Is one of your New Year’s resolution to be more organized when it come to planning your weekly menu? Well I have a great project to make that will help. It is a menu planner that holds your menus and your grocery list.
Here is how to make it:
You will need, 8 1/2″x 10 1/2″ paper, ribbon, cutter, glue, yarn needle and printed menus and grocery list
1) score the card stock that will be the back. Score each side 5 inches from the side, leaving a 1/2″ section in the middle of the paper. You can use a bone folder for this. If you don’t have a bone folder or have misplaced it (like I have) you can use a mechanical pencil instead
2) score the top of the paper 1/2″
3) bend the paper at all the score marks and cut a section between the middle and the top off and then cut off the sides of each of the flaps
4) Prepare the lists and menus. I just made them from Word and printed out two per page. I printed enough to have about 50 of each ( a year’s worth if you do it every week). I then cut each of them 4″ x 7″ Here are the links in PDF file: (let me know if it works or not)
5) Using a 1/8″ hole punch, punch two holes in each sheet. I lined up the sheets and punched several at a time to save on time. Punch two holes into the flap of the card stock.
6) Thread the ribbon through the lists and card stock. The best way to do this to use a yarn needle and put the ribbon through it.
a) Start in the front of the lists
b) Pull on side of the ribbon through, making sure that you don’t pull it all the way through
c) Pull the other side of the ribbon through the other hole. You will have to switch the needle to the other side of the ribbon.
d) Now take the ribbon the right side and put it into the left hole and do the same with the left ribbon. This will secure the lists to the card stock
e) Pull tight and cut excess ribbon off at an angle. You will want to make sure that the ribbon is longer than you need so you can put the needle through the hole. Next glue down the flap to secure it into place.
7) Repeat step 6 on the other side
8)Decorate the outside of your menu planner. You could be more creative in the title than I have been. I put a ribbon underneath the paper and around the back so that you can close the planner. Just wrap the ribbon around the circle and brad (brad is what is holding the circle, it is not glued to the paper).
9) Lastly, I put some magnets on the back of it to put in on the fridge.
You can fill up you menu and your grocery list and then just tear off your list each week. I LOVE mine and use it all the time. It is nice to be able to just keep it all together. It actually has saved me a TON of money. Before I had it, I would just go to the grocery store and get whatever looked good and nothing for a specific recipe. Then at 3:00 in the afternoon I would try to decide what to make for dinner that night and chances were, I didn’t even have all the ingredients for the recipe. Now I am prepared and know exactly what I’m going to make and know that I have everything I need.
I made one for a friend and she even saves her menus so when she doesn’t know what to cook one week, she just turns back to them to get an idea.
very cute and creative idea for making your own planner. I don't do a weekly menu (hubby is the cook and he goes day by day)BUT this idea would work great for my craft and DIY projects I plan to do this year and cards I need to make for birthdays through out the year. Can create my list and supplies needed. TFS!
do you have a link to print the planner and list?
simply brilliant!
What a great project, and a simple way to stay organized. I need a LOT of help with grocery shopping and menu planning, so I'll give this a try, thanks for linking up!
Sorry, me again, can you please add a link to REINVENTED in your post? Thanks, :).
great idea! i need one of these! thanks for sharing!
Cute and oh-so-organized! Love it!!
Organization is so many times the key to getting a lot done.
Cheri
Making dinner more often and being more organized about menu planning is one of my goals for this year. So far, so good. I love your menu planner and will feature you at my Penny Pinching Party tomorrow.
This is SOOO up my alley! I keep my meals on Google Calendar and have them repeat every month. Printing out the meal plan agenda for the week and slapping it on the fridge is not nearly as cute as this!! I MUST MAKE ONE! Thanks for sharing! I'm bookmarking this under "to do" now!