Organisational tips and tricks to start in the new year

[WireBrushAndDettolMaam]

Do you have any?

I’m going to set up a standing order for £10 a week to save for Christmas next year.

I’m also going to save £5 a week into and ASDA card to help with the Christmas shopping next year.

I’m going to mark all the birthdays/anniversaries/whatever on the calendar and have a box with cards, stamps etc ready to go.

I’m also going to have a huge declutter and donate/sell as much as I can to get some much needed space and organise what’s left.

Any other ideas gratefully received!

(tried a few Jamie ones from his new book, they were all awful. HUGELY disappointing ).

Haven't made anything from his Veg book, but try the 5 ingredients book, there's some good veggie recipes in there, all the ones we tried were nice anyway.

Ruby funny, if just though to check out Jack Munroe

Covet yes, I'd very high hopes too! Will look at the 5 ingredients ones.

For the people who are looking for meal planning help, I def need to do the use things up first but also I would recommend the batch lady on you tube

Loving the meal ideas too here. Thank you all for sharing.

I have a tall freestanding freezer in my garage (nothing in kitchen) and recently sorted it all out and labelled each of the seven drawers by category e.g. vegetables, meat, vegetarian, carbs, frozen fruit & desserts. It's been so helpful for when I'm running in and out e.g. looking for peas. I had about three bags of peas because I could never find them! It really didn't take long to do either.

If your children have picked lunch do two or three days at the same time. Takes a few mins more to do it but saves having to do it the two or three evenings. I’ve invested in extra Tupperware to do this (which I loved buying!).

(Sorry for typos - trying to feed a squirming baby at same time)

@FrancesFlute I’ve done that too - top drawer of the freezer is ready meals/things I’ve batch cooked. Second drawer is raw meat/fish, 3rd drawer is vegetables and 4th drawer is ingredients - frozen herbs, leftover wine, lemons, frozen chillies etc

If you're storing left over wine you need to be more organised on a Saturday night Jonty

Loving the organisation of freezer drawers to meat etc. The bottom of our freezer is drawers but the top is shelves. Does anyone have suggestions for the shelves. They end up with items shoved in and then we can never find anything and when we start looking it all falls out!

@mumoftwodc can you get some plastic boxes for the shelves so they pull in and out like drawers? Ikea have loads of sizes, also Wilko.

I'm sitting here reading this thread. When I really should be doing something else.

Just realised I actually have a tip! I use 'clean house' app which you can set every household chore on, and how many days you want to do them on - ie I've set a reminder for every 7 days to do the bedsheets. So for today all my jobs come up and I can tick them off! My favourite app!

I like the sound of that app wind

@NotPennysBoat I'll have a look in wilko tomorrow when I'm in town. Hopefully they'll have something suitable. I've done an inventory and have sorted by category today.

Use ad breaks as a way to manage your evening.

Every time there's an ad break, get up and spend 3m doing practical tasks to sort out the rest of the week. Order something, wash something up, tidy something, put out clothes for the next day etc.

Use every ad break over an evening and you gain about 40m of doing time which you barely notice.

thecat great one ... I've recently started doing it and you're right, if feels like you've gained some time back!

I know this isn't strictly a recipe share thread but tonight I tried a new vegan recipe (family of staunch carnivores here!) and it got full marks from every one! I was gob smacked

www.lazycatkitchen.com/vegan-pasta-alla-bolognese/

Aaaggghh! Sorry don't know how to do clicky link!

So anyway the family were v skeptical but enjoyed it. It contains walnuts so apologies for those allergic.

I actually enjoyed cooking it - I don't like using tofu, Quorn or other "meat" subs so it appealed to me. The balsamic, nuts and lentils give it a lovely depth and richness and looks almost like a meat ragu. We had it with gnocchi (not vegan!) and shed loads of cheese.

I'll def cook it again I just need to find a better alternative to my mini blender. The recipe calls for a pestle and mortar which I don't have and don't necessarily want to buy but the blades in my blender can't catch all the nuts - it wasn't so bad, felt more rustic I suppose!

That's two nearly vegan dinners that we'll eat again ... need to find a new one for next week!

So it turns out my link was clicky!

Just to say I've been using the small clear cases in my handbag & have managed a whole week without random shite collecting in the bottom of my bag.

Too tired to post ideas tonight but really like all the stuff I’ve read! Back soon to add and read more 😊

Family Calendar is coming into its own this week! Scout calendar home tonight. All dates added to FC. All birthdays added. Orthodontist, dentist, optician, school dates, open nights, hobbies etc all added. Feels great to have it all written on already. Finances organised last night with standing orders going all over the place for various savings. Freezer shelves sorted into breads and pizzas- veg and potato foods- meat- batch cooked and ready meals. Grocery shopping was very small this week due to a full and organised freezer. Sorted my laundry room to make laundry process far more efficient. Added shelves beside machine for powder/softener etc. Moved iron in there. Bought a table top ironing board to iron straight out of drier or washing machine. Hangs on back of the door. Added plastic drawers for each family members folded laundry. Feeling really good to be on top of things.

Great thread - some ingenious ideas!
Re: greeting cards - I get mine from charity shops, Scope is my nearest and they have a good selection and are cheap so I often buy a bunch at once.
Receipts - does anyone else use Receipt Hog? You scan all receipts in the app and then get points for them - points can be converted into actual money! And it means you have a digital copy of your receipts.
I need to do better meal planning so will try the tips here.

Elbob try also Shoppix, ZIPZERO and HuYu for scanning receipts.

I am on receipt hog but I didn’t use it for ages and then forgot my login details. For some reason I’m not getting the password reset emails and when I tried to register from a new email they said they weren’t taking new accounts now.

@helpneedshoes glad the plastic cases are working I love them!
This week I’ve created myself a proper ‘morning routine’ in my phone calendar, and added each item in the routine as a recurring meeting. Some days things need to be at different times so I’ve adjusted accordingly, but it basically means. That between 6am and 9am I can do a 45minute workout, get my son ready for school and drop him off, pick up dog poos on the garden, have breakfast and get dressed and do 30 minutes housework, all without feeling stressed - I just do the next thing the calendar pops up and tells me to do!

One I've never achieved:

My aunt buys all of her cards for the year in January (after updating her address book for deaths/births). She writes them all on a rainy day in January, and puts on a post it with the date of sending on, and files them in order.