Lists, Lists and More lists!

So I have a confession to make.  I love lists.  I REALLY love lists.  I love things to do lists, grocery lists, home school lists, book lists, chore lists, travel lists and scheduling lists.  But what I love even more than my lists is crossing things off my list.  I have been known to put my morning cup of coffee on my list just so that I can cross it off!  Lists keep me organized...well semi-organized anyway.  I like lists because they give me a sense of direction of what needs to be done.  I like to cross things off my lists because it gives me a sense of accomplishment.  One of the things that I love about my Mac is that I can colour code our schedules and my lists on my ical.  For a list junkie like me, this is the ultimate.

In thinking about this new year, I was thinking about getting reorganized,  especially organizing my everyday chores and home schooling.  So I thought I would share some sites that have given me inspiration, some of the things that work for me and the things that I am hoping to redesign, rework and renew.   Some of my checklists and charts I have designed on my computer and some I have gotten from others on the net.  So over the next few posts I will try to share a few of them.

One of the largest and hardest jobs that I have is grocery shopping and meal prep.  I plan all of lunches and my dinners a week at a time.  I usually make my grocery list and my meal plan for the week at the same time.  For over year now I have used the pre-printed grocery list that I found on Donna Young's website.  She has a great site with lots of great lists but this link will take you to a few of her different grocery lists and a meal planner menu.  I post her grocery list on my fridge so if we run out of something then I can easily add it while I am thinking about it.

Donna Young's Grocery List

Another great grocery list can be found at the website The Ultimatest Grocery List  the great thing about this site is that they also post a vegetarian grocery list which would be really helpful for those who don't like meat.

Some good meal planning sites with meal planning lists can be found at:
 About
Organized home

I made up my own Weekly Meal Planner that is customized for our family.  In this house everyone gets their own breakfast in the morning so I really just need to plan lunches and dinners.  I have tried plans that allow you to plan up to a month at a time but because of scheduling this doesn't work for me.  When I planning for the week I also look at our calender to see what we have on each day. This lets me know if I have a lot of time, a little time or no time to cook.  I have a list at the side where I can remind myself of things I need or any other notes.  At the bottom of each day I where I can circle if the meal is in our freezer and if I need to defrost it.  This works for me so I don't forget.  Unfortunately, I still have not been able to figure out how to get this PDF file on my blog so that you could easily download it. The photo is the best I could do but if you would like a copy I would happy to send it to you.  Or feel free to let this one inspire you to create your own that will work for your family.

Remember to check back this Friday for my free recipe!  Have a great week!