Got kids at home? Have you ever heard them say "What's for dinner?" or "We're having WHAT again?" If you've grown tired of trying to plan nutritious meals your children will actually eat (and perhaps enjoy), put THEM to work planning the meals. From age five or so, they are old enough to contribute to meal planning.
So, once a week, perhaps on Saturday morning, have each member of the family -- adults and children -- choose a night that suits her/his schedule of activities. For that night, the assigned meal planner creates a dinner menu, then adds the required ingredients to the week's grocery list. You may want to retain shopping duties for efficiency's sake.
Establish ground rules for the effort:
Include clean-up in the weekly duties as well, so you aren't stuck with a pile of pots, pans and plates at the end of each evening!
Whatever their ages, children benefit from forming habits that make life easier as they resume school routines for another year. Use these tips to organize yourself and your children.
1. Label everything: clothing, shoes, backpacks, lunch bags/boxes, books, electronics. It should not be difficult to find your child’s identification on anything.
2. Make copies of each child’s emergency contact information, including family names and phone numbers, doctors’ numbers, and medication names, dosages, and frequency. Have these copies ready to add to each child’s school records.
3. Help your children organize papers daily that you need to see. Use three file trays, baskets, or folders for “Please sign” (for papers that need to be returned to school), “Please read” (for notices of school activities and events), and “Please keep” (for papers, artwork or projects to consider keeping). Have children empty their backpacks and sort through their paperwork each day after school to organize themselves for homework and the next day at school.
4. Post a family calendar in the kitchen, preferably one that can wipe clean. Have each family member choose a different color marker (parents, too!) and post individual, family, and school events. At least once each week, review the calendar to anticipate upcoming events and look for potential conflicts. On a separate to-do list posted nearby, list items needed for upcoming events: materials, food, equipment, etc.
5. Choose what to “archive.” Once a month, review with the children the items from the “Please keep” file. Help them select what to keep long-term, and move those items to an archival storage box or file. Once a year on each child’s birthday, pull out the archive to help them see what they have accomplished since the last birthday.
With every mail delivery, more paper lands in our homes and offices. Many people feel obliged to open and review every piece of mail, flip through every catalog, read every flyer. This takes time, and for most of us, time is our most precious possession. What are some ways to streamline the keep-sort-toss process and keep the volume of mail -- and waste of time -- minimal?
A few years ago, I decided to take charge of my mail, both in the office and at home. Once a day, I pull the mail items out of my office box and take them all to sort near the trash can. I do a quick sort, hanging on to the items I'll carry to my office and immediately throwing out (often unopened) items I don't need. I don't return to my office with anything that I won't be reading or taking action on.
After my home mail delivery, I take the pile to my kitchen and do the sort near the trash can and recycling bin. Same idea: make a pile of items to keep or requiring action, throw unwanted items into the trash or recycling bin.