My New Must Have...

OMG. I think I just found something that would make my two week meal planning so much faster/efficient.

I was random blog grazing this afternoon and came across this:

You can buy the magnetic weekly meal planner note pad (for 25 weeks) and a magnetic shopping list pad (50 sheets). I yelled out to Tony who was in the other room that I found something I HAD to have. His response:

"How much is this going to cost me?" <--He knows me too well.

Lucky for him the meal planner pad is only $16.99 and the shopping list is $10.99. I'm so pumped about this because my meal plan list is usually my shopping list but it will be SO great to see exactly what I need for weekend breakfasts, snacks, and desserts. This is taking my planning and budgeting to a whole new level because I can try to eliminate some of the last minute stops to the store for a Saturday afternoon lunch! As a teacher, I think I love this so much because it is a lot like a lesson plan book where you see your week at a glance. When you plug it all in you know exactly what you need to prepare and you know what your days will look like. If you want to purchase it go here.

Here is something I got from a meal planning site that explains why it's so great to meal plan. I can vouch for most of these reasons.

See, while weekly menu planning for non-families is a rare topic around the blogosphere, it’s just as monumentally helpful for post-collegiates, office workers, struggling singles, and young couples. It even offers extra benefits, mostly involving time management. Like:

• You’re saved from 8pm post-work dinner freakouts, because dinner is ALWAYS planned.
• Ingredients are guaranteed to be on hand.
• Cooking goes much faster, since you go in knowing how to prepare a meal (by instinct or through print-out recipes).
• You eat healthier, as home-cooked meals are generally much more nutritious than calorie-laden takeout or heat-and-eat dinners (Hot Pockets, Hungry Man, etc.).
• Grocery shopping goes waaaaay faster. You go in knowing exactly what you want, and don’t have to blow an extra half-hour wandering around. Case in point: last night, using my weekly menu plan, I did all my shopping in 59 minutes, door to door, WALKING. In that time, I hit two stores, the further of which is about a half-mile away. Woo!
• Extra trips to the grocery store are mostly eliminated.
• You can plan for leftovers for office lunches. This is huge, personally speaking, because turkey sandwiches get tired 40,000 times in a row.
• You always have food for those bag lunches (the night before, no less), saving you $30 per week, or around $1500 per year.
• For budgeting purposes, you can pretty much estimate the cost of your bill to the dollar.
• There’s less food waste, because you’re buying only what you need.
• It allows for variety during the week, since you’ve got all the ingredients on hand anyway.

Let me know if you decide to get one of these or give weekly meal planning a try! Happy Friday and Happy Planning!

Happy New Year!

First post of 2010! Woo hoo!

I hope everyone's New Years Eve was great! We were very happy to have a night in and just relax and enjoy spending time together.

Yesterday we took down all the Christmas decorations and cleaned our house. It didn't take us as long as we thought, and even though I was sad to see the decorations get put away, I was happy to have a clean and organized home!

This is where Einstein hung out as we took down all the decorations. The noises scared him, so he managed to find a warm spot where the sun was hitting on the stairs. He looks like he's in puppy prison!

Here's what 4 Christmas trees, garland, 3 wreaths, and many, many ornaments look like when they're ready to go back in the attic. So long guys until next December!

The staircase is back to clean and simple. Bye bye garland!

Tony's office no longer has a Christmas tree in it. We're excited to start working on this room in 2010!

From this view of his office it was so pretty to see the two green wreaths we put on the doors that had clear lights. From here you could also see the lighted garland. Can't you have clear lights up all year long?

Kitchen sparkling clean! Nothing on the island, just how Tony likes it! :) Stainless steel cleaned and Christmas towels put away. What you can't see also makes me happy: tons of tupperware washed and stored that used to be taking up space in the fridge. Bye bye holiday leftovers!

No view of our other Christmas tree from the door. Back to normal!

2009 was a great one career wise, as homeowners, and as a married couple. In 2009 we settled into our new home, began decorating and collecting furniture, took a fun trip to Cancun, kicked up our investing, joined a gym, had my family move to town, and overall just became more comfortable with being adults. It was our first full year out of the apartment life and man have we enjoyed it!

We don't have any resolutions for 2010, but rather just a few goals. Tony and I both think it's easier and more feasible to work towards a goal rather than to keep up with a resolution. We're more goal oriented people, but whatever works for you as long as it works! This year we want to increase our saving and investing, continue to practice living below our means, take a fun vacation (maybe two!) somewhere new, have more date nights, decorate a few more rooms in the house, and continue to stay active and eat healthy. When I look at these goals I get excited because I think they are realistic and achievable. That and who doesn't want a fun vacation or more date nights?

Happy First Day of the Year! I hope it's a good one for you!