Mom Tip Monday - Menu Planning 101

It's Monday again! And as promised this week we are working on Menu Planning. In preparation for this post I put up a quick one liner over in the MomDot forum. "What challenges do you face when you are menu planning?" Holy Smokes! The response from my fellow mom blogs was overwhelming so we will be spending more than just one week on this. Remember, if you have a question or you want to hear my take on your challenge, zip it over to me at The Zookeeper's Inbox (ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com). But more on that later.

This week we're vlogging - aren't you thrilled? It's on the old camera so you may need to spike your volume. And please pardon Orangutan's run by interruption. She's got great timing like that!

So are you ready for The Pantry Challenge? Do some digging and send me your challenge at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com. And for those who didn't take notes while the web addresses were zipping by, here they are one more time.

allrecipes.com
kraftfoods.com
and pillsbury.com

I hope this helps you stretch that budget a little and gives you some new ideas for dinner tonight. Next week, Budget Stretchers. How I fed my family for a week for $15! You don't believe me do you? See you next week!

Mom Tip Monday: Housework 101

Now I know you all want me to tell you that Housekeeping 101 starts with "Hire a maid!" And then reality sets in and you realize that with everything else going on with the economy, a maid is probably a lottery winners pipe dream. That means we have to come to grips and try to streamline it. Here's your favorite (I am your favorite right?) Zookeeper's Housekeeping 101.

#1. The Bathroom.
How many times a day are you REALLY in there? And I'm not talking about the occasional pit stop. Probably twice that are of any consequence, right? So here's the tip. Stash a roll of paper towels and some Windex under your cabinet and keep your toilet bowl cleaner of choice in the linen closet. When you are done with your shower, shoot the toilet with the cleaner. Finish your morning routine at the sink. While you are brushing teeth, clear the counter top putting everything where it belongs. Spray it down with the Windex and give it a wipe. Give the toilet brush a quick trip around the bowl and voila! You're done! Is is perfect? No. But imagine how much less you have to do on Saturday when you do a "deep clean." In the evening just clear the counters.

#2. The Bedroom (s).
Just make the bed. I mean it! Just the bed. It makes your room look clean and tidy even if it's not perfect. Now I have a bad habit. When I make the bed it is natural to toss the shoes in the closet and make sure the laundry is in the hamper. But really! How much does that add to my routine? Nothing!

And don't think that children can't make their own beds because they are too young. Mine are 5, 4, and 2. Mo and Tuck make their beds and Munch is in charge of laundry round up. It can happen. And it only takes 5 minutes when everyone is cooperating.

#3. The Kitchen
I hate cleaning the kitchen. It never ends! There is always a meal going on or cooking for the next meal. It's the most cyclical room in the house and it drives me crazy! But here's a little trick I learned. Load the dishwasher all day, run it at night, and unload it during breakfast in the morning.

Here's another one that works for me. I run a sink of water before I even start cooking. Then as I cook I can wash and let dry. If it can go in the dishwasher guess what? The dishwasher is already being loaded with dirty dishes so I can just toss them in there. If all your prepware is done while you are cooking it's incredibly easy to throw those dinner dishes in the dishwasher, fire it up and you're done!

But that's just three that work in our house for Housekeeping 101! Do you have a handy housekeeping tip? E-mail me at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com and maybe you'll see your tip here in an upcoming Mom Tips!

And while you're sending me mail, toss me your challenges. Next week we're looking at menu planning and simple dinners so look into those pantries and let's see what I can make with YOUR ingredient list.

Mom Tip Monday

I know that my Mom Tips are usually all about some off the wall something that my children have taught me. I thought maybe I would shake it up a little and give you something you could really use. Some real live tips for Mom's (and Dad's too!) from a Mom who somehow manages to function in this whole world of parenthood.

Let's start with our morning. I know a lot of families face some serious challenges getting out the door in the morning with minimal crying, wailing and gnashing of teeth - and that's just Mom! So here are a few little tricks that we pull that help get us out the door.

#1. Do as much the night before as you can.
And you know it would help if you could just do this one thing every night. Pick out/layout clothes the night before as part of your bed time routine. Down to the shoes! That way there is no scramble looking for the missing lefty in the morning.

#2. Pack lunches and prep your coffee pot while you clean up dinner.

There are two reasons I do this. A) it's done the night before (see #1). And B) I only have to clean up once.

#3. Focus on the task at hand.

Too many times I try to start laundry, make beds, get everyone out of the house, clean up breakfast, empty the dishwasher....well, you get my point! If you can empty the dishwasher while everyone is having breakfast, yay for you! Go for it. But remember if it's a hectic morning there are things that can wait.

Start there. Try those little tips out this next week (and really focus on them!) and let me know how it works for you. Next week we'll try to tackle some Housekeeping 101. I'm a stay home mom but I'll try to share tips that work for both or offer suggestions on how to tweak the tips to fit a working parent's life too.

If you have a housekeeping challenge that you would like to hear a Zookeeper's take on just drop me a line at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com. I'll give it my best shot!

Boredom Buster from the Zoo!

I don't know about the rest of you but now that the holidays are over, a lack of activity only makes EVERYONE (mom included) very crabby. Ratatouille only helped for so long today so I went back in my memory bank (waaaaaay back) and pulled a little boredom buster from my childhood. Hope it helps you through at least one Saturday this winter!






FYI! If your birds aren't terribly greedy and don't destroy your pinecones, you can refill them a few times before you have to throw them away.

Need some more Boredom Busters? Check out my pal Sandy's blog Just for Fun! She has some really awesome arts, crafts and family activities.