Holiday Tips: Create a Thanksgiving Planning Calendar

Thanksgiving is “my holiday.”  It was a great holiday for me to claim because typically there isn’t snow yet to make the trip more stressful for my parents and siblings who live in Chicago.  With the seven-hour drive to Minnesota, they usually arrive a day or two before Thanksgiving and stay through the weekend, so planning for this wonderful occasion also means planning for a houseful of guests for four days.

Each year I reflect on what has and hasn’t worked in the past and try to improve upon previous years’ plans.  The goal for me is to have my house clean, all food and beverages purchased, Wednesday’s dinner in the freezer, some bars and sweets baked for the kids and some type of special game or discussion prompter for Thanksgiving dinner — all ready to go before the first guest arrives on Tuesday evening.

This year I decided to devise a calendar for the week preceding Thanksgiving.  I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s better to clean a few days before so I don’t get too tired; nor do I get as uptight as the house unravels.  I start by breaking down the chores to spread them out from Friday – Tuesday:

• Friday: I start with the areas of the house where the kids will spend most of the time - like the basement - so it doesn’t have to look perfect when everyone gets here — just no cobwebs!  I then move to smaller tasks like dusting my entryway chandelier, wiping down the wood steps of the staircase, washing 1^st floor windows and cleaning out my refrigerator.

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Tags: Holiday Planning, Meal Planning, Thanksgiving Planning

Shopping on a Budget

I’m not a big spender.  I’m not a clothes horse, I rarely eat out, and I’ve set limits on my personal allotment of Caribou Coffee white chocolate mochas.  But I’m struggling with one area of my budget … groceries.  It seems like no matter what I do, the dollars I spend each month on food continue to rise.  So this week I’m looking at ways we can all keep our eyes on our grocery budgets while feeding our families nutritious meals.

One important way to spend less on groceries is to simply use all of the food you buy.  I cringe when I find myself throwing away brown lettuce, soft celery, or leftovers that have been shoved to the back of the fridge and forgotten.  Cutting down on the amount of wasted food is key. Leftovers can be easily packed for lunch at the office or school.  Keep them stored toward the front of the fridge so you remember to eat them before they end up in the trash.  Look at what’s in your fridge and cupboards before you shop and build your weekly menu around ingredients that you already have.  I discovered two half-used containers of wild rice in my cupboard, so my family’s going to be eating wild rice casserole this week.  You can always find a new recipe by going to a favorite web site (epicurious.com or cobornsdelivers.com, for example) and entering an ingredient that you want to use.  You may even end up discovering a new family favorite! › Continue reading

Tags: Budget Grocery Shopping, Meal Planning