“Just Make Do” January

What is “Just Make Do January”?

“Just Make Do January” is the perfect opportunity to use up all the food, chemicals, health and beauty supplies in your home AND kick start an emergency fund in 2016.

“Just Make Do” means instead of running out and purchasing new we will be creative, be building new food combinations and using up any “leftover” bottles, supplies and groceries we have on hand.

Our goal at Treasured Tidbits is to only purchase perishable items in January and only in the quantity we need. For us this means milk, eggs, bread, yogurt, fresh fruits and veggies, cottage cheese and possibly sour cream.

It means we will dig into the recesses of our cabinets and actually use that quinoa, gnocchi and other “unpronounceable” food we bought when we wanted to try “new things”. (How many years ago?)

It means we will use up every open bottle of shampoo, conditioner and cleaner before we even contemplate buying new (no matter how good the deal.) Our final goal is to begin creating organic, made from scratch recipes and cleaners.

If we stick to this plan we should be able to save between $300-$400 in the month of January alone which will be a great kickstart to our goal of saving $5,000-$10,000 for our emergency fund in 2016.

Each day we will share the ways we have “Just Made Do” including our meals, snacks and methods for stretching things. Our first post will share the photos of our cabinets, fridge, freezers, cleaning supplies and beauty collections as well as our “menu” plan for January (so you can see just how much we NEED to implement Just Make Do January).

How did we prepare for “Just Make Do January”?

We began by taking a written inventory of our freezers, then cabinets, food storage and finally our fridge. (We cleaned and straightened them at the same time, of course.)

Then we removed all the cleaning supplies and grouped them together so we could get an accurate account of what we have to use up. (We will share this in tomorrow’s post.)

At last, heaven help us, we emptied all the health and beauty items and sorted those, tossing what was expired and making note of what remained. (We had 5 bottles of 1/2 used shampoo, due to my daughters allergies- hubby will be using those up.)

So not only are we saving money, we are getting a jump start on Controlling the Chaos in our home as well.

Finally, we created a menu from the meat inventory using items we already have in our cabinets. So far, the menu only extends two weeks because after that we may need to become crazy creative.

Why? Because everyone in our home as dietary restrictions BUT we are determined to do this. We will use up all the preprocessed items in our home, save money, declutter our cabinets and begin eating fresh and healthy.

Will you join us in our “Just Make Do January”?

To follow our progress, find inspiration and cheer us along you can “like” our Facebook page, sign to receive daily email reminders, follow us on instagram (TreasuredTidbits) or Pinterest. You can become actively involved by joining our “Clutter Overcomers” group where we share our successes, mistakes and offer each other advice in a closed group.

This post is linked up at Sharing Saturday

Tags: Declutter, Food, Organizing, Recipes, Saving Money, Use it Up

Cleaning, Decluttering, Encouragement, Organization, Personal | Tina Miller | December 31, 2015 7:41 pm

29 Comments

By Kali @JoyforEachStep, January 2, 2016 @ 11:18 am

Using up what you have at the beginning of the year before buying more is such a good idea. It prepares you for a year of dealing with less clutter. Less of those things that just seem to pile up. Thanks for the encouragement.
I also wanted to let you know I found this article at your new link-up.
By Tina Miller, January 2, 2016 @ 11:29 am

We used to do this every October but I decided to kick start the year with savings. Thank you for the encouragment and stopping by!
By Wendy Kay, January 2, 2016 @ 11:54 am

In May of 2016 I am focusing on the foundation of successful transformation: Go on a Clutter-Diet (both the tangible things and the clutter that takes place in our hearts and minds). I really appreciate your post. You have inspired me and will inspire many others in my group. Thank you.
By Tina Miller, January 2, 2016 @ 11:57 am

That sounds great Wendy! We are doing similar in out “Controlling the Chaos” Series Maybe we can encourage each other! 🙂

Treasured Tidbits by Tina