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!

Fuck me MN I had put cards in my basket and by the time I got to checkout 2 were sold out! You must all have been very busy today!

On whistlefish I mean.

@wibdib I asked about this, will check it out. Thank you!

These are all great.

Please may I asked if anyone can recommend a meal planning app for iOS ?

Just placemarking to have a good read through tomorrow

Great idea about the cards - I have bought cards for the year on Funky Pigeon. £22 for 26 cards, although that is only because they have a half price sale on at the moment.

I’ve just bought 46 cards for £41 on Whistlefish, that’s £80 cheaper than they would normally cost me, plus the time saved!
P.s. Whistlefish is selling out of cards left right and centre - an MN wipeout!!!

I’ve also just downloaded a meal planning app, but I’m not going to recommend it as the shopping list part is pants and doesn’t organise things into categories. Still hunting for my ideal app...

I can't quite remember now if it was on this thread but I read somewhere recently about using up things before you buy replacements - even if what you're using up isn't quite the same but can do the job e.g. different shampoo, not-your-favourite-food etc.

I've been inspired to

1. actually use up food in the freezer (I batch cook and freeze then leave half of it! Partway there I suppose)
2. not buy any new exfoliator for a while...

I've just meal planned for next week and thought "what do I have in and what simple meals can I make" - the food list is so much smaller than usual and I love it!

Picking up lots of other things here too so thank you!

Oh and definitely not buy any new ice cream for a while too oops

Really useful thread. I’d really like to meal plan better but find it so hard to feed my family with 2 dc’s who like simple food and don’t like the same as each other! Me & DH like food and don’t really want pasta or fishfingers every night! Any tips please? Also what day to people do their main weekly shop? I’m thinking of doing it online but not sure when best time would be ie Friday for the weekend meals or Sun/Mon for week’s meals.

Little miss - I think day of the week depends on whether you are doing packed lunches. I get mine mon or tues to have fresh sandwich stuff. If I got to the shop I go Sunday or Monday night.

Meal planning is really hard. I try and do it on a rolling two week plan with some change ups. I work it around days kids have hot meals at school vs packed lunch. And around clubs too.

I find 'advertising' the weeks Menu in the kitchen better for the kids as they like to know what's on and could be ready for it in advance if that makes sense. Creates less last minute moans about not fancying xyz meal.

Thank you CadburyFlake that’s a good idea. When asked currently what’s for tea I say ‘surprise’ otherwise I know they’ll be making some
comment about it until
it’s ready!

Ah surprise is a great answer. I will give that a go when I've not got w labelled menu to view !

@Littlemiss74 one of my DC loves food and will try anything we eat, one is a terrible eater who would be happy with crackers and butter most of the time

I'm vegetarian, DP loves meat but should only have white meat although complains bitterly about it, he also wants to eat dairy and carb free some of the time and then moans when I cannot instantly change any menu to his requirements.

So frustrating!!

Iceland are great if you ever need a last minute online shop - they don't have a vast range of branded products but I order eggs, potatoes, milk, yogurt, cheese etc etc from them and can easily get over the £35 minimum spend. I also go to Aldi or Asda for a wider range of veg and some reduced items! We used to have a small local market which was great for fruit & veg but it seems to have given up

I'm going to try and build up a "library" of easy, quick and fresh dinners, say 3 weeks worth and meal plan with them maybe switching to a new selection each season. I like to meal plan but I don't want to have too ridged a plan so I'm hoping a three week circuit will stop the monotony!

Each week we tend to have a quick pasta and tomato sauce on a busy evening (make a huge vat, portion and freeze), a "junk food tea" like oven fish and chips and a jacket spud tea using those small portions of previously cooked and frozen curry etc. I then do a roast chicken probably alternate weeks and use left over meat for a stir fry or pie (Joe Wicks one is easy, delicious and you can put shed loads of veg in too).

My mission this week is to find 6 good veggie recipes so we can have 2/3 of those a week (tried a few Jamie ones from his new book, they were all awful. HUGELY disappointing ). Last night we had a BBC Good Food recipe for Creamy BroccoliGnocchi. Delicious, quick and easy.

Cozi is a brilliant app.

It lets you save recipes you find online, out together a meal plan and then it manes a shopping list you can organise by section of store

It also syncs calendars and to do lists

Sorry if someone’s already said this, but if you type ‘notelets’ into the search field on Whistlefish it brings up packs of cards which work out cheaper than buying the individual ones.

Whistlefish are lovely cards, but if your standards aren’t quite as high and want bargains then The Works are currently doing 20 for £1 and Card factory are doing 10 for £1. Perfect for little kids party cards. Does involve living near a branch and going in though! Also, lots of charity shops do good quality cards for £1 each and it’s for a good cause - win, win.

I ordered from Whistlefish because I wanted to do it there and then, not wait until I was next at the shops otherwise I’d have used The Works or Card Factory.

I've just bought a whiteboard for the kitchen wall, like the ones they have in schools. It will house the family planner calendar, letters that are needed (appointments for lo, invitations etc), our skeleton shopping list, monthly meal plan and then space for us to jot down anything that needs it.

I was thinking of setting up a standing order for a make up box. I'm a bit beauty obsessed and think it would save money each week as I tend to have a binge spend in Superdrug, far too often

Sorry haven't RTFT but wanted to mention M&S and Next for nice cards, lots for £1-£2. Not as cheap as Card Factory (which I use for all kids friends), but much nicer for the grown ups IMO!

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz that's really disappointing about Jamie! Not a massive fan of his empire but did like the 5 Ingredients book and the Ministry of Food one. I haven't looked at the Jack Monroe Vegan(ish) cookbook yet but the earlier books are really good and have quite a few veggie recipes in.

Omg love this kind of thread so place marking to catch up later but also love the online white board thing and the postcards instead of actual cards and the whistle card people