We are grateful for the feedback from so many of you, and overjoyed to hear how the monthly ‘Do It’ List has been a blessing to you and your family! Your encouragement spurs us on! 

If you are new to our blog, thanks for stopping by. We hope you will print this free tool and give it a one-month try!  

The ‘Do It’ List is designed to help us live out our “Martha” mandate to manage home and hearth well. When we can tend to the physical demands of life, it frees us up to live out our individual mission and ministry to our family, church, community, and others.  

The challenge of any organizational system is keeping it real, but doable—simple yet helpful. Capturing the entire one-month plan on one page is a strength of this system. Allocating the tasks to daily, weekly, and monthly categories helps us budget our time, and eases the burden of thinking through all that must be done … freeing us to jump in and do it.   

Regular readers are already aware that certain tasks are revised each month, to accommodate seasonal chores. In addition, we always leave several blank lines in all three categories, allowing you to tailor each month to your family’s unique needs. And if your situation is so unique that a one-size-fits-most approach doesn’t work for you, the blank version of our ‘Do It’ List can be customized to fit your life and priorities.

Finally, a scripture verse is always featured prominently on our list – reminding us to be “Mary” first, sitting at the feet of Jesus each day before jumping in to complete our “Martha” tasks.  

When we release the new list each month, we also take an in-depth look at one of the tasks, hoping this will provide motivation, insight, or new ideas – or perhaps just remind you of things you already knew! 

Previous blogs can be viewed here and cover a myriad of topics including decluttering, organizing the pantry, taking inventory of your household linens, and many others.

This month let’s take a deep dive — or at least a waist-high dip — into planning next week’s meals. While I know many women who’ve spent lots of money on beautiful meal planners (honestly – if you splurged on one, do you really use it?), I like keeping it simple! For this girl, the formula for home management is always: 

Simple = Doable 

Here are eight things to consider before you begin planning next week’s meals: 

1.  Begin with Dinner 
   If you are new to serious meal planning, don’t overwhelm yourself with planning 21 meals – just focus on seven dinners for now. 
2. Check Your Calendar 
   Look at your daily commitments. If an afternoon is filled with dental visits, piano lessons, co-op meetings, or other appointments, you will need to either plan something quick to prepare for dinner or do prep early in the morning (or even the night before).  
   
3. Check Your Pantry, Fridge, and Freezer  
   Managing your home well and stretching your budget in the kitchen means using what you have on hand. It’s heartbreaking to toss out food that has expired. Picture yourself opening the trash can and emptying your wallet –not a good sight!  
   
4. Check the Grocery Ads 
   Economically speaking, it’s best to reach for the grocery ads instead of your cookbook first. If stew meat is on sale, forego pot roast for another week.  
   
5. Consider Doubling Up 
   Is this a week you will be taking a meal to a new mom? Rather than making a family favorite for her family and picking up pizza for yours, just double your recipe. One of my favorites for doubling up is Poppyseed Chicken (you can find my recipe HERE). 

   And if there is no meal to deliver this week, go ahead and double up anyway. What a blessing to have a meal in the freezer ready for dinner on a very full day for your family – or ready to take to a family who needs it soon.  
   

6. Consider Your Crockpot 
   If your week does include a particularly full day, don’t forget the blessing of your slow cooker. If it sits collecting dust on your top shelf, it’s time to haul it down and put this fabulous invention to work. There’s nothing like coming home from a full day and smelling dinner ready! I highly recommend Beth’s yummy, versatile Verde Chicken. 
   
7. Consider “Brinner” 
   When raising our family, one meal a week (usually Sunday night) often was “Breakfast for Dinner.” Our son Kyle and his wife Tori call it brinner, so I’m adopting their lingo! Brinner is usually quick, delicious, and economical. You may want to view my video on making quiche. Other options include Sam’s delicious biscuits, these scrumptious one-bowl waffles, or this Dutch Puff, a great base recipe that lends itself to either sweet or savory versions. 
   
8. Don’t Forget Left Over BUFFET Night 
   Left overs can be life savers! They save us time and money. And if “leftovers” sounds ho-hum and boring, why not spin it to your family as “Buffet Night?” 

When you are ready to lay out your plan, check out our simple one-page meal planners. These free printable planning tools even include a section for making your grocery list, to streamline the process even more. Just jot down your meals on one side, and on the opposite, make note of ingredients you need to pick up on your next trip to the store.

Be sure to download this month’s ‘Do It’ List in the version you prefer so you’ll be ready to take on the month of March … and we hope you’ll leave us a note below and let us know what your family will be having for dinner next week! 

Get your own copy of our ‘Do It’ List here:

March 2020 'Do It' List

March 2020 'Do It' List - BLANK

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