Meal planning is a great way to cut out some of the chaos in your week. There is nothing worse than trying to figure out what to make for dinner at 5pm. And when you do finally decide on something, you realize you don’t have a key ingredient!

You can save money with meal planning. In order to save money while meal planning browse the weekend sale flyers before planning your meals. Base the plan on what is on sale instead of picking random recipes from a cookbook. Maybe there is a great deal on chicken this week. Once you discover that, then see what meals you can make with chicken.

Another way you save money with meal planning is by making fewer trips to the store. If you’re constantly running back to the store for that key ingredient you are most likely picking up other unnecessary items along the way. If you meal plan you won’t be tempted to spend extra money during the week.

Meal plan weekly or monthly. There are people that successfully meal plan for the week and the month. If you are a buy-in-bulk shopper, you may be able to pull off making a meal plan monthly. Just imagine, a whole month of meals laid out in front of you! Perhaps you are a weekly shopper and prefer to do a weekly meal plan. Either will work; it just depends on what works best for you!

Many thanks and a big Mabel smile to everyone who was brave enough to enter our My Messy Room Contest!

It’s not often that messiness has its rewards but in this case one lucky winner is receiving:

An online consultation with Tanna Clark, our in-house organizational expert and owner of Complete Organizing Solutions.

PLUS $250 in Mabel’s Labels products, including our complete line of fabulous Household Labels.

All the entries were awe-inspiring and choosing just one was very tough. After sorting and categorizing and even a little labeling, we worked our way through the entries and are excited to announce that the winner is…Laura Schultz.

This photo of her daughter’s bedroom (possibly) was one many of us could relate to at one time or another. Thanks for sharing Laura! We’re sure that with Tanna and Mabel’s Labels alongside, you’ll be a neat freak in no time!

Didn’t win (or enter) this one? Check out our Bright Idea Contest, and you might win a set of Label Out Loud™ Sticky Labels to light up your wintry days.

I can’t stand the whining!  Sometimes it feels like my child is whining all day, every day.  What can I do to discourage it and get her to communicate nicely?

It’s a sound a parent could identify anywhere…the dreaded whining of a grumpy kiddo.  And is it just me or is it that much more difficult to listen to when we’re cooped up inside on cold winter months? 

You may have a child who can be jollied out of their whiny moods with mama making jokes or even echoing the whine so they can giggle about how silly it sounds.  Not my boy.  Around here, whining quickly turns into wailing if he feels I’m not taking him seriously.  So what can we do to keep the tone cheerful?

Respect the problem:  More often than not, your little one is whining because something is wrong.  It doesn’t mean you can fix it (“Yes, you still have to make your bed.”  “No you may not have cookies for dinner.”), but you can still show your child that you understand their feelings.  Validate their emotions with comments like “I understand that you don’t want to tidy up the playroom but someone might trip and get hurt if there are toys all over the floor.”  Your child will appreciate it if they feel like they’re being heard.

Ignore it: Once you’ve acknowledged their reasons for being upset, you’re free to ignore the whining that continues.  Don’t forget though, younger ones will need reminders to switch to a more cheerful tone. (“Use your words please.”  “Can you ask me in a friendly voice?”)

Distract them:  Nothing has me knocking on the neighbour’s door begging for a playdate faster than a toddler who woke up on the wrong side of bed.  A change of scenery and some new faces can help perk up even the grumpiest mood.  Get out for a walk or call up a playmate.

Nanny Carrie’s Tip:  None of these solutions will do any good if you’re dealing with a hungry or tired child.  If the whining has reached its peak, take a minute to think back on the day and you may find that this morning’s exhausting soccer game or an unfinished breakfast might be the root of the problem.  An early bedtime or a little blood sugar boost might be just what the doctor ordered.

Last week, Carrie commented, “If you had any tips for organizing the pots and pans cupboard so that the lids would stop crashing onto the floor as I take a pot out from the bottom of the stack, I would be forever indebted!” Forever indebted? Wow! OK, so I might not hold Carrie to that, although it sounds pretty good, but I will share a few tips on how you can tackle one of the peskier kitchen dilemmas.

There are a few different ways you can handle this and obviously it depends on the amount of space that you have. Assuming you are storing your pots, pans and lids in a cabinet, here are a few things you can try…

1.Use pull-out drawers to maximize space. We have drawers in our lower cabinets so that we can nest our pots and pans in each other and maximize the whole space available. Oftentimes in cabinets the main problem is having to reach in and fumble around for what it is you are looking for. We use an extra drawer for our lids.
2. Turn lids upside down on the pots and pans and stack by size. Usually your pots and pans will stack quite nice and neat if you simply turn the lid over.
3. Use the cabinet door. Install a lid organizer on the inside of the door to hang your lids on for easy access.
4. Go vertical. If you have enough space in your cabinet, think about storing the lids vertically and stack your pots and pans next to them.

Hopefully this gave you a few ideas, Carrie! If your situation is different, feel free to leave a comment and I can help you find a solution. If all else fails and you have some extra wall space in the kitchen, you can store your pots and pans like Julia Child! Then you will have plenty of cabinet space for the lids!