Sunday 11 May 2014

Home Organization Hub & Free Printable Weekly Meal Planner

Hello again honeys :)

I've gone printable happy :) I've so enjoyed making printables recently that I decided to make a printable menu planner to share with you. I hope that you like it, it looks like this.....


More of that later, but for now onto todays post. I thought I'd share something we did a couple of months ago now. we've had time to try it out, see how it works and as a system it does seem to work really well for us.  OK, so at the bottom of our stairs, facing our living room door, we have this.....




I have no doubt that as time goes on we'll change/adapt it but for now it's a central area of our home that we pass many times during the day. For instance on our way into the kitchen/living room, on our way out the front door etc so it acts as a great "stop & see what's happening" space :)

So, lets have a closer look at what's going on :) First there is the cutest little thermometer, bought at Asda just because it was cute to be honest, I love the little bird perched on top :)


Next thing we see is our weekly menu board.  Which I've just changed over and added the printable I made today.  If I say so myself it looks cute :) It was made using a very inexpensive photo frame. I use dry wipe markers to write on the glass & it wipes off again easily.  I'll  include the link to download the menu printable, if you'd like a copy, at the end of this post :)

Next to that, we have our little pinboard/weekly planner combo....


This really just acts as a catch all for anything coming up, we'll pin anything needing attention or appointment cards that kind of thing.

 Lastly on this level we have a little clipboard and pen holding our shopping list, this way if I run out of anything or need anything for next day's dinner it can be written here and the page can be torn off on our way out the door to run errands.


Underneath all of these we've placed a Bygel rail from the wall storage collection by Ikea. These are available in two different lengths and we used the 100cm (larger of the two) rail which is 39" or a little over 3 feet long for those of us who've never gone metric :)

First on the rail we have two Bygel containers which clip easily onto the rail and they're very secure too, so no worry of them falling off. In the first of these containers we store dry wipe markers to write on the boards, and a microfiber cloth to wipe the boards clean again.

Microfiber dusters are perfect because they can be easily washed & re-used. So they're much better for the environment than using paper towels etc.  In the little container next to the pens & duster are batteries.  We don't use a lot of batteries, just for clocks & remote controls so it's convenient to keep them here. It's also easy to see when we're running low and add to the shopping list.

Next on the rail is a Bygel basket.


Inside the basket is a diary (date planner) a see through zip up purse that houses our coupons for shopping (handy to just lift on our way out the front door) and behind those are our extra shopping list pads to re-fill the clipboard, as you can see I really do love roses :)

Last on the rail is another of the Bygel containers. This one holds packs of paper hankies, again to grab and throw into a pocket or handbag on way out the door.


As I said I'm sure it will change and adapt as we decorate & re-organize our home but for now this is our little oasis of calm that helps keep us organized.

I do like the Bygel range. They have so many uses and are very inexpensive too, so the range is great value. We have various items from this range in our kitchen too, for example we use a Bygel basket on a rail to hold our herbs & spices jars.  You can see the Bygel series of products here.

Now, as I promised, the printable inside the photo frame we use as a menu board.  I've uploaded a large version of this for you, it's sized at 8 x 10"  just make sure when printing that your printer is set to print portrait and not landscape as I did when I first tried to print it lol :) you can download it by going here.   Again honeys, all I ask is that you download it for personal use only, so no Etsy or other commercial uses please.

So, what are your thoughts dear readers? How do you stay organized with day to day stuff? Do you use a menu board? I have to say I've become a fan of the idea. I never used to plan ahead for meals, instead deciding at some point during each day what I'd cook for dinner that night. I really adore pre-planning now, it saves waste because left overs can be incorporated into next day's menu, and so saves money too. Do tell me what you think in the comments section below, or even just say hi :)

Thank you for visiting, I hope you've had a wonderful weekend, sending hugs and hope to see you again soon xx

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