We had time to fit in those last few items from our family “Summer Bucket List.” I didn’t spend the day cleaning, doing dishes or hunched over laundry. How did I have time to do that without getting behind around the house?

Mondays are hard days to not resent. The fun and freedom cease for another five days, but my 6 habits for a productive weekend will help to get back to the grind easier and happier!

DELEGATE TIME 

Delegate time just like money. If you don’t give your money a place to go, ie: debt payments, savings, utilities, groceries, gas, etc. then it all ends up as “misc. spending.” Then we feel broke a week into the pay period or in this case, unaccomplished with our time by Sunday night. Neither are good.

(To make budgeting easy, I use Rachel Cruze’s Every Dollar app to plan my money each month.)

Okay back to your time. If we aren’t intentional with our time, it slips away. It isn’t a renewable resource. We cannot count on a set salary of time so be efficient and mindful of what you got, right?

I’m not preaching to fill up every white space on your daily calendar jammed packed with events and things to keep you busy. Quite the contrary. Keep those days open by setting intentions with your tasks.

So how can you manage your time without feeling like you’re following a strict diet you know you’ll fail at immediately?

Talk about the weekend ahead of time

Before the weekend hits, my husband, Ryan, and I discuss what’s on the docket. That way he can plan his farm projects around when he needs to be home and ready to be somewhere. It also helps us catch if we’ve double booked ourselves.

• What the weather is supposed to do now that the plan is closer?
• Are those plans still feasible?
• Do we need to line up daycare or confirm the time with a scheduled sitter?
• Do we need to switch activities to different days to accommodate what we want to do, and how we want to dedicate our time?

If you don’t enjoy it, why bother letting it take up your time doing it?
Your time is not someone else’s to control. Don’t give away your power to control how you spend your time to someone else. If you commit to something you’d rather not, that’s on you. Protect your valuable resource. Like I’ve said, it’s not renewable like money.

Have a weekend routine

Kick the anxiety right now after you read “routine.” This doesn’t mean you have to do the same activities each weekend. I realize not everyone loves consistency as much as I do. ?

Having a routine gives priority to life tasks you’ve banked up from the week that didn’t get done. Such as a Target run, grocery shopping, leftover cleaning, laundry, extra items like washing bedding, mopping floors. Do you need to shop for a present or outfits upcoming event like a school concert, family pictures, a wedding?

For me, it is a weekend ritual to get in a longer run Saturday morning with my running buddy. This doubles as a mind reset so I can charge into the weekend feeling refreshed and ready to tackle what needs my attention, rather than being reactive to what is getting thrown at me. From there I can plan what time would work to do some errands with the kids. Will we need to pack snacks to cram in a few more stops with 3 little kids in tow?

Remember to start small, and take some baby steps. These 6 habits to a productive weekend will take some time, but ohhhhh so worth it in the end!

See it

If you have high expectations of a productive weekend well spent, set yourself up for success by getting it out of your head and down on “paper.” I love the productivity of tasks being set up through Microsoft Outlook to remind me at scheduled times to do the next “thing” by alerting me on my phone for tasks to do during the week. On the weekends, I prefer paper calendars and to-do lists for home tasks. With littles constantly needing my attention, it is easier to quickly glance at what we have booked or list to tackle.

At home, paper is king. We have a monthly paper calendar on the fridge so everyone can see what is coming up for where we need to be. I’m a huge fan of these iMom calendars each year and different monthly theme options

I love a good paper to-do list for two more reasons.

1. I have a terrible memory and forget all that’s floating around in my head that I have high hopes of knocking out during my time away from work. If I don’t write it down, come Sunday night I’ll recall something important that was spaced off and not done or prepped for the upcoming week and be disappointed in myself.
2. It feels sooo good to cross off each item as I knock it off the list. There is science-backed evidence out there about how this stimulates productivity! *|FNAME|*, don’t you love that feeling?

Be realistic

• Do you have too many things going on?
• Did you put all that was going on in the calendar to notice what you’ve scheduled yourself for?
• Do you have enough time to get to one place before being committed to being at another?
• Will your kids’ attitudes hold up through all the plans?
• Will you have some downtime to relax before shoving your family back into another busy week?

Be mindful

Be intentional. It can be so easy to get wrapped up in a mindless task like laundry or aimlessly scrolling through your social media feeds. Be aware that these mindless tasks are using your precious time and brainpower. We use mindless tasks or busy work as a distraction to procrastinate what really needs to be done now.

This post is the absolute perfect example! I kept finding more laundry to do, more bedding to wash, etc etc. until the end of the day came and I didn’t have any energy left to sit down and try to formulate words together that made any sense. I had used up my brain capacity on busy work!

So, I’ll myself get up earlier than scheduled and write before my workout. Doing so helps stimulate my brain for more ideas. By the time I hit the shower, I’ll be reaching for sticky notes to jot down tidbits that I want to add to this blog post or a new idea for a live on Instagram.

Time management doesn’t have to be rigid, but if you don’t plan – you’ll be left feeling like you didn’t get done what you had hoped to accomplish.

“If you have floating dreams, that’s just what they will do, float away” – Bobby Bones

 The same goes for your time. If you don’t have a plan for it, it will float away and you don’t get it back. While Monday is going to happen whether you like it or not, my 6 habits to a productive weekend can help set you up for success with bright, efficient, productive habits.