It may not be a meal plan but it's still a plan of meals

So you all know I struggle with meal plans. I just can't seem to make it work. Most people will sit down and plan out all their meals (or at least their suppers) for the next week. I haven't been able to do that yet but I am making progress. My sticky list on the calendar gives me ideas when I'm not sure what we should have. And I've been faithfully marking down what meal I make for supper each day. So we're 17 days in to 2013 and I am feeling better about the whole thing. :)

As for how I shop for groceries, well I have a regular stock of certain items that we use for a lot of meals (like bags of potatoes, canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, eggs, milk, etc.). When it comes to meat, I usually have a fairly good variety in the freezer and pick up whatever is on sale that week. Once thing I'm good about doing is when I'm highlighting what I need to pick up on my grocery list, I mark the things I need to get in pink and the things that can wait for a sale in yellow. When I open up the last of something, I added to my running list and then add those items when I sit down to prepare for shopping. I always go through the flyers and see what's on sale. WalMart is great about price matching if you bring the current flyers and that saves me some money too.

One thing I have come to realize (and I hope you realize too) is that no matter what I do - a process, a plan, a cleaning method, etc. - I need to do what works for me. There are lots of different and great ways to do things, but just because it works well for one person, doesn't mean it's the best way for you to do something. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, but if what you're doing isn't working, it's time to try something new. I follow a lot of great blogs with awesome ideas but I can't do all the things they suggest. I've got to weed through it and figure out what may work for me. Sometimes I try out their ideas and it's great, or needs tweaking to fit my lifestyle. Other times, it's just no good and I'll keep with my old methods till I find something else to try.

What's the best tip you've found lately? Please share. (And no it doesn't have to be related to meal planning.)