I just came inside from sipping an iced coconut coffee on our back deck. Afternoons are one of my favorite parts of the day – the girls are napping, I’m able to get a little work and cleaning done and then I try to relax for a bit before the girls wake up. For me, weekdays are very similar to weekends except my husband isn’t home most days during the week. I prefer weekends to weekdays simply because he is here and I try not to do any work 🙂
Lately, we’ve really been making the most out of our weekends. Even though we don’t have much of a social circle yet here in North Carolina, we make sure to plan fun activities just about every weekend day. Last weekend we went out for pizza and live music on Saturday, went for a long walk and to the park on Sunday morning and played outside while BBQing on Sunday evening. We like to keep our weekends a mix of fun activities and downtime, mostly because our girls still take naps and everyone needs a little downtime, right?
Here are my five tips on how to make the most of your weekends and for keeping weekends fun!
Always have a loose plan in place. OK – I know, it’s been a long week and you simply want to “do nothing” and “relax.” While that’s great, what exactly is “doing nothing?” You can’t do nothing! Even if you’re taking a nap, you’re still doing something. For us lately, it’s been working great to have a loose plan in place for the weekend. Since we have young kids, we keep it flexible, but we enjoy looking forward to our weekends and having some plans in place! Our plans are always super simple – like going to Target and Costco on Saturday morning and eating lunch at Costco, or going to our favorite park in the afternoon, or going to a fun shopping plaza for live outdoor music, a park and dinner, or even just spending time outside with the neighbors! I highly recommend having a loose plan in place to make your weekends more fun!
Give yourself some relaxation time. We all want to relax on the weekends, but how do you plan on relaxing? Is it relaxing for you to read a book, sit outside, watch tv, go for a walk, a combination of all of the above? For me, I relax by sitting on our deck, talking with my husband, goofing off online and going for long walks. I make sure at least a few of these happen every weekend!
Create weekend traditions. Since our girls are still young, we haven’t started any formal traditions with them yet, like making pancakes every Sunday or having a family movie night on Saturday (two traditions we’ll be starting soon!). My husband and I, though, have a tradition of Friday Night Date Nights. They’re always at home and they always involve a movie from Redbox! Normally at night, we watch our shows on Netflix right before bed. Friday nights are special because we get to watch a movie and stay up a little later than normal. Sometimes we cook a nice dinner together, have a special dessert or have a beer on the patio. Even though this tradition is SO SIMPLE, we both look forward to it every week!
Keep your “to-do” list short. I’m talking about things on your list like catching up on laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, organizing closets and running errands. Unfortunately, most people don’t get the most out of their weekends because they have so many other “things” they have to do. Why not clean and run errands throughout the week instead of leaving everything for the weekend? Spend just 15 minutes after work each day throwing a load of laundry in, running the dishwasher or making a grocery list. If you have to get things done on the weekend (which, let’s me real, we all do), set aside two hours or so and get it done!
Don’t forget to daydream – and write it down! I’m a pretty big daydreamer and I have lots and lots of goals I want to accomplish. One of my favorite things about the weekend is being able to discuss these goals with my husband and work on creating an action plan. These “dreams” can be little things like wanting to make Magnolia Bakery’s homemade banana pudding (seriously, doesn’t this look amazing?!) to wanting to change careers. Weekends are your your time to think of little (and big!) things you want to do in life…and it’s your time to act on them!
What’s your favorite thing to do on the weekend?!
photo credit: Flickr via Henry Hemming
Jayleen @ How Do The Jones Do It says
atMy hubby makes pancakes and waffles on Saturday mornings (enough to freeze for the week too) and omelets on Sunday mornings! The kids drink cowboy coffee with him. We’ve been working in the yard a lot lately but I’m feeling like we need to schedule in some fun! Of course, I have to remember that the rest of the family has been at school and work all week and they enjoy just being home!
Melissa @ Sunburnt Saver says
atI have GOT to get better at keeping our to-do list short… it seems like the weekend flies by not because we’re having fun, but because we’re doing all those little things you have to do to keep a house running (cleaning, getting gas in the cars, doing laundry, house projects, etc.)
For a while, I was getting gas on Friday nights (one chore down) and picking up groceries throughout the week, but I found I spent more on groceries when I went alone vs. with my fiance. However, it did save a ton of time… hmmm!
diane @smartmoneysimplelife says
atDaydreaming is an undervalued skill! I’ve got out of the habit of it… I think it’s because I work from home now so I don’t need to escape as often!
Definitely adding daydreaming to my weekend routine.
🙂
Holly@ClubThrifty says
atMy favorite thing to do on the weekend is sleep in. I don’t necessarily want to sleep in late, but it’s nice to *not* have to get up and get everyone ready. I also like lazy afternoons where I can work in the yard while the kids play.
Sarah Brooks says
atYes afternoons in the yard are my favorites!! And I’m jealous you can “sleep in” (I know, that term is used lightly when you have kids haha). My girls have been getting up between 5:30 and 6:30 every day. On daycare days, we have to be up by 7:15 but I can’t remember the last time I slept that late 🙁 🙁 🙁
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
atSounds like we both look forward to the weekends for the same reasons 🙂 My days would all blend together if not for my husband being off work on the weekends hah.
Loved this post! And iced coconut coffee…..what’s the secret for getting the coconut in there? Sounds really yummy!
Sarah Brooks says
atWe buy flavored coffee beans! My fave 🙂 So this cup was just coconut flavored gourmet coffee beans haha. Then I add some milk and one sweet n’ low. Heaven 🙂
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
atYum, thanks for the tip! I’ll have to find some, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed coconut flavored before.
Abigail @ipickuppennies says
atIt drives my husband crazy that I mainly want to relax during the weekend. He wants to go out and do things. But I’ve worked 40 hours, and I want to chill out darn it! We usually find a compromise, but some weekends he just has to twiddle his thumbs.
Sarah Brooks says
atLOL yeah my husband loves being out and about too! I do, too, but it’s mostly because of the kids. It’s easier to handle them when we’re doing fun things rather than sitting at home! I’m a home-body at heart, tho.
Tarynkay says
atPre-kid, we liked to either do nothing or do lots of productive projects. Post-kid, doing nothing is not really a relaxing option and productivity is not happening.
It works best if we get out of the house and do something that uses a lot of energy first thing. So we go on long hikes, or to the children’s museum, or even out to breakfast then to the botanical gardens. Our three and a half year old needs LOTS of running time built in. The hope is always that he will fall asleep on the way home, since he doesn’t nap anymore. Then we roll down the windows and we all nap in the car in the driveway.
We often have last minute dinner parties with the neighbors. Not like fancy dinner parties, more like hey, we made stir fry and you made spaghetti, bring it over and we’ll share and eat together and let the kids wear each other out. That is pretty much a perfect Saturday in my book.
Sundays are for church, and in the evenings, we swap babysitting with friends so we usually get 2 dates a month, which is pretty much amazing.
Sarah Brooks says
atYour weekends sound awesome!! And a lot like ours! We spend a lot of time outside with the neighbors too! And yes – I know what you mean about having kids that need to burn off energy. Yesterday we were all up at 6:30 and decided to head out for coffee and a morning park trip. Super fun and the girls both fell asleep in the car then napped in their cribs for almost three hours. I’ll take it!