TCO Menu Planning Checklists!
NEW FREE CHECKLISTS FOR MEAL PLANNING! 
We have said it in the Meal Planning Podcast and we’ll say it again.. One of the best ways to eliminate the “What’s for Dinner?” stress during the 4 o’clock hour is to plan! It takes a little time at the beginning, but once it’s done, it saves you time, stress, and money!
That’s right, even money! If you plan your meals, you will only buy what you need to make the meal… No more food going to waste in the refrigerator!
TCO is very excited to bring you Three New Forms you can get for Free from our Resources page!
Master List of Meals – What I love most about this checklist, is it does the thinking for you! You add your favorite family main dishes, side dishes, fruits & vegetables, and desserts. When you start to plan for your week, you can reference back to this sheet and decide what to make. It listed in a way where you can mix and match. It’s a great reminder without having to think about what your family likes.
Weekly Menu Planner- This is the checklist that will be hanging on our bulletin board every week! It will have what we are having for dinner for each day with what sides, etc. Remember when planning your menu to take into account your schedule. Who has practice or meetings and when? How much time do you have to cook that day etc….
Grocery Checklist- This will also be a staple in the house! The grocery list! When you find you are out of something, quickly grab your sheet and write it down in the category it belongs! Make sure to not leave any ingredients out from the menu’s you just planned!
These are all great forms and can be used together as a package or used separately! Print off several Weekly Menu Planners at one time, and you can plan for more than just one week at a time, or maybe you prefer to go week by week… Just having a plan in writing will eliminate the stress and time you may be wasting!
We always want feedback.. tell us if you love the forms or let us know if they need improvement! We want to know!
To print out these forms and others like our Daily Checklist or Vacation Checklist, please visit the Resource Page on the Website.
Happy Organizing!
Packing School Lunches!
Organized.com Lunch Box!
To continue the theme of Meal Planning from our podcast on Monday, I wanted to share with you some tips and ideas in preparing and planning school lunches. I have come across some great products and websites I wanted to share!
Goodbyn.com
Tip#1 – Have a bin ready to go for all your lunch ingredients! I have one bin that includes; bread, peanut butter, and snacks just designated for the school lunch. This bin is so handy, instead of grabbing all the ingredients and wasting time, you just have to grab the bin with everything in it, make the lunch and place back into the pantry until next time!
Tip#2 - Go green with your lunch box! There are wonderful products out there to use in the lunch box, get rid of the plastic sandwich bags and go green… Have a few containers on hand, so you are not having to do the dishes everyday. Pete Wright from Taking Control, The Home Organizing Podcast highly suggests Goodbyn.com. This product looks great! Instead of having a lot of different pieces, you have one box, one lid! Check it out!
Tip#3 - Have a drop off for the lunch box! Just like the backpack, make sure your kids know where to drop off the lunch box! It saves time in the morning looking for it and then finding old food! Yuck! It’s happened to us and it’s not fun! Make sure they drop off the box after school, so you have plenty of time to clean it and get it ready for the next morning!
Tip#4 - Explore different recipes and get out of the rut of PB & J! I have found some great websites with different recipe ideas and tips for healthy lunches. It breaks the monotony of the same old, same old stuff! Here are my favorites!
If you have any additional tips that makes your life easier, please share! The more the better!
Happy Organizing!
Ep 18: Meal Planning Success
Is meal planning a source of stress in your family? Do you have trouble coming up with new and clever ideas for great meals that are popular all around your table? This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright share valuable meal planning tips and give you the system you’ll need to make mealtime fun at home!
End of Summer To Do’s!
"Charlie" - The Newest Addition to our Family!
What’s on your list of to do’s before summer ends?
I have a few projects around the house that need to get finished. The school supplies have been bought and as I mentioned in my last post, I am waiting to buy any new school clothes. Overall, I feel pretty organized for the upcoming year. I have systems in place to help with the incoming overflow of school papers and artwork! We will have our family meeting soon to explain the upcoming schedule changes, chores and responsibilities. The calendar and bulletin board are ready to be filled!
The most important item on my “To Do List”….. is to just enjoy these last couple of weeks of summer and live in the present!
I want to appreciate each day I have with my children. I know it’s easy to get wrapped up in the freedom we get when our kids are in school.. I get that… There are definitely pros on the kiddo’s going back to school!
But I must admit my heart is a little heavy!
My children are now reaching an age where their independence is getting stronger and I know as each summer passes, playing with mom and dad is not going to be their top priority! Time goes by so fast, and I just want to sit back and enjoy these last few moments we have this summer!
My to do is list for the rest of the summer is to hear my kids giggle, take a few trips to the park, get ice cream on spur of the moment, maybe have a few more camp out’s in the backyard and teaching them about our new puppy… Yes, we got a new puppy this summer! Charlie! And he has been a great addition and certainly has made this summer one not to forget!
In a couple of weeks, our lives will change and we will begin in a new chapter. I will have a second grader and a pre-k student in the house, both will be involved in sports and other activities, and these moments of just playing in the backyard will quickly be filled with game schedules and recitals.
Which are all great things too…
But for now, I am going to enjoy where we are right now, right at this moment!
Guest Post for The Confident Mom – Letting Go!
This month for my guest blog post for the Confident Mom, I list out a few different questions to get you through the sorting process. These are to guide you along the process especially for those items you really just don’t know what to do about.
An additional tip to add for those “Maybe” items, is to place them into a box for 6 months. If you do not return to the box within the 6 months or even think about the box, give yourself the freedom to let the box go! Put this on your calendar to remind yourself, otherwise it can easily be forgotten. 
In addition to all of the great services, Susan Heid provides with the Confident Mom, don’t forget the Summer Survival Calendar! Yes, we are closing in on summer, but these activities are good all year around! For only $7.00, you have access to different websites with great activities, recipes and just great fun! Enjoy these last days of summer without worrying about getting bored and what to do next!
Happy Organizing!
One Successful Camping Trip!
Our camping trip was a success! Thanks to our great friends who were so helpful and patient with us! Our kids had a great time and loved every minute of it! We camped at the beach on the Oregon Coast. Every time we make a trip to the beach and I am always reminded of the beautiful country we live in! If you haven’t seen the Oregon Coast, I highly recommend it!
Thank you to everyone for the great camping tips… There were so many of them we took advantage of. Camping is really fun but it is a lot of work to prepare for, no doubt about it!
One thing I learned very quickly is if you like to camp, it’s best to be organized! I plan on creating a camping checklist for the next time we go and save it on my computer, that seems to be the only way to go, in order to make sure you do not forget anything! For this trip I used my friends, which was a great help! Her extra tip was to include a pen and a pad of paper while you are on your trip. As you think of items you forget, wish you had, or items that are broken write it down now rather than later! You eliminate the chance of forgetting. Good idea!
Here are some of the best tips I used and some lessons I learned!
- Plan your menu – although I did not actually prepare and freeze our meals, which by the way I think is a great idea, I did plan and pre-cut everything, and made a list of all the ingredients to make the meals, that way I did not forget anything. It was such a great relief to know exactly what we were eating for each meal and have everything we needed.
- I clearly understand the need for a towel or mat at the opening of the tent. I wasn’t as strict as I should have been with the kids shoes, most of our bedding got very dirty… ooops!
- Bring extra blankets – Especially if you are at the Oregon Coast! It gets chilly at night!
- Wear sunscreen on your face, neck and ears – It was kind of cold so I didn’t think about putting sunscreen on, I was fully covered, except for my face, ears, and neck… and guess what, I woke up Sunday morning, very red!
- One tip was to make sure all of our equipment worked before we left… we did and realized we picked up the wrong tent from my sister, so we had to go back and pick up the right one… I am so glad we checked first!! However, we did not check one of the air mattresses and did get to the campsite and realized there was a hole in the mattress. Our camping neighbors were kind enough to lend us a patch! Thank goodness!
- For the first time, I tried a peanut butter cup on my S’more instead of the standard chocolate bar, I must say… this is a new favorite now!
It helped to go camping for the first time with a family who knew what they were doing! I feel now that we have the first outing behind us, the next time it won’t take so long to pack and prepare. I want to come up with the checklist for our family and keep all the camping gear together in the garage, so it’s easy to load and unload. It was nice to have separate bins for snack food, one for dishes, one for first aide, etc. Having the items categorized and in separate containers made looking for the items easier.
I think with the right system and practice, we can get this down to a science…
We will be going again and probably soon, as my son said on Saturday, “This is the best day ever!”… It makes your heart smile when you know your children are having such a great time and will remember these days for a very long time!
Happy Organizing!
Camping-I Need Your Help!
We Are Going Camping!
One thing you may or may not have noticed is I do not write anything about Camping. I am not a camper. My idea of camping is in a hotel. I would never survive on Survivor! I know this about myself and I am not afraid to admit it! I have lots of questions about camping. I have in my mind it could be a really good time or a complete disaster!
I have a husband and 2 kids who think it’s going to be the best time ever!
So when our friends asked us to join them on their camping trip to the coast, of course the answer had to be YES! I am willing to give camping a try! My sister and her family have done a lot of camping in the past, so we will be borrowing their tent and other camping supplies, which honestly, I am not sure what it all consists of…
This is where I need your help! I may not write about camping but I do write a lot about Organization… I want to learn how to organize myself and my family for this camping trip… So, I am asking you, if you have any great tips, ideas, suggestions, ANYTHING.. Please share… I want to be prepared for this adventure. I plan on using the tips from my readers for a future blog post… Then I can honestly write about Camping!
Share your knowledge!
You can either respond on the comments page or send me an email at nikki@takecontrolorganizing.com! I would love to hear from you!
Thank you! I so much appreciate the help!
Happy Organizing!
Dessert Night!
My son or daughter at any given time: “I’m done eating, can I have a treat?”
Me or my husband at any given time: “Really, if you are still hungry, eat more of your lunch or dinner, you do not need to eat a treat after every meal!”
This is a conversation we have over and over again, almost daily in our house! Both of my kids feel they need to have a small treat after every meal with the exception of breakfast. For some reason, this is not an issue during that time of day! Usually they want a fruit snack or a small piece of candy, whatever happens to be in the snack bin that week. We take full responsibility of this ongoing habit, because up until this week, we have broken down and said, “Yes, go ahead”, as long as they ate what was put in front of them.
We went to a friends house last week, and they had the same issue. I say, had, because they ended it with this easy change in the house rules… Dessert Night!
They have designated Friday and Saturday nights as dessert nights. Every Friday and Saturday after they have eaten their dinner, they get dessert. Every other night, if they are still hungry, they invite them for seconds at the dinner table. But because it’s not a dessert night, they will not be getting dessert. This includes the fruit snack!
Brilliant!
So my family decided to implement this rule and we will see how it goes. So far, when we explained it to them, they just looked at us like we were crazy! They were lucky because we implemented the rule over the weekend, which happened to be the 4th of July, so of course they did get dessert! We’ll see how much they really understood this week!
In addition to the designated dessert nights, I did set up a snack schedule. I realize it’s not fair for the kids to go throughout the day without snacks to refuel. So I set the time frames for when snacks would occur throughout the day… In the morning they will get a snack around 10am and in the afternoon they will get a snack around 2:30pm – 3:00pm, no snacks after 4:00pm.
And what about those times where they are so hungry, they can hardly stand it… Offer them a banana, if they are really hungry, they will eat it…
I’ll keep you posted on how it goes! It should be an interesting week to say the least!
Do you have any creative ways to keep the snacks contained at your house? Please share..I am sure I am not the only one with this issue!!
(Due to the Holiday Weekend, the weekly podcast is not scheduled for Monday, July 5th, we will be back with a new episode next week, July 12th!)
Happy Organizing!
Summer Fun Activities!
The summer fun continues! There are so many great resources on the web to plan for your summer, I keep finding great articles, tips, and ideas to share!
Starting with my guest blog post for The Confident Mom about different Traveling Tips when traveling with kids. If you have ever been on a road trip longer than just a few minutes, you know it’s best to be prepared. If you are flying anywhere, it’s almost a must, if you want to have a stress-free trip getting to your destination! It’s a checklist of sort to help prepare for the journey! The more prepared you are the better! Click here to read article in full.
A new product, which the Confident Mom just came out with this week, is a Summer Calendar, Surviving Summer with the kids. I just bought mine today, and I am very excited to use some of the great ideas she has provided! It is 3 months worth of great activities to do with the kids, links to websites to help do the activities, recipes and more! What a great resource, especially when you get stuck and are not sure what to do for the day! Check it out!
Other resources from the web this week that I thought were a worth a mention:
DLTK- Growing Together - A great website with different activities for the kids, summer coloring pages, summer crafts, summer games and puzzles and more!
Activities For Kids- There is so much on this website, you could spend hours on it.. Great printouts, great tips, recipes, you name it and this website probably has something about it!
If you have anything to share, please do, the more ideas the better! You can never have too many!
Happy Organizing!
End of School = Family Meeting ASAP!
Happy Almost End of the School Year!
In our household we are gearing up for the end of the school year… My son told me today he was so excited to be a second grader! I am so proud of him! My daughter, who has been out of school for sometime now (Preschool always gets out early!) keeps asking me when is the rain going away? I hope soon.. If you don’t know, TCO is located in the Northwest, Eugene, Oregon, and it has been a very wet June so far!
This post really has nothing to do with actual organizing. It is more about organizing my sanity around my children this summer!
I don’t know if it’s all of the excitement of the end of the school year, with all of the field trips and fun activities at school. Plus we have had a surplus of birthday parties within the last 2 weeks! In any case… my kids have been in rare form lately… They seem to have forgotten all of the house rules! And for some reason, they do not like each other very much, a lot of bickering back and forth! After several reminders and a few time outs, they seem to kind of get it…. Kind of!
So my husband and I decided that this weekend, we are holding a Family Meeting! We will be going over all of the house rules and expectations, and the consequences for not following those rules. Our routine as we have known it for the last 9 months is about to change drastically… And I think the best way to get ready is to prepare the kiddo’s of what is to become!
With it being summer, the rules change a little bit, but I think it’s important that we are very clear of what and how those rules change. I want to inform the kids what to look forward to in the summer, let them know what camps they will be going to, our weekend getaways we have planned, but mostly how the every day normal days will look like. Basically cover everything from morning routines to bedtime routines and everything in the middle!
I also want to get their opinions, are there any special activities they would like to do, special play dates they would like to have etc. I think it is very important to listen to our children and their thoughts, just as important as it is for them to listen to me. Our goal is to not make the meeting a complete drag with just mom nagging! I want to make sure it ends in a positive light and everyone is excited about the next three months!
I hope this will curve some of this craziness in our house… I know the bickering won’t go away, and the rules will probably still be forgotten from time to time, they are kids! But at least I know there will be no surprises! And we can work on building some lasting memories!
Happy Organizing!
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