Five tips for getting organized at the start of the week
Monday's are hard. They tend to be the least favorite day of the week and yet they are the most crucial day of the week. Typically Monday's are for getting your feet back into the work week, planning activities for your week and already looking forward to the weekend ahead! I can relate because this is how I feel every single week. However, there's a lot to be said for making your Monday's worth while by starting off your week with a better attitude and an organized schedule! With the help of my beautiful and luxe looking Cloth & Paper planner I'm sharing my top five tips for getting organized at the start of each week to make your week sail by stress-free!
1. Write out your weekly plans - There's just something about writing out your weekly agenda in a planner and checking off your tasks, to-do's and events as you go. Sure, a phone and computer are easy go-to's for entering info into a calendar, but often times a phone or computer calendar turns into an afterthought. Especially if your calendars combine work and personal. I actually own two planners - one for work and my Cloth & Paper personal calendar that hosts all of my non-work plans. I keep track of budgeting, happy hours, weekend plans, vacations, after work activities, workouts and other personal need to knows. I sit down with my planner(s) every Sunday night to reflect on what is happening in the coming week so I can plan ahead.
2. Sunday is prep day - Sunday's are most often your last day of the weekend and the ideal day for running errands and prepping for your week. I've found when I procrastinate on Sunday's and leave my meal prepping, errands and around the home chores for weekdays I either keep pushing them off or feel super tired and stressed out. I dedicate my Sunday's to making a grocery list, grocery shopping for the week ahead, meal prepping, laundry and other errands/chores. It's a relieving feeling to start the week with a list of my to-do's out of the way and to have a refrigerator/pantry full of food and meals fully prepped for the work week!
3. Set a weekly budget - When I'm going through my planner at the start of the week I also take time to set my budget for the week ahead. Luckily, in my Cloth & Paper planner I have a section dedicated to finance where I can add budget-related information to stay on financial track. This includes setting a limit for going out/happy hour, setting a limit for groceries, creating savings goals and addressing if I'm on track to meet my monthly expenses like paying rent. I like to go through my finances every week (bank statements and receipts included!) to keep myself accountable for reaching the financial goals I set for myself and learning from my mistakes. Keeping a weekly budget documented is important because it makes for easy reference and is a great way to stay on track of your goals.
4. Set weekly goals - Every week is different with work and life goals you hope to make or meet. Dedicate a solid 30 minutes on a Sunday to planning out your goals for the week (I even write goals throughout my week and compile them the following weekend in my Cloth & Paper planner in the goals section). Your goals are endless, they be creative, personal, relationship-related, financial, career-related and big life goals. I tend to write weekly goals (sometimes daily goals) and I contribute to a bigger "life goal" list on the regular. We live busy lives and often times a great idea or goal you set for yourself can be forgotten, take the time to write it out to work toward or address at a later date!
5. Hold yourself accountable - It's up to you to stay organized and how you decide to stay organized is totally up to you - you have to hold yourself accountable. Whether it's setting an alarm in your phone to remind yourself that 30 minutes of today is "me time" to reflect, make plans, run errands or write your to-do list of the week or if you're someone who likes to block off a full day dedicated to being productive, it's up to you! But I assure you, making the time for yourself makes for a better, healthier and happier week ahead!
S/O to Cloth & Paper for collaborating on this blog post!