I saw this article in Seton Magazine and even though I am not the biggest fan of Seton's curriculum for my family (but no judging here! If it works for you!), I do enjoy some of their articles. I thought this article, 10 Sunday Night Secrets to a Successful Week was pretty good. Of course my 10 Sunday Night Secrets are not quite the same as the author has listed. Stuff like this really has to be individualized. But I think it is important to think out what 10 things would help get a smooth start on the week. So here is my take on the list.
10 Sunday Night Secrets to a Successful Week (with my own commentary following each of the suggested items).
1. Clean out the fridge.
This one doesn't work for me. I like to clean out my fridge on trash nights, which are either Monday or Thursday nights. So it usually happens on one of those nights of the week. For me the 'secret' would be to get recycling out to the curb on Sunday night. I hate it when we forget to do it! And we seem to forget pretty often.
2. Straighten Up Your Bedroom
Nah. This doesn't work for me either! I tend to clean my bedroom the day I vacuum and dust the upstairs which never happens on a Sunday night. However, I do often like to throw on a load of laundry on Sunday evenings. I like to know Rick has a closet full of clean office clothes for the week. And I like to know that I have clean clothes too! The kids are all old enough to do their own laundry but it doesn't hurt to remind them, if I think they've gone rather too long between laundry days. Actually, I usually try to do Rick's and my laundry earlier in the weekend (often Fridays) but sometimes I get distracted or forget, so throwing a load on or finishing up the laundry is a good thing to do on Sunday evenings.
3. Prep Monday night's dinner
Yes, this one works for me. I either want to prep Monday night's dinner or at least have some sort of a plan. The plan could be a) slow cooker meal that I start in the morning b) something really quick like omelets or tacos 3) leftovers from Sunday night's dinner. Mondays are like this because we have AHG meetings late on Monday afternoons (2 or 3 times a month) so I don't have a lot of time or energy to cook when I get into the house around 5:30 p.m.
4. Check your calendar for the coming week
Hmm. I do this in a sort of piecemeal way. Sometimes at breakfast on Sunday mornings or sometimes at night when we say prayers, I give everyone a debriefing about what is coming up in terms of appointments or changes to the usual schedule. But usually, I sit and actually look at my calendar and plug things in to it on Monday mornings before everyone else gets up.
5. Make Your Lists
I do like to make 'to do' lists. However, at night I am pretty tired. Again, I tend to make lists in the a.m. while drinking coffee and everyone else is asleep.
6. Set Phone Alarms
I have never in my life set a phone alarm. I am not going to start now. More important for me is to remember to say family prayers. As the kids get older this sometimes gets overlooked which upsets me greatly.
7. Empty Dishwasher
The last thing I do before I go up stairs to bed is to run the dishwasher. I empty it in the morning.
8. Prep for breakfast
I only do this if I am making overnight slow cooker oatmeal. Otherwise, there's nothing to prep. For me, it is more important to make sure the kitchen is clean. That probably isn't an issue for others, but I get tired at night (have I mentioned that?) and I forget to do it or to make others do it. We just don't see it! So I definitely need to remind myself to make that effort Sunday night, so that Monday morning I don't come down to a mess.
9. Relax for one hour before bed
This made me chuckle. I believe this is the difference between Type A personalities and Type B like mine. I have never in my life felt it necessary to list relaxing on a to do list! Isn't that kinda weird? I mean do you check off the list that you have relaxed for one hour? Does it have to be exactly one hour? My problem is too much relaxing! So my list would be don't sit down until you get the important stuff done!
10. Go to bed early
Again, not something I have to list out for myself. I often go to bed before everybody else! I am a morning person in night owl country! For me it is more important to remind everyone else to go to bed so they won't be so grumpy when it is time to get up in the morning! This means taking their electronics away from them such as ipads and ipods.
So my 10 Sunday Night/Monday Morning Secrets to a Successful Week are:
1. Get the recycling out.
2. Make sure everyone has clean laundry for the week.
3. Plan for Monday night's dinner.
4. Check my calendar at some point on Sunday or early Monday.
5. Make daily to do lists in a.m. over coffee.
6. Gather for evening family prayer.
7. Run the dishwasher before going to bed.
8. Make sure the kitchen is clean.
9. Get the above recycling, laundry, and kitchen done before sitting down to relax.
10. Make sure kids get to bed at a decent time (no electronics).
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