our sunday routine for a better week


i have found over the years that habits stick around for much longer when we make space for them in our daily life & set a sustainable daily rhythm.

such is true for my sunday routine. at the end of the weekend, after a bit of rest & play, we prep for the following week. this helps to calm the chaos of monday & prepare me for the week's family, social & work activities.

today i thought i'd share a quick list of things we do on sunday to prepare for the week ahead!


1. meal plan: i always research meal ideas & plan out our dinners for the week on sunday ( click here to learn the basics of how we meal plan). this is a practice that i absolutely try to keep every week because it helps us stick to our eating habits & saves me so much time during the weekdays. i use this meal planner & jot down our meals along with any extra steps that are needed (i.e. prep meal for crockpot in the morning). i then create a grocery list & shop on monday afternoons.

2. family calendar/budget meeting: every sunday we sit down together with our calendars & share events for the week. this helps us to know what our evenings look like & when i need to make dinner each week. this also helps us to be more intentional about making time to have others over & share a meal. if we need to revise the budget, we also sit down for a quick budget meeting.

3. clean the home: i like to pick-up, wipe down the counters, wash the dishes & sweep on sundays. there's nothing quite like a clean home on a monday & this practice often takes me only an hour from start to finish. 

4. catch up on laundry: because we don't have children & luke does his own laundry, i only wash laundry once a week (all the praise hands!). this typically happens on sunday.  i start a load or two before heading to church & finish up in the evenings. i also fold & hang my pieces so i can easily get to them during the week. i love how easy it is to pick out nice outfits throughout the week when this simple step is completed on sunday.

here are some other ideas you might include in your sunday prep: grocery shop, meal prep (if you grocery shop on sundays), plan out outfits, pack a gym bag for the week & make a weekly to-do list

how do you prep for the week? please share! i'd love to read your sunday strategies! 
love,
natalie

p.s. i thought it might be helpful to share some of my favorite organizational tools. here's a blog post dedicated to just that. 

5 comments:

Caitlin said...

Great list! I do most of these too. I grocery shop early Sunday morning and try to get my laundry done. I also like to look at my calendar and planner and figure out what needs to get done during the week and what times are busy.

A few other tasks I try to get done on Sundays:

--Change sheets and towels. Growing up my mom always had us change our sheets on Sundays--fresh sheets feel like such a nice start to the week. I also change out kitchen and bathroom towels.

--Manicure and pedicure. This doesn't always happen, but if I have time I like to paint my nails.

--Clean out my purse. This lightens my load and doing it weekly prevents it from being a big chore or losing important receipts.

Ashley said...

Wonderful list! I always do sheets on Sundays. We throw them in the wash before church and then always have fresh sheets for a new week.

I also menu plan and make my to-do list for the upcoming week on Sunday afternoon. I have an eight-year old daughter who now gets to help in both menu planning and the making of the to do list.

We also have a big chalkboard in our dining room and we sit down and discuss what will this week's theme be on the board. My little aspiring artist changes the chalkboard each Sunday evening.

Anonymous said...

Do you do sabbath rest on a different day of the week? I like the idea of getting organized, but I also need a do nothing day!

stephanie said...

We like to clean the house up on Sunday night, too. We do a quick, basic pick up on M-Th evenings, take Friday and Saturday off (except for dishes!), and do a deeper clean on Sunday evening. Our kids are 12, 9 and almost 6 now and it is amazing how much we can all get done in a short time! I love it!! :) Sunday routines help get through a day that can feel like a bit of a let down after church.

Danielle said...

Totally agree. And I always have to have my coffee prepped for Monday morning, too! If my coffee isn't ready, I'm not ready. Thanks for sharing, Natalie. I love reading your happy little blog.

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