From the Front Porch: The Meal Planning and Kitchen Organization Edition

Happy Friday from the front porch sweet friends!

It’s completely blowing my mind we’re already to the end of the week and almost to the end of the month as well.

How are you holding up?

In recent years, we’ve tried our best to ease into the New Year by taking the month of January nice and slow.

The perfectionist in me wants to have all the cabinets, drawers and closets cleaned out, the house decluttered in 31 days, and a head start on our goals and dreams list.

But after an extraordinarily busy holiday season, I’ve come to realize that what we truly need most is to get back to basics.  

We need to prioritize creating a solid foundation in January to launch and sustain the plans we have for the rest of the year.  

That’s why we’ve been laser focused on reassessing our morning routines, including affirmations and smoothie prep packets, organizing makeup and skincare products, tweaking our nightly routines and turndown service rituals, and figuring out meal planning, cleaning schedules and decluttering systems too.

After all, it doesn’t matter what you have on your Word of the Month list if you’re ultimately too tired, worn down and overwhelmed to incorporate them into your daily life, you know?

So, as we march toward the last few days of the month, I want you to think about the things that worked well and the things you need to go back and take another look at.

Did you leave anything unfinished or give up on something completely?

The answer might be as simple as adding a shelf liner to your already organized kitchen cabinets and drawers or as involved as figuring out a new drop off/pick up routine.

Maybe you need to ask each person in your family to plan a meal one night a week, hire help cleaning your house or find an accountability partner.

No matter how this month has gone, there are still nuggets of wisdom to be gleaned, lessons to be learned and opportunities for growth to be celebrated.

So, be courageous enough to ask yourself the hard questions and to finish what you start.

As always, I’ll be cheering you on.

A Few of Our Favorite Things from Around the Web This Week…

Beautiful Home and Garden Tours:

• This Floral Ave project from Jean Stoffer Design is gorgeous!
• Super excited to see this soulful farmhouse featured in one of my all time favorite decorating books.
• I don’t know if I could handle all the snow outside, but inside, this home in Finland via My Scandinavian Home is perfectly cozy.

Seasonal Inspiration:

• Excited to plan our pod’s Super Bowl party with these ideas from Cindy and the rest of the fabulous ladies from the Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop
• Beautiful Tulip Arrangements from Store Bought Flowers (via Town and Country Living – I pinned so many of these)
• 40 Home Entertaining Trends We’ll See In 2024 (via BHG)

 Health and Wellness Inspiration:

• 7 Things to Do In January (via Teresa Caruso-Most of these things don’t take long at all but can help you have a more successful year.)
• 8 of the Best Decluttering Methods We’ve Tried All Year (via Apartment Therapy)
• A Clean and Tidy Home Can Bost Your Mental Health: Here’s Where to Start (via Real Simple)

Style and Travel Inspiration:

• How to Dress Like a French Girl: 13 Quintessential Outfits (bookmarking these ideas from My Chic Obsession)
• 2024 Beauty Trends (via Camille Styles)
• European Cities That Are Even More Charming in Winter (via CN Traveller)

Simple Pleasures and Little Luxuries:

• These would not only make a great gift idea but they’d also be fun to collect and mark milestone moments from the year.
• Have you seen these collections from Ralph Lauren yet?
• Just added these to my Valentine’s wish list.

If You’ve Missed Anything from the Blog or the Archives Recently, Here’s a Peek At What We’ve Been Up To…

An Easy to Follow Daily and Weekly Cleaning Guide

How to Meal Plan by the Month

How to Organize Your Kitchen Into Work Friendly Zones

Quick and Easy DIY Shelf Liners

How to Organize Your Refrigerator

You Can Find Last Week’s From the Front Porch post, The Evening Edition here, if you missed it…

Organizing the Week Ahead…

Words to Live By:

Dates to Celebrate and Commemorate:

• 01/26 National Green Juice Day
• 01/27 National Chocolate Cake Day
• 01/31 National Hot Chocolate Day
• 02/01 Buy February Cards and Special Occasion Gifts

Weekly Simplified and Organized Home Challenge Task:

• Declutter and Organize Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers
• Declutter and Organize the Pantry and Spices
• Declutter and Organize the Refrigerator

3 Simple Ways to Celebrate the Season:

• Celebrate January Birthdays
• Attend an Outdoor Antique Event
• Plan Valentine’s Day Activities

Kitchen Organization Inspiration We Spotted Online at Amazon This Week…

(Amazon affiliate links have been provided for your convenience. As an Amazon and Impact Media Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Any sales made through such links will support us with a small commission at no extra cost for you. You can read our full disclosure policy here)

• Baskets (we use these in the pantry)
• Cracker Jars (great for storing sugar and flour)
• Organizers (we use these in almost every drawer)
• Knife Set (currently using an in-drawer organizer but so curious about this one)
• Labels (currently use these in the pantry) and these Label Holders (to help keep the baskets organize)
• Drawers (great for cabinets that don’t have a lot of extra storage, just be sure to get the right size)
• Expandable Drawer Organizer (have and love, may need to reassess now that my vintage collection is growing though)
• Sponge Holder (have and love)
• Food Storage Containers (great for leftovers and to-go meals)
• Cork Shelf Liner (you need these Mom!)
• Clear Containers (we have a set similar to these but with handles and they keep our refrigerator neat and tidy)
• Clear Turntable (we use this in our refrigerator for milks and creamers)
• Cake Plate (cake plates like these are great for creating pretty and practical kitchen vignettes)
• Ball Jars (we use these jars for everything from smoothies to seed and nut storage)
• Rack Organizer (this seems like a budget friendly way to organize cutting boards, baking sheets, and lids)
• Dry Food Containers (great for cereals, granola and trail mix)

As always, we appreciate you more than you could ever know, and we hope your weekend is peace-filled and relaxing.  We can’t wait to share even more with you next week!

Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo