Make your own meal planner

I don't know about you, but I was getting into a bit of a rut where every evening it was a struggle to decide what to cook for dinner. Then on some occasions I decided what to have only to look in the refrigerator and realise that I didn't have that food in.

On browsing Pinterest one day, I discovered people had designed all types of menu boards to help plan their meal for the week.  Such as...

  

or

These inspired me to have a go at creating my own.

I liked the idea of using mini pegs to pin the meals so I ordered some from eBay. I then started to look for something I could make into a board. Then a Graze box popped through my door and after eating my tasty snacks I kept the box with the thought of finding a nice decorative paper to cover it. 

The box was left laying around for a couple of weeks until I had another brain wave. Inside the graze boxes there are pictures. So I thought I'd see if I could turn the box inside out and eliminate the need to cover it.

The boxes are put together by folding, so I carefully undid it like so...

Note this is a different box to the one I used on the finished product.

Then I put it back together inside out, and put a little tape on the side to hold it together. Next I took my pegs and wrote the days of the week on them, then glued them on the box with PVA evenly spaced out.

Then I took some other brown card (more recycled packaging) and made two little pockets to put the removable food cards in. I did debate over how many pockets to have and what catergories to use. I saw one on Pinterest that had "favs" and "quick" which I really liked the idea of, but then I knew I'd end up confusing myself if a meal fitted into both fav and quick! So I decided to go for meals that I have in and meals that I don't.Again I used PVA to glue these on.

Then I cut out the cards to write the meals on from an old cereal box. And fially here is the finished meal planner! Not the neatest or most professional looking, but it does the job and has got me out of the meal decision quandry every day.

My dressing table or 'vanity' area

When I bought my first home, I started my decorating spree with my bedroom. Previously I had lived in rented accommodation, so had never bothered to buy decent furniture or been allowed to do any decorating.

I'm not going to lie, it was hard work! I remember ringing my Dad on one occasion, crying down the phone that it would never be finished (drama queen!). The previous owner had just painted over this horrible textured wallpaper on the ceilings as well as the walls, so it took weeks to remove. But, a couple of months of hard work and toil and finally my bedroom was complete.

The first piece of new furniture I bought myself was my dressing table. I actually spotted this in Homebase before I even moved, and knew I wanted it. It is a penny shy of £200, but as luck would have it, Homebase were having a 20% off furniture sale so I managed to get it for around £160.

On my dressing table I've got my makeup and perfume. There is some fairy lights hanging round the mirror, a couple of sparkly coasters on the top, a sparkly picture frame from Junction 18 and my "little brown bag" makeup bag from Bloomingdales. In the draws I've got some of my main "go-to" hair bits and bobs (clips etc) and a smaller mirror I used to check the back of my hair.

The majority of my makeup is stored in my acrylic Muji storage, which you can read about in more detail here.   

I am so proud of the work I did on my room, and love sitting at my dressing table and experimenting with my makeup. When we move, I'm going to try and convince my boyfriend that I need one of the bedrooms as a dressing room as I get up much earlier than him for work. Wonder what my chances are?! ;)

Muji make-up storage organiser

Muji acrylic storage: ★★★★★

Update: New storage


Recently, I stumbled across a video on YouTube of someone showing their make-up collection and storage system and I was transfixed first of all by the amount of make-up, but secondly, by the way it was stored! (Link to original inspiration here)

Then came my unhealthy obsession of spending far too long trawling the Internet looking for the perfect make-up storage solution for myself. I discovered Muji. If you search "acrylic" or go to the "acrylic storage" category on the Muji website you will find a range of different size boxes, drawers, pots etc.

To start me off, I ordered the acrylic box with 2 drawers (wide) and the 3 partition acrylic desk pot (large). Delivery is only £2.95 for orders up to £24.99, so I spent just under £20 on this. It arrived in about 3 days packaged very well in bubble wrap and other protective coatings.

I packed my eye shadows, foundations, blushers, lipsticks and things in the draws, then used the pot to store makeup pencils, lip glosses and mascaras. I'm really happy with the finished result and it looks great on my dressing table. Although I do still have some make-up in other drawers and make-up bags in my room, so I'm looking to expand my Muji collection in the near future.

The Muji products are all stackable. As you can see I currently have the pot on top of the drawers. I plan to order another set of the 2 drawers and the small 3 partition pot, stacking the draws, then putting the shorter pot in front of the taller one. I'll update this blog with a photo once I've got it.

 
If you are looking to organise your make-up without spending ridiculous money, then I'd definitely recommend Muji.

Update: New storage