On Being Organized

Hi, I'm Kelsi, and today when I picked up my daughter from Kindergarten, I told her to tell her teacher, "have a good weekend." It's Monday.

Organization is not my strong suit. Readers who know me in real life are reading the title to this post and thinking to themselves, "she has got to be kidding right now," and I am not even offended. It's hard to be organized, and I'm still struggling with it almost everywhere else in my life, but, when it comes to groceries, I've truly embraced that organization really is the key.

To be clear, I'm not talking about Pinterest organized. No one is going to come and put my pantry (or any other part of my house) in a magazine, I'm just talking regular person organized. Where you know what you want to eat, you know what you already have, and you know what you need to buy.

Before I got on the organized bandwagon, I was wasting so much of our budget on food we weren't using. I used to make a meal plan in my head, and then make a grocery list in my head, and then go to the grocery store with my mental grocery list and buy half the things I intended to, and a bunch of stuff I decided I needed while I was there, only to get home and not have any groceries that would work together to make an actual meal.

I used to find a new recipe, and head out to the store to get all the supplies. Then I'd get home and unpack the groceries, and realize, "oh, I already have breadcrumbs. Or fennel seed. Or rice wine vinegar. You know, from the last time I decided to try a new Pinterest recipe. I'd just dump the duplicate into the pantry or fridge and tell myself to use it up before I bought another one.

I have allowed our family to run completely out of diapers.

I have let so many onions and potatoes grow into legitimate plants in the cupboard.

And, every time I did these things, I'd feel like I'd failed. I'd get so mad at myself for not being organized, but then I'd go right back to the store, and do it all over again.

Finally, I decided that it was enough. All those duplicate items, all the salad dressings or dijon mustards or whatever was on sale that I stocked up on and then let expire in the pantry, all the soggy bagged salads and rotten leftovers, all the freezer burned chicken and moldy bread... all of that was money. Money that I was throwing in the garbage. Just imagine yourself taking a $20 bill out of your wallet and putting it in the garbage. It feels gross, right? That's basically what we're doing when we grocery shop without a plan.

Once I let that sink in, it was easy to get organized. Once I was organized, I was already saving money on our grocery bill, simply because I wasn't wasting the food I bought. Even before I started watching prices, and using coupons or apps or price matching the flyers, the simple act of going to the grocery store with an actual plan started to save me money.

The time I did have to put in to weed out the garbage from my pantry and fridge, gave me a chance to see what I already had, so that I wouldn't go back to the store and double or triple up.

I no longer trust myself to make mental meal plans or grocery lists. I have three kids. I am the keeper of the family timetable. I have probably 47 thousand different iterations of my internet passwords to remember. I have to remember all the words to the Boot Scootin Boogie, just in case I hear it on the radio somewhere. Why should I waste time and energy trying to remember my grocery list? I write it down. If my husband tells me something that needs to be added to the grocery list, I make him text it to me, so I have it in writing, and can add it to my list. If you tell me we're out of toothpaste while I'm smelling someone's breath and wrestling someone else into pyjamas, I 100% am not ever going to remember to buy toothpaste or even add it to the list. (I know, there are apps where you can have a shared grocery list, but my success at the grocery store is reliant on a paper list and I can not be swayed, sorry).

I actually physically look in my fridge and pantry when I'm making my list. "I'm pretty sure we have some," is no longer acceptable. "I don't think I've bought that before" is also not acceptable. Go and check. You don't need to buy a new tin of all spice randomly every 6 months because you swear you've never bought that one before. Just check.

If you think you don't have time to save money on your groceries, I'm telling you that you do. And if you have time to write me a comment here or on Facebook telling me that you don't have time, I know that you do, but you don't want to do it. Making a plan before you go to the store actually saves you time. It saves time when you're there, because you're shopping with a purpose, and your list has only items you need and have planned to use. It saves you time once you're home, because everything you unpack is already designated to a meal. Do you know how good it feels to just know what you're making for supper, and actually have all of the ingredients that you need? Do you know how it feels to open the fridge and have only fresh, usable food inside? That you and your family actually wants to eat? It feels amazing.

Try it. This week, try to streamline your pantry or ditch all the inedible stuff out of your fridge and freezer. If you know you're not going to use it, throw it away or donate it, if you can. Maybe you have 4 half used packages of chilli powder, like I did. Consolidate them, or trade one with your friend who has 4 half used packs of cumin. Don't beat yourself up about it, either, just clean it up, and make a plan to improve. This money has already been spent, it's not coming back, and that's okay.

This is the first step, so ask yourself honestly, "am I wasting food?" If you're wasting food, you're wasting money.

Speaking of wasting food, here is a spaghetti squash that my parents brought over to my place in... June? My mom thinks it's at least a year old, now. I tried to give it back. Somebody send me a recipe for this thing. Will it still be good inside?