Cut the Clutter Assignment....

Welcome to the Cut the Clutter Challenge!! February is usually a cold and snowy month so I decided that I would totally declutter my home, school, mind, and finances. I hope you'll join me to Cut the Clutter!

Since this is the first day of the month and it's Super Bowl Sunday, I chose to have a declutter your mind challenge. How do you meal plan? Do you "forget" each day that you have to make dinner ( or for us homeschoolers...breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc.)? Do you wait until you have tired and hungry children and husbands to think about dinner? If so this is your challenge! I find that worrying about meals can really clutter up my mind, and I don't know about you but teaching, training, cleaning up after all five kids and a husband I don't want anymore clutter in my mind!!

My solution to end my mind clutter of worrying about meals is to make a rough outline for the month. I personally don't plan each day but pick about 20 meals to make a month. I plan dinner first, chicken on Monday, Kid friendly on Tuesday, Wednesday is pasta day, Thursday is crock pot day, Friday is either homemade pizza or homemade fast food, Saturday is usually chili or fend for yourself, and on Sunday I try to prepare a more fancy meal. Then I move on to breakfast...unfortunately I have trained my family to expect a hot meal every morning so I have to plan this meal. Mondays are muffins ( I make the batter the night before and just bake in the morning during chore time), Tuesdays are pancakes ( again make the batter the night before), Wednesdays are bacon and waffles, Thursday is biscuits and gravy, Friday is granola bars or something else to eat on the way to Co-op, Saturday is a quick meal too during Upward season, Sunday I try to make something we all like. After I have those meals planned I move onto lunch. This is my hardest meal to plan, my husband works next door so he's home for lunch but his lunch is at 2:30 so I have to make two lunches or have leftovers from our lunch. Plus I'm usually still needed for school work until about 11 so I'm also rushed for this meal! I try to do once a month cooking for lunch. I buy about 10lbs of hamburger and cook it all and then I make sloppy joes, tacos, chili, etc. I also make grilled cheese and soup. I try to make a pot of soup once a week because I can leave it simmer on the stove all day so it's ready whenever my husband is ready to eat.

As you can see meals require a lot of thought and planning it out once or twice a month can reduce your stress and your grocery bill. Do you have any menu planning tips?