Your weekly planner

Yes its true...weekly planners make EVERYONES lives easier AND it helps protect your bank account. :)
It's a lot of work, time consuming, involves going through recipes, going through cupboards, googling helpful hints... its a TIME consuming process. But it is OH so worth it! Everyone has their own way of making their list. I make mine 4 weeks at a time. And it actually isn't as bad as it sounds.

I come up with 5 meals to cook for each week.
 Here's what the top of my sheet would look like...

Dinner:
tacos
spaghetti
grilled cheese/tomato soup
grilled chicken and sausage
chili -2nights

I know that chili will last for 2 nights at LEAST, and probably even a few lunches. I try to keep that in mind when planning my meals that way I know how much "other food" to buy such as frozen pizzas, lunch meat, etc.

Then I write what we will have for lunch during that week.

Lunch:
tuna
lunch meat and cheese
leftovers

 Then I start my list...I have to think "What will I need to make those meals happen?" That comes FIRST on the list. I also out to the side write the price I know it will be (from keeping a few old receipts) or the prices I think it will be (shoot high).

So my list starts out like this...
hamburger meat x3    $2.08 each
spaghetti noodles       $1.00
kraft cheese               $2.50

and so on and so forth. I know that you REALLY don't care what my list looks like but I want it to make sense. :)

So I go through ALLLL of the ingredients I need to make these lunches and dinner happen and then its on the regular items. milk, eggs, bread, peanut butter, toilet paper...

IF you are only going to go the grocery store once a week then you need to keep up with what weeks you buy what. You won't need to buy a 16 roll of TP every week, but you should put it on the list for every other week, or 3rd week, depending on how many people are in your house. Try to break up the monotiny of meals... breakfast in particular... its SOOOo easy to get stuck in a rut. Make your list and get bagels one week, cereal one week, waffles one week... make it fun!

What weeks do you need tooth paste? Detergent?

Keep ALLLL of that in mind when making your list. Please don't hesitate to ask for tips!!! I'd LOVE to help!!