planning and rhythms
practical notes on how I keep things running smoothly in our household
Welcome to mama eats, a twice-weekly newsletter inspired by a simple + seasonal home life. This week’s post, about planning, is for paid subscribers. I try to provide as much free content as possible, however, this newsletter is a labor of love and I am a busy mother to three. If you have the means, and find value in what I share, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, which also gives you access to the growing archive of posts older than a month. This post contains some affiliate links, meaning that I receive a small comission if you purchase through them. Thank you for supporting my writing and the continuation of this newsletter.
I have always preferred keeping a paper planner to write things down in, the physical act of writing it down seems to help me to remember it much better than when digitally recorded. I use my phone calendar to set alarm reminders when I think I might forget something, but other than that, everything’s on paper for me. I love lists and daily to-do’s. As a normally very scatterbrained type person, it really helps to corral all those floating thoughts down in one place. It’s nice to be able to look back and have a record of the year, too. This newsletter is to share a little bit about a few simple tools I use to stay (mostly) organized.
Every Sunday, I sit down to plan the week ahead. This is more big picture things than daily tasks. I’ll fill in my planner with any big appointments, the meal plan for the week, and make a grocery list from the meal plan. I also write tasks down by working backwards from my meal plan- for example, if I’m making pizza on Friday and chili on Monday, I’ll write “make pizza dough” on Thursday, and “soak beans” on Sunday. I also fill in days I’d like to run or do yoga, and what cleaning task I need to do that day.
Every night, I sit down and make my to-do list for the next day. I try not to add every little thing or it can get very overwhelming as of course there’s endless things that need doing. I focus on writing down just the most important tasks to get done that day to make it run smoothly- and I think it’s important to be realistic about what can get done in a day for you. For example, for me it might be: “clean windows, clean out fridge, soak beans, respond to texts, work on Substack post, library visit”. This just keeps everything moving and means that when I wake up the next day, I don’t have to think about what to do, I just can begin the list. I get a lot of decision fatigue and can end up doing not much of anything while deciding what to do to begin! For things that don’t fit on that day’s to-do list, but still need to get done sometime, I have a seperate running list that I can refer to if I have some extra time.
I also have learned that if I do a few things in the morning, my mood is always better and the day is more pleasant. This will be so different for everyone, and I think it’s well worth figuring out what yours are. For me, that’s:
getting dressed and ready for the day before breakfast, this is a huge thing for my mood personally, I’ve literally always been this way even as a child. If I feel neat and clean and presentable, I feel ready to take on whatever the day brings.
doing a quick run around with the cordless vacuum after breakfast (there is nothing that makes me feel as icky as floors with debris on them, and with 3 kids and a cat our laminate floor is constantly getting dirty).
doing a quick tidy/wiping down the kids/guest bathroom, that way if anyone stops by I don’t have to worry if the bathroom is clean.
getting outside while I drink my morning coffee or tea, to get some sunshine on my face, fresh air, and some deep breathing while I sit or walk around the yard looking at my garden- usually this is just 5 or 10 minutes, but it is so impactful for me.