A pot of coffee is brewing. My daughter is tuckered out on the couch. My husband is off at the gym with some friends. These are the moments I long for all week. Sunday afternoons have become my most productive and rewarding time slots thanks to the new rhythm my family has established this fall. I begin my time with a mug of coffee. It’s my reward for making it through another week. Once the caffeine has tapped into my bloodstream, I’m ready to conquer the week ahead. I’ve learned that the successes of the week ahead are determined by my productivity on Sunday afternoon. This is a peaceful ME TIME that leaves me feeling like Mama Warrior every weekend.
1. Meal Plan
Across my table I spread out my planner, every cookbook I own, and a box of family recipes. I spend a twenty minutes or so scouring each of these resources in addition to my recently posted pins from Pinterest in order to create a weekly meal plan. Also, I build my grocery list as I go. I always begin with meal planning, because in our house my husband does the grocery shopping. I can send him off to the store while I continue to work on my Sunday routines.
2. Laundry
Next, I clear out all of the hampers throughout the house and clean all of our clothes for the week. In a perfect world I’d be caught up every Sunday, but the reality is that some Sundays I have more time than others to complete the laundry. At the very least I try to be caught up with laundry every other weekend. This helps make the house seem clean and gives each of us several options when it comes to step 5.
3. Blog Plan
My routine for blogging has adjusted a bit this year to account for several personal projects that take up substantial amounts of time. For the most part, my blog posts are written over the weekend, and scheduled to be published throughout the week. I spend most of my Saturday mornings crafting posts and writing, but on Sundays I put the final touches on posts and get them scheduled for the week ahead. I also track my weekly stats from my site in my blog planner which is something I sit down and work on every Sunday afternoon.
4. Sunday Basket
I started this project back in April, and it has really helped to control the mass of papers that can tend to collect all over the house. Throughout the week we receive paper after paper from mail to schedules to artwork from my daughter in her pre-school class. If we get something we know we will throw away (like junk mail) we throw it away immediately, otherwise we place it in the basket to be acted upon on Sundays. On Sunday, I sort through the basket. I make three piles: file, throw away, or action required. Then, I go through and complete whatever action is needed for each piece. This really helps to control the paper madness that can so easily get out of control. This idea comes from Organize 365.
5. Lay out clothes for the week
Another huge time saver for the week is to determine my attire for the whole week on Sunday afternoons. Generally, on Sundays I have a much more inspired attitude toward my clothes than on a late night or early morning. Clothes have been freshly cleaned and with a little extra energy from the coffee (or extra rest during the weekend) I comb through my closet and jewelry box and create my wardrobe for the week.
I know that each household looks different and we all have routines that work for us and our families. I’d love to hear how you tackle the weekly organization and scheduling for your house.
The Ameri Brit Mom
The Ameri Brit Mom 