Our human nature desires quick fixes for any and all discomforts in life — a pill, a cream, a magic formula to instantly transform our health, our skin, our finances, our home, and our life.
I’m certain I would have “broken the internet” by now if I had one sure-fire magic formula to instantly organize your home and simplify your life once and for all.
Sadly, it’s never just one thing, it’s never instant, and it’s definitely never a once-and-for-all fix.
That said, if I shared ONE thing you can do every week that has the potential to revolutionize your home and life… would you do it?
Then let me share the concept of a Weekly Reset!
What is a Weekly Reset?
My definition of a Weekly Reset is An opportunity to prepare yourself, your home, and your family for a positive and productive week ahead.
It’s a chance to catch up, clean up, and stock up!
A weekly reset can be any day or time that works for you — but it’s most helpful if you choose roughly the same time each week.
Your reset can be part of a day, an early morning, a couple of hours in the evening after the kids are in bed, or whatever works with your schedule (I have more suggestions below).
There are no hard and fast rules for what you must do during your weekly reset because whatever you do WILL drastically improve the week ahead for you and your family.
Sound good?
How I implement a Weekly Reset.
For several years now, I’ve dedicated Monday mornings to “reset” my home, my life, my pantry, my calendar, and my brain for the coming week.
I wake up around 5:45, get ready, start 2 loads of laundry (we have 2 sets of machines), and get the kids up, fed, and ready for school.
After Dave and the kids are out the door, I continue rotating the laundry while cleaning bathrooms, dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, tidying, etc.
When I have extra time, I include tasks like washing windows, vacuuming the pool, sweeping the garage, cleaning out vents, wiping down the cabinets, power-washing the deck, etc.
I’m usually finished with all the laundry and cleaning by 11:30.
While I eat lunch, I create a meal plan for the week (I currently plan Tuesday – Monday), organize my grocery list (I keep a running list all week), and scan the pantry, fridge, and freezer so I know what we have in the house.
Then I head to the grocery store(s) and/or run a few errands.
I put all the groceries away, restock the kids’ snack bins, chop up a bunch of fruits and veggies for the fridge, and get dinner started (I plan something really simple for Mondays — leftovers, soup, or a freezer meal).
Dave and the kids are all home by 3:30 so my goal is to be done by then.
The benefits of a Weekly Reset.
A Weekly Reset has many obvious benefits like:
- Our home is cleaned and maintained regularly.
- The laundry is done from start to finish each week.
- The fridge and pantry are routinely stocked with food and snacks.
- Our meals are planned (and I have the ingredients).
- We don’t need to clean or run errands on the weekends (I love this!)
And there are other benefits you might not see at first glance:
- Relief from my mental load — I have a set time to “do all the things”.
- Easier scheduling — I never schedule anything on Monday mornings.
- Structure and routine for tasks that are so easy to “push off until later”.
- Boundaries — I do as much as I can in a few hours and then I’m done.
- Guilt-free time to catch up on podcasts and audiobooks!
Devoting a few hours to catching up, cleaning up, and stocking up each week helps me create a more manageable home, a more doable schedule, more enjoyable meals, and a more peaceful life.
That’s a bold statement — but it’s true!
Weekly Resets for any schedule.
I expect to get some pushback on the idea of a weekly reset — especially from parents of young children and those of you who work outside the home.
Yes, a weekly reset may be a bit more challenging for you.
But, as a bit of encouragement, this is the VERY FIRST year all my children are in school and I’ve been utilizing weekly resets for years already — even when all my kids were at home, even when I worked a lot more hours from home, even when I had tiny babies and fussy toddlers, even when I worked outside of the home before having kids.
I’m confident that with a little creativity and a can-do attitude, you will also experience the immense benefits of implementing a reset into your weekly routine.
Here are a few ideas that might help you get started.
For parents of young children:
- Trade babysitting with a friend, neighbor, or relative (I did this with my sister for a couple of years).
- Use Saturday mornings or Sunday afternoons to reset.
- Wake up an hour earlier one morning each week (I got up at 4:30 for years).
- Stay up an hour later one night each week.
- Reset during nap time one day each week.
- Hire childcare one morning or afternoon each week.
- Bring out special snacks, games, and toys to occupy your children ONLY during your reset period.
- Encourage your kids to “help” you in age-appropriate ways.
- Break your reset up into multiple chunks (bathrooms one day, floors one day, laundry one day, kitchen re-stock one day) and work them into your daily schedule.
For those who work outside the home:
- Wake up earlier or go to bed later ONE night per week (it will be worth it).
- Use Saturday mornings or Sunday afternoons to reset.
- Ask your boss if you can take shorter lunch breaks and leave 2 hours early one day per week.
- Hire someone to do your cleaning and laundry while you’re at work (you’ll have less to reset).
- Utilize grocery delivery to lessen the time you spend running errands.
- Create a master list of easy dinners you can make in 30 minutes or less and keep many of the non-perishable ingredients on hand so meal planning is simpler.
For those with a variable schedule:
A weekly reset is most beneficial when done weekly at roughly the same time each week.
However, if you have a variable schedule that makes consistent routines less doable, my suggestion is to simply look at your upcoming weekly schedule each weekend and choose a 2 or 3-hour block of time that you can dedicate to your weekly reset.
During your reset, you’ll want to look ahead at least 7 days and plan, prep, clean, etc. to get you through those 7 days.
It may take you a bit longer to find your groove without a predictable weekly schedule, but you will still benefit from whatever time you can devote to your weekly reset.
For all other excuses:
If you desperately want to make time for a weekly reset, you’ve read through all my suggestions above, yet you still can’t carve out a couple of hours per week, then frankly, you’re just too busy.
Maybe it’s a short season of life that’s extremely busy (like after a big life change)… and in a few months, you can work a reset into your weekly routine.
However, if your day-in-day-out lifestyle is so busy and so overwhelming you have no time to spare (and you’d like time to spare), I strongly encourage you to evaluate the choices you’ve made and consider where you might make some major changes (it probably won’t be easy or fun — but it will be worth it in the long run).
What NOT to do during your Weekly Reset.
If you want to make the most of your weekly reset, I suggest NOT doing any of the following during the specific time you’ve allocated for your reset:
- Schedule doctor or dentist appointments.
- Join a group or club that meets regularly during those hours.
- Volunteer at church or school.
- Entertain friends, neighbors, or even extended family at that time.
- Work on a huge extra project (just stick to your basic reset must-dos).
- Leave your house to run errands — save these for another day.
- Exercise — schedule this at another time.
- Anything on your computer or phone — just turn them off for a couple of hours.
- Read a book / watch TV (listen to podcasts, radio, or audiobooks instead).
None of these things are bad, but they will break your focus and significantly decrease your productivity during your weekly reset.
Weekly Reset FAQs
No… I wash everything I can on Mondays (sheets, towels, seasonal items, clothing, sports gear, etc.) but I usually do at least one load on Thursdays to get us through the weekend.
Yes, I still clean up the kitchen after every meal. We still pick up the house and yard before bed, and we wipe down the bathrooms as needed. But I don’t do any deep cleaning throughout the week because I get that all done on Monday.
There have been times when a vacation, a sickness, or something else has prevented me from doing my weekly reset on Monday. When this happens, I try to play catchup on Tuesday — at the very least, I get all the laundry done. There have been a few situations when I have totally skipped a week (I still did the laundry). The house felt gross, but life went on and I lived to tell about it!! 😂
In a perfect world, probably. But I’m home all day, I enjoy cleaning (for the most part), I’m very efficient, and I do a much better job than my kids would do! They make their beds, put their laundry away, pick up after themselves, and do the dishwasher every day. Other than that, I’d rather let them play after school and hang out as a family on the weekends.
Honestly… no.
If you have a system for staying on top of your housework, yard work, laundry, meal prep, etc. then just keep using that system. However, if you feel overwhelmed and are looking for a new idea to try, the Weekly Reset might be just what you need to get back on track.
There are many different methods for maintaining our homes, schedules, and lives — the Weekly Reset is one that works for me (and has worked for me through many seasons of life).
I’d love to know if you do something similar or if you have another idea that has worked well for you.
Liane says
This reminds me of the FlyLady Weekly Home Blessing only it’s actually do-able. I do the FlyLady WHB in my 33 ft motorhome and it takes an hour. To do it in my house takes most of the morning. In the motorhome (and I don’t do this on Monday) I take off the sheets and grab the bath towels and wash and dry them and put them back as soon as I can. Then I use a microfiber towel, wipe the 5 mirrors, then wipe the top edges of the cabinets. Swab the toilet, check that there’s a full supply of tp and so forth and move on to the kitchen where I wipe the table, the counters and the dashboard. I keep a Dyson cordless vac in there so I don’t haul one from the house. There’s always crumbs under the table and around the sink. Last thing I do is gather the four throw rugs and wash them. They go on the clothesline since they are rubber backed. So this little routine is so much like yours, just way shorter. I never tried to do it all on one day inside. It’s harder with a retired husband underfoot who has different eating schedules, needs a random nap, wants to shower when I want to run the washer, so I’ve given up on efficiency. I just move to the next item. I’m going to give this a try! I really like that it’s not syrupy sweet and ridiculously confined to an hour.
Andrea says
haha — I love your description of my method “like the FlyLady but more do-able”. That’s my goal — DOABLE and practical ideas that actually work for real people!
June says
I used to break up cleaning into days, but it wasn’t getting done as consistently. Now I clean all the bathrooms on one day, plus do the linens laundry on that same day and sweep the kitchen, too. Vacuuming (a favorite chore) gets done another day when I feel up to it. One kid does part of the vacuuming as well. Every kid has a dishes related job, but we homeschool, so they definitely have time.
Andrea says
That’s great — thanks for sharing what works for your family. Our kids also regulary help with dishes (setting table, clearing table, cleaning out dishwasher, etc). Then they run out to play!
Rachel says
We have a sort of weekly reset – we always tidy the house in the evening as part of the dinner cleanup, but every two weeks we have a cleaner come which means things need to be back in their place first.
For us, our weekly reset is more a logistics and scheduling problem – my husband and I spend an hour every Friday looking at the calendar, discussing the week, the kids, plans for the short and mid term future. We do our meal plan and try to get ahead of any scheduling trickery that might happen in the upcoming week. It’s a nice time for us to also run though our last week and get some time together to make sure we’re on the same page on big stuff. Because we both work we try and split the household load – I love how you and Dave split work as well but I would find being a SAHM so much more exhausting than working… (and far less suited to my natural talents!) so for us both parents working (although we both do reduced days) is the best option for now.
Thank you as always for your lovely and inspiring blog!
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing this Rachel!
Yes, we also have a weekly “look at the calendar and schedule all the things” night around here too (usually Sunday afternoon). We also started keeping a large magnetic calendar on the side of our fridge so everyone can see what’s going on (it’s color coded!)
Honestly, sometimes being a SAHM is very tiring and not super rewarding — but it does seem to work well for our family right now (and I’ve always been a homebody!)
Paulette Smith says
Andrea, you continue to inspire! I love your approach to life.
Lane Ciborowski says
This post was so encouraging, Andrea! Thank you!! Will you please share what tasks you have assigned to other days of the week? Thank you!
Toni says
Yes – I’d love to know your schedule/routine for the rest of the week too 🙂
Andrea says
Hi Toni, I did respond to Lane — but I just in case you don’t see that message come through, I’ll respond directly to you as well 🙂
My “rough” schedule for the week is:
Monday – clean, laundry, errands, food prep
Tuesdays – online work
Wednesdays – school volunteer (I volunteer for several things at school and almost all of them fall on Wednesdays)
Thursdays – church volunteer (I’m at church all morning for a Bible study and then I need to prep things I’m in charge of for Sunday)
Friday – extra projects, finish anything I didn’t get to during the week, and make a bunch of food for the weekend.
Andrea says
Thanks Lane — I’m glad you enjoyed it!
My “rough” schedule for the week is:
Monday – clean, laundry, errands, food prep
Tuesdays – online work
Wednesdays – school volunteer (I volunteer for several things at school and almost all of them fall on Wednesdays)
Thursdays – church volunteer (I’m at church all morning for a Bible study and then I need to prep things I’m in charge of for Sunday)
Friday – extra projects, finish anything I didn’t get to during the week, and make a bunch of food for the weekend.
Of course, not every day/week runs like clockwork… but in general, during a “normal school week” that’s what my schedule is like.
Lane says
So very helpful! Thank you so much!!
janet says
I totally love this plan, and have, most of my married life, done Monday laundry, cleaning, and re-setting. And when the kids were little, I did a mini-reset on Fridays to prep for the weekend. Stuff just piled up so much during the week.
It works!
Andrea says
yes Janet — I also find that I do a “mini reset” often on Thursday evenings — just prepping for the weekend.
It is crazy how quickly things pile up if you don’t stay on top of it EVERY week!
JJ says
Andrea, congratulations on being featured in your college’s magazine! I have been doing a reset recently. After homeschooling for years, I was so overwhelmed by never getting on top of things the way I wanted to. So this year we started year-round where we have Fridays off. It has been aMaZiNg! I can get my housework, menu planning, grocery pickup order made, hang out with friends(and field trips!), and work on decluttering(doing your one room a week method!). Now I’m not waiting for the next school break to catch up! We do a load of laundry daily/every other day. I put the basket in the living room, and we all fold and put away immediately. It works well for us! Sometimes I bargain with the older kids that I will fold their laundry if they play with the toddler while I do so. Also, I checked out The Home Edit once you mentioned it. I have been including one item from them in my Walmart pickup order each week. So it’s in my budget, and clear bins really help me for some reason. Have a great week!
Andrea says
I actually know 2 other homeschool families who are doing the “take Fridays off” method this year.
I think life often feels much LESS overwhelming when you know you have that day/time every week to catch up, clean up, and stock up! I love doing mine on Monday (sort of “recover” from the weekend and plan the week) but Friday is another great day (recover from the week and plan a fun/restful weeekend!)
Also, it’s super easy to get sucked into The Home Edit. It’s just so beautiful — although sometimes a bit “over the top” in terms of how many containers they use for every project. I’m sticking with my shoe boxes for now, but Nora and I sure enjoy watching their makeovers! Glad you are getting some of their gorgeous clear organizers!