The road to becoming a successful meal planner is paved with good intentions, isn’t it?

I’m a chronic recipe collector. On a daily basis, I tear recipes out of magazines, pin recipes to the personal Pinterest board I call “Yumminess,” I print recipes from websites and stash them into a binder, I borrow cookbooks from friends and neighbours and post ideas for delicious dinners to my blog’s Facebook page. Does all of this make me a successful meal planner? You’d think it would, but no, it does not. It makes me a chronic recipe collector.

This summer I’m determined to be a better meal planner. Planning meals makes life so much less stressful, and for busy working mothers, it can be a life saver during the time of day that is usually so rushed and when so many demands are being made by members of the family.

Standing in front of the refrigerator trying to figure out what to make for dinner drives me crazy, and avoiding that craziness is what prompts me to do meal planning. I want to go from recipe collector to meal planner!

You can do meal planning on as small or grand a scale as you’re comfortable with. When I do meal planning, sometimes I only plan a week in advance, and leave out the weekends, assuming we will do takeout one night and leftovers another. Other times I’ve done a whole month in advance, plotting each meal on a dry erase calendar, using my recipe collection as inspiration.

Regardless of the scale upon which you decide to plan meals for your family, here are five quick steps for making your dream of becoming a meal planner into reality.

Make Meal Planning a Breeze…

1. Collect recipes. (See my habit, described above.) Make it a habit to grab recipes or dinner ideas you think your family will enjoy wherever and whenever you see them. If your kids are old enough, get them into recipe collecting too, and engage them in choosing healthy meals they’ll actually eat.
2. Pick a day to make meal planning your task. I use Sunday afternoons or evenings, usually, to sit down with a sheet of paper and plot out five meals I want to make over the coming week.
3. Plan your grocery list around the meals you have planned. For example, if I know I’m going to make spaghetti and meatballs on Wednesday night, I’ll see if all of the ingredients I need are on hand. Whatever isn’t in the pantry, fridge or freezer goes on the grocery list.
4. Shop according to your plan. (Better yet, if you can afford it and want to save time, arrange to have your groceries delivered.)
5. Post your meal plan somewhere prominent in your kitchen so you’ll easily remember each morning if there’s something you need to defrost or if you need to carve out some afternoon time to prepare the meal. Mine often gets clipped to the front of the fridge, but I’ve used a dry erase board, too.

Try to stick to the plan, but if for some reason, you can’t don’t sweat it. Meal planning is meant to make life less stressful. Swap out a meal for another night or give yourself permission to call for pizza if you run out of time.

What are your favorite sites for recipe hunting?

What tips do you have for integrating meal planning into your life?

My husband and I are partners in a seasonal business that got underway for the year just this past week. Between that and our other means of earning a living, by the time Friday arrived, our week was officially a couple of hours short.

On Friday while he was on his way home from work, Graham sent me the usual text message.

“What’s for dinner?”

I groaned and texted back, “Don’t know yet, gotta hit grocery store before daycare pickup.”

Later that evening after I’d managed to scrape something together for supper, my plans to hit the local grocery store foiled, Graham suggested I do a little research into the possibility of having our groceries delivered.

I couldn’t get to the computer fast enough.

I was delighted to discover that there was, indeed, a grocery delivery service in our area and they would even accept payment at the door. No credit card required! As much as  I wanted to save time, I wasn’t willing to pay interest on our weekly food bill.

I put in an experimental order, arranged a delivery time and presto, the very next morning our groceries were dropped off, all packed up beautifully. All I had to do was pay and put them away. It was beautiful.

I started to wonder what other services I could use to save time, essentially adding hours to my week.

As I gushed on Twitter about my newfound love for grocery delivery, friends online revealed they have shirts cleaned so they don’t have to iron them. Others proclaimed their undying love for their cleaning ladies. One person even admitted to ordering tampons and paper towels for delivery to avoid multiple errands in a busy city.

As for my family and I, we will be having our groceries delivered for the next little while. I’m giving us the gift of time, for a small delivery fee that is totally worth the cost.

What services do you make use of to save time and energy?

The morning started off like many others. Nate wandered into our bedroom in the grey light of morning and climbed into bed with me. We snuggled together for half an hour or so before we decided it was time to go downstairs and settle in on the couch for coffee and cartoons.

He felt a little bit warm to me, but we had just been in bed where I had found it to be a bit warm under the weight of the duvet with Nate’s little body snuggled up with mine. He didn’t seem hungry and because he wasn’t acting himself, I avoided giving him milk, opting for a bit of water, instead.

“Take little sips,” I told him.

I waited.

He seemed okay, in good spirits and talking.

Later on, I took him to the bathroom to use the potty and get dressed, and as I was taking his shirt off, he looked…off.

“What’s the matter, buddy?” I asked him.

Then he made that face…you know, the face kids make when they’re about to puke.

By some miracle, I managed to whirl him around to face the toilet and he was sick in the bowl. I was glad I hadn’t let him have any milk.

Poor guy…it had been a long time since he was sick to his stomach. The last time he had a stomach flu he was just 14 months old. We still refer to that illness in our household as “The Great Stomach Flu of 2011” and Graham and I had both had to miss work that week to care for our very sick boy and recover from the sleep deprivation that followed.

After he was sick, I sent a text to Nate’s daycare provider to tell her we’d be staying home that day and I got him settled back on the couch with a blanket, a bowl and a movie. I rolled up the area rug and put it away for the day, the result of a lesson learned during that awful flu two years ago.

I then checked my calendar to see what I had scheduled for the day. Fortunately I had no appointments, sales calls or important errands scheduled but I had been planning to continue a freelance editing job I’ve been working on. It was very easy to put that off for the day and instead focus on taking care of Nate.

That day is the day I really understood the biggest benefit to being a self-employed parent. There was no manager or supervisor to call, no office I had to phone to notify I’d be off, no lost wages and no guilt. I could simply put aside work activities until Nate’s nap, later that evening, or the next day, even.

At that moment I knew for sure that the decisions I’ve been making for my family and my work have been the right ones for us!

I’m confused.

I’m in the middle of a transition with respect to the way I spend my days and earn my income. I’m not sure what label applies to me; am I a stay-at-home mom or am I a work-at-home mom? Is it even important to make the distinction?

It used to be so clear. I worked full-time as an editor at a publishing company that allowed me to work from home. When I had a baby, being a mother who worked full-time in a salaried position in a home office made me a work-at-home mom.

Later, I left that job to work part-time at the local college as an instructor while Nate was looked after by a grandparent or at daycare. The line was clear: I was a working mom.

Now, I’m leaving the college position to stay home and work two home-based businesses and do some freelance editing and writing. What can I say…I’m a woman who wears many different hats! I’ll be working for myself, in our home, while our son is looked after at daycare.  And in the middle of all of this change, I’m finding it difficult to categorize myself as either a stay-at-home mom or a work-at-home mom.

I guess I always assumed that a work-at-home mom worked at home while her children were home with her. I always envisioned women who referred to themselves as work-at-home moms somehow managed to get their work done while their children were at home with them. I don’t really know why I latched onto that image; perhaps it’s simply because I have a young child rather than a school-aged child, so my perspective is coloured by my personal circumstance. Maybe it’s the image I had in my mind of a woman like Kristen Chase, seated in front of her computer on an exercise ball, bouncing a baby on one arm while writing with the other. (Or is that simply urban internet legend?)

Image source: The Mommyhood Project

I posed the question on Twitter a few days ago, asking, “If you work from home as a self-employed person or doing freelance, do you consider yourself to be a SAHM?”

I was assured this scenario referred to WAHMs rather than SAHMs.

I asked, “Even if the kids leave for the day? Too many variables. I hate the labels.”

My friend Jen Lemen made a good point in her response:

“Especially if kids leave for the day. If you were single and a freelancer would you say you’re unemployed?” (Actually, I might, but that is another issue entirely…)

She continued, “You’d say you’re an independent contractor or an entrepreneur or a freelance writer, etc.” (I guess it’s time for an attitude adjustment!)

Ever since our exchange, I’ve been thinking about the WAHM and SAHM labels, and I’ve decided that neither of them really feels natural to me. Neither really applies. We are so anxious to use labels to categorize one another, and I don’t feel like I fit into either one of these narrow categories. Instead, I’ll focus on the descriptors that Jen so helpfully offered in her tweets to me.

Do you refer to yourself as a SAHM or WAHM? How so?

Last week I wrote about how work seemed to come my way at about the same rate that it fades out of my life. Later that same week, I was checking out my Facebook feed and I saw a status update from someone in my network of contacts that caught my eye:

“Seriously, does anyone know who I can hire to create a website?”

I got all excited. Although I am not a web designer by trade, I’ve certainly had a fair bit of experience putting together basic websites, including the site that my husband and I use for our own small businesses, several blogs and other sites of a similar nature. I’ve dabbled with Wordpress design and coding and so far I haven’t broken anyone’s website. I decided to reply to my friend that yes indeed, I did know someone who she could hire to create a website, and that someone was me. I supplied her with links to the websites that I currently maintain and she liked what she saw. After hearing from her about the kind of website she had in mind, I arranged to put together an estimate for her.

The next day I was working away through my marking for school and my mind was racing. I was making a mental list of all the work I needed to get done over the coming weeks and realized that I had over-committed myself. Again.

I had customers to follow up with.

I had orders to deliver.

I had events to plan.

I had ads to place.

I had projects to grade.

I had chapters to proofread and edit.

When did I think I was going to have the time to create an estimate for a website, let alone actually accomplish the launch of a high quality website the client could be proud of? There were not enough hours in the day (see the title of this blog).

(Image source: this isn’t happiness)

It pained me to do so, but in the end I sent a polite message to my friend telling her it wouldn’t be in the best interest of her business for me to take on the job, after all. I explained to her that I have a tendency to take on too much at once and I apologized that I wouldn’t be able to do the job for her, offering to refer her to someone else if she’d like. I turned down work, a practice that felt completely wrong and foreign to me.

Still, I’m proud of myself for understanding my limitations. I can’t do anything well if I’m trying to do too many things at once. This is one of the hardest professional lessons I’ve had to learn.

What are your professional limitations? Have you ever turned down work? How do you feel about doing so?

Do you remember that Seinfeld episode in which Jerry calls himself Even Steven? He loses a girlfriend and meets someone the next day. He loses a stand-up gig and five minutes later another gig is offered to him. He throws twenty bucks out the window, only to find a twenty dollar bill in a jacket pocket a few minutes later.

That’s me, Even Steven.

I have often felt as though Graham and I have a guardian angel looking after our financial matters. Every time we experience a job loss, another opportunity seems to come through for us, sometimes seemingly out of nowhere.

A few weeks ago I had to make a choice between teaching in the classroom and teaching online. Sure, I’d lose some income but I figured I’d also have fewer expenses to go out of pocket for; lunch, gas, and parking fees would all disappear with the elimination of classroom teaching.

Then last week I received a text message from a former colleague at the publishing company where I used to work. “You interested in doing any freelance work?” she asked. I couldn’t believe my luck.

When I texted Graham to tell him about this, he responded with an “LOL.”

I was Even Steven again.

It has become a bit of a private joke between us that somehow, something will come through. I’m not sure if it’s just that we have good karma or that we’ve both just had so many jobs between us and work so hard at networking that some job, some source of income, some opportunity comes along at just the right time.

Whatever the reason, there are a few really easy and important ways to make sure that your name is the first one that comes up whenever an opportunity for work arises. Here are my three favourite strategies for being Even Steven:

1. Network. Join a networking group, whether it is a Facebook group of writers, a LinkedIn group or an in-person group of like-minded people. For example, I recently joined a brand new networking group for women in business in the area where I live, which I discovered through a post in an online classifieds site. The point of the group is to refer business to one another and also to learn about how to run a small business effectively. Oh, and to drink a little wine together, which I’m always a fan of.

2. Keep your eyes peeled. Watch your social media streams for opportunities. Follow companies and websites that post the positions they have available so that opportunity falls into your social media feeds effortlessly. Then when something comes up that you’re interested in, pounce.

3. Never burn a bridge. Leave everyone you work with feeling as though they received their money’s worth by working with you or employing your services. You never know when your name might come up as the next talented individual the company wants to hire again.

Do you have good luck with jobs? What’s your best advice for people who want to be “Even Steven”?

Around Christmas time my step-brother introduced our three year old son to Angry Birds. For Nate, it was love at first sight. From that moment on, the iPad became a coveted item in our house, and we’ve gotten to the point where Nate asks to play with it every single day.

There’s something about how much he loves it, how excited he gets when we hand it to him and how engrossed in the screen he becomes that makes me uncomfortable, somehow. This must be the way our parents felt when my brother and I spent hours playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo when we were kids. They didn’t quite understand why it captivated us so much, and wondered if it was good for us to play with it so much. My brother and I lived a pretty balanced life, and we also had a lot of time to do other things like play outside and read books and interact with people in real life rather than just on a screen. This is what Graham and I want for Nate, too.

On several occasions I’ve thought about doing a little digging around online to see what the professionals think about pre-schoolers using devices like iPads, but thought twice because I was convinced I’d learn that they have no place in the lives of small children; the result of my research would surely do nothing but amplify my guilt over allowing him to play with it in the first place. Instead, what I discovered is that due to the relative newness of tablet technology, there are few conclusive studies available for parents like me to consult. I did find a useful article in the Wall Street Journal, called “What Happens When Toddlers Zone Out with an iPad” that captured very well just what concerns me about Nate’s use of the iPad:

Some parents readily share a table with their children, citing the many apps marketed as educational tools. Some do not. Still other families turn to it as a tool of last resort to entertain and appease children on plane and car trips.

In the list of parental worries about tablet use: that it will make kids more sedentary and less sociable. There’s also the mystery of just what is happening in a child’s brain while using the device.

While I’m not worried about Nate becoming sedentary (he plays outside year-round almost every day) or less sociable (a less shy kid you’ll never meet), I do wonder about how the iPad could affect his behaviour. Sometimes he cries for it. Giving it up is a challenge. We tell him that if he acts out he won’t be playing it at all. We use a timer to alert him that his time with it is up. He does play educational games like Super Why and his hand-eye co-ordination is incredible for a three year old. All things in moderation, I suppose.

Do your kids use an iPad or tablet? What has your experience with it been like?

Now that my husband Graham is back to work following a layoff, it seems as though my days are even longer and more quiet than usual. I love that my professional time is increasingly mine these days to manage, but sometimes it’s hard to stay focused on building my business and staying in touch with my customers when what I really feel like doing is eating brownies and watching episode after episode of the Wonder Years on Netflix.

I remind myself that we are not paying for daycare so that I can watch television all day, and try hard to stay focused. There are a few things I do to help keep myself on track work-wise so I can be productive when Nate and Graham are both out of the house. Here are my top three pieces of advice for work-at-home moms who need to stay focused on work during the day while the kids are at school or daycare.

1. Make lists. I noticed a couple of months ago that I was waking up really early in the morning and was unable to fall back to sleep. As soon as I woke up, a switch in my brain would flip on, and I’d start running through all of the things I needed to accomplish later that day. I described this to a friend of mine, who recommended I start keeping a notebook for my ideas and lists of tasks. This was great advice, and now I keep not only a daily list, but a weekly list of appointments and tasks that I can fit in and around my appointments and errands. Now, if I wake up early, I just think of that list and I can go back to sleep, secure in the knowledge I have everything written down.

2. Shut down. When I really need to focus, I close all of the program windows and browser tabs on my computer that aren’t in use for the task I’m tackling right then. I switch my iPhone over to silent mode and flip it over so I won’t be distracted by any visual notifications. When I need to stay focused, social media can be a real distraction for me, so I eliminate it from my surroundings until I’m ready to take a break.

3. Prioritize. When the list of items gets too long to accomplish in one day, I start moving things up and down the list. For example, I can send out product samples another day in order to meet a deadline today. I do the tasks that require my undivided attention during the day, and save housework and other jobs that require less focus for the evenings. Laura Watt, owner of Cubits Organic Living agrees.

“Do not do laundry when kids are out! You can do that with them or with your partner or have [him or her] do it.”

Smart advice, Laura!

Do you work at home or run a home-based business? What’s the best method you’ve come across for staying focused?

Have you ever tried to think of a word that you would never imagine being used to describe yourself? For me, that word is entrepreneur. The word always seemed really exotic to me. I can recall my grade nine business teacher, Mrs. Bezaire, using it to describe people who ran their own businesses. I sat there in that classroom wondering why anyone would want to do such a thing when there were big companies like McDonald’s and Sears to work for.

Later on I fell in love with a man who owned a seasonal small business and although I could certainly appreciate that owning his own business was satisfying and appealing to him, I still didn’t really understand why a person would rather be responsible for generating his or her own income. It seemed much more safe and secure to work someplace where a steady pay cheque would be issued on a regular basis. I kept thinking that it would be much better for one of us to always have the kind of income that was steadily reliable and provided by a big company with a well-known logo.

Recently I decided to dig further into the idea of running a business. When I Googled the term, I discovered that the very definition of entrepreneur can include a scary, financial risk factor:

The word entrepreneur…is commonly used to describe an individual who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on financial risk to do so.

The last couple of years have marked a transition for me out of my financial comfort zone into running my own business. Now that I’ve had a taste of working for myself, I understand much more clearly why Graham loves it so much. I get to decide how my day will be spent, which tasks I’m going to tackle, and I’m responsible for providing great customer service to the people I deal with on a daily basis. While it is a bit scary sometimes to rely only on myself to be successful, I’m surprised to discover that I love every second of it.

Image source: work.chron.com

Do you work for yourself in some capacity? What do you love about it?

This week the major topic of conversation in my Twitter stream is CEO Marissa Mayer’s assertion that employees at Yahoo! would no longer be welcome to work remotely due to the fact that the practice is bad for productivity. The general consensus among those I follow ranges from outrage to disappointment.

As a person who once worked a full-time permanent position as a Content Editor from the comfort of my own home office, I have an opinion about Ms. Mayer’s decision: I think it’s silly. It’s silly to say that employees who are often more productive at home should now spend money out of pocket on travel expenses to get to work. It’s silly to assume that being present in a cubicle will make an employee more productive. And it’s silly to assume that an employee will be more engaged in his or her work simply due to physical proximity to colleagues and management.

I’d argue that working from home makes employees more engaged with their work. Photo credit: Monster College.

For the past two and a half years I’ve been teaching communications classes online while teaching various general education credits during the day in the classroom on campus. The debate over the merits of work-at-home employment arrangements was a timely one for me because I was presented last week with a choice: I would have to choose between teaching classes in person, on campus and teaching online. This, due to a rule that is still foggy to me, and is never very clearly explained by my employer.

In any event, I had to weigh up the choice. Would it be best for me to continue to drive to the college at my expense for gas, parking and commuting time, or would it be better to stay in the comfort of home, where I could schedule my time to interact with my students according to my own schedule? I think Marissa Mayers would say, without hesitation, that I should choose the option that would take me on campus regularly, where my students would benefit from the “speed and quality” of my presence at school. I think my online students would argue with her; I’m in contact with them on a daily basis and thanks to technology, as constantly available to them during business hours as I am to the students I meet in person.

In the end, I decided that I prefer my online teaching job. It allows me to do my work without spending any extra money to go to work, and I can really put my professional strengths such as communication, technology and time management to good use. There will be no more need to rush home from campus in another city in time to pick Nate up from daycare. There will be no more need to wake Nate up and get him to daycare early in the morning on those days I have an early class. The ability to juggle my home and family life with my professional aspirations makes me more appreciative, more engaged with the work I do from home.

I wonder what Marissa Mayers would say to that?

Do you agree or disagree with Ms. Mayers’ decision that employees are more productive when they work in the office? If you worked from home at Yahoo!, would you find a new work arrangement that would allow you to continue to work remotely, or would you head back to office life in a cubicle?