PREPPING FOR YOUR WEEK
After posting last week about 3 Steps for Maintaining a Hectic Schedule, I thought I would give a more thorough breakdown of what prepping for my week actually looks like! Again, these are lifesaving tools that I use on a regular basis! Without prepping for my week, I am not exactly sure if I would be sane! In this post, I will be sharing my thoughts on scheduling, meal prepping and wardrobe planning.
SCHEDULING
Scheduling is probably the most important component of prepping for my week. It is the foundation for the other two steps: successful meal prepping and wardrobe planning. It helps me to shape my week so that I do not have to waste brain space or effort on figuring out what I need to eat or wear throughout the week. The main tool that I use for scheduling is iCal… well, kind of!
I use iCal at work and at home. When I schedule meetings, it is super convenient to put them on iCal from my phone. There are several other apps that I have used to maintain my many different calendars, but iCal seems to do the trick for what I need. Once everything is put into iCal, I do an overview of my upcoming weekly schedule on Sunday afternoons. When I do this overview, I tend to write it on my paper calendar because I am super visual! No matter how hard I try, I have not been very successful in being able to visualize my schedule when I only use iCal. When I use a paper calendar or planner, I can instantly visualize my week.
When I transfer my iCal dates to my paper planner, I color code EVERYTHING!!! I have a different color for work, for my schedule, my hubby’s schedule, for Cultivate Boldness… you get the point! I think since I color code everything, I am able to visualize it better when I try to recall my weekly schedule. At a glance, I am able to know what is happening in my day because of the different colors. This then helps me realize what days I am working or what days I am staying home, which then helps me know what I need to meal prep and wardrobe plan for!
MEAL PREPPING
Once I have reviewed my upcoming weekly schedule, I am now ready to plan my food for the week! The first thing that I do is look at my schedule to see if I have anything scheduled during lunch time during the week. Some weeks, I will do a working lunch where I am meeting with someone, so I know I will be eating out instead of bringing my lunch. Once I figure that out, I then see how many days I will need to bring my lunch to work. Then I do the same thing with dinner. I check to see if I have already made plans for dinner or if I need to make something happen! Once I have all of that information, I then figure out how many meals I need to prepare.
Once I know how many meals I need to prepare, I then make a meal plan so I know what groceries I need to buy. For lunch, I tend to eat something easy like salad or a sandwich with some chips. For dinner, I usually will make some sort of asian food or we plan to eat out. When I am making a meal plan, I have a helpful spreadsheet that helps me organize my thoughts.
As you can see, I do a daily breakdown of what I will be eating and then a shopping list for the items needed to make the meals. Once I know what ingredients I need for the week, I check the fridge to see what I already have and then put the items that I need to purchase in my Reminders app so I will be ready to go grocery shopping. Once my list is made, I then go to the grocery store to purchase everything!
When I am finished shopping, I come back home and prep my lunches for the week. I cut up all the veggies or make all the quinoa that I need and pre-portion it in baggies or containers. Once I have done that, I will usually group everything in my fridge so that I can just grab it on the day and go! I usually do not do anything for my dinner prep, because I am usually only making dinner for one and it's mainly veggies so there isn’t much prep to do!
WARDROBE PLANNING
My final step to my week prep is planning my wardrobe! I know the thought of this makes some people cringe, but I find it super helpful for me so that I am not stressed out in the mornings. I know ahead of time that everything I want to wear is clean and ready for me to choose. I get seven hangers ready and I put a shirt, pants, undies, socks and accessories on each of them. Once I have all of the hangers assembled, I hang them in my bathroom. Each morning when I get out of the shower, I grab a hanger and everything I need is ready! I am not particular in which hanger I use for which days, I do this just so I don’t have to run an emergency load of laundry because I am out of something that I need for the day! This step really alleviates hectic and crazy mornings for me!
CHALLENGE: Take some time on Sunday to try out scheduling, meal prepping and wardrobe planning. If all three are overwhelming, start with just one of them! See how it helps alleviate some stress in your week! Document your journey on social media by using the hashtag #faithfultomypurpose.