1. Review the week ahead
Just knowing where and when each person in your family needs to be during the coming week will relieve some of the stress of potential missed appointments or forgotten commitments. Planning in advance how people will get where they need to be and when others may reasonably expect them home is ideal. No more last minute scrambles for rides. No more disappointments and fights over why someone couldn’t attend an event they were hoping others would be available for. So, grab your family’s diaries and make one master diary (preferably in a public space like a kitchen) and use a whiteboard to write up where everyone will be on each day of the week. Do that regularly and make it a habit to immediately amend it when changes happen.
If being organised doesn’t come naturally then keep yourself inspired with your planning tools. Picture: Kikki.K
2. Get the simple things out of the way
I’m talking about the simple chores – get them ready in advance. Outfits you’ll be needing to wear for the week can be figured out in advance. This is especially true if there’s an event that requires something to wear other than your normal outfit. Similarly, meals (including lunches) can be thought about well in advance and dealt with. Whether it requires shopping, meal planning, or just putting a few snacks together early so that you feel well-energied during the day, think ahead about some of the more mundane tasks of your week. Take your cue from how you plan for meetings or events at work – a simple calendar of what’s needed when can go a long way to making the week run more smoothly.
Take note of the perishable items in your fridge and plan your meals to use them for your family meals in the coming week. Picture: Getty
3. Recharge your batteries
Plan some downtime. Rest and exercise are crucial to you staying healthy and energised. Make sure that the start of your week includes some much needed ‘you’ time. If you start your week feeling stressed and already behind your week will only go from bad to worse. I’m a big socialiser but I truly believe that sometimes you need to assess whether going out is a better idea than staying in and reading a book, gardening, going for a long walk or doing something else equally relaxing.
Get into the garden and take some quality ‘you’ time before your busy week ahead. Picture: Getty
If you know where you (and your family) need to be this week, if you’ve done a good job of knocking out the small mundane tasks that we all have to do, and if you’ve given yourself enough rest to really energise your week – then I promise there will be fewer days that feel like a struggle.