I’m a big believer in making things easy on yourself. The easier something is to do, the more likely it is that you’ll actually do it. Meal planning is one of those areas where this is especially true.

If you’re like me, just thinking about what to have for dinner can wear you out. There’s the matter of seeing what’s involved with making what you want to make, checking to see whether or not you have all of the ingredients, possibly stopping at the store to get missing items or thawing out meat, etc. All that before you even actually make something. Is it any wonder that so many people eat out?

Eating out too often is a big issue for me — it’s just plain old not healthy for me to be eating out as often as I do, plus my wallet takes a hit. So, I can save money (and feel less worn out) by planning out meals ahead of time.

I had success doing this previously by using a set of little yellow sticky notes. I’d write a meal on each sticky, and then shuffle them around at the beginning of the week until I had them the way I wanted them. That made it easy to take leftovers into account too. But that method fell by the wayside when I switched to a digital planner (Google Calendar) instead of a paper planner.

So, I’ve developed a new method that will also let me easily reorganize meals (while eliminating the problem of not being able to think of what to make for dinner.) I bought some magnets at IKEA, got out a Sharpie and began writing down the things we like to eat on them:

I came up with 24 different meals, along with appropriate sides, and wrote one meal on each magnet. I went ahead and did them in permanent marker, because I didn’t want them being accidentally wiped off. And realistically we tend to eat the same kinds of things anyway, so it’s not as though they’re likely to change. Then I stuck them all on the fridge:

These magnets are nice, because one of the edges sticks up, making them easy to move around. (Because let’s face it, sometimes we don’t feel like eating what we’d planned.) This way it’s still easy to choose something else instead without eating out. It also makes it easy to move things around so that similar ingredients are used up, making it easier to shop. Of course we will still be eating out too, but this will eliminate a lot of the unplanned meals out.

Let’s face it, the very best time to buy inexpensive holiday cards is the week after Christmas.

You can wait for the 90% off sales, if you aren’t super choosy, and pick up several boxes for a song. (And by “a song” I mean most likely under a dollar, total.) The only trick with that is remembering where you stored the cards when the holidays roll around again next year.

But what about this year?

If you’re doing photo cards, I personally have used Costco before and love the results. Other places that offer photo cards are Shutterfly, Snapfish, Vistaprint, most drug stores, and stores like Target. Check for special offers and delivery times, and Google for coupon codes before ordering.

For regular (non-photo) cards, once again drug stores and stores like Target are good places to look. Dollar stores, Big Lots, grocery stores, bookstores and places with big percent-off coupons (like Michael’s) are good too.

1. Child’s Growth Chart (from fabric, from plain wood, or from wood with embellishments)
2. Mini Photo Album
3. Placemats (from fabric or from greeting cards)
4. Caramel Sauce (note storage details)
5. Mango Chutney
6. Jam & Balancing Spoon (buy or make a jar of jam, pick up some old silver spoons at a thrift store, bend them so they look like this, package up set. Google says you can bend spoons using a rubber mallet and dowel.)
7. Tile Address Sign
8. Aprons (via Consciously Frugal)
9. Peppermint Bark
10. Word Art (paste in words describing the recipient, an event, or the person’s interests, create, change shapes & colors as desired, print & frame)
11. Tiny Pies Baked in Jars
12. Plant-in-a-Mug (Buy a colorful mug and plant a small plant or succulent in it, or buy from etsy)
13. Seedlings-in-a-Sack (Get a brown paper sack, glue a decoration of some sort to the outside, fill sack with dirt, and plant a seedling in it. Attach a tag with care instructions.)
14. Burlap-Wrapped Bulbs
15. Bath bombs
16. Reusable Grocery Bags (via Consciously Frugal)
17. Coasters (from tile or from acrylic with pressed flowers)
18. Trivets (from mosiac tile or from wine corks)
19. Dog Treats (for the dog lovers in your life)
20. Jewelry Box
21. Ring Toss Game
22. Personalized Name or Number Art (shoot photos of found or arranged objects that look like individual letters or numbers, spell out a name or address by placing the resulting individual photos in a single frame)
23. Wine charms
24. Silhouette Portraits (using Photoshop or using scissors)
25. Magnets (from rocks, Lego bricks, marbles, or bottle caps)
26. Spray-painted seashells
27. Vanilla Extract (takes at least 4 weeks)
28. Limoncello (takes 90 days)
Posted in Money saving ideas on 11.27.09 with 5 comments.