By: Christine Steendahl

Are you searching for a great way to save money on your grocery bill? A Menu Planning Service can help. These innovative services help you plan, cut costs on grocery costs and manage your dinner meals simply and easily.

Menu Planning services provide moms with a simple to follow dinner menu for every week. Not only do you get great dinner meal suggestions including main dishes, side dishes and desserts that are delicious, simple to make and nutritious, but you also get a tailored grocery list to easily shop for the foods for the upcoming week. You can save tons of money, because when shop for only what you will be preparing and what ingredients you will need you won’t wastefully purchase foods and items that you don’t need.

Many people waste hundreds of dollars each year purchasing food items that they don’t need. In many cases foods are wasted, because they sit around not being used in any meals you make. Once you find a meal suggestion for these items, they are usually too old, spoiled or stale.

By using a menu planning service you will also cut costs on fast food and casual dining restaurant bills. Many families become discouraged when there is no food in their refrigerator. Instead of preparing a nutritious and low cost meal at home, they opt for the convenience of visiting fast food and casual dining establishments that can easily run $20, $50, $100 or more. If you are searching for a solution to keep you at home instead of at high priced restaurants, a meal planning service is an economical and efficient solution.

Another way you can receive the rewards from menu planning is with all the time you will save. Now that everything is planned out for you, you won’t have to spend time each day running back and forth to the grocery store to buy needed food items, you can have your whole week’s meals planned out and have a comfortable and relaxing time at home with your loved ones.

If you are searching for a great way to save on your grocery bills, look into a menu planning service.

Author Resource -> Dine Without Whine is the perfect menu planning service for energetic families. Visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com to explore even more rewards to menu planning.

How often do you get in a rut and not know what to make for dinner?  If you are like me, it is all too often. 

Well, Food & Family magazine has a section called “Express Checkout” which usually has a weekly meal plan in it, complete with recipes and a grocery list.  I tried this out about six months ago and really enjoyed the ease of meal preparation and the food itself.  I found another weekly meal plan in a newer edition and have been cooking those meals this week.  (Get your free subscription by registering with KraftFoods.com.)

Being so pleased with having my weeknight recipes all figured out, I went to the website to see if they had more weekly meal plans on there.  They do!  The section is called “1 Bag 5 Dinners“.  The concept is that you get five nights worth of meals into one bag of groceries.  Totally affordable and easy!  I’m really liking it!

Want more weekly meal plans with more variety that your whole family will eat? Try Dine Without Whine - A Weekly Menu Plan & Grocery List Delivered To Your E-mail Box.

Need a kid friendly plan for breakfasts and lunches? Try Kid Approved Meals - Weekly Breakfast and Lunch Menus Moms and Kids Love!

How about weight friendly meals for mom delivered right to your door? Get one FREE week of meals with your first eDiets’ Deliciously Yours meal delivery order.

One of my website clients is looking for a custom logo design.  Since I’ve done banners and buttons for her before that she was happy with, I decided to give designing her logo an attempt.  Several days and some not-so-quality work later, I’ve come to realize that logo design is just not for me.  (I’ll stick with the advertising banners.)  Not only did I have trouble coming up any creative ideas, I found that I’m lacking in the artistic arena.  Just because I’m good with Photoshop, doesn’t make me a logo designer.

However, I am never one to give up and leave my clients stranded.  So I started doing some research.  I found out that there are several different file formats and sizes required when delivering a quality logo design, including vector format.  (I don’t even know what a vector medium is.)   I researched prices… found out that some of them aren’t that bad.  I found companies that will provide you with more than one custom logo design from more than one designer.  What a great idea!  If one designer doesn’t “catch your drift”, another one probably will and you have more to choose from.

What I found that I liked:

• LogoYes - A pretty nifty little do-it-yourself logo design website.  You choose your icon and text and arrange them however you want.  You can play with it for free and only pay when you’re ready. If you are looking for something simple, this could be the way to go.  (They do custom logo designs too.)
• Professional Logo in Minutes! - Just follow the three easy steps to create your logo. Once you get your logo just right, pay only $49 and the unique logo you have designed will be yours to use wherever you need.
• LogoDesignPros.com - 4 logo samples created by 2 designers within 2 to 3 days for only $198.  Free unlimited revisions, after-sale support, complete ownership rights, 100% money-back guarantee.
• My Site Logo - Home of the $89 logo.

Which one fits your image?

Now, I also know that my WAHM client who was looking for the custom logo design in the first place, was really looking to give another WAHM graphic designer her business.  So, if you have any recommendations, please do comment and share your referral!!

I got this in an email and thought it was so appropriate that I had to share…

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 glasses of wine…

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.  When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.  They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.  He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.  He asked once more if the jar was full.  The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’ The professor then produced two glasses of wine from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

Now, said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.  The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.’ The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.  The sand is everything else; the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘There is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.  The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.’ Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  Play with your children.  Take time to get medical checkups.  Take your partner out to dinner.  Play another 18.  Do one more run down the ski slope.  There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter.  Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’ One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the wine represented.

The professor smiled.  ‘I’m glad you asked.  It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of glasses wine with a friend.’