Here are some of our bags and their contents:
1. Daycare Bag
Change of clothes, wipes, extra pull-ups, snowpants, hat and mitts in the winter.
Last Friday, the Kid and Mr. Organized left our Daycare bag on an east boung GO train from Union Station. (If anyone has found a black bag with this stuff in it, let me know!) So we’ve had to recreate this bag for the Kid’s trips to nursery school and JK.
2. Swimming Bag
Towels, swimsuit, wipes, lotion, extra pull-ups, plastic bags.
After each swimming lesson, we wash the towels and swimsuits and then load it back up for the following week.
3. Restaurant Bag
Sticker books, crayons, colouring book, mini-Munsch books, wipes, a few Hot Wheels (trucks and ones with trailers that can tow sugar and jam packets).
Everything we need to keep the Kid occupied in a restaurant situation and enough to share if we are going out with friends or his cousins.
4. Snack Bag
Applesauce, granola bar, raisins, spelt ginger cookies, water bottle.
This is really a sub-bag that can be easily tossed into any of the other bags – or just grabbed on its own.
4. “To Return” Bag
Recently this bag has held some clothes that were borrowed from a friend, a bottle of cleanser that needs to go back to Canadian Tire, a pie plate that belongs to my Mother-in-Law, and batteries to be recycled the next time we go to Ikea.
We always have things that need to go back to someone or to some store. We keep them consolidated in a single bag that hangs by the door.
Why don’t you put together a new bag this week that will save you time on nights when you are running late for karate class or heading out for family fun?
It is January, there’s snow everywhere and we have landed in our new house with a completely empty freezer. Time to make some hearty meals for wintry nights and stock up again.
If you make a few meals this week that can easily be double batched and that freeze well, you can tuck away some extra dinners for those crazy days when you just don’t have time to cook.
For me, one of the easiest ways to do this is to use my slow cooker. I love throwing in some ingredients in the morning and having dinner cook all day while I am working. It is the ultimate in multi-tasking!
Today I made a double batch of my family’s favourite chili. It is based upon a great recipe from former Mummy Eats blogger Theresa Albert for Turkey, Sweet Potato and Bean Chili. But rather than cooking it on the stovetop, I use the slow cooker. We enjoyed it for dinner and now I have a container for the freezer and lunches for my husband and for me sitting in the fridge for tomorrow.
On deck for later this week:
• Pulled Pork Sandwiches
We love this recipe and the Pulled Pork freezes really well.
• Nachos
I make a ground beef mixture to top the nachos and can freeze this topping. (And another tip: I buy large bags of shredded cheese and freeze them, too. Then we just use it directly from the freezer as we need it.)
• Vegetable Soup
I don’t have a recipe in mind for this one yet but the Kid has requested it. So I’ll be on the hunt for something tasty that I can make a huge batch of in the slow cooker this weekend.
Looking for something to organize this week? I suggest going through some of your clothes and find things that can be tossed or donated. But keep it simple…
Choose one dresser drawer. Or one shelf in a closet. Whether it be your clothes or your kid’s, just take 5-10 minutes to go through that drawer or shelf and pull out items that:
1. Don’t fit anymore
2. Aren’t worn anymore
3. Are worn out
Toss them in a basket. If you can find just a few minutes each day to do this, by the end of the week you’ll have a basket full of things to bring to Goodwill.
This week I am doing this and more… because I am getting ready to move in just a few days. The more I can purge now, the less we have to pack and move!
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