Usually when it gets to Friday morning if my weekend is looking low on plans I’ll message everyone I know until I’ve filled as many waking hours as possible from after work on Friday until Sunday evening, often thinking when my alarm wakes me up on Monday morning, “I really should have done X, Y and Z, oh well, maybe next weekend.”
This Friday, however, I tried something different. I had nothing in the diary and I kept it that way. I have to admit that having a whole weekend stretching ahead of me with zero social plans to break it up felt a little uncomfortable but with life admin piling up it was get on with it, or start the slippery slope towards a spot on one of those TV programmes where people haven’t thrown anything away for so long they’re in a danger of being killed by their own clutter.
What was surprising was how much I actually managed to get done.
On Friday evening after finishing up a feature I caught up on Great British Bake Off from earlier in the week (yes, I know this isn’t exactly a chore, but I wanted to ease myself into my weekend of tasks). I hadn’t managed to avoid spoilers and so I knew who was going to be crowned star baker and who was going home but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment one little bit.
Waking up early on Saturday morning I started the day with a hot yoga class. After a sweaty stretch I dropped in at a nearby nail salon and had my four week old gel manicure – which was peeling off unattractively – removed and treated myself to a much-needed pedicure, my first this summer (did someone say, “Actual chore avoidance!”?).
Back home I gave my flat good clean and did various little jobs many of which have been on my to do list for ages such as buying a light bulb to replace the one in the bathroom that blew weeks ago (it’s quite hard to tell how good a job you’ve done of taking off your make-up by candlelight, let me tell you), replacing the batteries in the doorbell (I’ve been instructing people to text me when they get here for months) and putting the kitchen clocks forward (yes, really, I can never remember how to change the one on the cooker and have to dig out the manual, which always seems like an awful lot of effort).
Clothes admin was next on the list. While I’m good at keeping on top of washing, when it comes to ironing and putting away I’m, well, not so good. Most mornings I have to try to locate what I want to wear from a teetering pile (it’s always at the bottom) and then, once found, I give it a glancing iron seconds before leaving the house. If it sounds stressful, try living it. This weekend I ironed enough outfits for the work week ahead, sorted and dropped off a pile of stuff at the dry cleaners, put everything that was left in the appropriate cupboard or drawer and even replaced a long-missing button. I spent the rest of the day working on a feature.
On Sunday morning I woke early and booked myself into a yoga class at my favourite yoga studio, which is happily located on Columbia Road, home of the weekly Sunday flower market. Post class I wandered through the market and on the way home stopped off for brunch at a new café that just opened close to my flat.
Back home again I filed another feature before having a break to sort out the large pile of magazines that had built up over the last couple of months, ripping out interesting features and putting the rest in the recycling bin. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some research, preparing for a meeting, replying to emails and paying bills. I have to admit I was starting to feel a bit, well, in need of a change of scenery, so when a friend texted to suggest going to the cinema followed by a bite to eat I readily accepted – seeing Southpaw has been on my to do list for weeks and a balance of chores and fun is the ultimate well spent weekend, right?
Despite boredom setting in on Sunday I think I’ll try to do a weekend of admin once a month or so. Or perhaps half a weekend. I have to admit that it was nice waking up on Monday in a tidy, organised flat with a choice of oufits to wear, features written, meetings prepared for, bills paid and so on. Anyone else do a big admin blitz every now and again or are you more a little and often kind of person? And what jobs do you do every weekend to start the week off right? Do share below.
*I believe the actual phrase is a Sunday well spent brings a week of content, but that didn’t work as well.
As a psychologist, it’s interesting fodder.
Personally, I avoid all admin to the very last minute. Fortunately my partner is incredibly organised and those jobs are left to him. So again… Interesting fodder!!
I usually avoid all admin until the last minute too Alice!
I’m seriously in need of a weekend to catch up on life admin and to have a good declutter. It will have to wait another week or so until I have some holiday time. I do love having plans over a weekend but I try to ensure I have a lie in on one morning each weekend (usually a Sunday with a cup of tea in bed watching Hollyoaks) as I like to feel rested from my time away from work.
I recently read a book called Stuffocation which is about making the most of your time and having experiences instead of being weighed down by material possessions, clutter, and your home taking over your life with this sort of admin. It is a pretty interesting read.
A friend of mine just read Stuffocation Claire and was telling me all about it, sounds like an interesting read and I’m definitely into the experiences over stuff philosophy (although I do like nice things too!).
Hahaha! Love the whole ‘lets get cracking with the chores but first time for some catch up tv’.
If you were to ask my family and friends they’d all declare me a neat freak but in reality I’m a stuff it all in a drawer/cupboard to give the ‘neat’ appearance. Do you remember that episode of Friends where Chandler breaks into Monica’s hoarding cupboard? That’s me! I find that I have to wait until the mood takes me (usually around once a month) otherwise I’ll sit around procrastinating and not being at all productive.
You are right though, when everything finally is organised, it does feel nice 🙂 xx
I don’t remember that episode of Friends but I do have one of those cupboards Jennifer I call it the cupboard of doom, it’s full of stuff that needs dealing with at some point but not right now and stuff that doesn’t really belong anywhere else. It needs some attention soon or it will burst at the seams! xx
I hear ya sista! I am also a “iron before I wear” kinda girl. I also have an impressive looking “floordrobe”. It’s horrendous , I feel stressed every morning and every morning I resolve to sort it out. But why break a habit of a lifetime eh x
Glad to hear I’m not the only one Hayley. My floordrobe is usually out of control by Friday… x
I like to buy flowers on Friday night so I wake up to them on Saturday morning. I find that makes up for a multitude of mess! Other than that I save life admin and chores for Monday nights- get everything bad into the first day of the week then the rest is a breeze! x
I like your thinking Kaleigh, on the flowers front and the cram all the chores into one night, the only problem is that if I do Monday morning BoxFit I’m shattered on a Monday night! x