Category: Planning

One Book July: Final Thoughts

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I’m back! I didn’t blog about One Book July last week as I felt that I didn’t have anything to really elaborate on. My post would’ve been more photos than written content, and while that’s great, it just seemed like a pointless post. This week, however,  I do have a few things to comment on. I will also wrap up my thoughts on how my One Book July experience went.

I am still really enjoying my A5 rings set-up. I still haven’t really been using my B6 as much as I thought I would, but next week my kids are back in school, so that will more than likely be changing. I have made some changes to my A5 planner since my last blog post, but nothing too drastic.

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One Book July: Week 2

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So, I have survived week 2! Not that I struggled with my planner. Life happened this week and threw us a HUGE curve ball – why yes.. that was a baseball pun – that we didn’t see coming and shook our week up just a little. My planner was still functioning, as it should, and I found that tasks and due dates were easily met.

Last week I mentioned that I needed to stop using the boxes on the weekly spread as a check list. Well I did that this week, and it was MUCH easier to see the important information I needed for shop business this week. I did also include a couple of meal planning stickers to this week’s spread, as I needed to make sure I had certain things started, or remembered what we were having for dinner that day so I could prep ahead.

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One Book July: Week 1

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One week down for One Book July and I can’t say I hate my new planner! I’m actually going to report that my new set-up, might actually be working out! I will admit that I did not use the full system, my B6 is not an identical copy this week, as I had already pre-planned out this week in my old weekly insert, so I finished out that week. However, the set-up in my A5 ring planner worked out well.

I am really glad that I planned out what I wanted from my planner before starting One Book July this month. I think that’s had a lot to do with my success so far. The ability to see everything we had going on this week – big or small – on one page has been great. I have learnt a bit along the way, and I’ll discuss that below.

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One Book July: Getting Prepared

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Now that I’ve decided to participate in One Book July and really thought about my reason why, I now need to set up my planner system.  Of course I could just stay with what I am currently planning in, a B6 traveler’s notebook and an Erin Condren hourly life planner. But to be honest, the Erin Condren planner isn’t working for me. Over the course of the past month I have been planner hopping trying to find something that works for me; stumbling upon One Book July, when I did, was perfect timing!

I have made the decision to use a Webster’s Pages A5 ring bound planner, as my main planner, and my B6 Foxy Fix Boss Babe Kate travelers notebook as the books that will hold my system. I know what you’re thinking: but wait.. that’s 2 planners! And it is, but I’m planning on using one system; not just one book. The system will be one set of inserts, that are sized to fit both planners, so that I have an identical set-up in both planners. That’s it, nothing fancy; as I need to figure out what works for me. I think I have fallen into the “ooh look at this” and then I don’t know how to use it. This time I chose inserts based upon my needs, not how pretty someone else made them on Instagram.

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One Book July: My Reason Why

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I just stumbled upon “One Book July” last week and since then the whole idea has been stuck in my head and has really made me look at the way I plan. What is One Book July? It’s the idea that you use one planner or system and simplify the way you plan. I’ve watched the video that explains it all and it seems very open to interpretation. There are no rules. There are guidelines, which means you make this work for you. This isn’t about you trying to fit into a mold and do this only one way. The main focus behind the challenge – I’m not sure I see it as a challenge, as I typically only plan in one planner; is you’re only to use one planner/notebook/journal for the month of July. There are some that use one planner and one pen for the month; which is great, if that’s the route you want to go. After watching the video I think the entire concept is up for interpretation.

It seems as though One Book July is all about simplifying your planner/planning style. Whether that means just one planner or bullet journal for the month, or one book for one specific purpose; it just needs to be simple. I’m not saying don’t use stickers, or plan how you typically plan and just use a pen. That’s not it. Just make it a simple system that will work for you. Be willing to change that simplified planner/planning style if it isn’t working for you during the month. It seems as though One Book July is a time to experiment and find out what works best for you.

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What’s for Dinner? Meal Plan for 6/12

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So.. how’d the Pinterest meal plan go?!? Or did I lose you to Pinterest? We made it through the meal planning process and cooking without getting lost to the abyss! We had some pretty amazing meals and I’m now wanting to go back for a second round of meal planning from Pinterest.

There is no real “theme” to this week’s meal plan. I guess you could say it’s tried and true recipes that we all love with one new one added in for something different. Some of these recipes are requested from the family on a regular basis and some of them I haven’t made in a REALLY long time. There’s at least 2 on this meal plan that are ones I haven’t made in years.

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What’s for dinner? Meal Plan for 5/29

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Happy Memorial Day! I hope you’re having a great 3-day weekend. I would like to thank all members of the armed forces for their service, not just today, but every day. They put their lives on the line for the better of their country – no matter what country they are fighting for – and some have paid the ultimate price for that service. I have many friends, that were or still are active members of the armed forces; my  husband included, and it is an honor to know them. So thank you to everyone who has, or is serving.

Besides being Memorial Day, today starts our first official week of summer break! I feel as though the past few months have just flown by and I’m not really sure what to do with myself now that everything has either ended or slowed down. This week the menu is going to reflect the slower pace of life around here. Easy recipes that either myself, Hubs or the kids can make in little to no time. I just want to sit back and relax (and read) this week and I don’t really want to be in the kitchen for too long, but I also don’t want to eat out every night either.

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What’s for Dinner? Meal Plan for 5/22

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So last week I tried to cook every meal on a sheet-pan, we have not tried every recipe I had on the meal plan as life got in the way, but the ones we did make, were AMAZING! The kids and hubs gave rave reviews on the dinners we did make and honestly they were THAT good.

This week’s meal plan isn’t nearly as exciting as all sheet-pan meals, but there are 2 new ones and lots of old favorites. With this being our last week of school, my kids are done with this school year on Wednesday, I wanted to make recipes that I know are pretty easy to make or ones that I haven’t made in a REALLY long time. There’ are several that I don’t think we’ve had in at least a year!

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What’s for Dinner? Meal Plan for 5/15

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Sheet-pan meals where have they been all of my cooking life?!? I have recently tried a few of these one pan wonders and the family is just loving them. They are SO easy to prep and just pop into the oven. So this week I thought I would go through my recipe board on Pinterest and make a whole week’s meal plan from them. I have been pinning these recipes like crazy. I’m all about quick and easy these days, so why not try a few of these recipes while we’re still busy with school, sports and band and see how practical they really are? Well, that’s what I’m doing this week!

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What’s for Dinner? Meal Plan for 5/8

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Since the past few weeks have been crazy and then we have another couple of crazy weeks, this week seems as though it wants to take it easy on us *fingers crossed that’s how it pans out*. It’s only Monday now, so things could change drastically between now and Sunday. This week’s meal plan is reflective of us not having 1,001 things to do in the evenings. I’m going to be cooking at least 3 nights this week from scratch instead of having dinner pre-prepped or quick fix meals. There are 2 slow-cooker uses this week – one to bake potatoes and one to cook dinner but guess what? those are the night’s we’re out late because of band or baseball.

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