Do you ever feel like you’re doing ALL THE THINGS, all the time? Yeah, me too. Lately, I’ve been looking for ways to help myself out so that life doesn’t feel as overwhelming.
Maybe you’ll find these things useful, too! 🙂
1. I plan my outfits for the week, and physically group each outfit together in the section of my closet.
This is such a simple thing that takes about 10 minutes, and I don’t know why, but it helps me so, so much. I think it’s because it’s one less decision I need to make at the very start of my day. It just makes the morning that much more smoother.
I try to keep the planning loose and easy, so when I put the outfits together, it’s with the understand that I can wear them on any day of the week.
Ideally I’d love to get everything ironed or steamed before the week starts, but I haven’t gotten there yet!
2. Take food prep shortcuts to help out “future me” whenever I can.
Like, if I’m cutting a bell pepper for lunch, I cut a whole bunch of peppers, so that I don’t have to do it again later on in the week. And if I make a meal, if it’s something I know Connor or I will happily eat as leftovers for lunch, I’ll make extra.
One thing I want to do eventually is get the point where I make an extra meal for to put in the freezer for the future, but my freezer is full right now, gah!
3. Wash my hair every other day or every two days.
It saves so much time becauseI spend less time in the shower at night and less time fussing with my hair in the morning. Honestly, if I could get away with doing more than two days, I totally would, but my scalp starts to feel gnarly.
4. Do a brain dump at the start of the week.
My mind always feels like it’s swirling with all the things I need to do, and oftentimes it’s a lot to carry all that info in there, LOL! If I don’t write it all down, I miss things. At the start of the week, I set a timer for 20 minutes and do a massive brain dump of all the “to-dos” in my notebook. (For some reason the act of putting pen to paper works better for me.) When I have everything in front of me, it makes it easier to tell what I need to priorizes.
5. Pay close attention to when my body needs rest.
I used to be terrible at this and am better at it. When I was younger and I felt tired, I’d push myself through it to get to the end of whatever task I was doing. No more. I’ve realized that there’s always going to be tasks, and if my body and my mind is saying, “Hey, you need to spend a few hours watching terrible Lifetime movies,” I listen.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Happy Wednesday. I hope your week is going great! It’s supposed to be another rainy day today here in Marin county. The rain is filling up all the creeks and ponds, and it’s bringing back all the frogs, and it’s cool to hear them singing again.
I love all these tips, Karen! I always try to give myself grace as far as meals and meal planning. I just recognize that this is not the season of my life where I can take an hour to prep a meal and another hour to cook it, at least not on a weeknight. Sure maybe we eat out more than I’d like or eat more microwave meals than I’d like, but life is busy and spending more time with my daughters is important.
After working as an accountant at Pfizer, I took a fun job at Target, and it was great to just always wear red and khaki. And when we lived at the Gulf, it was shorts, tshirts and Crocs. Now in Colorado again, I have nice flannel shirts and five colors of jeans. Easy peasy, and no need to even think about makeup as I was blessed with a great complexion and just stick on lipstick, eyeliner and maybe one sweep of shadow. At this point, we’re planning on an in-depth trip to France within the next month, so that’s on my mind.
How exciting! Which parts of France will you be visiting?
YES! This time goes by too quickly. 🙂
I really need to write things down with pen/pencil and paper if I’m going to do it. Things get lost in my laptop and phone, plus all those darn passwords ugh. I’m old school.
I like to write individual tasks on small post-its and put them on a page for the week. As they get done, I toss the post-it.
Me too! I do my to-do lists on Post-Its at work and at home. I swear if I don’t write it down, it doesn’t sink in.
I’m terrible at #5! I’m like you used to be, force myself to push through things to get them done. You are right, there is ALWAYS something else, and I should make more time for streaming something awful lol.
YES! I wish I would’ve figured it out sooner. Better late than never, though.
I’d like to get to a point where I can have all my outfits ready for the week. I usually have my outfit that I will wear the next day ready as well as skincare and makeup on my desk. I also switched to washing my hair every other day as opposed to every day, mainly because I heard washing it every day dries out the hair. But I see the benefits like you said, less time in the shower and less fuss styling the next day. Plus, it takes my hair forever to dry using the blow dryer!
Maybe try doing outfits for 2 or 3 days to start? Keep it easy and simple. 🙂