Making The Best Of The Weekend

… so that you love Monday.

Those dreaded phrases on a Sunday night… ‘Ugh, how is it nearly Monday already?’ or ‘The weekend goes too fast’. If you’re anything like me, you love the weekend. You enjoy the time doing the things that you want to do and you relish being your own boss – for at least two days. For those of us that work a 9-5 week (in fact anyone that works in the week), when it comes to the weekend, we just want to kickback and enjoy the ride.

For me though, it’s always too short – we’re back to Monday in the blink of an eye and it’s back to the grind.

I thought it was worthwhile sharing my weekend routine with you… it’s not heavy and it’s not scattered with a million and one lists. It’s actually pretty straight forward.

CLEANING THE HOUSE

1. I clean the house throughout the week so that I don’t have to do it on the weekend. What I mean by this is that I take 15 minutes here and there to potter around the house keeping it clean. That means that when I get to the weekend, there is usually a couple of jobs that I have to do and I try where possible to get them done on a Friday night straight after work. HOWEVER, some of us start the weekend on a Friday which means that jobs like washing the clothes will get done on Thursday night.
2. One thing I will do on a Saturday morning however as soon as I wake up is strip my bed. That means that I am forced to change my bed sheets. No one wants to spend another week sleeping in grimy sheets. Let’s be honest, falling asleep in clean bed sheets is pretty epic and waking up in clean sheets is even better.
3. I will also whizz round the house, straightening things up where necessary but usually this will have been done on a Friday night. For me, living in a tidy home is really important because it allows for my creativity to be set free.

Now I know that this seems very structured. However, if you read my most: The Power of Living in a Clean Home you’ll understand why having a tidy home over the weekend will make all the difference to your weekend.

You won’t feel a sense of guilt when you go out and that pull to come home and straighten things out. They will already have been done. You won’t need to think about sorting out the washing for the following week because it will have already been done and you won’t need to think about cleaning the bathroom because you will be on top of it. Remember anyway that cleaning is exercise.

DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Many of us spend our weeks following a very set routine. We go to work, go to the gym/work out, cook dinner, chill out for a bit and then go to bed. It’s the same with minimal change. That routine in the week is probably needed especially after a full day of work. Structure always makes things easier and it means that you don’t really have to think. I know for me, that my evenings are sacred during the week, I just want to wind down and enjoy my time with my loved ones.

However, when it comes to the weekend – it’s important for me to use this time to do something that I wouldn’t normally do in the week. That could be to go and catch up with friends/family, cook a fancy meal, go to the cinema, do some DIY or simply go for a long walk somewhere. It’s important to make time to do something out of the ordinary to make sure that our weekends aren’t wasted.

I usually like to this on a Saturday.

SUNDAYS ARE SACRED

For me, Sundays are sacred. I wake up a little later on a Sunday and usually without an alarm. It’s all usually a lot slower. There exceptions to the rule of course and it’s on those weekends that I need to plan a bit better during the week.

I do my best to stay off social, my computer and away from digital devices. I actually use Saturday to catch up with all my outstanding emails, texts etc so that I can keep Sunday free. I keep Monday morning free purposefully because I use it to time block my week. Most people know that I won’t answer the phone/text either so they usually leave me alone. Unplugging is really important for me because it gives my brain a chance to rest. I won’t write blog posts on a Sunday unless it’s been scheduled that way and I try not to schedule video calls or anything like that either.

I’ve gotten used to staying away from social media over the weekend in general.. it’s not really a Sunday thing, it’s more of a weekend thing. The world can wait basically.

So here’s a basic version of my Sunday routine:

MORNING

Leisurely wake up without an alarm. Breakfast with the family where we properly catch up on our weeks and talk about pretty much anything and everything. I love the chatter actually. It’s usually free flowing and lasts an hour or so.

Tidy up the kitchen and put everything away. It’s at that point that I’ll review my goals for the following week and plan them out. I do them at this point so that it doesn’t eat into my day and because realistically it should be a quick and easy job. It’s a brain dump of all the things that I know I need to do.

I like to allocate 1-2 things each day off the life admin list to ensure that they get done. That way I know they’ll get done and I know that I won’t get overwhelmed as the week comes to an end.

Our weekly shop comes on a Sunday as well so this will get put away. I don’t meal prep because I plan my meals in the week so that they can be prepped and cooked within an hour. I like the process of cooking and find that it disconnects me from the day. I have to force myself to cook to avoid wasting food but the meals need to be easy to do so as to avoid opting for a take out.

We’ve got a little white board on our fridge and we write out the meals for the week so we know what we’ve got coming up.

Depending on what the plan is for food that day – usually some sort of roast, wholesome ‘Sunday’ meal. I’ll prep that in the morning so that there is minimal work to do during the rest of the day. Whatever happens though, I refuse to cook on my own on a Sunday to ensure that the task gets done quickly but socially.

AFTERNOON

I personally like to take care of myself in the afternoon. That usually involves a walk or workout followed by a bit of pampering (face mask, body brushing, hair mask… anything that needs doing to make myself feel human). I’ll then shower and chill out for the rest of the day. This gets my to about 4-5pm. Where I’ll finish off getting things ready for dinner.

I also like to read during this time as well. I love reading and it’s a great way to stimulate the creative juices in the mind.

EVENING

Then it’s dinner and a movie. Or dinner and conversation. Or dinner and a book while listening to a new album. It’s basically an evening of quiet and chill.

SO NOW, I DON’T HATE MONDAYS…

I’ve planned my weekends to be like this as often as they can to ensure that I feel like I’ve had a break. The weekend never feels like enough time because we’ve spent too much of it rushing around getting as much fun in as possible so that when we get to Monday, it’s almost like we’re angry that the weekend left us so quickly. By ensuring a leisurely Sunday and a fun filled Saturday without the chores.. you’re striking a good balance.

How do you spend your Sunday?