THE INK STAIN

Yesterday I finally decided to try to save a hat I didn't like much. It is red and it was stained with ink and every time I came across it I tossed it back into a drawer. Yesterday I washed it. And guess what. The stain didn't wash out. On the contrary. It stained four other items that were in the wash with it. I am slightly annoyed with myself. Seriously. I tried to safe a kid's hat that I didn't like much and that was not worth saving and in the process stained a perfectly good winter jacket,  a piece of ballet stuff, a t-shirt and a little sweater.

Writing about it I am even more annoyed.  I just threw those 4 items into the wash, The hat went into the trash. Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

Here is the culprit:

MEAL PLANS

I must admit, I am not far enough to actually execute this. But 2 friends of mine have and it works for them. A friend of mine, Nicole told me she has a meal plan worked out. She has enough dishes in her repertoire so she can go about 4 weeks without having to eat anything twice. (Wow, the lady is awesome!) She usually plans for a week. Writes down what she wants to cook and than plans her shopping list accordingly. She only buys what she needs for these meals. She says she will not necessarily cook on Monday what she wrote down for Monday she might be in the mood for Thursday's meal, but that is okay because she has several dishes to chose from, and nows she has all ingredients at home.

This means she does NOT

•  waste her time anymore doing quick trips to the store because she is out of something she needs for dinner. 
• spend hours in agony trying to come up with some plan for dinner with the stuff that's in her fridge
• buy random things that disappear in the fridge and pass their expiration date without ever getting used

Sounds like a win-win-win! to me!

So Nicole told me about it, and I shared it with a few women during a workshop I held on saving money and getting a grip on your finances. A friend of mine who attended it said:"That sounds good. I'll give it a try." A few weeks later she told me just how awesome it went. She said on Sunday night every family member gets to make a meal request for the week. (As there are 6 in the household it works rather well.) Monday morning she does her shopping. (She loves only having to go once a week.) She said not only are shopping and cooking easier, but she said because she doesn't just randomly throw stuff into her cart that looks good at the moment and gets tossed later, she saves between 10-20 a week. Not too bad, don't you think? That's 500-1000 a year. I know. Now you want to try it, too. Go ahead. My advice is free! ;) All of a sudden I am even more excited about executing the meal plan I have for this week!