Project

A few weeks ago Sarah posted a link on a monthly menu board giveaway, in which I found the link on how to make your own magnetic menu board.

And while they are SUPER cute, I investigated the link on tips to make your own, and found it....well, exhausting.  And so I started thinking of things I could do to make my own.  I immediately had to have one of these.  Menu planning is a bit tough for me sometimes.  Not tough as in, "derp, I don't know how to plan ahead" but as in, "I don't set aside time to plan a meal for a week from Saturday."  It didn't seem like a good way to use my time when my time was so much better spent... uh, procrastinating.  PLUS, having a menu board promised loads of other perks, like making the shopping list easier and meal prep an absolute breeze!  I was all on board! (no pun intended.  ha!)

SO.

I looked at magnetic dry erase boards with calendars on them.  Simple enough, right?  The better ones were about $40.  More than I wanted to spend.  I found some other things though, and so far, they are working great.

These are just magnetic squares that also double as dry erase boards.  I purchased a calendar one and a blank one (available in various colors).  They are made by "the Board Dudes."  (I had never heard of this company until I found them at the office supply store.  They seemed to be relatively what I was looking for.)

 The Calendar side.  I had to measure and cut each little square to fit inside the days without overlapping or covering up the date.

 I use the blank side to hold the spares, the shopping list, and (not shown in this pic) a magnetic pen holder I have had since I was in 7th grade.  I used it in my locker.  Teehee!

 This is a sample meal square.  This is where being a scrapbooking dork comes in handy.  I had lots of card stock, and I also found this paper that was a bit stiffer than card stock.  And it was glittery!  Bonus!  I just cut some ivory card stock a bit smaller than the original, wrote the menu item down, wrapped it in packing tape (or what I like to call "ghetto lamination" since I was not going to buy a laminator or laminating paper for this project), and super glued a magnet (also purchased at the office supply store) onto the back.

 See?  There it is.  I decided to use super glue because the magnets were quite strong and I could just see myself ripping off meals in my impatience to move them around the board.  The super glue is working quite well.  And I only nearly super glued my fingers to a magnet once!

I hung the boards on the wall with these Command Damage-Free Hanging strips.  Of course, the boards came with their own way to attach them to the wall.  But the packaging clearly stated that the adhesive was permanent and would probably damage walls.

No, thank you.  I opted to make this project Army family-friendly since we have a few moves in our future.

Soooo, has it worked?  Am I magically organized and now have oodles of time?

Well, it took a week to post this post.  So, organized as I may be, I'm still a procrastinator extraordinaire.  I did find the grocery shopping list absurdly easy.  But then, even as I put meals on the board, they get changed constantly.  The chicken isn't thawed in time, or we're both tired, or someone wants to go out after work, so we insert more "eat out" nights than I had planned.  And grocery shopping.  Well.  As it turns out, I like to see what else would be interesting so I buy lots more than we need.  Like...pretzel bread.  It's good with soups!  However, I didn't plan on making any soups this week...  What can I say?  The sample lady got me in a weak moment.  I was also hungry.  Which probably helped my hefty grocery bill.

At least that's what happened this last time I went to the store.  To be fair, however, I went shopping before this huge storm hit half of the country and I was swept up into the frenzied mood at the store.  Everyone and their aunt was there in the middle of the day to make sure they didn't want for anything in the middle of the blizzard conditions stuck in the house.  I, for instance, purchased bagel thins.  I don't eat breakfast very much.

(I should amend that.  I usually have a protein/greens drink mix for breakfast.)

The bottom line:  I'm very glad I made this!  It looks cute, albeit not nearly as cute as aforementioned boards, but cute.  I had a hand in creativity, and I can always make more meals once we decide we want to add one to our repertoire.  I might have to get another blank board though as the one we have gets very full in the planning process.

I also need more magnets.