Happy New Year!

As many of you know, I am kind of a neat freak and I love organizing things. Unfortunately, life with three kids has gotten extremely busy and my organizing days went into hibernation for a little while.

The start of the new year has motivated me to spend time every day organizing one part of my life or home. I started in the basement! Yikes! What a challenge that has been! First I started shredding documents that we had "filed" in our office. And by filed I mean shoved in a drawer where no one could see them! I jammed the paper shredder countless times, got a bizillion paper cuts and filled about a dozen garbage bags but now our office is very well organized and clutter-free!

Next I started working on our bins upon bins of kids clothes in the basement. I'll admit it, I went a little nutso with the space bags! There is something very fulfulling about cramming 6 tons of clothes into a little bag and then vaccuuming the hell out of it until it is the size of a pea! Whoever invented those things is my hero. So, now my kids clothes are so compact that the bins weigh about 6000lbs each but they take up very little space!

I've re-vamped my doula marketing stuff, my client intake forms and even made files for my past client documents! I've organized my basement pantry so that we are no longer tripping over costco size jars of apple sauce. I've organzied my laundry room to make it more efficient and I've given away more crap then you can imagine!

Now I'm working on grocery shopping and meal planning. These two things are something I absolutely hate with a passion. I want to save money, save time and make fabulous meals that my family will love. I tried the huge couponing rage only to find that I become a "stressed out sista" at the check out arguing with the cashier over every little 10 cent coupon. My blood pressure and sanity are not worth the money I'm saving. I've been researching meal planning online hoping that that will simply my life a bit. But because some of the sites cost money I'm hestitant to subscribe and I am not sure which one gives me the best bang for my buck. So the purpose of this entirely too long post was to ask you all- How do you save money and meal plan for your family? I'd love to hear your ideas!!