One word Wednesday

Lots of Bloggers are talking about their "One Little Word" that defines and motivates them for the year. My word is STREAMLINED. Not overly exciting, I know, but it is helping me. I'm hoping that on Wednesdays, at least once a month, I'll update what I'm doing to streamline my life. The first thing is kinda fun...my husband built me a laundry chute. There's a opening in the wall in my closet upstairs, and it has a cabinet door to cover it, and the opening is directly above my washer. The great thing is that my kids think the laundry chute is so cool that they LOVE to gather their clothes and throw them down the chute. It's streamlined my life b/c now, instead of having to haul Mount Laundry-more down the stairs once a week, I do smaller loads more often.

I've also done more organizing in our closets and slowly purchasing baskets and bins to store the stuff we have. I'm also getting better at giving/donating the things that are still good to the people who could use them more. I threw away a trash can full of toys that were broken and just sitting in the toy closet.

Here's what I need to work on....Grocery shopping/menu planning. That takes me a lot of time. Thinking about planning a menu a month in advance. I'm also thinking about never buying paper plates/napkins ever again....I figure I could save almost $200 a year if I do that, but I'm not sure having to wash extra dishes/napkins will help me streamline. I'm also thinking about starting a vegetable garden, but again, I'm not sure that will help me streamline - but will make extra work. Is the extra work worth the benefit of fresh veggies and being outside with my family.

Do you have any thoughts? Any tips on grocery shopping/menu planning? Do you have "one little word?"