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Preparing Easy School Lunches and Keeping Your Sanity

August 12, 2015 | Leave a Comment

It's easy to lose your sanity during back to school time. Here's how you can prepare for easy school lunches that are  quick and healthy to put together.I have a love/hate relationship with lunches. I love making them because I have control over what my family is eating and most importantly it’s much easier on the budget than either buying out every day or, in my daughter’s case, paying an additional $5.00 per day for her daycare. Though we still do have an occasional lunch out, 90% of the time you’ll find me in the kitchen after our daughter is in bed, prepping our lunches for the next day.

I’m the least fussy person in the world to satisfy when it comes to lunch. If we have no real ‘’meal worthy food’’ in the house I’m perfectly content with taking a bunch of fruit and snacks for the day. My kid however isn’t so easy to please. Thankfully she thrives on routine and for now we have a few easy go-to’s that we’re able to rotate.

The biggest downside when I think about lunch prep is time. My husband cannot for the life of him figure out what takes me so long when I tell him I’m going to make our lunches. Honestly it took time to figure out, but when I’m organized I can prep in less than half the time it would normally take me. To do this I’ve found a few tricks to make prepping lunches a little easier.

If your kids are heading back to school these tips can help you with their school lunches.

Prep, well in advance

Leaving all lunch requirements to the night before can be stressful. There is often more involved than you think and your 5 minute intention quickly turns into a 45 minute endeavour. By prepping a few things in advance you can shave quite a bit of time off your evening (or morning) lunch packing routine.

Simple things like having fruits and veggies already washed can be a time saver. Pre-pack these things in portion sized package so they can be grabbed and thrown into the bag. Our daughter loves a simple PB and J sandwich so I’ll usually make a few at once and freeze them. They freeze and thaw perfectly fine and makes my life much easier when they’re done.

Think outside the box

Growing up, lunch was a sandwich, drink and fruit. I don’t remember ever questioning it, that’s just what we got. There were variations on the sandwich and bread but that was about it. Though our daughter does likes her sandwiches, she also loves even easier stuff like crackers and cheese. I buy multigrain rice crackers (rice stays much harder and crunchier longer than traditional crackers), and will send her with those, hummus and cheese. Throw in a fruit or veggie and her yogurt and it’s the fastest lunch to pack!

Organize the fridge and cupboard

This goes with prep but keeping things organized makes everything easier. I have a basket where our snacks go, a place for the yogurt in the fridge and a dedicated spot for fruit. It allows me to open the cupboard or fridge, grab what I need and throw in the lunch bag, almost with my eyes closed. I always pack our lunches with: a ‘’main’’+ water + yogurt + fruit or veggie. Having a system in place makes my life so much easier.

Bringing our own lunches saves us in many ways. Not only are we saving a ton of money by packing food from home (an average of $2-$3/lunch vs. >$10 eating out), we’re saving our health by controlling our portions and caloric intakes. Though there can be prep work involved in the beginning, once you start ‘’brown bagging it’’ it will quickly become second nature.

Catherine
Catherine

Catherine is a first time momma to a rambunctious toddler. When she isn’t soaking up all that motherhood has to offer, you can find her blogging over at Plunged in Debt where she chronicles her and her husbands journey out of debt. You can also follow her on Twitter.

plungedindebt.com

Filed Under: Healthy Living & Eating Tagged With: Back to School, easy school lunches

5 Smart Ways to Save on Back to School Supplies

August 20, 2014 | Leave a Comment

save on back to school suppliesIt’s hard to believe that we’re more than half way through August. Depending on where you live and the type of school system you’re in, kids may already be back to school but the majority of kids have a couple more weeks to enjoy before hitting the books again.

There is a local radio station trying to fundraise and gather a bunch of school supplies for local underprivileged children.

It’s funny, I always think about stuff like food and shelter but don’t often think about the necessity and cost involved with stuff like school supplies, after all it was something my mom always just took care of. The station has been quite successful and I’m glad too since having school supplies may be the key to getting out of poverty for some of these kids. There’s no doubt that proper school supplies are expensive but there are, like most things, way to save.

Reuse

I used to beg my mom for a new zipper closed binder every year and most times she’d say no since there was nothing wrong with my old one. Since she was buying I didn’t have much room for argument but she was right. If there is something that can be reused (zipper binders, book bags, math sets) do it! If you take care of your stuff there’s no need to re-buy everything each year.

Buy Used

At least this is the case with post-secondary kids. There is often no need to buy brand new text books. I never had any issue (in two university degrees) buying used books. Unless the texts were changed entirely, and they rarely are, I could always get away with using an edition one to two years old, the profs often giving the readings to multiple editions for this very reason.

Stock Up

If there’s a really great sale on an item you’ll know you’ll use (like paper and pens) stock up for a few years. I remember one year packages of loose-leaf paper were on sale for $0.09 with no limit. My mom bought enough for almost four years’ worth of education for my sister and I. Obviously this is space limited for certain items.

Shop the Sales

Pay attention to local sales and shop around. A lot of larger box stores will not only price match but beat by 5-10% with can add up to a large savings in the long run especially if you have more than one kid!

Buy Year Round

For things like school clothes, though there are good sales late summer pending fall return to school, I find the best sales for clothes to be after Christmas. Though this is often an expensive time of year anyway, if you can, it may save you money for upcoming school years to buy clothes then instead of August/September.

School definitely isn’t free, there are plenty of costs involved from supplies, clothes and projects year-round. If you have time to properly plan what, when and where you’ll buy certain things though, it could save you a ton of money!

Catherine
Catherine

Catherine is a first time momma to a rambunctious toddler. When she isn’t soaking up all that motherhood has to offer, you can find her blogging over at Plunged in Debt where she chronicles her and her husbands journey out of debt. You can also follow her on Twitter.

plungedindebt.com

Filed Under: Education, Money and Finances, Uncategorized Tagged With: Back to School, save on back to school supplies, save on school supplies

Kindergarten….WHAT!!!!

August 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment

I can’t believe Harrison, my oldest boy, is going to Kindergarten in one week!  If you read my last post you know there are a lot of changes going on.  Shortly after Kindergarten starts, we are going to be moving to a brand new house, a brand new school district and a brand new Day Care.  It’s a lot of changes for these two little guys to deal with.  Luckily, our new school district is letting Harrison start even though he won’t be living in the school district for a few more weeks.

I spent part of today looking for tips on getting kids ready for school and I found this list of articles to be pretty helpful.

Do you have any tips for when your child starts kindergarten?

Brian
Brian

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

 
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Filed Under: Education, Random Musings Tagged With: Back to School, Kindergarten, Moving

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About The Author

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Basic Principles Of Good Parenting

Here some basic principles for good parenting:

  1. What You Do Matters: Your kids are watching you. So, be purposeful about what you want to accomplish.
  2. You Can’t be Too Loving: Don’t replace love with material possessions, lowered expectations or leniency.
  3. Be Involved Your Kids Life: Arrange your priorities to focus on what your kid’s needs. Be there mentally and physically.
  4. Adapt Your Parenting: Children grow quickly, so keep pace with your child’s development.
  5. Establish and Set Rules: The rules you set for children will establish the rules they set for themselves later.  Avoid harsh discipline and be consistent.
  6. Explain Your Decisions: What is obvious to you may not be evident to your child. They don’t have the experience you do.
  7. Be Respectful To Your Child: How you treat your child is how they will treat others.  Be polite, respectful and make an effort to pay attention.
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