Why I don’t make plans on Sundays

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Do you remember Sundays before kids? I vaguely recall sleeping in, spending the day on the couch watching movies, maybe baking, going to brunch, hanging out with friends, taking in a ballgame. Whatever I felt like, really.

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Nowadays, I do my best to avoid any plans on Sundays. I will make the occasional exception, of course, but for the most part, Sunday is set aside for prep.

As a working mom, sometimes I don’t get home until close to 6 p.m. If my husband is working nights (which he usually does 2-3 times a week) and I’m picking up both girls, it could be even later. My 2-year-old goes to bed at 7:30, so this leaves little time for dinner, bath, etc.

So, I like to spend my Sundays getting as much done ahead as possible. This means:

  • Making a meal plan for the week and doing the grocery shopping. I try to make the meal that requires the most time on Sunday (and I’ve occasionally made two meals on Sunday to have more leftovers throughout the week).
  • Washing all the girls’ laundry from the prior week, making sure backpacks are ready with clean blankies for nap time, filling out any paperwork that came home from school, and getting their outfits ready. (For my 2-year-old, I put out five days’ worth of clothes on her top shelf to make it easier for whoever gets her dressed each morning. I help my 4-year-old pick out her clothes for school each day at bedtime the night before.)
  • Prepping for packed lunches during the week. This includes washing and chopping fruits and veggies and portioning them into individual containers ready to go into lunch boxes so they don’t have to be packed each day, making hard boiling and peeling them, etc.
  • Tending to chores I didn’t get to during the week. Because I tend to work on side projects after the girls go to bed, some things get a little backed up during the week.

When I can get these tasks taken care of on Sunday, I find it starts the whole week off on a better note. On Mother’s Day, my husband made dinner and did light shopping to prepare for that. But that night, I laid in bed realizing there was nothing planned for dinner the remainder of the week. This past week, I traveled over the weekend and I have been scrambling to get meals on the table every day since.

This coming weekend, I’m looking forward to having no plans at all. I’m hoping that will help me get through next week a little easier than this one.

How do you prepare for your week?

4 COMMENTS

  1. I do this too!!! We do all of our laundry and meal prep for the week and it helps so much. We make it a family “activity” and everyone does their part to help so no one is stuck doing it all. We make it fun, turn on the music and even a little dance session sometimes.

  2. Love this! I’d like to be more committed to a similar schedule. My husband works Sundays, which cramps my shopping/get stuff done style a little bit. Hoping to be able to get more into it soon!

    • Thanks! It’s definitely unattainable every week (I was gone last weekend and did my grocery shopping around 8:30 Sunday night) but it’s nice when it works out! 🙂

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