Monday, August 24, 2015

Week-at-a-glance

For the past month, I've been making a weekly to-do list, cleaning schedule and menu plan. I have pinned several on various Pinterest boards, but I could never find one that was exactly what I wanted, so I made one.

I wanted a place where I could put our weekly calendar items, menu plan, and a cleaning schedule of some sort. I also wanted a to-do list that wasn't locked into certain days of the week. That's how this one was created. I print a new one every Sunday and write/type in what I need.


Menu Plan. When creating the menu, I usually think about what we have in the freezer and go from there. If I need to go grocery shopping, I put that on the chore list, and plan my menu accordingly. I would say we stick to the menu about 85% of the time, which is much better than when we don't have a menu.

Weekly Cleaning Schedule. To start a weekly cleaning plan, I wrote down the chores I felt needed to happen weekly, and then thought about our evenings. For instance, dusting takes the longest for me, so I did put that on Monday night because it's most likely to get done. I chose to put bathrooms on Thursday since they are usually fairly messy from hurriedly getting ready all week. I've seen a lot of different weekly cleaning lists, but so far the only one I've stuck to is the one I created for myself....and even then, I would say I stick to it 70% of the time. I did my best to leave a couple of empty days, so I would have a day when I could catch up or make-up. Additionally, I change it from week to week depending on what needs to be done.

Everyday Things. I also included a section of everyday things. For me this includes Dishes, Laundry, Make Bed, Picking up the House, and Swiffering (the joys of a shedding dog and hardwood floors). I've seen some people include exercise, water intake, emails, and things along those lines in this area.

Calendar. This portion is fairly basic. I simply write down what we've got going on for the week. I used to keep a monthly calendar on the fridge, but my husband never looked at it. Now that we've got the week-at-a-glance on the fridge, he will at least acknowledge that we have activities throughout the week.

Weekly To Do List. I try hard to keep this list to a minimum. My goal is to put things on there that will get crossed off, so I stick to 5-7 things each week (1 per day). If anything needs deep cleaning and it isn't in the weekly cleaning schedule, it goes here.

The week-at-a-glance printable has provided a much needed plan for the week. I don't stick to it perfectly, but it definitely keeps me organized. I also love the feeling I get from just filling it out on Sundays. It makes me feel so put together and with it. If you want to try this layout for yourself, you can get a blank PDF version HERE.

Enjoy!
:j