Thanksgiving Planning!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Can you believe its just a few days away? I'm not hosting this year - but, I thought I would share with you a simple spreadsheet that has brought some sanity to my Thanksgivings of years past! 

Image via Lonny Magazine

I created this simple spreadsheet a few years ago,  Its a calendar, a reminder system, a shopping list and sanity saver all in one! 

What I do first is get a final(ish) head count - it is much easier to plan when you know how many people you will be serving (shh... then I add like 4 more to make sure we have leftovers!).

When we host, I don't do a ton of the Thanksgiving cooking as my husband is a magnificent cook and cooks a killer turkey! So my job is generally logistics, taste tester and baker!

So...You can imagine how big of a deal it is when someone (oopsy) forgets to buy that one ingredient that makes the dish... never again with this list! 

Our next step, my husband and I decide on a menu for the day. I go through the recipes and pull out the ingredients necessary for each dish. I  then enter it into this spreadsheet with the quantity needed. 

Next step, I go through the kitchen and see what we have already in our pantry - if I have the ingredient I leave the line black and put an X in that collum. If I cant find it, the line goes to red (really helps when at the store).

While grocery shopping I then mark each thing off as I put it in the cart to make sure I don't miss anything (never again!!!). 

I also use this list to keep me organized while preparing, I like to include what "special" items I will need for setting the table so that I can start pulling those out and washing them if needed a few days before. Since we have a pretty small kitchen and just one oven its been really helpful to schedule oven time so that everything is done when we needed it to be! 

So there you have it! Hope everyone has a most wonderful holiday with their friends and families! Do you have any tips and tricks to make your Turkey day run smoother? 

Want a copy of this spreadsheet to get you started? Just sign up for the email list and leave a comment on this post and I will send you an excel file to get you started! 

XOXO | SLL 

Lets talk home screens!

I cant think of a more personal thing today then our cell phone home screens! I mean you carry it with you at all times, you're probably the only one that uses it, and you look at approximately 9 million times per day. Why not make your's something that brings you joy each time you look at it? 

Enter my personal home screen...

I get it... it's not for everyone. We all know there are two very very different types of cell phone users. Are you a right or a left kind of person? If you are more of the 989084577 notification variety, this probably isn't your style! 

Image via: https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/two-kinds-of-people-illustrations/

My husband thinks I am crazy for doing this, but he is also the guy who has pizza delivery apps under "productivity" (I guess he's kind of right). But so many people who have seen my phone have squealed with delight!

I cannot take solo credit for this beauty, after first discovering color-coded folders thanks to The Home Edit - I quickly became completely obsessed! Now, it does take some getting used to I will 100% admit to that. However, I do find myself using my phone (I hope!) more efficiently. I use the search bar, I use Siri - and after a bit, you just know by instinct where everything is... 

If you're interested in doing this - set aside a good 30 minutes - I happened to do mine during a crazy bout of insomnia at about 2am. Start by sorting like by like, just group reds with reds, blues with blues etc.

Depending on the number of apps you have you can get really specific with your rainbow of folders. I decided to have multiple pages of each color in one folder, but I have seen some screens where people extend the whole screen of the phone with folders. Then just pick your favorite emojis and viola -a home screen full of eye candy! 

I kept my messages out since I am using them all day long - as well the phone (because thats what we're actually supposed to use these things for right?), email, safari and pandora for quick selection. 

I would love to know how everyone else organizes their phones - are you a notification clearer or are you 578764987 unread messages from 8th grade kind of person? 

Tell me in the comments below! 

XOXO | SLL