I’ve written before about making natural cleaning products, and today I came across this free download for some cleaning supply labels. Just print them out on a label page and cut them out; so much cuter than my masking tape and sharpie labels! (more…)

My post on meal planning remains one of my most popular, and I’m often asked about how I do it.  I use a combination of computer spreadsheets and paper worksheets, following the steps outlined in Meal Planning 101.  Although I’m a high-tech kind of person, I find writing our meal plan on a printed calendar works best for our family.  Personally I live and die by Google Calendar, but it’s not easy for my 8 year old to check.  So I print a calendar, write our meals on it, use it to generate my grocery list, and when I’m done I put it on the fridge so everyone can see what the plan is.  My usual plan is two weeks, although lately I’ve been doing three (which is amazing!), in which case I use a month-at-a-glance calendar.

Today I’m sharing with you my 2 week meal plan worksheet.  This sheet will help you simplify your meal planning process and is flexible to accomodate your family’s needs.  There is space each day to write any special notes, like kid’s extra-curriculars, dinner parties, etc.  The meals section is large enough for multiple meals if you want to plan both lunch and dinner (I do a diagonal line through the rectangle).  On the bottom is an area to list any missing ingredients you need from the grocery store, and another flexible notes section for items needed at specialty stores, or any other special comments.

I hope this helps any of you who are interested in meal planning, but need some tips getting started.  January is a time for fresh starts and new plans, and I hope this contributes towards your nutrition or home organization goals for this year.

I was running low on gift tags, so I put together a sheet of printable tags in Photoshop and have posted it below to share with you.  This printable sheet features eight different holiday tags that will give your gifts a bit of whimsy and holiday charm.  Simply print onto cardstock, hole punch and tie with ribbon or yarn or print on full sheet mailing labels, cut out and stick directly on packages (that’s what I’m doing).  Click the preview to download and enjoy!

Yesterday I wrote about making lots and lots of Party Mix with all the kids, and today I’m going to show you the little gift bags we made to hand out to family and friends.  This is a great, inexpensive gift for kids to give to teachers, bus drivers, bus buddies, etc.

I picked up some holiday themed cello bags at the Bulk Barn for $0.29 each.  Then I sliced up some old cereal boxes (yay for re-purposing) into rectangles a little wider than the bags (I think they ended up being about 4.5″ x 3″) for my bag toppers.  I then measured what size labels I would need to cover the cardboard and made something simple in Photoshop which I printed on mailing labels.  After that, all I had to do was fill the bags, apply the labels to the cardboard and staple the bag toppers on.  They’re super cute and took little time to do.

Click here to download the “Made for you” labels (mind the smudgey cut lines).  You can print them out on cardstock and glue them or print them on full sheet mailing labels and stick them on to whatever you’re making this season.