i have found over the years that habits stick around for much longer when we make space for them in our daily life & set a sustainable daily rhythm.
such is true for my sunday routine. at the end of the weekend, after a bit of rest & play, we prep for the following week. this helps to calm the chaos of monday & prepare me for the week’s family, social & work activities.
today i thought i’d share a quick list of things we do on sunday to prepare for the week ahead!
1. meal plan: i always research meal ideas & plan out our dinners for the week on sunday ( click here to learn the basics of how we meal plan). this is a practice that i absolutely try to keep every week because it helps us stick to our eating habits & saves me so much time during the weekdays. i use this meal planner & jot down our meals along with any extra steps that are needed (i.e. prep meal for crockpot in the morning). i then create a grocery list & shop on monday afternoons.
2. family calendar/budget meeting: every sunday we sit down together with our calendars & share events for the week. this helps us to know what our evenings look like & when i need to make dinner each week. this also helps us to be more intentional about making time to have others over & share a meal. if we need to revise the budget, we also sit down for a quick budget meeting.
3. clean the home: i like to pick-up, wipe down the counters, wash the dishes & sweep on sundays. there’s nothing quite like a clean home on a monday & this practice often takes me only an hour from start to finish.
4. catch up on laundry: because we don’t have children & luke does his own laundry, i only wash laundry once a week (all the praise hands!). this typically happens on sunday. i start a load or two before heading to church & finish up in the evenings. i also fold & hang my pieces so i can easily get to them during the week. i love how easy it is to pick out nice outfits throughout the week when this simple step is completed on sunday.
here are some other ideas you might include in your sunday prep: grocery shop, meal prep (if you grocery shop on sundays), plan out outfits, pack a gym bag for the week & make a weekly to-do list
how do you prep for the week? please share! i’d love to read your sunday strategies!
love,
natalie
p.s. i thought it might be helpful to share some of my favorite organizational tools. here’s a blog post dedicated to just that.
traditionally, at the mark of a new year, i share my top favorite memories of the previous year with you. (here are my favorites from 2014, 2013, 2012 & 2011!)
this year i changed things up just a bit! in between christmas & the new year, i spent several days collecting photos & making a photo book to mark 2015: a year of adventure for our family!
i absolutely love how it turned out!
i have heard great things about artifact uprising, blurb & mpix photo books, but in the end, i chose shutterfly. the shutterfly photo book builder was compatible with facebook & instagram, allowing me to quickly click & place photos in order of when they were shot. i mostly used snapshots from my phone with a mix of dslr photos & our professional family photos.
i was overall impressed with the quality (shutterfly has greatly improved over the years)! it cost just under $70 & the photos turned out great. i used the white modern theme & a simple grey font. overall, it took me about 10 hours to learn how to properly use the website, gather my photos & build my book.
i chose small & big moments of our year. i included snapshots of what we baked during the summer & weekly dates with my nephew. i included photos of our home & our new pool. i chose photos of our loved ones & our family gatherings. it was such a sweet process to relive our europe trip & sort through photos of my grandpa’s life in his last few days.
i cannot wait to share our yearly books with our future babies in years to come. i’m sure we’ll look back & laugh at our haircuts, our outfits, our home decor & why we took so many photos of our feet!
i’d love to know how you organize & print/share photos every year! please share!
love,
natalie
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just a friendly reminder – today (friday) at 8pm cst is the very last day to take advantage of the amazing epantry deal! when you sign up for epantry, you will receive this FREE mrs. meyer’s cleaning kit! check out my blog post right HERE for more details or click HERE to sign up right now!
oh, it’s the most wonderful time of the year to tackle that clutter that is sure to drive you crazy, scrub every inch of your home, dust those nooks & crannies, organize your closets & start fresh in 2016!
friends, you know just how much i love epantry! for two years, we’ve used them exclusively within our home. we buy all of our household goods from epantry, including toilet paper, soaps, detergents, toothpaste, shampoo & everything else you might need to run a home.
if you haven’t heard of epantry, they are an amazing company that sends your favorite, all-natural home supplies right to your door! their products are cheaper than what you’ll find at the store & it’s convenient! plus, their monthly subscription makes budgeting for home supplies much easier (this is a big one for us)!
i am so excited to share that epantry just released their mrs meyer’s cleaning kit & they are giving away a FREE mrs. meyer’s cleaning kit ($38 value) to every natalie creates reader! yay!
through friday, january 8th, 2016, you can grab a FREE: mrs. meyer’s hand soap & dish soap (in the scent of your choice) along with grove walnut scrubber sponges, a grove kitchen towel & the casabella cleaning caddy with any $20 minimum purchase at epantry. shipping is also free, y’all!
this offer is valid for new epantry customers only, but because our friends at epantry provide the very best in customer service, they’re offering up the exclusive cleaning kit at 50% off to existing pantry customers. grab yours HERE!
you can choose just one scent of mrs. meyer’s goodies or mix & match to try an assortment! we have shifted to using just mrs. meyer’s products to clean our farmhouse… the scents are just too amazing! the free scrubber sponges are equally wonderful. we use the sponges & kitchen towels for cleaning up spills & messes within our cozy little home.
here’s a step-by-step on how to grab this fun epantry deal:
2. once you sign up, epantry will ask you a few questions to personalize your account. this takes less than 30 seconds, i promise.
3. after answering the questions, a customized dashboard will pop up with a set of basket suggested items for this deal. you’ll see your freebies, including your cleaning kit. on the right, you’ll also see the discounts & free shipping.
4. tweak the basket to your liking & needs within your home. your minimum order amount needs to reach $20 or more to receive the cleaning kit for free. that’s just $20 for $58 worth of cleaning products, friends!
5. click finish & pay & place your order!
6. to take advantage of free shipping, make sure to select the free 60 day vip trial after you checkout!
7. don’t forget: existing customers click HERE to receive the cleaning kit for 50% off with your next order.
friends, this special offer is only available until friday, january 8th, 2016 or while supplies last. grab it just in time for new years cleaning!
here are three ways i keep organized & make the most of our space:
1. i keep mrs. meyer’s dish soap & hand soap along with our scrubbers by my sink in a little wire basket. this keeps all of my dish cleaning supplies corralled & makes wiping down that area easy peasy.
2. i carry my mrs. meyer’s cleaning kit from room-to-room during chore time. i keep all of my supplies, including wipes, sprays, towels, scrubbies & more, in the portable caddy so that they’re at hand & convenient when cleaning. this has (thankfully!) cut down quite a bit of time i would have been looking for or locating a cleaning supply.
3. my extra cleaning products are stashed in a clear shoe organizer hung on the back of my laundry room door! taking advantage of door space has made our tiny home much more functional!
how do you keep organized within your home? i’d love to read your ideas!
don’t forget to grab your FREE mrs. meyer’s cleaning kit with free shipping here! this offer is valid only through friday, january 8th, 2016!
let me know if you have any questions! i can’t wait to read just how much you love your handy dandy cleaning kit!
love,
natalie