_ Here are a few proposals my campaign team, Moms for Mondays, would like to introduce to help jump start your week and make Mondays great again!
Prep Your Wardrobe
Select daily outfits for yourself and your kids over the weekend when you have a few spare minutes. I put together a head-to-toe outfit for each day of the week and hang them up in order in my closet. I even put my jewelry right on the hanger–earrings and bracelets in little jewelry bags, scarves and necklaces, socks and undergarments are all packaged together. For the kids I put outfits together in bins stored in their closets. They pull out the top one and get dressed in the morning independently because everything is in easy reach and they don’t need to make spur-of-the-moment decisions.
Meal Plan
I loathe meal planning and grocery shopping but I love to cook and bake and truly enjoy being in the kitchen. The things is, I can’t get to the enjoyment part without a little elbow grease. I guess that’s true for everything, huh? Even if I don’t have a tightly planned out menu, I have some rotating staples I can always throw in. Soup and sandwich night. Breakfast to the rescue. Taco tuesdays, pasta night. Some of our favorites are on a steady weekly rotation and don’t require much planning or prep.
Map Out Your Week
Looking ahead and having a planning calendar keeps important events and appointments from being forgotten and to-dos organized and on task. Over the weekend, I make a list of all the items I need to pick up over the next seven days, phone calls I have to make, online purchases to buy and appointments to set. Every step of every task is put on a calendar and assigned a day and time to complete it. Keeping it all mapped out eases my mental load throughout the week.
Morning Command Center
Place out backpacks and coats, shoes, breakfast place settings, and anything else you need for the morning, the night before. This not only helps make Monday mornings less stressful, but can be repeated every evening for daily success! No more panicked searches for misplaced homework, keys, or bags.
Don’t Let Household Chores Gang Up on You
Keeping ahead of laundry, dishes, and cleaning helps daily chores seem less daunting. For example, I put in a load of laundry each night. I can always find something..dish rags, bath towels or combined household load. A daily load keeps the mountain from forming. I will fold each basket of laundry after it comes out of the dryer, typically when the kids are sleeping and while my favorite Netflix show is playing, and put it away the next day. Small little daily chores keep from doing hours of work on the weekends and leave more time for rest and relaxation.
Attitude Check
Last, but most importantly, keep a positive attitude going into the week. The Monday moans can be contagious. The energy and attitude we set going into our day–and the rest of the week–can influence the cooperation of all those around us and set the tone and momentum for the entire week.
Make Mondays great again!
