Sunday night? Sorry, we have plans.

J and I decided a while back — Sunday evenings are off limits. We purposefully plan to not make plans that evening.

Life is busy, remember? We both work full-time jobs, have something planned Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, Thursdays we are free, and then flip a coin and those are the odds that we’re in town on the weekend.

But Sunday evening? It’s the only time where don’t do anything.

I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon: we are 10x more likely to be grouchy, impatient, stressed, and eat unhealthy during the week when we don’t plan accordingly. Aren’t workdays hard enough without adding all that to your week? A good Sunday evening prepares us for a good week. It’s the perfect blend of productivity and relaxation.

Some of the things we like to do on Sunday evenings may include:

• Meal plan for the week – It takes about five minutes to plan meals for the week, but it makes all the difference in the world. I just read this great post by Aly on meal planning with some cute printables. I use this pad to help me each week (sometimes I put Leia as the chef of the week. Tehe.)

• Grocery Shop – I wish I didn’t have to join the thousands of others who shop on Sunday, but that’s the best time that works with my schedule. I hate grocery shopping, so I head to my superstore as early as possible armed with coupons, my list and a sweater because my goodness it’s cold in there!

• Cook! – Cooking and baking is so much fun when you have all the time in the world! (You may even find me dancing in the kitchen to Rosemary Clooney when J is out.) I like to make a big meal for Sunday that can last days as leftovers or in the freezer later for a busy evening.

• Blog and schedule social media posts– When do you think I have time to write these posts? It’s not during the week, I assure you!

• Prepare lunch for the week – We try to eat out for lunch once every couple of weeks, so Sunday evenings we do as much ahead as possible. The biggest time-saver is putting non-perishable things like crackers in baggies or leftovers in small containers so it’s easy for us in the mornings to assemble our lunch.

• Clean and do laundry – I love starting my Monday mornings with a fresh, clean apartment. When necessary, I will vacuum, clean the bathrooms, take out the trash, and there is almost always a load of laundry running on Sunday nights.

• Pay bills and file away papers – We open our mail every day, but then pile it in on our guest room desk and come back to it once a week. During that time we pay any bills, recycle, file away, or get rid of anything we don’t need and put it in a commercial recycling box. We check our bank account and make sure everything looks good and talk about any major expenses for the next week. At first I thought it was a bad habit stacking bills and paper on my desk, but it’s nice to leave it all and deal with those responsibilities once a week.

• Watch TV, drink a glass of wine, and relax! – I’ve already confessed our obsession with TV shows, so Sunday nights we like to catch up on our DVR and chill. On some nights, we enjoy playing free games online. You can check out this link if you’re looking for something to help improve your mood.

So there you have it! Why we are always unavailable on Sunday nights.*

Do you have a day of the week you purposefully plan not to plan? When do you catch up on all of your at-home responsibilities?

*There are always exceptions of course! We aren’t always hermits, just need to set these boundaries for a little sanity in our full-time working life. :)