4 Tips for Sundays to Prepare for the Work Week
Whether you work from home or outside of your house, many people dread the arrival of Mondays and the transition back to the weekly work grind. If you are in this category of people, you are hardly alone in your struggle. You would be hard pressed to find someone who prefers the rigidity of a structured work week over the easy, relaxed nature of the weekends.
Unfortunately, there is no way around having to resume your work week every Monday. But you can make the transition easier by preparing adequately for the upcoming week. Consider the following four tips to help ease you into the work week with much less stress until you reach the next weekend.
1. Clean and Straighten Your Home
When your environment is messy and chaotic, it truly does have a negative impact on how effectively and efficiently you can work and maintain focus throughout the work week. Taking time on Sundays to clean and organize your home is a great way to clear away all the literal and figurative clutter to start the work week with a fresh focus.
In general, a good surface cleaning of your home is all you need on a weekly basis. Save the big deep cleanings for the seasonal transitions on a long weekend when you can take three days to thoroughly disinfect your home. For your routine weekly cleaning, start by ensuring that all the surfaces in your home are dirt free and miscellaneous items are put back in their rightful places. Sweep, vacuum, and mop your floors as well. Get your home to a level of cleanliness that will easily take you through the work week without adding any extra chores to your daily to-do lists.
Sundays are also the perfect time to do the laundry. Nothing is quite as inconvenient as discovering that you are out of clean work shirts on Wednesday or that all of your socks and underwear are dirty. (Granted, with four people in my home, I have to do laundry daily or I would spend the weekends buried in piles of dirty clothing.) Sundays are the perfect day to launder all the bedding as well so you have clean sheets to last the week. Additionally, you should clean your washing machine as well so that it is in perfect working order all week for daily launderers like myself.
While you are cleaning and organizing your home to start the week fresh, it is wise to take some time to clean and organize your work bag as well. Empty it out, remove all the dirt that has settled into the bottom, reorganize and replenish all the necessities that you need inside your work bag. Finally, wipe down your electronics to keep them clean and functioning properly for the week.
I admittedly do not do much cleaning around my house as my husband does it better than me and he actually enjoys it. But there is definitely a cleaning frenzy that ensues in my home on Sundays. And it sets the pace for a stress free week.
2. Create and Review Your Schedule for the Week
It is critical to your level of efficiency and success to have an organized and easy to follow schedule as you embark on your work week. Give yourself an hour each Sunday to create your list of things to do during the week. It is also helpful if you allocate a specific amount of time to perform and complete each task on your list.
If you struggle with where to begin your list, give yourself the first ten minutes to just start writing down any tasks that come immediately to mind. After this brain dump is completed, then you can arrange your tasks in order of priority and also assign a time slot for your highest priority tasks. You want to focus on your top priority tasks first to ensure that those are completed on time. Your secondary tasks are ones that can carry over into the following day without causing any undue stress or anxiety.
Remember to also schedule some self care activities throughout the week so you have something relaxing and fun to anticipate as a reward for your hard work. These activities could be anything from a coffee date with a friend, a dinner date with a lover, or a candlelit bubble bath with yourself. Incorporating activities that you enjoy will ensure that your work week is much less stressful.
3. Plan Your Meals for the Week
If you struggle with dinner ideas every night, meal prepping is the perfect solution. Start by planning all of your meals for the week, make a comprehensive grocery list, and buy everything you need for the week so you can avoid those last minute unexpected trips to the grocery store for missing ingredients.
By prepping your meals for the week, you have the ease of reheating freshly prepared meals instead of committing to the entire cooking process every night. Also, you are more likely to choose and prepare healthier meal options when you plan ahead and cook at home.
4. Choose Your Outfits for the Week
If you do not like feeling rushed in the mornings as you get into your weekly work groove, you can eliminate some of the morning rush by laying out your outfits for the week. By choosing your outfits ahead of time, it makes it easier to maintain organization in your closet. When you are rushing around in the morning trying to figure out what to wear, you are more likely to throw the discarded items into a pile that needs to be put away later adding more things to your to-do list. However, if you are a mood dresser like me, it is important to allot yourself some extra time in the mornings for outfit creation.
Once you have yourself all set and organized for a smooth work week, be sure to also spend some down time on Sunday evenings to relax and rejuvenate your body, mind, and soul for a most efficient work week. By dedicating a few hours of your time on Sunday in preparation for the coming week, you will actually save yourself more time during the week which in turn will alleviate all sorts of stress from your life.
How do you prepare yourself for the work week? Do you have any tried and true methods that have made your weeks more manageable? Please do share in the comments.
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
26 Comments
Patrick Weseman
Great tips. My problem is by Wednesday I am a total mess. LOL. Thanks for sharing.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Patrick! Ha, I am generally a mess every day and there is no way to prepare for any of that!
xoxo
Shelbee
Mike
What a great list, Shelbee! It’s so funny that pretty much everything you said here is what I’ve been doing for years. Maybe not as religiously as I once did, but enough that I can feel comfortable enough to know that I haven’t forgotten anything when preparing for my week.
While I’m no “neat freak”, I do try to keep my living space fairly tidy regularly (I’m VERY particular when it comes to the bathroom as that must be clean for me on a daily basis). I vacuum, mop, dust (with actual furniture polish for wood and glass cleaner for glass) and try to keep mail and other papers tidy and in order.
Every few months (when I get the urge), I do a “deep cleaning” when I move my furniture around and get all the nooks and cranies with my vacuum attachments (love the Shark vacuum series!) and will clean out our refrigerator (like taking everything out of it, wash all the shelves and the inside with soap and water, and reorganize the items as I put them back in, throwing out anything that’s expired).
Meal prep is something I don’t really do exactly, but I do make a grocery list every two weeks when I go grocery shopping and do an inventory of everything that I need. I break it all down into basically three categories, with three sub categories:
Food
Dry Foods
Refrigerated Foods
Frozen Foods
Bathroom/Cleaning supplies
Other
The “other” category is basically there for items that don’t fit into the others, like air freshners, stamps, and other misc. items.
Oh, and I prepare my lunches for the whole week on Sundays because it takes a while to do. I eat fairly healthy, so it’s nice to have all of my veggies and fruit washed, cut and packaged ahead of time so I don’t have to worry about it during the week. 🙂
And as for picking out my clothes, I pretty much wear all black all the time, so that’s easy enough for me. 😉
In short, I’m pretty organized, both in my workload, as well as in my thinking. I even write out my work schedule and put it both in my physical calendar, as well as my virtual one, as it can change from time to time.
But contrary to most people, I actually PREFER the start of a new work week and actually dread the weekends. My home life is pretty crappy to say the very least. I’ll spare the banal details so as not to “poison” your great blog post with my troubles, but I absolutely love the weekdays. If overtime is ever available, I jump on it immediately just so I don’t have to be home, which says a lot…
But yeah, great post, Shelbee! It’s always nice to see how we think along the same lines here. 🙂
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Mike, thanks so much for sharing your daily and weekly routine! I chuckled about the refrigerator cleaning because my husband just spent Sunday morning cleaning ours! He went so far as to take off the doors and everything to get all the yucky stuff that gunks up in the door seals and stuff. I am sorry to hear that you prefer overtime simply because you’d rather be at work than at home. I lived a life like that many years ago where going home at the end of a long hard day was even more dreadful than the day itself. So I have much empathy for you, my friend. I do appreciate your attitude and approach to it though and that you are finding productive ways of dealing with the situation. Hang in there, my friend, and keep being awesome!
xoxo
Shelbee
Sheila (of Ephemera)
Planning my outfits the night before is one of the best gifts I give myself. Not having to pick when I’m coffee-less and woozy from sleep has made my mornings so much easier.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I love your approach to it, Sheila! I don’t have much of a morning timeline so I do have the leisure to pick my outfits in the morning. But when I worked outside of the home and had to get moving super early in the mornings, it definitely relieved a lot of the morning stress to have my outfits all laid out. Because coffee and getting it into my face is the most important focus early in the morning!
xoxo
Shelbee
Lovely
I like to plan my outfits in advance. I hang my clothes up in outfits- all the pieces on one hanger. This helps so much for the mornings and has helped me feel more put together. Plus, planning on Sunday afternoon gives me time to try out different combos without the stress of being rushed.
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
That is such a wonderful idea, Lovely. Having your outfit all picked out and fully accessorized right on hand certainly eliminates much of the process in the mornings. I have the time in the mornings and so I do like to pick my outfit for the day in the morning, but I also don’t leave my house for work either so that gives me all the time I need! I hope you had a great weekend!
xoxo
Shelbee
Jennifer
These are all excellent tips! I try to figure out my meals for the week on the weekend so I can go shopping for food. The only thing I don’t do is get all my clothes out for the week. Weather in Michigan changes hourly so at most, I do the night before.
Jennifer
Curated By Jennifer
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Jennifer! I am so much of a mood dresser that it is difficult for me to choose my outfits ahead of time as well. And yes, the weather is very fickle here, too, which also inhibits the ability to plan ahead. But I don’t leave my house for work so I have lots of time for closet play in the mornings! I do need to get better with meal planning though. That is a big stressor for me. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!
xoxo
Shelbee
Jenna
Sunday is such a great day for getting everything in order so the weekdays aren’t too hectic. I always plan out my meals for the week (I have a fun little tracker for them in my Personal Planner) and do some cleaning. A nice way to end the weekend!
Jenna ♥
Stay in touch? Life of an Earth Muffin
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Jenna, thanks so much for sharing your Sunday routine! I definitely find that getting prepared for the week helps minimize stress. I do need to get better about meal planning though. But I am as much of a mood eater as I am a mood dresser so it’s difficult for me to plan too far ahead because I change my mind so much!
xoxo
Shelbee
Mike
Thank you so much for your kind words, Shelbee. It is indeed hard, REALLY hard at times…
But you know me; I always manage to find a positive way to cope. I actually enjoy cleaning and it helps keep my mind off of my troubles and focus on whatever current task that I’m working on. There’s just something therapeutic about it, you know?
Plus, I’m usually listening to my mp3 player (remember those? I still use them!), which is loaded with tons of audiobooks, music and podcast recordings (my virtual library is pretty huge too!) or I have some YouTube video playing on my phone in the background while I’m doing laundry or washing dishes. So that’s pretty awesome. 🙂
I’m sorry to hear that you also went through a similar thing in your life. I’m happy that you are doing better now, as you deserve to be happy my friend. 🙂
I’m cheering right now after reading that your husband actually takes the refrigerator doors off to clean the seals! That’s awesome!! I admit that even I don’t do that, mostly because I don’t think that I would be able to get them back on if I ever managed to get them off! But yeah, that’s another thing that has to be clean and it takes about 1 and a half to 2 hours to clean everything. I certainly don’t want to put my food in a filthy refrigerator!
Thanks again, Shelbee. I always feel such joy when reading your replies to me. It’s people like you that help me to keep going and not give up. 🙂
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, Mike, you are quite welcome and thank you for always popping by and leaving such thoughtful comments here. It was many years ago when I lived that life of discomfort at home, but it was just another experience in my life that has brought me here and made me the person I am so I have no regrets at all. Struggle is a part of life that helps us grow and evolve. And now I am married to the most amazing man who takes the refrigerator doors off to clean it! Haha. Actually, he just ran down to the hardware store to fix a tiny leak in the bathroom sink that he just discovered trying to unclog the bathroom sink from gunky build up (by the way, it is only 6 a.m. right now and he’s off choring before he goes to work)! I hope your week is off to a great start, my friend! Keep shining your positive light into the world!
xoxo
Shelbee
Mike
I’ll be totally there, Shelbee! 140 years young and in my hoverchair! I still believe those will be the wheelchairs of the future, complete with jetpacks!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Ha. I love it! We should already have hoverchairs and jetpacks! Or maybe when our legs stop working, we will be living in space and we would just float around anyway with no need for our limbs!
xoxo
Shelbee
Mike
You are so welcome, Shelbee. Always happy to leave some positive energy when visiting your blog. 🙂
And you are so right. Life has its hardships, but with each one that we face, we get a little better, a little stronger, a little wiser… it takes a full lifetime to fully know who we are as people. And I plan to get to know myself pretty well as I’m planning to live till 150, lol! Or at least 100! I’m actually serious about that. I want to experience as much as I can, while I can! Healthy eating, regular exercise and a strong will will help get me there!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I love that, Mike! I am striving for the same! I would love to live another 100 years to see not only how much I can learn in that time but also how much our entire species can learn and grow and evolve. Human evolution in advanced modern society is so fascinating to me! We are such a strange species. Hehe. See you at my 150th birthday party!
xoxo
Shelbee
Dawn Hart
Fantastic tips I’m really struggling to get back into the normal groove of life as we return to normal here in the UK after a year of Lockdown and working from home. I can’t even remember when I last did any ironing oops lol
Dawn xx
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Dawn! It is a strange transition back to a regular schedule! I am in summer mode right now at home with the kids. But I am looking forward to back to school time with some structure that we haven’t had in over a year! By the way, I basically ditched my iron years ago for an upright steamer! So much better and easier.
xoxo
Shelbee
Clearissa Coward
Great tips. I love to be organized when the work-week begins. Pinned & tweeted. Thank you for sharing with @omhgww. See you next week.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Clearissa! I really appreciate that. Have a lovely weekend!
xoxo
Shelbee
Claire
Great tips. I am always rushing around without a plan!! I need to do some of these.
Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Mondays. I hope you can join us again tomorrow 🙂 #CreativeMondays
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Claire! I am glad that you found some benefit from this post. I hate feeling rushed so I try to be prepared for things when I can.
xoxo
Shelbee
mireille
I do a lot of these and it sure makes the week go more smoothly! I like to plan a mixture of chores, blog and fun things for each day with an occasional bake day to break the monotony.
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, I love that, Mireille! I do like to get things all ready to start the week as well, but I seem to be really bad about the daily planning during the week to get everything done that needs to be done! Lately, I have been completely forgetting about meal planning which ends up with pasta and chicken fingers to frequently on the dinner menu!
xoxo
Shelbee