Sunday Night Prep: Create a Weekly Attack Plan

Whatever your role, each day during the week is usually very scheduled. A bit of time spent Sunday night planning can make a big difference in your week. When you wake up Monday focused with an attack plan, it is a better week for everyone. When you don’t take the time to do these things on Sunday, you could spend the rest of the week playing catch-up.

Check Calendars and Create To Do Lists

Write down which hour-long task you would like to accomplish each morning for the coming week. Get everything out of your head and onto paper (or computer screen). Start by writing down all the tasks, ideas, and commitments that have been weighing you down during the previous week. Just go down the list and capture any unfinished tasks that come to you. Reevaluate your short-term to-do list in light of your long-term goals. It is still helpful to make lists the old-fashioned way because you can find great pleasure in checking things off! Plus, there are so many cute and FREE printables online that make it easier than ever to get organized. Here is a roundup of some from Design Finch.

Plan Outfits For The Week and Be Your Own Stylist

Closets can help you get ready quickly and efficiently, keep you on time and leave you feeling great. By planning your kids outfits for the week, mornings will go so much smoother too. Go through your family’s closets and create outfits. Put things together that you would never have thought of. Have magazine tear sheets of looks you (or your kids) like, take pictures of the outfits that work, and create a ‘Look Book’. A ‘Look Book’ is a 3-ring binder that contains pictures of pre-approved school outfits for your kids. Going through this process may help you figure out some holes in your or your kids’ wardrobe, but the idea is to create multiple looks using the clothes you already own. Divide the clothes in closets into into categories (i.e. work, gym, casual, evening). Have jewelry, shoes and accessories displayed so that you can see what you have and remember to use it. Try an Apple Store App, Cloth, to document a closet. You simply snap a photo of an outfit and organize it into a category such as evening, school or work. Then, when you are trying to find something to wear you can go through the digital closet to remember what you have.

Clean Out Bags, Backpacks and Binders

Leave the work, school, gym bags by the door, full of anything you will need and ready to go. You will feel better if you have everything you will need for the day in the same place every morning. This may include things you need to mail, signed homework, kids reports, etc. If you are going to change bags, do it over the weekend, when you can carefully unpack and repack all the essentials.

Healthy Lunches and Dinners

If you spend a couple hours Sunday night getting ready for the week, it’s pretty much a given that you will eat healthier meals the rest of the week. Make a big dinner on Sunday night, a few extra servings will become tomorrow’s lunch, and you can pack it up as you’re putting away dinner. Check out our Healthy Family Grocery List before going food shopping. Here are some other Sunday Night Prep ideas for lunches and dinners during the week.

Take items out of the freezer to defrost.
Wash, slice and chop any fruits or vegetables that need to be, and place them all in separate bowls so they are easy to grab for snacks, salad, or to throw in the juicer or blender.
Hard-boil some eggs for breakfast, snack, or to use in egg salad sandwiches.
Grill chicken and vegetables and place them in a covered container to use throughout the week for wraps, pasta, or quesadillas.
Pancakes are always a staple, and they take just minutes to make. Make a double batch Sunday night to use for breakfast, snacks, or dinner. If any are leftover after a few days, you can freeze them.
Muffins are great to have for snack and breakfast on the go. Most muffins can be made in 30 – 40 minutes and use a lot of the same ingredients as pancakes, so go ahead and make them at the same time.
Soups are great to make ahead, and you can always freeze whatever you have leftover, so make a double batch.