A Simple Weekend Routine for a Stress-Free Week

Great weeks don’t happen by accident. Setting yourself up for success takes preparation and intentionality. An easy way to support the upcoming week is with a simple weekend routine.

Hopefully, this will inspire you to create a weekend routine for yourself so that you can enjoy stress-free weeks! I’ve heard too many times that people are so overrun or stressed out in their homes.

Most of the time, it is due to:

1. clutter
2. lack of a routine

Trust me, when you remove the clutter and set up routines for all areas of your life, your world will change.

My favorite routine is my weekend routine because it is more laid back and forgiving than my other routines. It is also the one that helps me reset my life each week to ensure I have the best next week possible.

My Simple Weekend Routine

Before we dive into each task that I like to do in my weekend routine, I want to provide a broad overview of the things I like to accomplish.

Notice that I don’t have a weekend morning routine or weekend evening routine. I like to work with a list of things I want to accomplish. However long it takes me is usually dependent on how busy the week was for me.

Here’s a brief look at my weekend routine task list:

• Reflect on the previous week
• Catch up on laundry
• Wash bedding, shower curtain, and curtain
• Tidy my home
• Water my house plants
• Rest and Self-Care
• Plan the next week
• Plan my budget for the week
• Meal plan for the week

This is pretty close to the order in which I accomplish them. I’ll share more about that as we dive into what I do specifically with each task and how they set my upcoming week to be stress-free.

Reflect on the previous week //

I believe it is very important to look back at the previous week to evaluate what worked and didn’t for my business and personal life. I ask myself the following questions:

• How did I win this week?
• What did I not complete this week?
• What have I learned this week?
• How productive was I?
• What did I enjoy this week?
• What didn’t I enjoy this week?
• What changes would I have made this week?
• What do I need to take action on next week?

Asking these reflection questions is helpful for so many reasons, but the primary reason is that you cannot move forward until you deal with the past.

With all of the personal development work I’ve done, the one constant is looking at your past [far or near] and pulling out the best story for each situation.

By focusing week by week, I’m able to make small adjustments that result in big changes.

How does having this in your weekend routine set you up for a stress-free week?

When you reflect on the past week, you can evaluate the good, the bad, and the changes you want to make. You also start a list of everything you need to do the next week.

Think of each week as a chapter in your life, and you have to close one chapter to open the next.

I do this reflection first thing Saturday morning so that I can release the previous week and focus on the weekend and what I need to take action on for the upcoming week.

I guess you could say that I do have a Saturday morning routine, but this is the only thing on it.

Catch up on washing all laundry //

I wash one load of laundry every day, but sometimes life steps in the way. Being able to get all the laundry washed over the weekend helps me start Monday with a clean slate.

Related Post: A Minimalist Cleaning Routine to Maintain a Tidy Home

Wash bed sheets, shower curtains, and curtains //

I cannot stand dirty bed sheets. They get washed at least once a week if not more. There is nothing like crisp, clean bedding to help me fall asleep at night.

I’ve had my plastic shower curtain since 2013, because I take care of it by washing it once a week. There is no sense in purchasing shower curtains every few months when you can toss it in the washing machine to clean it.

When it comes to regular curtains in my home, I don’t always wash them weekly, but I do wash them as frequently as I can.

Curtains collect dust just the same as horizontal surfaces, so to have a clean home, you have to wash your curtains.

By washing these things regularly in my weekend routine, I don’t have to worry about them during the week.

Tidy my home //

Nothing says a weekly reset like tidying the home. While I do keep things tidy throughout the week, there is always something to do.

I make sure that my home is the most tidy heading into Monday so that I’m not fighting to have a tidy home all week.

Related Post: How to Keep a Clean Home: 5 Secrets to Keeping a Clean and Tidy Home

Water my plants //

You cannot neglect the plants in your life! Depending on the species, they purify the air, so I try to take really good care of them.

Just as a quick mention, I clean the leaves from dust every other week to ensure they stay as healthy as possible.

I really enjoy taking care of my plants, and I don’t like to rush through it. If I were to do this during the week, I wouldn’t be as careful with cleaning the leaves, so I do it on the weekends.

Rest and Self-Care //

Isn’t this what weekends were created for?

For the weekends, I don’t set an alarm unless I have plans to be somewhere early that morning. I’m usually up by 7 a.m., so an alarm clock isn’t really needed.

I want my body to rest and recover from the previous week, so if I do happen to sleep in later than 7 a.m., I’m okay with that.

Outside of resting, I love giving my skin extra attention.

I love soaking my feet in Epsom salt water with a few drops of lavender and doing 45-minute-long facials.

My favorite facial mask is a DIY turmeric mask my friend Sarah at Pretty Simple Ideas created!

I also enjoy reading and journaling, going for drives in the country, and spending quality time with my husband and animals.

There is really no right or wrong for my self-care, as long as it is relaxing and enjoyable.

Both reset my mind and body to unwind from the previous week and prepare for the upcoming week. Without it, I wouldn’t enjoy my work as much. It is a must for my weekend routine.

Related Post: Mental Cleanse Challenge

Plan the next week //

At some point on Sundays, I take about 20 minutes to plan the next week. I already have a list of all the things I need to take action on that I started Saturday morning.

I start by putting everything from this list on my calendar, then add anything else that I’ve thought of during this process.

From there, I identify the three feelings I want to feel this week so that I empower myself for the week to come versus reacting to the events that occur.

I know that sounds a bit woo-woo, but it really helps me to establish an intention for the week.

I’ve heard a lot that not planning your time is planning to fail, and I am not one for failing at something that helps me live my best life.

Plan my budget for the week //

Once I see what my week looks like, I plan my budget for the week. I see what bills need to be paid, any events or meetings that occur where money will be spent, and my grocery budget for the week.

This takes less than 5 minutes because I only have to pay bills twice a month, and I rarely have meetings or events to attend.

I plan my grocery budget for the month, then divide out the weeks. As the weeks in the month progress, I update the remaining balance to determine how much is left to spend.

If you’d like to know more about how I budget, take the course Your Sunny Money Method. This is how I built a system that works well for my family.

I include this within my weekend routine because it is one less thing to worry about during the week when I’m focused on my business.

Doing it during a relaxing time ensures that I have the chance to think of everything I need to do for my budget.

Meal Plan //

When it comes to meal planning, I always start by looking through everything I have on hand. This ensures that I save money, don’t purchase things I already have, and reduces food waste significantly.

I like to plan my dinners before everything else because we always have leftovers. Most of the time, the leftovers are our lunches for the week.

Sometimes we have sandwiches or soups for lunch, but only when I cook something the night before that doesn’t have any leftovers.

It really just depends on what I have on hand and my budget.

One key piece of advice for meal planning is to keep your dinners to 2-3 types of meat or less per week. This is a lot cheaper than having 4-5 different types of meat for the week.

Anyway, I definitely include this in my weekend routine because I can leisurely order my groceries online and pick them up Monday afternoon when there are fewer people out and about.

[Yes, I prefer to go to town when most are working or in school. I could blame it on fewer chances of getting into a wreck, but the truth is that I enjoy a slower-paced lifestyle at home and when I go to town.]

Final thoughts about a weekend routine

That is everything I include in my weekend routine to ensure I have a stress-free week. Remember, there is no right or wrong for what you include within your routine.

You may love having a Sunday morning routine or a Saturday routine full of things to do that you stick to well. If you do, I’d love for you to share it below in the comments!

There are probably other things I could include within my weekend routine, but I love the pace of it and all the things within it.

The most important thing about any routine is being open-minded to shifting things around as needed. What works now may not work six months from now.

If you haven’t established a weekend routine, I encourage you to start with tasks like I do and see how you like it.

Take notes about the things you do and don’t enjoy, what you want to continue doing, and what you want to try next.

Have fun creating a simple weekend routine that creates a stress-free week for you.

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