I have this organizational concept: If you have to write it often, make it a checklist.

Here are a few checklists I’ve made. Hopefully you can glean something from them.

Emergency Preparedness We live on the Gulf Coast where hurricanes are an ever-present threat. Due to food allergies, we cannot rely on FEMA or any other aid organization to provide our food in an emergency (not to mention, it would be foolish to want to rely on others). The following is a link to a 7-day menu and shopping list. I have all the supplies stored in plastic totes (36 gal for lighter items, 7 gal for cans and juices). I hope you find it helpful. 7-day Emergency/Evac Menu.

I spent about $200 on food for the above menu. Remember to check expiration dates every 6 months and rotate stock as necessary. I write the date in Sharpie on the top of all the packages to make the job easier.

  • Note 1: I have been researching emergency prep and found a great discussion here. I now see my kit needs help, but it’s a good start.

I am creating a thirty-day supply of items I might need in an extended emergency.

Rotating Menus:

4 Week Menu – This is for the daycare, so I have to list silly things like “milk.” For dinner, we often eat leftovers or sandwiches.

Shopping lists to go with the above menu. Note: unless a unit is listed, the quantity indicates how many meals I need the item for, not the specific quantity (example: “2 eggs” means eggs for 2 meals, while “2 dz eggs” means, well, 2-dozen eggs)

Another 4-week rotating menu. I don’t have a shopping list for it yet. I’ve closed the day care, so this one looks more normal and includes the weekends. It is designed to be lower-budget, so includes several meatless meals but some “nice” meals for sanity’s sake.

Home Schooling

My lesson book for homeschooling – includes pages for (roughly) 1st grader, 3rd grader, and 4th grader.

We found our behavior ladder to be a helpful discipline tool. I think it’s pretty self explanatory. I taped it to a metal door and use magnetic markers to keep track of where the children are. Messing with the markers sends them to #1. The privileges build on one another: so if you’re on #8, you get all the privileges from all the lower numbers. Everyone started Sunday morning on #12.