Children's Growth Awareness Day by the Magic Foundation

Today is Children's growth awareness day. I got this from an e-mail list I subscribe to, and think it's so important! 

The MAGIC Foundation has declared September 30th as Children's Growth Awareness Day. We have nicknamed this event, Growth Spurt. This year is our first attempt to unite families throughout the world with the goal of spreading information about the importance of monitoring a child's growth pattern. On Sept. 30th, MAGIC families throughout the world will be sending out emails, posting to groups, putting up posters....about children's growth. It is a monumental effort by just a few (our children's conditions are rare) but we are hoping that our friends and family help us and keep spreading the word! Together we will change children's lives! Why is children's growth so important? Children's growth (how much they grow each year) is a major indicator of their overall health. If they are growing at least 2 inches each year (after the age of 2 and before puberty) it is a strong sign that they are healthy. If they are NOT growing this bare minimum, it can be an early warning sign of underlying health issues such as disease, tumors, hormone imbalances or unidentified syndromes. Paying attention to those height markers made on walls by parents, and the growth charts at the physicians offices is a routine and often overlooked tool for catching problems in their early stages. Many people do not realize the importance of this information and consequentially children may struggle for years with an unhealthy body or serious problem developing which can be stopped or treated much sooner if people become aware of the signals his or her body is sending via their growth pattern. True or False? Parents who complain that their child is too small, or developing too early are simply trying to make their kids "designer" kids to given them advantages over other children. FALSE! Parents who face these medical problems only want their children to be healthy. It is just a part of life that unlike as an adult, during childhood how fast or slow the kids are growing can be an early warning signal to medical professionals and parents. The MAGIC Foundation parents are not using medical treatments such as growth hormone etc. for cosmetic purposes. For our children, it is a true medical need which is often overshadowed by the sensationalized abuse of this medicine by high profile celebrity and sports figures. What is The MAGIC Foundation's Annual Growth Spurt? This is an online event by which everyone in MAGIC teams up to go online and spread the word about the medical importance of children's growth. We are mainly parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other supporters who personally know an affected child. We are small in number due to the rare frequency of these medical problems but we are HUGE in heart and effort! We gather online, to reach out to those who may not understand these issues in the hopes of helping those children who are still lost in the system - and have not been diagnosed. What good does spreading this information really do? Efforts like this have literally saved the lives of children. Simple information about children's growth have helped parents realize that something was wrong, pointed them to online educational resources, and helped them find their way to experts- quickly. Serious problems like brain tumors have been identified with enough time to make a life long change for children. What is the goal of International Children's Growth Awareness Day? We hope that our combined efforts will help educate 100,000 people about children's growth. How you can help! If you think someone can benefit from this message, send them to www.magicfoundation.org Why should you get on board with this challenge? Because you are probably just like us...hard working people who have busy lives. Alone, we cannot possibly make a noise loud enough for the world to hear...but together we just might! Take 5 minutes and send an email. Ask your friends to pass along this simple yet potentially life saving information. I assure you that somewhere along this information path, a child's life will be changed! Thank you. Together we are MAGIC!

Sample Grocery List

Feel free to copy and paste this into word, delete the cells and use it for yourself! (This is what we went shopping for yesterday. lol)

Grocery List 9/29/2012

Produce	Dairy	Meat	Canned Foods	Frozen
10 Onions	Milk	2 whole chickens	6 oz tomato paste	Mixed veggies
3 Green peppers	Cheddar cheese	3 lb chuck roas	Chicken stock (4)
1 Red pepper	Monterey jack	1 hambone, 2 c. ham	Beef stock (1)
3 tomatoes	Cream cheese	5lbs ground beef	8 oz. green chilis
Fresh parsely	Sour cream	1.5 lb round steak
Fresh cilantro	Butter	sausage
2 Jalapeño pepper	Eggs (2 doz)	½ lb salami or pepperoni
Celery
Carrots			Dry Food
Mushrooms		Bread/Cereal	Rice noodles
1 lb Romaine  or spinach	Baking	GF oatmeal	Egg type noodles (gf)
Sweets & Snacks	Dried thym		1 lb split peas
	Dried basil		1 lb lentils	Condiments
	Chili powder		Pinto beans	ketchup
	Garlic powder		Kidney beans	Olive oil
	Veggie shortening			Cheap oil
	cumin
Beverages	Health /Beauty	Paper Products	Cleaning	Miscellaneous
Orange juice
Cranberry juice

If all the world could go into a binder, there would be no war...

I've been obsessed with my organization binder. It started with a "Home" organization binder last year. I cannot claim credit for this, I saw the idea on another housewife's blog which I cannot find anymore (and that makes me sad). Then, I created my "Baby" binder for pregnancy. Most recently, I created the grocery binder. I'm trying to cut $100 out of our monthly grocery budget. I *think* I can do it.

Anyway.

Each binder has the same basic components:
Binder (in a pretty color...)
tabbed dividers
looseleaf paper
page protectors for magazine articles
sticky note pad
Printed info sheets

I'll walk you through the Baby Binder. It's the most colorful.

Step one: Gather supplies, articles, coupons, to do lists, etc. Print whatever you need off the computer (I made to do lists, calendars, found tips and random interesting articles). And rip out the interesting magazine articles from those free baby and parenting magazines. :) Don't forget all the free goodies from when you register places!

Step 2. Take a look at what you have and think about what's important for your sanity at the moment. I stuffed all the baby coupons into the blue pocket thingy first to get them out of the way, and separated all the samples (KEEP THEM! they are perfect diaper bag size things for emergencies!)

(I LOVE all these shutterfly cards you get in everything now. YEY Christmas cards!)

Step 3. Label your tabs and sort all the stuff. I'm still figuring out exactly what I need but this is what I have for tabs: To Do Lists, Interesting Bits, Nursery, Registry, Medical Info and Questions, Birth Plan, Important Numbers, and Calenders. So put the magazine photos you love of nurseries in the nursery tab, print a list of all the doctors and urgent care centers, plus mom, dad and whoever else you may forget in the important numbers tab, etc. You get the idea. Keep looseleaf in the back (and in your questions tab) for writing down ideas and thoughts as they appear, and also tuck some extra page protectors in the back for new stuff as you get new magazines. 

That's really it. 

The Grocery Binder is set up in the same way. My tabs are for: Meal plans (my list of meals and the cookbooks they came from for the next two weeks), Shopping lists, Coupons, Product info (when produce is in season, what to use first, etc) and my price book (I'm working on it). I also have another pocket for receipts to keep them handy. I'd also like a tab for recipes that are pulled from magazines and money saving tips.

It basically looks the same as the other binder!

Using the same process, sort your materials and put into appropriate tabs. I added my goal sheet in the very front to help keep me motivated. Organizing and saving money this way is a lot of work but I expect it to pay off. My goals are simple to start: Cut $100/ month out of our grocery budget (by eliminating unnecessary stuff and shopping smarter) Cut fast food and take out spending- limit to once per month. These goals are followed by what we want to do with the money we save, these are big goals, but if I cut $100 or more from the budget... they can be realized! They include: Paying off our truck, starting college funds for the twins, and vacations! (You MUST have a fun and sort of frivolous goal. ;)) I'm also adding a calculator to the binder.

If you want to learn more about grocery cost cutting, pick up Family Feasts for $75 a Week, by Mary Ostyn. I'm obsessed with this book. I picked it up pretty cheap on Amazon and it's got GREAT ideas that we are implementing.

Don't be afraid to bring your binder with you. We brought ours to the store last night, and sure, we got some looks, but we shopped efficiently. I'm going to try to post some of the pages I made, like my shopping list somewhere on this blog as well. Another tip? Keep all your lists and meal plans, you can come back to them (and be sure to date them) so in a few months when you don't feel like going through all the recipes, just grab an old list and head to the store!

Hope this little info helps! :)