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How to Design Your Weekend

One day I was scrolling social media and came across this: 

Hang on. Why should being a mother mean that your weekends feel just like any other day of the week?

Yes, the early stages of motherhood can be a sleep-deprived, relentless monotony of doing the same things day in, day out with it all melting into one until you really don’t know or care if it’s Saturday or Wednesday. 

But once you’re past that stage (or even if you’re in it!) weekends are to be celebrated. 

I passionately believe that weekends need to feel different from weekdays –  ESPECIALLY FOR MOTHERS. 

The most downloaded Project Me Action Sheet is the Design My Day planner and women all over the world use it for plotting out where they need to be and what their priorities are each day. But weekends need to take on a different vibe. 

This is where my new Action Sheet –  Design My Weekend comes in. 

Design My Weekend is a simple one-pager that covers both Saturday and Sunday. I’ll walk you through it. 

  1. This weekend I intend to feel and be….   Your feelings and emotions are always your indicator for whether you’re in or out of flow. Take a moment to set your intention for the weekend and then check in with yourself regularly.
  2. Stuff to Get Done gives you a place to identify a few things you actually have to get done. You don’t need to fill every line. Give yourself a break; it’s the weekend after all.
  3. Weekend Wish List is a place for anything you’d ideally like to do if you can. Otherwise the weekend could fly past without it happening again.
  4. Use the Saturday and Sunday a.m. / p.m. sections for any plans.
  5. Call / Text / Email in case there’s a birthday or someone you must remember to contact.
  6. What will I do just for ME this weekend? Don’t let a whole weekend fly past without doing anything just for you. You’ll have more to give others when you keep your own batteries charged.
  7. What will I do for FUN? Be proactive about weaving some fun into your weekends so life doesn’t become dry and monotonous.

Sure, your weekends may be jam-packed with kids’ activities and running around or you may only have weekends to get jobs done around the house. All the more reason to make your weekends feel special. 

Here are some ideas to find your weekend groove.

Create a Friday evening ritual to signal the start of the weekend. Your favourite feel-good song? Pizza Friday? Cracking open a bottle of wine? (It’ll be more ceremonious if it’s not already a weeknight habit.)

Lose the rigidness. Relax a bit on routines. Focus less on action and outcome and more on connection and inwardness. Feel a sense of softening as you enter weekend mode. Let go of perfection, relax a bit on that to-do list – and here’s how to get your kids / partner to pitch in more.

Create an upbeat music playlist for the car or home. Music instantly changes the vibe.

If you have a lot to get done, plan a well deserved reward for later in the day so you have something to look forward to. Even just putting your feet up, guilt-free. Here’s the Mama ME Time Action Sheet to help you brainstorm ideas. 

In my 18+ years of motherhood I’ve held on hard to my Hooray It’s The Weekend mentality. From early Friday evening until Sunday evening I beat to a different rhythm.

I crank up Ibiza Sonica Radio to signal the start of the weekend, crack open a bottle of wine and I’ve soon got that Friday FeelingPizza Friday is a tradition in our house and the kids feel a fresh vibe from me as I transition into my #WeekendMama mode. 

Routines are relaxed, I cut corners on cooking and cleaning (i.e.: I don’t do much of either).  I have a no-working-on-weekends policy and avoid entering my home office so I don’t get sucked in. 

Most weekends we’ve had a babysitter on either the Friday or Saturday night so we can go out for some kiddie-free ‘We Time.’  (Read about what else we’ve done to have 20 Years of Happy Marriage.) Our teenagers now babysit for other parents who need their night out. 

Over the years the most appreciated gift my husband has ever given me are regular weekend lie-ins. (Diamonds are so over-rated.) I sleep in a bit later and then stay in bed to meditate, journal and have some essential Mama ME Time. #WeekendBliss 

Here’s a new one for social media…. Project Me style!

Share it from the Project Me Facebook page or Instagram. #ProjectMe #friyay    Let’s create a movement that mamas deserve weekends too! (And that we won’t expect others to do it for us or resent anyone in the process.) 

I hope you’ll enjoy this new Design My Weekend Planner. Have a lovely weekend. You deserve it. 

FINALLY! By popular request, I have now created a coil-bound 90-day version of the Design My Day / Design My Weekend planner! It’s undated so you can start anytime and won’t waste pages if you go away. Available in full-colour or B&W inside pages.

In the comments below, share what your weekends are like. Are you having enough fun? Are you getting the right amount done without being in ‘doing’ mode the entire weekend? Are you creating any space for you?

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12 Comments

  1. Charlene on June 8, 2018 at 9:46 AM

    I need this so much! Weekends haven’t felt special like they used to when I worked and had weekends off. I love your ideas for making Friday evenings signal the start of a different feeling and I am printing out the weekend planner now! Thank you for all you do to help us get out of our ruts and see things in a new light. I’m so happy I found Project Me. 🙂

    • Kelly Pietrangeli on June 8, 2018 at 12:07 PM

      You’re welcome Charlene – here’s to happy weekends! 🙂 xx

  2. Karen on June 8, 2018 at 11:20 AM

    Thank you! A big YES to the Project Me movement of weekends feeling different to weekdays! I will share on my social media. 🙂

    • Kelly Pietrangeli on June 8, 2018 at 12:08 PM

      Fabulous Karen! Thanks for spreading the movement. Woo Hoo – it’s the weekend! xx

  3. Sue on June 8, 2018 at 11:25 AM

    I think I will need to organise myself better to make this happen. I leave changing sheets and doing some big loads of laundry until the weekend. And I make too complicated recipes for lunches or dinners and then end up resenting it and not enjoying it. I love the idea of cooking, laundry, cleaning less on weekends and relaxing on routines so I can feel the weekend vibe you describe. I am inspired. Thank you.

    • Kelly Pietrangeli on June 8, 2018 at 12:11 PM

      I’m glad it’s given you some good food for thought Sue. Yes, organising your week differently and choosing more simple meal ideas for the weekend is a great start. I’ll love to hear how your new weekends go after you begin designing them with more fun and relaxation in mind. ???? xx

  4. Christine on June 8, 2018 at 12:26 PM

    Thank you for this great idea! Weekends are a different beast, full of everyone’s (surprise) needs all jumbled together. It’ll be good for every family member to see what Mom gets done – on the weekends off. Yay, transparency.

    • Kelly Pietrangeli on June 8, 2018 at 6:31 PM

      Well said Christine! Unlike weekdays where it feels like I can get on with MY stuff (mostly), weekends are indeed that jumbled combo of EVERYONE’S stuff. Which is where Design My Weekend comes in handy. Here’s to showing our family just what we’re dealing with over the weekends! 🙂

  5. Karen on June 10, 2018 at 8:40 PM

    Thank you! I love this. It helped straighten out this weekend.

    In a way it’s more valuable that the week day plans – I try to cram all the me things into the weekend as Monday – Friday is all work.

    Brilliant!

    • Kelly Pietrangeli on June 11, 2018 at 8:59 AM

      It’s wonderful to hear this Karen! And good for you for carving out time for YOU over the weekends. 🙂

  6. Melanie Hunt on August 8, 2018 at 6:30 PM

    Any news on when the planner will be available on Amazon?

    • Kelly Pietrangeli on August 28, 2018 at 12:45 PM

      Hi Melanie! I’m chomping at the bit to get this out into the world – but with summer travels and the Project Me Live event in London in a few weeks, I’ve had to priortise that. It is TOP of my list after that though, so look out for an announcement in the Project Me newsletter. 🙂 xx

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