My Sunday Morning Weekly Prep Routine That Sets Me Up for Success in the Week Ahead

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We typically have slow and easy Sunday mornings with nowhere to be (since we attend church on Saturday evening), so I have started using that time to set myself up for a successful week ahead.  What exactly does that look like? 

Some time spent getting organized. 

Some time spent on physical self-care. 

Some time spent on mental self-care.

 

I mention my Sunday prep in most of my weekly posts, so I’ve had several people reach out to me to ask exactly what this Sunday prep entails, so today I thought I’d elaborate a bit. 

Before I get started on those details, I will mention that the very first thing I do on Sunday morning is sit down and have breakfast with my family.  Our tradition is to have cinnamon rolls on Sunday morning, and it’s something that we always look forward to… well, everyone except for Olivia.  For some reason she doesn’t like them, and she always opts for something else.  The cinnamon rolls are nothing fancy… they’re just the Flaky Grands Cinnamon Rolls in a can, but we all love them!  They do have to be the “flaky” kind, though.  If they’re not the flaky kind, then we don’t want them.  ;o)

Anyway, we all have a nice breakfast together, and then after the kitchen is clean, we go our separate ways.  B usually heads to his office, the kids watch cartoons for a bit, and I head to my office to start my weekly prep routine.  A cup of hot tea comes with me, and upon entering the room, the twinkle lights get turned on.  Most mornings, I also grab a warm blanket to wrap up in, and all of that just makes for the coziest morning!

As I said before, the weekly prep routine consists of three parts – organization, physical self-care, and mental self-care.  Here are the details for each.

Get Organized

I typically start my routine with the “getting organized” portion.  During this time, I take a look at my planner so I know what to expect for the week ahead, I review my monthly and yearly goals to ensure I’m on task, I look at the editorial calendar for my blog to see what posts need to be done, I meal plan (if needed), I prep for laundry (if needed), and I do various other miscellaneous tasks to make sure our school and work week gets off to a smooth start.

 

-       Planner Prep – First up, I spend some time with my planner.  I look at the week ahead on my monthly spread, and I make sure all appointments, meetings, extracurricular activities for the kids, etc. have been transferred to the appropriate daily pages.  I’ve been using the Simplified Daily Planner for six years now and I’ve never looked back.  It has a two-page calendar spread for each month, and then behind each monthly calendar, there is a full page for each day.  It’s perfect for this season of my life because it has ample room for all of the tasks that are required of a work-from-home mom with two kids in extracurricular activities.  We’re usually pretty busy over here.  ;o)  Once that part is done, I add my workouts for each day (this ensures that I’m getting a good mix of cardio, strength, and stretching every week), and then I add any errands I need to run on any given day.  I try to add errands to days that I’m already going to be out for an appointment to be as efficient with my time as possible.  And If we’re approaching the start of a new month, I’ll also take the time to transfer all of the appointments, birthdays, meetings, and extracurricular activities from the monthly spread to each individual day.  And if you want to see more about how I got organized in the first place, check out this post here.  It's my second most-viewed post of all-time!

-       Goals Review – After I’m done with my planning for the week ahead, I pull out my list of goals for the month to make sure I’m on track, and I’ll also pull out my list of goals for the year, to make sure those are going well, too.  If there’s anything that needs to be done in the week ahead, I’ll add it to my planner on the appropriate day.

-       Monday To-Do List Prep – Once the overall planning for the week is done, I go ahead and make my detailed to-do list for Monday.  These are the to-do lists y’all see daily in my Instagram stories.  They typically include all appointments, errands, meetings, blog work that needs to be done, and various other tasks that I want to accomplish for the day. 

-       Blog Prep – Next, I take a couple of minutes to look over my editorial calendar for the week, ensuring that all post topics for the week are filled in, and that I don’t need to change anything.

-       Meal Plan/Grocery List Prep – I grocery shop every other week, so every other Sunday, I make our meal plan and grocery list for the next two weeks.  I do this with my planner open so I know which days I can cook, how much time I’ll have to cook each day based on the evening’s activities, and which days we’ll have to do a freezer meal or takeout.  First, I plan out the meals for each day, then I add the items to my grocery list.  Then, I go through the fridge and pantry to see what else we need, and I add those items to the list as well.  I don’t use anything fancy to meal plan.  I just write down the meals on a magnetic notepad like this one (or you could go with a fancier one like this) and it hangs on the fridge so everyone can see it.  I do have an organized binder of all of our favorite recipes, so I use that to get ideas for what to cook.  If you want to see more about how I meal plan, check out this post.  And if you want to see how I organized all of my recipes, you can see this post.

-       Laundry Prep – I do laundry every other week (besides the kids’ clothes and towels that are done every Saturday), so if it’s laundry week, I sort all of the clothes on Sunday.  That way, Monday morning, I can just grab a load and pop it in the wash on my way out the door to take the kids to school.

-       Miscellaneous Prep – In addition to all of the above, I also take the time to follow up with the kids to make sure that they are prepared for Monday (homework is done, laptops are charged, backpacks are packed, water bottles are filled (these are the GOAT for kids), rooms and other areas are tidied, etc.), I make sure the kitchen is clean and tidy, and I water our indoor plants.

Physical Self-Care

Once the organization part of my routine is done, I move on to the physical self-care portion.  This consists of sleeping in, moving my body, and tending to any beauty things that need to be done. 

 

-       Sleep – I’ve always been a night-owl by nature, and I’ve never, ever been a morning person.  I loooove sleep, and I’ll sleep in any chance that I get.  Since we attend church on Saturday evening, we get to sleep in on Sunday, so I let my body wake naturally (no alarms!), and I’m typically up around 8/8:15 AM.  Going into a new week feeling well-rested is always the best thing!

-       Yoga – After everything is organized and ready to go for the week, I do a nice, long round of yoga for stretching.  I love Yoga with Adriene on YouTube for yoga workouts, but on Sunday mornings, instead of doing a guided yoga workout, I’ve started using that time to listen to the weekly sermon from a local church that I love so much.  I’ve done enough yoga to know what to do on my own, so a guided workout isn’t always necessary for me now, especially when it comes to stretching.  Most of the time, I just do what feels good to my body.  I typically do about 30 minutes, and that’s my only workout on Sundays (unless we go for a family walk, weather permitting).

-       Beauty – I may also take this time to trim my nails, paint my nails or do any other beauty-related tasks.  I’m not big into the beauty scene, so most of the time, the beauty portion is non-existent for me.

Mental Self-Care

Mental self-care has become the most important part of my weekly routine, and the following tasks are things that I actually do every single day now… not just on Sunday.  Reading the Bible daily and doing this new Bible Recap is going to be life-changing… I can already feel it!

 

-       Gratitude Journal – I started keeping a gratitude journal this year since gratitude is my word for the year, so the first thing I do for my mental self-care is grab that journal and I write 3-4 things I’m grateful for.

-       Prayer Journal – I keep a prayer journal to write down any of my prayer intentions for the day. 

-       Devotional – Then, I read the entry from my daily devotional.  I’m currently reading this one and it’s, by far, the best one yet!  I take the time to highlight parts in the devotional that resonate with me, and I have literally highlighted in this devotional every single day so far. It is fantastic.

-       Bible Study – My goal is to complete reading and studying the entire Bible this year, so I am using The Bible Recap to aid with this.  So, after all of the above is done, I open my Bible to read the chapters for the day, and then I read the two-page spread in The Bible Recap that elaborates on what I just read in my Bible.  I always take the time to highlight important things in both books, and I take notes as I see fit.  Some days, I’ll even do a little doodle in the column of my Bible if a verse really stands out.  Once that’s done, I also listen to the quick 6-8-minute video about the reading for the day in my Bible app.  The Bible Recap plan is in the You Version Bible app in case you didn’t know!  Also, you can see more about my Bible studies here.

-       Affirmations – I have a list of positive affirmations that I created for myself, and I read over those after all of my other stuff is done.  It’s such a great way to get the day started on the right foot!

-       Meditate – I actually don’t meditate first thing in the morning (I prefer to meditate in the evening), but I do meditate every single day, so I thought this was worth mentioning even though it’s not technically part of my morning routine.  I started meditating about 5-6 years ago, and I can’t imagine life without it now.  I use the Calm app – I paid for a lifetime subscription several years ago when it was on super sale for Black Friday – and it has been worth its weight in gold.  I do a 7-10-minute meditation every single day.  My favorite ones are the “Daily Jay” meditations with Jay Shetty, and I also love the “Daily Calm” meditations with Tamara Levitt.  You can’t go wrong with either.

And that’s my Sunday morning routine!  Doing all of this prep each Sunday morning usually takes a couple of hours, but it is time well-spent and I truly relish this time every week.  It sets me up for success in the new week, because it allows me to jump in feeling organized, prepared, relaxed, and fulfilled… there’s nothing better!  You know what they say about a Sunday well spent...

Happy Wednesday, y'all!