Do Your "Sunday Planning"

In our free report, 30 Ways to Find Time to Get Organized, we talk about doing your "Sunday Planning." Since today is Sunday and I am doing my own, I was inspired to share with you...

We highly recommend Sunday evenings as a time when families can convene about the week ahead. Some families have a certain place they always go together in the car on Sundays, like to church or someone else's house for dinner. That is a great time to just grab your calendars before getting in the car and talk on the drive over. You don’t have to call a formal family meeting unless you want to, but definitely go over these items once a week:

• Review the calendar for everyone
• Who is taking whom where, and when?
• What evenings might one or both parents need to be out?
• Is there a sitter required later in the week?
• Who is in charge of homework help?
• Who is cooking and doing dishes?
• Who is doing bath and bedtime duty for younger children?
• Who is doing cleaning and other chores?

Doing this simple ten minutes of planning will save you much confusion, embarrassment, time, and stress! Imagine knowing which nights you're responsible to cook and having exactly what you need, remembering in plenty of time that you need a sitter for Friday, and realizing that you need to switch driving for one day in the carpool schedule-- without having to pull any last minute miracles!

I just found a great little form for doing my Sunday Planning. It's called "The Fridge Grid," from busybodybook.com. It is a magnetized pad with a grid for one week's worth of dates, which are unmarked so you can use it anytime, any  year (write in your own dates). Across the top are blank columns to use as you wish. Families might want to use these columns for each person in the family, like "Joe, Sue, Bill, and Julie," and then write in their schedules below. I do this for my family's particular situation: "Notes, Driving AM, Driving PM, Breakfast, Dinner." (You can click this image to get a bigger view.) You can customize this however you like, and experiment from week to week to find what works best. You could also create your own form in Word and print a new one whenever you like.

In business we talk about ROI or Return on Investment... and the investment of a few minutes for this planning is a guaranteed ROI of your time. Try it this week and let us know how it goes in the comments.

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Comments

[Kate]

I love the idea of Sunday planning. It is one of the few times that the whole family is around with a little time to spare. I especially like the Fridge Grid...I will be getting one! It should be a big help with getting everyone on the same page.

[Megan @ Disorder2Order]

I love the FridgeGrid Pad... For all the reasons you listed above, I wouldn't survive without my Sunday planning!

[Leslie McKee]

I am a big Sunday evening planner and this is a great tool for families-thanks:)

[Krys Slovacek]

Thanks for this! I just created a version of the grid in Word, and it looks great! I'm looking forward to sharing this with my husband and getting organized about our future daycare shuttle schedule!

[Janel Hutton]

Planning for the week makes things so much simpler and stress free!

[LeWauna]

I love this idea. Planning makes life so much easier and so less stressful. Families have so much going on these days that this Fridge Grid is almost impossible to live without.

[Phyllis Harb]

I am visual, and "need" to see the week laid out. And, I love the fact that you can see who is slacking off for the week.

[Joan]

Sunday is a great time to plan for my week Monday through Sunday. I use a different color of pen for my activities in areas of personal, family, office, and business entries. Or you could use a different color pen for each member of the family.

[Nikol]

I'm perpetually disorganized, but this seems like a baby step I might actually be able to pull off. Thanks!

[Peggy]

I always try to ask my husband to tell me what his week is like coming up so I know how to plan dinner and if it's our week to pick up the kids then work that into the plan as well. My kids don't have too many extracurriculars yet, but I know some days of the week are heavy homework days then others. So I know I will be helping my daughter. I like to at least have an idea what's going on. And like you say, Sunday is as good a day as any.

[lorese harper]

this is a wonderful concept that is new to me. I was hoping for something to help me in this area, and now there is a simple and efficient solution - Thanks!

[Tricia Hine]

My family and I have used "The Fridge Grid" idea for years. But I have had to make ours for us, because I didn't know about busybodybook.com. I use color dots and pens for each family member on our grid. We picked our favorite color and I use these colors to label our things around the house too. I will use BBB "Fridge Grid" from now on. Thanks for sharing your ideas and resources with us, your readers.

[Sarah]

Wow what an idea. Sunday's are laid back at our house and that would be the best time to start organizing instead of Monday morning before the coffee kicks in. Plus it won't give him an excuse for forgetting the kids. :) Thank you!!!!

[Happy]

I have to admit that planning on Sunday seems great but I just can't figure out how to make it happen. I have 7 kids and one on the way (No kidding), by the time I get my kids in bed on Sunday, I just want to pass out. I don't go out on Saturday nights, so maybe that will be my planning time. I noticed the planning grid will have to have more columns for my needs...hard to find things pre-made for BIG families. Thanks

[Cheri Singleton]

I love the fridge grid. I currently have several things (lists, calendars, etc) that this could take the place of instead!

I also like the way you customize yours in a not-so-obvious manner...makes me think outside the box.

[becca w.]

I really like the idea of sunday planning and having a calendar setup. Thanks!

[Nicole Feliciano]

I too am a pull out the calendar every Sunday gal--it really works to map out the week with meals, child coverage and makes room for more spontaneous fun!

[Zantrex 3]

yeap, thats why i try and use my sunday for, since its the only day where i actually have free time. good points, though.
-jack

[Elizabeth]

Great idea, but I can't seem to do it on Sunday...it just makes Monday start too soon. So instead of tossing the idea, we do it Friday night. That way we plan the fun weekend stuff first, figure out when we're going to do the "not fun" weekend stuff (like groceries) and organize the coming week. Then the weekend is ours and all our "homework" is done before Monday even comes! It's very liberating.