Inventory

Anyone who knows me knows that I inventory just about everything. It helps so I don't buy junk every month. It is so I don't forget what I have on hand.
Anyone who knows me also knows I have a bit of OCD...just a bit. So I inventory frequently. It is usually monthly before I do my big shopping trip.
How?
I grab a notebook:
Inventory 8/28/2012 is the top of the page.
I then go from left to right.
My very left thing is my freezer in the laundry room. I try to physically go through each area so I know for sure what is in there.
So example:
LR Freezer:
5 quarts carrots diced and shredded

10 lb. ground beef

2 family packs boneless pork ribs

4 family size ground pork sausage

4 - 4 lb bags chicken breast 3

16 oz peas

16 oz. chopped broccoli

16 oz corn

12 corn cobs
2 lbs. shredded cheddar

Pantry: 

jello

7 pectin

2 lb choc chips

Quick Fix cupboard:

2 rice a roni

2 Cream of Chicken soup

1 bear creek soup

2 Hamburger Helper (HH) Lasagne

2 HH Chzy Ench (Enchilada)

Pasta/Grains cupboard:

5 lb. brown rice 4 lb

2 boxes manicotti

3 - 12 oz spaghetti

2 lb rigatoni

2 lb elbow mac

Cereal cupboard:

........

 You get the idea. 

Next you make meals out of your inventory.
Like:
Broccoli-Chicken casserole which uses: Rice, broccoli, chicken, cheese, cream of ____soup. If I meal plan to use all of an ingredient, I cross it off. If I use some of it I usually place a check mark next to the number so I know how many meals are going to use that particular ingredient.
Do this with as many items as you can.

What I do when I make my menu:
Menu 2/28/2012

Broccoli-Chicken casserole: (Rice, broccoli, chicken, cheese, cream of ___ soup.)
Spaghetti and Meatballs: (Spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce, meatballs)
I am unable to circle on here, so pretend the pasta sauce and meatballs are circled. That means I need to buy some to make that meal.
This allows for you to see what meal each ingredient is in.
Say I am doing 5 meals that could use sour cream. I don't necessarily need 5 tubs of sour cream. I probably only need 3.

I hope none of this is confusing. I will scan my inventory and meal plan if you want to actually see it in writing.
I have been doing this for several years and it has kept us in the budget for a long time.
When you see deals go on for things you use frequently like chicken or sausage, get a few. They can be frozen and incorporated into next month's meal plan if needed.
I do mine by the month, but you can do it however often you want. 

I missed a couple months recently and regret it. I have about 7 huge bags of shredded cheese (some Italian blend and some cheddar) and about 50 lbs of strawberries. We love strawberries but I was actually shocked to see how many we have. I suppose I will be making some strawberry cake and strawberry nog. I can also turn it into strawberry freezer jam (my fave!). 

Any questions?

Coming soon:
Keeping your freezer organized!

Arrivederci!
"Mom"

UPDATE:
Here are some pictures of my inventory sheet...just in case I was too confusing.

 

Couponing

As I mentioned before, I am not much of a couponer. I got to do some learning when I was in Idaho at my aunt's house. I do some couponing, but I don't save nearly as much as she does.

Erin's Eclectic Energies shows how to coupon, buy savvy, garden and use what you garden.
Saying au revior for today,

"Mom"

Hello all!

 Last night and today I am getting the kids clothes ready for school. I am sorting them to see what is school wear and what fits them.
Of course this means everyone has to try everything on. (Everything that doesn't have holes and massive stains anyway.
So, once they have tried them on and I see if they fit, they get marked so we know whose clothes are whose after the next time they are laundered.

 Here I had it marked for my eldest, Jarod. Then William (my second son, but very small in stature) received them. So I added a line. I suppose I forgot to put the second line on the top tag. I'll fill that in later.

 Don't forget! I have girls too! For them I didn't want to just add another line because they are girls. I figured they are in a class of their own. So I did theirs diagonally. The left line of the "teepee" for my eldest.

 Then once she has outgrown it, add the right side of the teepee for my second daughter. If I were to have a third daughter, I would complete the triangle or make it an "A"...but I'm not. But I know many families who have 3 daughters or more. You can always add another line somewhere to signify another.

 When you add another mark, darken over the first one so that the entire mark is fresh. Otherwise you will be confused at times.

 This series of lines has faded and that is sometimes a good thing when I have my 3rd son, Elijah grow out of something my 2nd son will fit in. (Remember the size differences?) This goes from a 3 line mark to a 2 line mark.

 This is still going to be Elijah's though, so we'll just make it 3 lines again.

Now that they are marked, they are sorted into their baskets so they can put them away. The school-worthy clothes are put into bags and the kids will try them on later. At that point you can make revisions to your marks.

I used to do it with their socks when they wore 3 different sizes (not including the girls' or parents' socks). I don't any more because I buy socks with green lines or "Hanes" for my 2nd and 3rd sons (my twins that were born 18 1/2 months apart) and blue lines or "Hanes" for my 11 1/2 yr old.
For the moment, my girls are the same size. 

I will show you later how I attempt to (and fairly successfully) keep them together.

Thanks for "surfing" in!
See you soon,
"Mom"

Mom's Bag of Tricks

I am a mother of 5 beautiful children. I have 3 sons and 2 daughters. In that order. My eldest is 11 1/2 going on 21. My youngest is 2.

As you can imagine, (or if you are good at division) my kids are really close together in age. What's worse is my 2nd son is actually 2" smaller than my 3rd son. They don't have the same taste in clothing but wear almost the same size.

My girls are almost as bad. My 4 year old wears size 3 T (barely) but I try to get her into size 4 T because my 2 year old is wearing 2 T but 3 T is a better fit.

How do I keep up with laundry? I don't!

But I do have a few tricks that help me keep them sorted.

In this blog I will share tips and tricks that I have figured out over the years.

Laundry, dishes, bedrooms, storage, and much more will be shown and discussed. Some of them you may have seen elsewhere (I try to have a style all my own). If I actually use anything, any ideas from anywhere, I will do my best to cite those.

I love to cook...ok. That is a lie. But when I do cook (lol) I am pretty good at it. I will share tried and true recipes and ideas that are family favorites.

Of course, everyone loves to have money, right?

I am not an extreme couponer...heck I am not much of a couponer at all, but I will show you how you can stretch your $ in a sensible way.

Bills? I have a few tricks up my sleeve there too. (Sorry, I can't pay any for you.)

All will be coming in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!

Til next time,

Mom (tee hee!)