If your Monday through Friday work week is consistently busy, filled with activities and obligations outside of the home, then the weekend is a terrific time to catch up a bit and get things done at home. Whether you work on projects, organizing, making progress on your goals, or catching up with the mundane stuff of life, the way to make your weekend productive is to plan it out a bit ahead of time. But…there’s a saying about “All work no play…” that I think it ends with “makes Aby a grouchy girl,” so around here we make sure our weekend to-do lists include fun stuff, too. This way you’ll arrive at Monday morning feel accomplished and revitalized.
That, my friends, is what Finish It Friday is all about. Planning out the stuff you want or need to get done during this glorious piece of the week called the weekend, and making sure your plans call for plenty of fun—activities (or non-activities) that will leave you feeling rested and ready for the week ahead. If you’ve been sitting on the Finish It Friday sidelines, consider this your official invitation to get in the game. You really will have more fun and get more done…just try it and see. I’ll go first:
Fun
- Run 4 miles. When I run my four miles this evening, I will hit my first major milestone on my 500 mile goal: 100 miles down! I’m super excited about this!! Check! Really happy about this. 🙂
- Boot camp. Check!
- Basketball game. Check!
- Spontaneous fun. This weekend I’m going to leave a spot on my to-do list for something that just sounds fun in the moment. Sometimes when I put something fun on my list on Friday…it starts to feel like an obligation by Saturday afternoon and Sunday. This will fix that little problem, I think. 🙂 Okay, so here’s the great thing about this little item on my list. My friend called, out of the blue, and asked me to go to a Healthy Living Fair with her. Perfect! So happy I left space for spontaneous fun this weekend. You may have noticed that there was no work related tasks on my to-do list this weekend…well I did more work this weekend than normal. I wonder if it’s because of the spontaneous fun? Who knows…but I will be doing this again. For. Sure. 🙂
Done
- Laundry. Partial check.
- Meal plan and grocery shop. Check! And, here’s another benefit of the spontaneous fun…we changed up the time for our weekly shopping so I could go to the Healthy Living Fair, and we like our new time even better. So…we’re thinking of making it the new routine. (It really is these little things that thrill me.)
- Make hair appointments. Check! And I was able to get Collin in on Saturday, so the hair cut itself is done, too. Yay!
- Pay bills. Check!
- Shop for new running shoes. Nope! 🙁
- Getting Organized for Project Life Part 3 post. (This is next up on my to-do list!) Check!
- Edit and print photos for Project Life. Partial check. One week down…two weeks to go. I’m falling behind…but I’m going to be okay with it. I am determined to keep this fun. 😉
Alright! It’s a plan. Are you in this week? It’s as simple as sharing your weekend to-do list (done list) and weekend “fun” list in the comments. Thanks for joining in!! Have a great weekend.
When I started to make my list I realized I had a lot I wanted to get done this weekend! My mom arrives on Tuesday so there’s housecleaning/guest prep to do. Plus the EPIC joint party is a week away so there’s items to do for that. In addition to my regular weekend things. I am off Tues-Fri so if some things don’t get done I’ll have space to do it, kinda since my mom is here so I’m not going to ignore her to work on my PL album.
Here’s my list:
FUN:
Lunch with a friend on Saturday
PL 2011
PL 2013
DONE
create capsule wardrobe
finalize party plans
clean house for mom
sort clothes for consignment shop appointment
write and schedule two blog posts (I’ve been participating in the Project Life Tuesdays & What I Wore Wednesdays)
meal plan and shop (must get birthday cake supplies & food for my guest)
Whew! I’m tired just thinking about all of it.
Congratulations on making your first big milestone of 100 miles! And I’m looking forward to that next post about project life!
Good luck with your weekend plans, Alyssa! I hope you have a wonderful visit with your Mom. 🙂
Checking back in – I was feeling under the weather this weekend so I didn’t accomplish as much as I would’ve liked. I did work on PL 2011 (finished the first third of the year), did some planning for this week’s PL 2013 and had lunch with a friend on Saturday.
The only thing I did on my done list was sort clothes for consignment shop appointment, wrote one blog post and shopped (but no meal planning). My husband is cleaning today and I will probably have my mom help me with my capsule wardrobe project.
I hope you’re feeling better soon, Alissa so you can enjoy your Mom’s visit and the EPIC party!!!!
Thanks Lycia!
I’m with Lycia! Hope you’re feeling better soon, Alissa!
Aby, I can’t wait to read your Monday check-in and know that you’ve reached the first 100 miles of your goal! Congratulations!!!
I agree with your statement of “all work and no play” because it makes Lycia a grouchy girl too (and I’ve been running on empty for a while now). With the beautiful spring weather and the coming change of seasons, I hope I can make some positive life changes as well.
FUN:
*Family movie/pizza night
*Walk outdoors 2x
*Make progress on digital photo organization
*Decorate and organize meal-planning binder
*Treat myself to something special (I know what I want, but am not 100% committed to it yet, so we’ll see what happens over the weekend.)
DONE:
*Finish taxes
*Laundry
*Bible class planning/prep
*Teach youngest son how to reconcile his checking account
*Financial work – 2 hours
*Make plans for Spring Break
Thank you, Lycia. I’m headed out to run right now. 🙂 I hope you have a great weekend. 🙂 ~ Aby
Checking back in:
FUN:
*Family movie/pizza night – CHECK!
*Walk outdoors 2x – CHECK!
*Make progress on digital photo organization – CHECK!
*Decorate and organize meal-planning binder – no, but I have high hopes of getting this done during Spring Break 🙂
*Treat myself to something special (I know what I want, but am not 100% committed to it yet, so we’ll see what happens over the weekend.) – CHECK! (I bought a Silhouette.)
DONE:
*Finish taxes – CHECK!
*Laundry – CHECK!
*Bible class planning/prep – CHECK!
*Teach youngest son how to reconcile his checking account – not yet
*Financial work – 2 hours – CHECK!
*Make plans for Spring Break – CHECK!
Now, I’m off to tackle the first couple of things on my Spring Break list 🙂
FUN
*Set-up field journal ‘story-catcher’ pages
*Review weekly online classes updates and Take Action on the ToDos
*Print Project Life weekly photos and set up Week 10 spread
*Work on One Little Word Feb prompt: Vision Board
*Start block 15 on my knitted afghan
*Take a walk
DONE
* Review financial accounts
* Check prescription renewal status
* Clean bathrooms
I am retired so I can easily schedule/complete a lot of nitty-gritty life management tasks like shopping for groceries, doing laundry, etc throughout the week. I think , nope I know, I always plan more than I will accomplish…I need to be a lot more realistic about what I put on my plate. We’ll see how I fare this weekend.
Aside from the bathrooms…sounds like a really nice weekend ahead, Honore. Hope you have a great one!
Aby
I love how you are progressing on your goals! Keep it up. I would so incorporate some of those organizing PL tips you’ve been sharing if I was doing it this year. They are great!!
Done:
* Master List for responses to Anniversary Party (calls have started coming in)
* Vacuum upstairs
* Exercise twice
* Do Flylady chores
* Empty Weekly In box
* Help DS do iron on transfer item for project
* Finish PL 2012 – this has been on my list forever and I’m keeping at it. It’s reasonable to expect to finish it this weekend…. I hope!
* Order bday presents
Fun:
* Work on some frames for anniversary part
* Surf the net for ideas
* Work on altered sketch pads for boys birthdays
* Read
* Set up January life pages
* Sort pictures for Feb life pages
Trying to keep the list light….
Thanks, SuzieQ. Hope you have a great weekend!
Aby
My “get-it-done” ability must have decided to take a vacation through most of February, and my weekends lately have been filled with stuff I SHOULD have been doing throughout the week. And half the time I didn’t even get it done then. It took a good chunk of time last week thinking through the process to see what I could do to get back on track, but I am pleased to report that my ideas so far have worked and this week has been much more productive. So… with that, I’m looking forward to my weekend that much more!
Done:
Grocery Shopping/Errands
Clean kitchen
Laundry
Make progress on decluttering/organzing bathroom cupboards
Complete Reading assignment (Goal # 4)
Fun:
Write (Goal #1)– minimum of 1 hour
Game night with sister (?)
Spontaneous fun (I LOVE that idea… and totally relate to the feeling behind it)
Hair appointment (I’ve been holding this hostage and now I am using it as a reward for keeping up on my to-do lists throughout the week. So excited for this one!)
Hi, Shanon,
So glad to hear you’ve made some changes to your weekdays that have you looking forward to your weekends more! Hope you had a great weekend.
Aby