Sunday Well Spent

NO, not THAT power hour, though – that could make your Sunday a bit more interesting (and likely make your Monday a lot more miserable!). This power hour’s focus is not to consume copious amounts of alcohol in an hour, but rather to speed clean the house for an hour, or maybe even less! A tidy house is the best starting point for a productive week. If you are trying to plan and organize your week, waking up to a house of clutter and disorganization is not going to give you the best start to your day. Tidy things up, hang up those clothes you have been avoiding, and start a load of laundry!

I use my outlook calendar for all appointments because it is mobile and is always with me. However, I find that if I use that in conjunction with a physical planner, I can use the two to accomplish more than I do if I just float along, living by my e-calendar alone.  My favorite planner to use is The Day Designer, as I feel it gives me all the tools I need for the things I require a planner for. Whatever you use, USE IT. Start with adding all appointments you have for the week to a daily timeline for each day, fill in any appointments you need to make, and then have a one-page brain dump session. This should create a to-do list for you and clear your mind of having to remember everything in your head. Use this to-do list to fill in your week even further, making time each day for the tasks you must complete.

I also like to use this review time to look at my prior week – what went well? what didn’t go well? what can I do better?

Clean out the fridge and get rid of anything from the prior week that is no longer edible. During the clean-out, also pull out any items that will not be edible much longer and see how you might be able to use them before you waste them. I have created some of my favorite meals using the Sunday fridge dump – and some great health snack options too. I will share some of these ideas in a later post, so look out for that! Once you know what items you have, create a grocery list for anything else you might need.

Meal prep can be done in more than one way, and I normally prep meals for the week in a couple different ways.

One thing we do often is subscribe to a Meal Kit service like Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, or my personal favorite – Marley Spoon. These services send you a box each week of ingredients for meals which you have selected in advance. These kits allow you to be more creative in the kitchen, while creating much less waste – as they send you only what you need for that meal preparation only. We have found some of our favorite recipes from meal kit services, and it is a really nice way for my husband and I to share a delicious home-cooked meal throughout the week.

Have you paid or scheduled to pay all bills due this coming week? Make sure you have all financial obligations planned out on Sunday and you can forget about it for the rest of the week.

Review monthly progress within your budget – did you have any unexpected or unplanned expenditures last week? Adjust for those to remain within your expense budgets for the remainder of the month!

My favorite part of the Sunday routine is definitely to plan my outfits for the week. I try to plan everything from undergarments I need all the way to which accessories I want to wear. This helps make sure you have everything laundered you might need, but also gives you time to batch any ironing or steaming you might need to do for the week. When you are planning outfits, it is good to have your weekly plan you created earlier available – check for any special meetings or events you might need to plan a specific outfit for! I have a rod in my closet that I can slide out to then put all of my outfits for the week on once they are ready to be worn so they don’t get squished back into the rest of my closet and then I forget what I planned to begin with. If you do not have an open section in your closet, just designate a specific section for the week’s outfits so that you can find them quickly and they remain ready-to-wear!

The last, but certainly not least, step in my Sunday routine includes some relaxation and reflection time. This time looks different for everyone, but some good ideas are to practice yoga, read a book, enjoy some hot tea, break out a face mask, or enjoy a nice hot bath! Whatever your “me” time looks like, it is a requirement for your Sunday routine! One thing I have started adding into all my days lately is some time for gratitude – what are you thankful for that makes your life better? We all have so much to be thankful for, and often in the rush of the week, we forget to acknowledge these things. Write the gratitude down and re-visit it as well.