Our town has a huge community wide food drive every year around this time. I always have the best intentions, but I won't lie I am usually scrounging around in the pantry trying to cobble a donation together that won't deplete our resources and also looks like it was more than just the eventual after thought it ends up being. What is even more embarrassing is I don't even have to take the donation anywhere. A massive team of volunteers goes door to door, neighbourhood by neighbourhood and collects the donations right off your front porch. You just have to leave it out there. Yeah, it is really that simple.
Recently two things happened, first, I hopped on board the Happy Planner train after I fell in love with a friend's. It was exactly what I was trying to achieve via a bullet journal, but all the time consuming lay out stuff is done. I love a beautiful bullet journal layout, but I don't have the talent, the time or the inclination to figure one out week to week. Anyway, the Happy Planner offered multiple layout options, multiple sizes, easy customization and they have so many stickers. It's really all about the stickers, amirite?
Secondly, I was part of a conversation about food bank donations that included a very dear friend of mine who sits on the board of one of our local food banks and she said something that really stuck with me. "Okay, but make sure what you are donating can actually be utilized by the food bank." Well..... boom. I am 100% guilty of not doing that.
In the great words of Dr. Maya Angelou, when you know better, do better. So, I did the research, figured out what the big asks were of the food drive and then I scheduled weekly additions to my grocery shopping list in my Happy Planner. We order online and pick up at the store, so each week in my planner has a space for our grocery lists. When I sit down with my laptop to order, my grocery list and the week ahead are right there for me to glance at. This week, I added a dozen packages of noodle soup, last week was cans of tuna. You get the idea. As these items show up I have a box ready in the mudroom for it all to go right into. Then on the appropriate date, out the front door it goes for pick up.
This blogging shift is kind of weird, I spent years just writing about the kids, this change of focus feels self indulgent, but this really isn't a humble brag. I don't mean it as a pat on the back. It is just literally not a thing I really thought about before. I think the more prevailing thought was, oh well they can just take what I have, it's better than nothing, right? Here is the thing though, in the past couple of years I have been working very hard on being more intentional with my time and resources and one of those things made me realize I was missing the mark and the other helped me organize my way to hitting the mark.
2 comments:
First: your food bank plan is brilliant. I am going to do the same. There is a huge need right now at our bank, apparently in Jan/Feb the cupboards are always pretty much bare. It's such a kind thing to just add a few items onto your list every week.
Second: tell me more about this Happy Planner! is it an app? Or a book? I am the same as you - interested in bullet journalling but not willing to put in the effort to actually lay it all out. What does it look like, and how do you use it?
It is paper. I will send you a message on facebook.
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