30 Day Challenge: Bullet Journaling & Diarising {May2015}

After seeing the #the100dayproject hashtag all over Instagram recently I considered giving it a go, then I snapped out of it. There is just no way I would stick to something for 100 days in a row. That's just not me and I really didn't want to fake it by having to 'play catchup' all the time so I though a nice 30 Day Challenge would be totally do-able.

But then what did I want to do for 30 days? And then it hit me, I need to start planning more and actually completing my weekly diary, I've just been forgetting to much of late. 

So that's my challenge for May- Bullet Journalling and Diarising. 

Is this something you need to get on top of too? 

Maybe we could play along together and encourage each other? I'll be tagging all my Insta photos for this challenge with #actuallyamy30daychallenge and would love it if you could too. 

I'm only reasonably new to bullet journalling so you wont find in depth keys and different symbols to denote something. It's all bullet points at the moment. But after this months up I might have evolved into something more complex, but at the moment is are using the KISS philosophy (Keep It Simple Stupid). 

My bullet journal is also a part of my Kikki K Planner so I don't use my bullet journal section as a diary as such, it's just lists at the moment and a separate diary is found in another section of my planner. 

Are you completely new to bullet journaling? You can find my Journal and Planner Pinterest board here.

So who's in? It'll be very casual and I'll just be sharing how I'm going with it all over on Instagram. 

Any suggestions for what my 30 Day Challenge should be next month? 

Prepare: Smoothies for A Week

My hormones went haywire after I had Darcy. I lost 12ish kilograms in the first 2-3 weeks after his birth and then promptly put it all back on again in the space of 3 weeks. It was horrible! I was clueless as my diet and water intake had been really good, I hadn't been moving much, but it just didn't make sense.

I spoke to my Doctor and he ran several blood tests and it showed that yes, my hormones were way more out of whack than they should be after having a baby and it showed that my PCOS was well and truly out of control.

We are currently playing with my medication and I am now extra extra vigilant with my diet. This is where my smoothies are coming in. I try to have porridge for breakfast most days but on some school mornings that is a little hard seeing as school starts at 8am here.

So enter the humble smoothie. Just whack it in the blender/thermomix and away I go.

A grocery shopping day I usually come home, unpack the groceries and then do up a few bags of the following for some quick smoothies:

• Half a banana
• 10is blueberries
• 3-4 strawberries depending on size
• handful of spinach

I just add them to ziplock bags and pop them in the freezer. Then when it is time for a smoothie I just pull them out of the freezer and blend them up with 250-300mls of unsweetened almond milk and 2 tablespoons of oats.


You can find heaps of other smoothie recipes the I use here: 31 Days of Smoothies

Getting Organised: School Clothes

School goes back next week and with all three kids going into some kind of schooling that requires a uniform I wanted somewhere to keep all the uniforms together.

The only place for that to happen in our house was the broom cupboard in the laundry. So B hung a clothing rail and ta da, all the kids school clothes in the one spot.

And having them all in the laundry will mean that they can get hung up as soon as I get them in off the line every day.

How do you store school uniforms? Each in separate wardrobes or all together?

Meal Plan Monday

I'm on a crusade to be more organised so every Monday from here on out I will be blogging my menu plan for the week. I am also going to try and include baking for school lunches and possibly a run down of what is going in the kids lunch boxes.

So this weeks meal plan is:

Monday: Beef Stroganoff with Pasta and Beans
Tuesday: Sticky BBQ Beef with shredded slaw {12wbt recipe}
Wednesday: Spaghetti Bolognese and Salad
Thursday: Left over Bolognese sauce parcels with Salad
Friday: Bean Nachos With Chilli Guacamole (12wbt recipe)
Saturday: Fettuccine Marinara
Sunday: Baked Fish with Sweet Potato Chips and Salad

Baking: Chewy Chia Brownies (will hopefully blog this recipe this week. I have been playing with it for a few weeks and think I have finally got it right)


Do you meal plan? What's for dinner at your house this week?

Back To School: Are you ready?

There are a few things that I have on my to do list this week. They include swimming lessons, grocery shopping, menu planning, book covering, labelling all school items and bulk cooking for school lunches.School starts back here on the 4th of February and we are a little organised. But we still have a few more things to do.I received this parcel the other day from Stuck On You.

So that will enable me to cross a few jobs off my list this week.

We received a Family Pack and just had our last name on them so that I could use the across all the kids school items.

Mahli did get some personalised items though for things at are just hers. And we got some new bag tags too, A button bag tag and a Classic Bag Tag.I also got us a new 2013 Calendar. We used to have a family planner. But this Calendar is big enough for me to list all the kids activities plus anything else that I need to record.

And now that I am all organised. It is now your chance to do the same! I have one $50 Voucher to giveaway to one lucky Actually Amy reader.

To enter simply tell me in 25 words or less your best back to school organisation tip.

Terms and Conditions:

The giveaway will commence at 10am WA Time on the 16th Of January 2013 and will end on Sunday 20th January 2013 at Midnight Western Australian time.

The winner will be notified via email (so please make sure you leave me a way to contact you)

All entries over 25 words will not be accepted.

 

If you are looking for some back to school inspiration and or want to find out more about Stuck On You you can find them on the web here:

Website- https://www.stuckonyou.com.au

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/stuckonyouofficial

Twitter – www.twitter.com/stuckonyoutweet

Google+ - Okey. gplus.to/StuckonYou

Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/StuckonYouAust/

 

 

PS - If you want to maximize your chances of winning $50 voucher from Stuck on you - enter at

My Little Drummer Boys

Mum's The Word

The Useful box

too !

Disclaimer: I was gifted the products listed in the post. I have previously used Stuck On You products so was more than happy to review these products on the blog as they are items that I love and have faith in. All opinions are my own. No money was offered or received for this post.

Posted with Blogsy

Spring Cleaning Challenge!

Well Spring starts tomorrow! It is my favourite season and I want to kick it off with a clean and organised home!

It's time to fling open the windows and start airing out our homes that have been closed up over winter trying to keep the warmth in.

I have created a check list to work off. Feel free to download it and use it too. Also if you have anything to add that you think I missed (I have probably missed A LOT) please let me know.

Spring Cleaning Checklist- MahliMoo, Me and Three

Will you be doing any spring cleaning? 

Which season is your favourite?

Shopping List Printables

B's pay cycle was recently switched to monthly. We are only into a second month of this type of pay cycle, last month went okay, but I am looking at ways to streamline our banking and shopping routines.

So of course I went to pinterest to hunt down some shopping list printables. Here are a few that I found.

1. Chevron List 2. Pinch a Little List 3. Shopping list

4. Birdie List 5. Tear off pad list

Do you use a shopping list or do you wing it?

Kids Routine Chart Printables

1.  Free Bedtime Routine Printables  2. Our Morning Routine Printables 3. Our Bedtime Rountine Printables

4. My After School Routine Printable 5. Routine Picture Cards 6.  Morning Routine Flash Cards

Have I Told You Lately That I Love IKEA?

This post is RocketFuel sponsored

No? Well do you remember this post? It is the one were I told you we were travelling 12 hours return in one day just to go to IKEA...

Or here where I showed you some of my goodies that I got that day?

I could spend days in IKEA and still not want to leave. So much organisational solutions and so little time (and money)

IKEA have just released some short videos on YouTube sharing some ideas for organising 4 key areas in your house.

If you are looking for ways to tame your laundry check out this one.

Or if your bedroom is a problem, try this one. Or how about the kids rooms?

And don't forget the Study while you are at it.

I can definitely recommend these

We have one set in our laundry and it definitely stops the house looking like a Chinese laundry during winter and rain periods. Plus the kids can't reach it so it stops them pulling the clothes and dragging them around the house, like they do with airers... or is that just my kids?

And I need these for my bedroom.

Do you love IKEA? Or does the sheer size of the place scare you?

{Disclaimer: This post is a sponsored post. I accepted it because I freely talk about my love of IKEA anyway.}