt and applesauce by the large container and portion it out into a week’s worth of small containers. Prepare food such as grapes, carrots, crackers, cheese, any raw veggies and put into containers. Stack all the containers at the back of the fridge and each morning the children can help themselves and take the portioned containers they want for the day. It is eco-friendly as you avoid purchasing the individual yogurt and applesauce cups. Use clear containers so that everyone can see the contents. It makes for a quick pack each morning and the children have some choice to their daily lunches.
I don’t have children at home any longer but I also appreciate the simplicity of not needing to think about lunches every morning. I have gotten into the routine of putting together my weekday lunches each Sunday right after lunch. I line up 5 glass containers on the counter and prep my salads:
- greens in the bottom
- hardy veggies next (grated cabbage, carrots, beets/finely chopped celery, onion, broccoli)
- protein (chicken, fish or beans) on top
- Then make a simple homemade dressing of olive oil and vinegar (apple cider or balsamic) and pour that over the top. The greens don’t get soggy because the hardier items are on top. *Based on your personal preference, you may choose to have dressing in a separate dish and add just before eating.
I stack them all in the fridge and have one each day.
For a break from salads, I portion out leftovers the same way. No prep required in the mornings and that allows me the extra time for other things.
DO YOU FIND YOURSELF “ZIG-ZAGGING” AROUND YOUR KITCHEN?
Set your kitchen up in “zones”. Everything you need to accomplish a task should be within arms length. For example, set up a lunch making zone. This zone should include a home for lunch bags, water bottles/thermos’, bin of snacks, plastic lunch containers and/or ziploc bags. You will be more efficient if everything you need is close at hand. Some other zones for your kitchen could be: baking zone, beverage zone, mini office zone, and snack zone.
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