This weekend my mama friends and I met for another Once A Month Cooking. I introduced OAMC a while ago, and even did a followup post with some once a month cooking tips and ideas for you! I truly love this mama cooking team of four and I especially love the fact that my freezer is now stocked with four complete meals.
I’m thankful to have people in my life that inspire me to live better, who are far more organized than me, save lots more money at the supermarket, raise wonderful children, and look amazing doing it.
It’s impossible to do it all well, so I try to make small improvements in our household flow every season. This fall, meal planning and home organization are on the agenda! (speaking of which, if you need an agenda or planner, check out my all time favorite planners here!)
Thoughts on Meal Planning
My one friend got me inspired to start meal planning and initiated our OAMC group. I’m a lousy meal planner, so batch cooking is the best I can do at this point. I’m taking baby steps all the time to get better and improve 
I love these tips and free weekly menu plan printable by Organized Home!
Thoughts on Home Organization
Another area in my life that I’m constantly trying to improve upon is home organization. I recently took a drastic measure and got rid of every toy in our living room. Our house has 3 levels, a finished basement/playroom, the main floor with living room, kitchen, dining room, and upstairs are the bedrooms. Toys are no longer allowed in our main floor. We never had a TV on our main floor, but we had a lot of toys. No more!
The main floor is now our homework area, puzzles, arts and crafts, books, and music. So where did all the toys go? Many will be sold in a garage sale this weekend, some were re-organized and many were simply thrown out or recycled.
My kids who are 2 and 4 are adjusting just fine to the changes. The lack of clutter in the living room is allowing for more family time, more concentrated play time, and more collaboration. I actually enjoy sitting down to help them with puzzles or games now that I’m not sitting in a sea of superheroes!
My next home projects? The master bedroom which will be major, and a big girl room for Angie. It simply never ends!
~Colleen
How are you improving your household this fall?
It never really ends! ahahah so true.
I came across this awesome book called Once-A-Month Cooking, Revised and Expanded: A Proven System for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen and Enjoying Delicious, Homemade Meals Every Day. Thought of you.
Thanks Janelle! I will definitely check it out. I really do want to “spend less time in the kitchen” lol!