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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Organized OCD? Maybe

So anyone who has ever had young kids can empathize with how hard it seems to keep things in order.  Your thoughts, your house, your to do list, etc.  And, anyone who can offer anything that is quick, easy, and efficient with keeping your brain in order is pretty well your god send.  I don't assume to be anyone's god send, but, here are some of my few favorite organizational items right now that keep me sane.



The first?  Note cards.  They're EVERYWHERE in my house.  It started with Thanksgiving, when I was planning a feast for 12 and the first time I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner for more than 3.  Top it off with a 1 year old and efficiency was most definitely going to be my friend.  We opted for a slow cooker Thanksgiving, that meant I had to A.) find the recipes I wanted to use.  THEN, account for my slow cookers, followed by accounting for all my serving stuff.  And, since I'm currently rocking it in an apartment I didn't really want to pull out all my fragile stuff to take account for it with little curious hands getting into everything.  SO, every recipe went on the front of 1 card.  On the back of the card was what it would be cooked in, and what it would be served in.  As a bonus, I also added how long it would take to cook, so that I could put my cards in order of what needed to be cooked when, for it to all get finished at the same time.  It was a LIFE saver.

So, when I was getting ready to compile all my recipes to try to put together a recipe book, it was back to the note cards again!

I was able to cut my note cards into 4th's since the only thing I was doing was writing the recipe title on it.  Between recipes I've tried off of Pinterest (but are still stuck in the clutter of my boards), the recipes I have on Pepper Plate, and what I've already printed in my recipe book, I have a hefty little stack going.  But, when the time comes to organize which category I want my recipes in "Dessert, Sides, Entree, Holidays, Etc" I can take and sort them into categories.  I'm very hands on, and this makes life easy.  I can rearrange where I want them if I have a category with only 2 or 3 recipes in it with little effort, and without having to back track.  Meanwhile, I know every recipes is accounted for, and not duplicated.

While we're right here, Pepper Plate is another one of my favorites.  It's a free recipe keeper site.  It also has a free app.  You can manually input recipes, as well as just put a link from major sites, such as All Recipes and it will automatically put the recipe in with just the URL.  Once your recipes are put in, you can select the items you plan to make that week and add it to your shopping list (from both your computer and your iPod/iPhone).  Ta da, grocery list!  It does NOT require the internet in order to create your shopping list if you are simply using an iPod touch.  So, as long as you've synced your iPod recently all your recipes are there at your finger tips.  So, if you're out and about and realize you need to cook something, or find yourself child free for a few hours and want to get the grocery shopping done but haven't meal planned yet, this handy little app will make it easy and effortless.  I will NOT let go of this one, even after I create my recipe book.  


And some more.  This is for planning meals for L. The top is Lunch/Dinner and the bottom is Breakfasts.  I read on a woman's blog, and forgive me that I forgot which blog right now so if it's you please tell me so I can give credit where credit is due, that in her toddler's meal she includes 1 protein, 1 veggie, 1 fruit, 1 starch.  It seemed such a simple way to make sure that L gets what she needs at each meal without racking my brain of what I'd feed her that night.

So, purple for protein, green for veggies, pink for fruit and yellow for starches.  Broken into breakfast options, and lunch/dinner options.  Some things cross, such as fruits.  I'm still racking my brain for some breakfast veggies that I can include without having to do it omelet style (she's not real crazy about omelets yet).  But, I'll get there.  

So yea, instead of trying to go crazy, I've put them on note cards.  I can pin my note cards to a cork board in my kitchen and call it a day.

If you like this method, and you have a picky eater, you can consider getting a dry erase style chore chart (or make your own) where you can put your foods up top and color code as I've done on the note cards.  On the left side, going down, you could put Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.  Allow your child to pick 1 from each category and for each meal, and they can check off or put a sticker in the foods they pick.  Perhaps getting them to eat healthy and letting them have a choice (but on your terms) will help out?  I hope that makes sense.  I can see it in my head, but trying to explain it is proving more difficult than I thought.  I'm sure one day, about a year or 2 from now, I'll end up creating just such a chart.  Something like this, is what comes to mind, at least for the layout.

Other apps that rock my world?  The notes app on my ipod.  Chrome has a quick notes app that is essentially the same thing, and lets you access it wherever you can get on to your Google Chrome.

Sticky notes.  And not the paper ones, but the desktop version.
That's a quick look at my desktop.  Sticky notes, everywhere.  Most of them expand larger as there's a LOT of information in them.  I try to keep them categorized.  Craft ideas, blog stuff, confirmation information for phone calls I've had, planning a weekend away for my husband and I, etc.

If you have chromebook and my not be able to have such a nifty little Windows included program, you can get the same idea here.  And, as with everything in my world, there's a Chrome app for it.  I have not yet looked for an apple app, but when I have notepad on apple I don't really need sticky notes.

So, there's at least a start to my current favorites that are keeping my brain on track.

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