A whole new world... of organisation

Being that this is a new year and as most people see it, a fresh start I am taking this as my opportunity to be more organised again.  Just to be clear, this is not a resolution as I used to be very organised before my son and this will not get broken like resolutions do so there.  I vowed at the end of last year that I would never lose track of everything again like I did 2015.  It flew so out of control that I didn't manage to organise anything, except for my son's birthday.  It still irks me that I almost missed Christmas card giving.  I have also literally just given our last Christmas present (which I had to make in the new year) as I wasn't organised enough to arrange it before December.  Grrrr.

That behind me, I am armed with a list of things I need to do and achieve this year.  I will make sure nothing slips behind like it did last year and if it starts happening I will be asking for help! Especially as my husband has proved he is quite handy with the finishing touches of cake and biscuit decorating! 

This year so far, I have firstly started compiling a list of presents for people.  Whenever I see something in a newsletter or whatever that I think they will love, it gets added to the list.  I used to pride myself on always being able to give people a unique present they have loved but as of late I have been off my game and I need to find said game again.  I'm pretty excited about some of the things I have added to the list and I can't wait for their birthdays/Christmas to finally be able to get them.  This whole present list idea also helps me to budget so as not to overload myself come December payday. 

Secondly, I have already prepared the backdrop to this year's Christmas card... early I know but the card I had to send out last year was less than perfect (not my son's fault although he's not the most patient model in the world) and this year I need time to plan and edit the final image.  No I will not be photoshopping my son per se, but it does require photoshop and yet another costume.  That is another story for another time... like December.  2015 has taught me to be less ambitious but not less creative.  Again, so excited in advance that this is already sorted and I can't wait for October to get it started!

Third and finally, I have started meal planning.  It was something I had suggested to my husband as our shopping bill seems to have increased all of a sudden and our son isn't a big eater so it can't be him.  I have seen many example recipes and plans so I thought I would get in on it.  Our shop for this week has cost us £20, we had some of the ingredients already like herbs and garlic etc but this is a major breakthrough and hopefully will save us some serious money in the long run.  This also helps to make sure that not only are we eating properly but also that I'm not spending hours on the dinner and I have intentionally only put quick food on the list.  A lot of the money saving plans suggest a roast dinner on the Sunday and then using the leftovers to create another meal in the week which I have done with Monday (to coincide with me being out for the evening and my husband liking Mexican food).  All of the meals have hidden or added veg to make sure we're getting our fill and I have to say sweet potato wedges are amazing! I try to save myself some time where I can and also to reduce wastage by buying mostly frozen fish and frozen pre-prepared vegetables.  This week a lot of the vegetables have been fresh but I feel better knowing I have frozen chopped stuff just in case.  Dinner so far has taken me less than an hour each day but my working days will be the true test as I'm usually too tired to want to cook anything. 

My aim is to eventually start incorporating slow cooker meals and I have already been trawling the internet for new but quick recipes so I'm not cooking the same old things.  I have never made cottage pie before so that is my test for this week and the stuffed aubergines comes from here: http://goodfood.uktv.co.uk/recipe/stuffed-aubergines/
I am also trying to incorporate a meat free day for our health and two fish days as per our government's suggestion.  These in turn will make the shop cheaper as frozen fish and vegetables cost so much less than meat (obviously I have failed on the fish part this week - unless we have fish and chips on Saturday). 

Here is this week's board:

Some other things I have managed to do:

• Sort and file photos - also copy and compress a batch to send to our relatives of my son's first birthday (we took 250 photos)! I have also backed them up on a hard drive I asked for for Christmas so they're now in three places... just in case.
• Cut down half of a tree in the garden and pick up the things strewn across our lawn from the many storms we seem to be having at the moment 
• Ironing - three weeks or possibly more old 
• Buy this and next month's birthday and Valentines' Day cards
• Finish and get printed my son's first year album
• Calendars for all of the grandparents and my sister 
• Sort out my personal email inbox which has so many emails I didn't need anymore

And it is only January.  Bring on the rest of the year, I will win 2016!  

~AB~