Between working, dealing with an overly attached four year old, doing homework, and keeping up with household chores (which aren’t all the way kept up with, I might add) I hold my weekends as sacred.
Over the past month the weather has drastically improved and I’ve escaped to the outdoors every single chance I’ve gotten. But by holding those weekends a little too sacred I’ve actually made my weeks a little harder.
So the weekend before last after we got home from visiting family I decided to do something different – I started preparing for the week. Monday went by so smoothly and I even had a doctor’s appointment that took up a good portion of my “work” day.
So, I’m going to commit to putting myself back on schedule so I can stop the busyness feeling and instead keep my weeks organized.
Here’s how I’m getting started.
Prepacking School Lunches
Kailyn, my Kindergartener, is a school lunch snob. She’ll buy a school lunch maybe once or twice per month every other day she packs. She loves to take Lunchables but my goodness, those things go quick and there’s not really much to them!
Instead I’ve been purchasing Ritz crackers in the snack packs, turkey lunch meat, and a block of Colby cheese so that I can make my own.
Making these ahead has been super convenient and I’m sure much more healthy.
Starting Monday’s Work Sunday Night
While I do like to take at least one (almost) full day off from the computer per week I feel overwhelmed on Monday if I take the whole weekend off.
Instead of being work free for the past few months I’ve logged online Sunday nights after putting my girls to bed and worked on Monday’s work as much as possible. With my kind of job it’s impossible to have everything checked off my list but it feels good knowing that I have the most important things done plus email under control.
It’s so much better to wake up Monday morning and not have the “where do I start” feeling. I’d love to take this system up another notch and work even further ahead.
Creating a Menu Plan
Creating a menu plan has so far been the hardest for me to stick to. But when I do I not only save time but I also save money.
I like to create simple menu plans with choices of seven different dinners that I have ingredients for. Then I can cook up whatever I feel like making on that specific day.
Cleaning the House on Sunday Night
Since I work from home the state of my house can drastically effect my workflow. If this house is a mess I feel like I can’t even think. Instead I’m looking at the kid’s clothes and toys strewn about.
While I’ve always sporadically cleaned, straightening up on Sunday evenings makes Monday morning run so much smoother. As a bonus I’ve created my girls a simple chore chart system to get them excited about pitching in!
Spending one day a week planning (or even a few hours on Sunday night) can set you up for success throughout the rest of the week. After adding a few new systems to Sunday planning I cannot even begin to tell you how much of a positive impact this has had on my weeks!