Hello folks,
How is your week going so far? Are you crushing it or is it crushing you? Are you already promising that next week will be more organised? Well I know it’s only Tuesday, but here are some ideas to implement next Sunday to help you kick ass all week long. Mull over these for the next few days and get ready to put them into action this weekend. Can’t wait until then…get going on them tonight!
- Meal Planning
I think meal planning is one of the best things you can do to help you stay organised during a busy week. We have to eat…and feed the kids. If you’re already up to your eyes busy and then have to stop and cook but don’t know what to make or don’t have the ingredients it makes getting ready for dinner more difficult. Whereas with a meal plan, you know exactly what you’re going to make and you can line up your grocery shopping so that you have every thing you will need. If you are trying to eat better, meal plans help with this. If you have fussy eaters at home, meal plans and routines around meals help as everyone knows what they’re eating and when. For me, meal plans are a life saver and a huge time saver. I plan bigger healthier meals for the days when I don’t have much planned, and then for busy days, I have easier meals that are quicker to make.
2. Prepare Food in bulk
Alongside that to save even more time, when you’re making dinners, why not make a little extra and freeze this for dinners the following week. Add these leftovers onto your meal plan and yet again, you’re saving time, eating well and saving your brain all that thinking time. I like doing this task on Sundays. I will make a large pot of soup that’ll do me for a few lunches. And I’ll make a nice beef dish for dinner that evening with extra for the freezer. I don’t do this every Sunday, but when I do do it, I schedule this activity for Sunday afternoon.
3. Schedule Your Week & Write your To-Do List
Every Sunday evening I’ll take 20 – 30 minutes to write out my to-do list for the week or to throw my eye over the one I wrote on Friday evening at the end of the working week. Then I take my weekly schedule and place my ‘To-Do’s’ in across my week. You will never get through To-Do’s unless you assign ‘when’ you are going to do them. Make sure you put your most important tasks or activities into your schedule first. Then everything else falls in around those and are a bonus if you get to them.
4. Check in on your Finances
A lot of us pretend that our bank account doesn’t exist and it can be painful to check it. But ironically the only way to get better at your finances is if you check those accounts daily. So on Sunday, take a few minutes to check in online to your accounts and register those figures in your head. Have you any standing orders or direct debits coming up this week? Is there anything big on your To-Do list that is finance related? By looking at your accounts on Sunday it’ll help you plan out and run your week more efficiently.
5. Do a quick clear up
Wash the dinner dishes and let them drip dry overnight, wipe down counters, set the breakfast table, put the toys away, hang up clothes in your bedroom, straighten up the cushions on the couch, give the kitchen and bathroom sink a quick wipe down, swap out kitchen and bathroom towels with clean ones for the new week. These little things make a big difference to settling the house down for the night and preparing it so that it helps you function during the week ahead.
6. Get your bags ready
And your clothes, the kids P.E. gear, homework notes written, letters you need to post. Whatever it is, gather them and line them up at your front door so that everything you need to get out first thing in the morning is there. No forgetting anything…no rushing around.
7. Get to bed early
Every good morning starts with a good night sleep. My iPhone allows me to set a “bedtime” reminder on it. So one hour before I should be going asleep it’ll send me a little reminder that now is the time I should be getting into bed. I find it great and moves me towards the bed earlier than if I was left to my own devices. And at the moment I really need sleep. Figure out how many hours sleep you need and work back from there!
Yours in organisation,
