How to be a Minimalist on the Weekend
How to be a Minimalist on the Weekend
Have you ever wondered how to be a minimalist, during the weekend? Here’s a secret: It isn’t all rest and relaxation. While simplicity is important – and while Sunday is indeed the day of rest – minimalists know that weekends are best spent quietly preparing for the upcoming week.
Indeed, seasoned minimalists mitigate weekday mania by adopting simple lifestyle tweaks that don’t overtax them on weekends.
Read on to learn how to be a minimalist on the weekends in 8 simple steps.
Aim for Inbox Zero
How to be a minimalist on the weekend? First things first: Clean out your digital clutter.
In my inbox right now, I have a missed payment reminder for my daughter’s dance recital and a meeting acceptance request. The weekend is when I catch up on all these little To-Do items.
On Saturday, I pay for that dance recital (then delete the email!); I respond to that meeting request and add it to my calendar, too.
I view my inbox as a digital To-Do list: once I take care of a To-Do email, I either file it or I delete it.
Inbox Zero is my ultimate goal, and that’s because zero emails means I have caught my digital life up to real-life speed.
And while Inbox Zero isn’t always possible, it’s unbelievably satisfying when it does occur.
How to be a minimalist when it comes to the mail? On the weekend, tackle the physical pile that accumulated throughout the week, too. Recycle what you can as you pay the bills. Respond to your pen pals if you have any, too.
Don’t let last week’s mail follow you into the new week!
[Related: How to Block Junk Mail and Get off Mailing Lists.]
Perform maintenance
How to be a successful minimalist? Seasoned minimalists know that the secret is in performing household maintenance on the weekends.
Performing maintenance isn’t a gigantic task; it’s a simple one:
I grab an empty laundry basket and walk around my home, filling it with all the items that are out of place.
Next, I dump out the bin’s contents and my daughters and I put everything away together. I make sure to keep the mood upbeat and fun to halt their whining before it starts.
I don’t only perform maintenance on Sundays; indeed, I conduct little cleanup jobs every single day of the week.
Maybe I quickly clean a messy drawer on Monday; on Tuesday, I sweep the entryway.
When I see a mess that will take a reasonably short amount of time to tackle, I clean it, right then and there.
Daily household maintenance enables me to spend less time cleaning on the weekends and more quality time with my family.
Meal Plan and Prep
If there’s one thing I make certain I do every single weekend it’s meal planning the coming week’s meals.
Meal planning and prepping has changed my life. It has decreased my dinner-related anxiety during the week; it has saved my family significant money at the grocery store, too.
Here’s my step-by-step guide to low-waste meal planning.
If you know meal planning isn’t for you, no worries! Just make sure you strategically grocery shop by following a comprehensive shopping list.
Following a detailed list means you won’t have to run to the store here or there throughout the week because you forgot milk or eggs or some other necessity. A detailed list halts impulse, unnecessary food purchases, too.
Did you know?
You can find The Sustainable Minimalists podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher
Cook a slow dinner
One of the most enjoyable ways to be a minimalist on the weekend is to embrace slow dinners, and that’s because a leisurely Sunday dinner postpones the frenetic quality of Monday morning.
Some of my happiest childhood memories occurred around my grandmother’s dinner table. We would convene there every Saturday afternoon for family dinner: sometimes I helped her in the kitchen; others, I set the table.
There was never an end-time to these family dinners. No one checked their watches under the table or, worse, their mobile phones. As the afternoon rolled into the evening and the sun lowered itself to just behind the trees my mother would quietly stand.
That’s when my sister and I knew it was time to go.
The slow food movement was founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986 to resist the opening of a McDonald’s near the Spanish Steps in Rome. The slow food movement has since spread worldwide and strives to promote a general slowing down of the entire food process – from growing or raising to cooking to eating.
In my home, Saturday and Sunday afternoons are generally all about food. My husband and I intentionally slow down all the pieces of dinner – from preparing it, to cooking it, to eating it and, finally, to cleaning up the mess – so that dinner is the main event of the day.
When you make the conscious decision to slow down all the tasks related to eating, you naturally slow down all other parts of your life, too.
Pick a recipe you’ve either been meaning to try *or* one that you know is a tried-and-true family favorite. Invite family over and make it an event, but do so in a way that is completely stress free.
This isn’t Thanksgiving dinner, it’s Sunday dinner, so don’t stress over perfection.
Put the laundry away
When the laundry is done – and truly done! – it’s more than just clean. It’s also folded, ironed, and put away.
Although laundry is the never-ending job, Sunday is the day to aspire to be all caught up, and the reason is simple: No one wants to spend Monday morning hunting for clean socks.
If you have children who are choosy about their outfits, encourage them to lay out the following day’s clothes on Sunday evening. Planning ahead and laying out outfits is a great way to make Monday morning smooth.
Look backwards while looking ahead
Minimalists always review the previous week. What went right and what went wrong? What can you improve upon and tweak to ensure the upcoming week runs smoothly?
Sunday is also the perfect day to look ahead to all the potential scheduling snafooos that may arise during the coming week.
Have a meeting on Wednesday afternoon? Who is meeting the kids at the bus stop?
Does your spouse have a scheduling conflict on Tuesday and can’t bring your son to piano practice?
Iron those issues before you are stressed and overtaxed which you certainly will be in the moment if these scheduling issues aren’t figured out.
My husband and I use Cozi Calendar to stay on the same page. We like Cozi because it enables us to share both our calendar as well as our shopping list with one another.
Having a calendar and shopping list that we both check in on multiple times throughout the week does a lot of scheduling talk for us without us having to waste the time and energy actually ironing out such scheduling snafus.
Finish the little jobs
Complete all the little jobs you wanted to get done during the week but didn’t get to.
Maybe you wanted to vacuum your car but didn’t have enough time. Just get it done on the weekend: You will be infinitely happier once it is cleaned.
Did you have a hole to mend in your pants? Mend it on the weekend and remove it from your mental load.
Instead of being bogged down by the little stuff, complete small tasks on Sunday.
When you stay on top of these little jobs you create the mental space necessary to tackle the bigger tasks during the week.
How to be a minimalist on Sunday evening: Get to bed early
There is no better feeling in this life than waking up bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Sleep is the miracle drug we have all been searching for. A good night’s rest reduces stress and lowers blood pressure. Quality sleep boosts immunity, helps you maintain your weight, and makes you feel sharper, more attentive, and focused during the following day.
A good night’s sleep is better than anything on television. Go to bed early and start Monday off on the right side of the bed.
