My top tips to live your fullest life beyond 9 to 5…
When you spend 40+ hours a week at work, it’s important to take full advantage of your days off. The weekends are the time for you to relax, take adventures and spend time with those you love. So, why do weekends also seem to be filled with chores and other boring duties?
I have spent many Friday nights doing laundry– for hours. Sometimes, I need the night to stay in and just do nothing anyway, so it makes sense to throw a load in when I’m just lying around. But there’s also been times when I really don’t want to be doing laundry on a Friday night, but I don’t have any clean clothes left for the weekend (oops!)
I’ve also spent plenty of Sundays cleaning my condo top to bottom. Now, I certainly love for my home to be clean and I hate starting the week with a mess, but I also don’t like spending my weekend stuck inside doing chores.
I will also admit that sometimes I spend parts of my weekend stuck inside because I didn’t think ahead to make plans for the weekend. So when the weekend comes around, either no one is free or I’ve missed out on opportunities that came and went.
As I’ve gotten more mature, and therefore become more organized, I’ve realized there is a method to having more fun on the weekends. Remember, even when you’re focused on your career, you still need to live life outside the office. So here are 8 tips for making the most of your weekend:
- Leave work at work. I’m definitely guilty of bringing my work home. When you have a to-do list and things don’t get crossed off, it can be difficult to leave it until Monday. But unless you are on a hard deadline, work will still be there after the weekend. So after you power down your computer on Friday at 5, leave it off until Monday morning.
- Try to disconnect. It’s super easy to get caught up in social media and surfing the web. I definitely waste hours of time accomplishing next to nothing when I’m scrolling through my social networks. While I still see value in being connected online, there are times when we need to just put everything away and be present in the moment. It’s really hard to enjoy your weekend when your face is buried in your phone. I’m guilty of it, but I’m making a conscientious effort to dial it down.
- Plan ahead. I hate when I want to do something on my days off and no one is around. Or when I miss out on a cool festival, exhibit or concert because I didn’t buy a ticket ahead of time. There’s certainly something to be said about being spontaneous, but when you only have two days to enjoy your weekend, it’s worth it to plan ahead. Plus, if you know what you’re doing over the weekend, you have something to look forward to all week. And I love that feeling!
- Break up chores during the week. I used to leave all my cleaning for Sundays. It seemed to work well– start off the week with a clean house. But sometimes I wouldn’t get to it because something else came up. Or if it really needed to be cleaned, I would sometimes miss out on a last-minute invitation because I wanted my house in order for the week. Somewhere along the line, I decided to break up my cleaning to a few tasks after work during the week. For instance, Monday I’ll clean bathrooms, Tuesday I’ll vacuum and Wednesday I’ll dust. Breaking it up makes the tasks more manageable and leaves my weekends free and clear!
- Do one load of laundry everyday. Again, I used to hoard all my laundry for Sundays. This worked in college when I had to fight for a washer and dryer in my dorms and basically piled in as much as I could at once. Now that I have my own washer and dryer all to myself, I can do a load during the week while I’m watching a show or catching up on chores around the house (see #4). It’s definitely less stressful breaking up the loads, so I’m not stuck inside for hours on Sunday.
- Make a bucket list. Writing down fun things you want to accomplish will make planning your weekends more meaningful. If you write it down, it’s easier to hold yourself accountable to actually setting out to do things. You can make a list for the entire year, month to month or for each season. Whatever works for you, it’s fun to set goals and then set out to do them. And if you’re a fellow blogger, these are great activities to share with your readers.
- Set standing dates with loved ones. If you really like to plan or need more structure for your precious time off, setting aside certain days for loved ones can help. For instance, Friday night is game night with friends, Saturday is date night with your SO and Sunday is family dinner. This could be every weekend or just one weekend a month (say, always the third Sunday of the month is family dinner). I know this is definitely helpful in my life when I’m trying to plan time with many different people (high school friends, college friends, fiance, family, fiance’s family, etc). Designating the same day and time to a certain person or persons will help you plan in advance.
- Do things that make you happy. This one seems obvious, but I’ve definitely struggled with this throughout my life. Sometimes we agree to plans that we’re not super into, just because our friends are doing it. It’s okay to say no to plans if you’re not interested. For instance, I don’t like being scared. But I’ve seen many scary movies simply because all of my friends were going. I didn’t have fun, wasted my time and spent money on a movie I didn’t want to see. Instead, I could have met up with them afterwards for coffee or gone to see a different movie that I wanted to see. Just remember to do things that make YOU happy!
Weekends and time off are so valuable when you devote a majority of your week to work. Utilizing your free time for YOU means you can make the most of your weekends. I’ve found that by planning ahead and getting chores out of the way during the week, I’m able to enjoy my weekends to the fullest.
I hope these tips will help you live your best life beyond 9 to 5. Are there any tips you use for making the most of your weekend? I’d love to know your feedback in the comments below.