Weekly Review and Weekly Tasks

What does it take to run a household or a life?
Why are there so many memes and jokes about "adulting?"

Aren't there things we all do every week or are we just wandering through life constantly trying to remember what it is we were supposed to do?
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It's taken me years and tears, but I finally developed a few systems to decrease my overwhelm.

Here is my own personal list of weekly tasks.  I don't do these every week, BUT having a list gives me somewhere to start.

1. Clean out car.
2. Clean out purse / work bag.
3. Clean out kids' backpacks.
4. Order groceries.
5. Pick up groceries (or delegate).
6. Laundry (I do laundry on Thursdays and again on Saturdays or Sundays).
7. Pay bills.
8. Open mail and file papers accordingly.
9. Email inbox zero.
10. Make weekly errand list.
11. Plan week ahead.  Be sure to check digital and paper calendars.
12. Brain dump.  Daydream / big picture thinking time.
13. Cards / gifts for the next 2 weeks.
14. Place online orders.  Consider school, sports, hobby, work supplies needed.

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I love a good checklist.  Give me a task and I will try to complete it.
That said, the list above has some nuances and caveats that are worth mentioning to a novice attempting to "get my life together."   I did not make that list overnight, AND some of the steps may or may not apply to you.  So let's dig deeper!
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• Clean out car.
  • I may or may not grab my Dyson Handheld Vacuum (linked on tools page), but I will at least get any papers, trash, "stuff" that doesn't belong in my car.  In the same way that I clean out my car on the weekend, I also stock my car.  I make sure I have small trash bags (I buy the doggie waste bags when I see them on clearance at TJ Maxx and those work great for small car trash bags).  I make sure I have some weather-friendly sealed snacks in my glovebox such as the 100 calorie nuts bags or pretzel crisps, etc.  I restock my gum and my floss picks.  TMI?  I also try to restock my $1 bills for my Clicklist tips.
  • Since I eat my breakfast-from-home in my car each morning and I pack my lunch each day (upcoming post on those), I don't have much trash in my car.  I do commute, however, so I have different kinds of things in my car.  In case I am ever stranded or stuck in traffic from a wreck or construction, I always keep a blanket, a large bottle of water, the snacks mentioned above, jumper cables and tools, some cash, umbrellas, and I really should keep a charging block for my phone in my car.  In colder months, I keep a coat, scarf, gloves, and a beanie.
  • Each Sunday night I load drinks and snacks I need for my office at work, my work bag, and any other items I need for that week's errands.  Examples are:  gifts to drop off, goodwill box to drop off, pants to be hemmed, anything that needs to be mailed, etc.
• Clean out purse / work bag.
  • I use an Adidas backpack for my work bag (linked on tools page).  It keeps my back and shoulders from being unevenly overloaded.  My backpack carries:  my laptop, work papers (I often have medical records to review and/or faxes from insurance companies, etc)., my lunch, my planner, and the usual pens, hand sanitizer, small lotion, eye drops, etc.
  • I don't use my purse MUCH since it seems I only go to work or a kid's activity, but I do try to clean out any receipts and scan those into the Fetch App.  If you aren't already using the Fetch App fetchrewards.onelink.me/vvv3/referraltext?code=5JA56, I highly recommend it!  I've already earned a few $50 gift cards just by taking pictures of my receipts and linking my Amazon account to it.
• Clean out kids' backpacks.
  • Empty graded papers.  Sign agendas.  Look for papers that need to be signed.  Transfer upcoming school dates and events into paper and/or electronic calendar.  Clean out trash.
• Order groceries.
  • I am continuously adding groceries to my Kroger Clicklist cart throughout the week.  I try to add digital coupons as I go, and I also try to look for "my sale items" that Kroger generously suggests on my app screen.  I have already planned meals for the entire month (see linked post below), so grocery-ordering if fairly easy now.  I place 2-3 Kroger pickup orders per week.  As long as I order over $35 in each order, the $4.95 pickup fee is waived in my area.  I tip $2-5 cash per order depending on the size of my order.
• Pick up groceries (or delegate).
  • My youngest son takes pitching and hitting lessons near the Kroger I use, so I have developed the habit of planning my pickups right after his lesson.  This is called habit-stacking, and I did not invent it, but I use it A LOT.  Try it!  Stack something you need to do onto something you already do regularly.
• Laundry.
  • I do laundry on Thursdays because it is my day off, and again on Saturdays or Sundays (also a day off for me).  I now have my youngest kids (9 & 11)  putting their clothes away.  My 19 year old started doing his laundry start to finish by age 13 or 14, and he has left the nest now.  My laundry quality of life has improved SO MUCH in the past 12 years due to these facts!
• Pay bills.
  • I use my phone app usually, and I don't have anything set up on draft.  I may do a separate post on bill-pay at some point, because this process has evolved over my lifetime.  I generally just pay bills every other weekend after my twice-a-month Friday paydays.  
• Open mail and file papers accordingly.
  • I do this on Thursdays (my day off) or Sundays.  I try to toss junk mail immediately (I recycle 🌳, don't fret), but any "real" mail gets saved and processed once a week.
  • This entire process requires its own post, so stay tuned.
• Email inbox zero.
  • Email is the bane of my existence.  I often have 300-400 emails in my inbox at any given moment between work and personal.  I am constantly deleting and unsubscribing, but with the pandemic came TONS of updates from medical entities that are actually very important for my job, so I choose to remain subscribed to certain email lists.  Hopefully I can continue to tweak my subscriptions.  School, sports, and theatre / band emails are also continuous AND important with my kiddos, so I am forced to "deal" with lots of emails.  I suspect you may be in a similar boat.  Let us row together my friends.
• Make weekly errand list.
  • I have an entire post on how to have a productive errand day linked below.
• Plan week ahead.  Be sure to check digital and paper calendars.
  • It doesn't matter if I know what's going on this week IF MY FAMILY DOESN'T KNOW.  For that reason, I often put a small "week at-a-glance" on the fridge that includes ALL the meals, appointments, school, sports, work activities so everyone is in the loop.  My youngest 2 don't have phones yet, so Google Calendar isn't really an option for us yet.
• Brain dump.  Daydream / big picture thinking time.
  • I'm working on an entire brain dumping post, but in the meantime you can follow me on Instagram @tayloredintent.  Check out my "planner addict" highlight and you'll get some ideas on how to brain dump.  Just skip through the first few highlights as they are other planner-related content.
• Cards / gifts for the next 2 weeks.
  • I love cards from Em & Friends (linked on tools page).  They are REAL cards about REAL life and not just empty words that rhyme.  I also love a good handwritten blank card.  To me that doesn't mean the person couldn't put in the effort to go to the store, it means they DID put in the effort to write a personal message.
  • I made an Amazon list for sympathy / get well / pregnancy gifts (that only I can see) so if one of those gifts is appropriate, I can get it shipped to them with just a few clicks.  I also keep gift cards on hand for birthdays if I don't have time to shop for a personalized gift.
• Place online orders.  Consider school, sports, hobby, work supplies needed.
  • I use Amazon Subscribe & Save (stay tuned for an upcoming full post on this) for all of my "regular" purchases.

​I know that was a lot of words to describe what
sounds like it would be a simple process.

It's not simple though, is it?  If it were simple, we would all be doing it
and no bill would ever be late, no appointment would ever be missed,
and no child would ever go to school without their $5 field trip money
that was due yesterday.

And so I wrote it all down.  
I still miss things.
I don't do this every week, because LIFE.
Perfect is a cruel joke and not that fun anyway.

So just do what you can and maybe at least one of these tips will
bring you a little peace and a little more free time in the end
to do what you were called to do. ☀️

​I posted this on Instagram in December 2018, so this shows I have been using a weekly review process for years.  I like to follow authentic people and my readers might feel the same way.  ☀️ Also, in my experience, I can't write or talk about what I don't know about.  My 9-year-old though?  He can tell the tallest tale you've ever heard!  😜
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how i plan meals an entire month at a time

how to have a good errand day

shop my favorites

how i get my kids out the door

why being a mom is so hard

goal-setting for 2022