My Favorite Organizing Links ~ add yours too!
We are “enjoying” chilling -41 C temps here so I’ve hunkered (is that even a word?) down to get some blog reading down….also better known as avoiding dealing with my email overload :)
I’m trying something new this week. At this time of the year there are so many great organizing posts out there and I wanted a way to share my favorite links with you from the past couple of weeks that would make it easier and more interesting to look through them all. So I decided to use a thumbnail link list to add my favorite links to in order to make it a little more visually appealing for you. Oh and with so many awesome organizing posts out there right now I found it really hard to keep my list to just 22….whew! I hate to leave anyone out though so I’m leaving the linky list open for you to add your own favorite organizing post from the past couple of weeks.
Please feel free to add awesome posts related to the following subjects:
- organizing
- productivity and time management
- free printables related to the above
Some of these links below I shared on my Facebook page as soon as I found them (be the first to know, follow me here) but others are brand new. Have fun!!
Menu Plan Monday ~ Jan 16/12
Hey all! Welcome back. I’ve got some great menu planning/kitchen resources for you this week to keep life interesting.
Resources:
How to Use Google Calendars for Menu Planning ~ @ Maniak Madness
Download three different fun printables for your kitchen ~ @ Over the Big Moon
Free printable menu planner ~ @ Creative Thoughts of an Ordinary Mom
Great DIY menu planning board ~ @ Once Upon a Chocolate Chip Pancake
Stumbling Block:
Menu Planning when you’re in a recipe rut:
I hear this one over and over again. We find ourselves cooking the same things over and over again. This use to me until I started menu planning. Menu planning allows me to take some time each Sunday to go through my recipes to find one or two new ones to try each week. Some might find that crazy but I get bored easily and trying new recipes keeps cooking fresh for me. Now I know searching for recipes can often be a time-consuming task that many don’t have the time for. So one of the ways around that is to keep a running list of “recipes to try”. I do this by keeping a recipes folder in my browser bookmarks with sub-folders for beef, pork, chicken, desserts, etc. However there are many other ways online to easily keep track of recipes including Pinterest, Evernote, Delicious. Blogs are a great resource for finding “tried and true” recipes. I have a Recipe Index Round-Up which makes it easy for you to go straight to a blog’s recipe index (feel free to add yours!). For recipes you find from magazines and cookbooks, keep yourself a journal with the recipe title, source name and page number or create yourself a recipe binder.
Don’t forget to sit down and write yourself up a recipe criteria so that when you are looking for recipes you can quickly determine whether or not it will work for you and your family. Here is mine.
Don’t be afraid to try something new!
My Menu:
Monday: Black Bean Quesadillas
Tuesday: Spaghetti Ham Bake ~ this recipe makes two casseroles – one for us and one for friends that just had a new baby. I’ll also be making these favorite and easy treats for desserts – No Bake Cookie Bars
Wednesday: Slow Cooked Baked Potato Soup served with Homemade Bread Machine Garlic Bread
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Sweet & Spicy Bacon Chicken served with perogies and broccoli
Saturday: Fuss-Free Ravioli Bake (I’ll also throw in any leftover chicken) – family favorite!
Sunday: Church Potluck ~ Cinnamon Roll Cake
WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?
Menu Plan Guidelines, banner selections and recipe helpers are here.
More family favorite recipes here.
Have a great week everyone!
Kitchen Organizing
I have to say that organizing kitchens is a real favorite of mine. I’m not sure what it is about kitchens but I think it has something to do with how methodical and purposeful it is. We spend a lot of time in our kitchens and they need to make sense for how we work in them. This of course will be different for everybody, there is no right or wrong way to do it. I like that. A couple of years ago I helped my girlfriend straighten out one of her kitchen cupboards so it worked for her. It took no time at all for us to go through and re-arrange some things so we could maximize the space and make efficiency a priority.
I shared about it here on my blog some time ago but this week I’m sharing the story over at Janelle’s Comfy in the Kitchen blog (yes we traded spaces this week ~ she was here on my site earlier this week sharing her Easy Apple Dumplings recipe!).
Anyway some of you might remember this basket gone bad that I found in my girlfriend’s cabinet:
Yikes, that’s never good. Come on over to read the rest of the story :)
Storage and Organizing Magazines – Oh My! + giveaway! (closed)
This giveaway is now closed. The winner is #35 Heather!
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this time of year and all the attention that organization gets. Everywhere you look people are talking about it, blogs are fired up about it, stores are featuring bins and baskets galore and of course every magazine has something about organizing on it’s cover.
I live in a pretty small town in Alberta, Canada that has a population of about 9000 people. The closest we have to a store carrying organizing supplies is Wal-mart but after seeing Jen’s post yesterday, Wal-mart doesn’t even come close to the organizing bliss that Target carries, wah. Although I guess that may be a blessing for my bank account because I could be in trouble otherwise! Jen showed much more restraint than I ever could I’ll tell you that much.
Hello, my name is Laura and I’m addicted to organizing.
So how do I get my must have organizing fix you ask? Magazines! Magazines with oodles of pictures for me to drool over. I’ve got my hands on three right now that are just scrumptious (not in an eating way though, I don’t eat my magazines, that would be weird but I do drool all over them just like I would if I really were eating something scrumptious).
This first one came in the mail. Remember a little while ago I told you about a brand new organizing magazine on the market called Getting Organized Magazine? Well my first issue finally arrived just yesterday, whoot! It’s only 38 pages long but I’m sure it will grow as they get going. Love their tag line: treat yourself to some sanity. Why thank you, don’t mind if I do :)
You can find out more about this magazine by clicking the button below and when you subscribe you get a FREE ebook as well!
Then while at the drug store the newest edition of Storage (Spring 2012) hit the racks so of course it found it’s way into my basket.
Then while there my eye caught the word organize again, this time on another magazine. I had to take it home, I can’t help myself!
This particular picture inside caught my eye because of the happy face mugs in the top corner. Ahhhh
I got all excited about it because guess who got a happy face mug for Christmas? Me! My daughter knows that next to organizing I am crazy about happy faces so she bought it for me. What does that have to do with organizing? Not much, I’m just a strange cat and the littlest things amuse me :)
Giveaway Time:
So I didn’t forget about you my lovely readers. You know I always pick up an extra Storage magazine when I see it to giveaway. And in honor of January and the organizing bliss all around I thought I’d throw in a copy of my book, Clutter Rehab, too. So one person will win both. To enter just leave a comment on this post telling me what your #1 spot to organize this month in your home is. Just a reminder though that if you’ve got a room that needs a whole lot of TLC don’t forget to take before pictures before you get started. You’ll be able to use it for my 29 Day Organizational Challenge coming in February. Yay!
Comments must be left by Saturday, January 14th at 2:00 pm PST to be eligible. Winner chosen at random.
See ya!
Kodak Pulse ~ my favorite digital picture frame!
I’ve partnered up with technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, from Digitwirl, to bring you some fun yet informative videos on various products and services related to technology that will help you get organized and simplify your busy life.
Today’s Digitwirl:
I love, love, love this Kodak Pulse digital picture frame and was so excited when I saw that Carley was reviewing it for a Digitwirl episode. My brother, sister and I purchased this particular picture frame back in 2010 for my parents as a 40th wedding anniversary present and they too absolutely love it. What makes it so special is that this frame comes with its own email address so I can email pictures to my mom whenever I want directly to her frame. She doesn’t have to hassle with trying to take photos sent to her email and adding them to the frame herself. Now they get to enjoy photos right away over and over again. It’s absolutely brilliant and I highly recommend it as a gift for someone you love. My parents live far away from us so they really love to see new pictures of the kids pop up on their frame. It’s like a gift that just keeps on giving! It’s also a great way to keep photo clutter to a minimum. No albums required and you get to enjoy your pictures daily. So great! To find out more watch Carley’s video below.
Notes from Carley:
When you look around your house it’s probably filled with beautiful framed pictures from when your daughter was a baby or special events like your wedding. The problem is that your “baby” is now a fifth-grader now and you’re celebrating your 15th anniversary next month. Most of us stopped printing pictures when we made the shift to digital photos which makes our framed photos woefully out-of-date. Now all our memories are stored on our computers, our phones, or maybe still trapped on memory cards. Well we found a great way to get those digital memories off your devices and into a picture frame in a snap.
The Kodak Pulse Digital Photo Frame is a beautiful frame that holds up to 4000 pictures and has several different dynamic display options. You can send the photos wirelessly from places like iPhoto, Kodak Gallery, Facebook, and even upload them from a memory card or flash drive. But here’s where the Pulse really gets ours racing. You can create an email address for your frame and email photos directly to it from anywhere. So that moutaintop shot you took when you were skiing will be on display by the time you’re at the bottom of the slopes. It comes in a 7” and a 10” version and makes an amazing gift for loved ones who live far away or even just to have in your office so you can get updated pictures when you’re not around.
Check out this week’s Twirl and find out why being framed might not be such a bad thing.
Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems. In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step. Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur. Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at Digitwirl.com, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at @digitwirl.
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