The Homemaker Plans Her Week: It's a Brand New Year!

 

In my home this week, I am looking forward to this fresh start in a brand-new year.  I had quite enough of 2022 which proved to be nearly as tiresome in its way as 2020 and 2021.  Mind you not much has changed but there are changes that will make life a little bit less stressful.  I hope.  Heavens how I hope!

What can you expect here in 2023?  Well, I'm not likely to pound you with diets and exercise plans but there are some changes I hope to incorporate into the year ahead.  You'll read about those in my next post which is coming out tomorrow.

Mostly what you can expect is more of the usual.  Savings, attempts to live beautifully and honestly and transparently, goal setting to improve our lives or to improve myself...In other words, all the usual things but just scaled down to monthly goals not annual ones.  

We finished up the year with little in the house having a case of viral tonsillitis.  It's been a misery to get through.  Nothing was wanted to eat, fevers spiked and dropped and spiked. A lot of naps, crying, and poor sleep habits overall happened for the small and therefore kept the grown-ups on edge and worn out.  Doctor said 3-5 days and at the time this is going out we're on day 5.

My plans for the this first week of the year are simple and to the point.  Christmas has been removed from the house and now I must start over again in finding a pretty way to decorate buffet and mantel.    But it sounds as though I'm getting started with the planning of my work already, doesn't it?  Best just jump right in!

Work:  

My bookcases are really bothering me.  All three bookcases look cluttered, overcrowded and messy.  That's partly because there are more books than there is space and partly because I've put this and that on the shelves, too.  It's got to be stripped down to just books and begin again.  Mind you there's still a little one underfoot in the house so I'll have to pick and choose my moments for working on the bookcases.  It might well end being a shelf or two at a time.  Small bites get big results.

Since the bookcases are where my attention is drawn this week, I might as well start the year with Zone 1 Living/Dining Room. 

There is a little whose toys are taking over three of the five chairs in the living room plus two tables.  I think this week we need to remove some things and place them closer to the toy box on the other side of the living area.  We may also try to cull out a cardboard box or two that apparently are now alternatives to the toy box.

I'll try to do some decluttering in these areas as well.  The toy box had a good clean out just before Christmas.  But the buffet, the bookcase, the tv cabinet...Well those have been largely ignored now for months on end.  I'm sure I could easily find a few things to leave the house and possibly even be donated.

It is the first week of the month.  I've brought the checkbook up to date already and made sure all bills that had come in were paid.  I wanted to start the New Year with as clean a slate as possible.   However, there are always first of the month tasks to attend to with our finances.

I'd also like to work out a first quarter budget plan.

I also went through my pantry and pulled several items to be put into the kitchen cabinets under the baking center to just try and eliminate so many trips to the back bedroom.  Since I'd also just bought groceries on Thursday, it meant pretty much having to sort out the fridge, the freezers, the kitchen cabinets, etc.  A real fruit basket turnover.  All that to say in pulling items to move to the kitchen, I became aware of several near outages in the pantry and will be making a pantry shopping list so I can begin restocking our supplies.  I also became aware of items we might need to use sooner rather than later.

Call the local appliance store to see if they have a suitable model freezer and what the price might be if bought in town compared to out-of-town costs.

Kitchen:  

I am pulling back on some of my more intensive money saving ways.  We'd switched to refillable k-cups but with three people drinking coffee, two of whom drink multiples of cups per day, I was being OCD'd right out of my mind with coffee grounds constantly littering the floor and counters, refillable cups filled with used coffee grounds that seemingly none but myself knows how to empty, etc.  This month I am saying, "Oh heck no!" to the mess and frustration and have bought a box of k-cups in bulk from Amazon.  I have warned John that this is not the end of the refillable cups, just a delay in usage.

At the same time, John has decided it's terribly inconvenient to have to take a knife and slice a piece of bread in the mornings for a little one to have toast, so the homemade bread has been ignored.  I bought a loaf last month, slipped waxed paper pieces between slices and then froze it so one slice at a time might be removed.  When I make toast, I sliced bread for our use.  Now John is refusing to slice a piece for his own use. He insisted we pick up another loaf of bread this past week, though we're just half through the loaf I froze.  We periodically go through this cycle.  When this goes on, I stop making bread.  Then I'll start making bread once more and we go along just fine until we hit the next bump...  Making bread is not a hardship nor is it messy but I think John just gets tired of homemade which is not the same as store bought.

I'm a little frustrated with the pickiness overall that is being displayed and that's from adults not a little!  However, I'm also a bit tired of cooking which happens pretty much in a cyclical fashion in nearly every season and it's always just when it's most necessary to trim somewhere, lol.  So, there we are.  I must cut corners.  I'll try to think of budget friendly tasty meals that suit the weather, try not to have too many leftovers of our supper dishes, which is an appetite killer I find, at least for my household.  

I'll try to come up with a few breakfast and lunch menus that will work throughout the season, even if put on frequent repeat.  I mean, seriously, toasted cheese and tomato soup or peanut butter and jelly almost always goes over well.

Meals:  

Black Beans and Rice, Salad, Pineapple.  We never ate this from last week's menu.

Hot Italian Subs, chips, Fruits

Porcupine Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Corn Muffins

Ham and Potatoes au gratin, Brussels Sprouts, Sweet Potato Biscuits

Bbq Chicken, Corn, Winter Vegetable Salad

Pigs in Blankets, Coleslaw, Baked Beans

Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, Broccoli

I always have menu regrets about the time this post publishes, lol.  Where I'd strained my brain trying to think of what we might like and typed out what sounded good, I often find that I either don't want that meal at all or we're out of some key ingredient, or life happens and a planned meal is too labor intensive.  For NYE we ended up eating a lot of finger foods, which gave us all a party attitude.  Black Beans and Rice will move to another spot in the week and another day's menu will be moved to next week.  That's change one.  What happens after today is another story, lol.

Personal/Leisure:

Plan out wardrobe options for January.  Pair up and hang at the ready at least 10 outfits.

Start a new Bible Study.

Start my word Study.

Start the first book club choices for January.  Order if necessary.

Go over my authors lists and order at least two books to add to my collections.

Start a new Journal.

Embrace a brand-new year.  I've seen so many funny memes about people looking for a better year. My favorite is of a man walking about his room looking up and the caption read something like:  Me calling God to make sure I'm signed up for the Fun and Successful package for 2023 and not the Trial and Tribulations package.  Yep!

Happy New Year to you all...I do hope you have a wonderful start to this season.

Amazon Associate Affiliate Link: