Weekending Hack

I love Saturdays.

There’s nothing better than waking up and having nothing on my obligatory “To Be an Adult, You Must Do This” list. Sure, I might have brunch reservations, or a birthday party later that evening, or a big day at NYC’s best museums planned (and yes, “museum day” is a euphemism for sitting on my couch and watching TV)—but it’s all fun stuff.

Then Sunday rolls around and ruins everything. Rather than enjoying a day of leisure, I’m usually looking at a list like this:

-Do laundry.

-Figure out insurance situation—despite the fact customer service isn’t open on the weekends.

-Fight cable bill because how does it go up every month?

-Buy light bulb. No really, this weekend, do it. Getting ready in a dark bathroom’s not ambience, it’s creepy.

-Make meal plan for the week.

-Give up halfway through making meal plan and buy assorted groceries that maybe go together, maybe don’t.

-Respond to that email from your cousin about the gift that you don’t want to chip in on, but know you inevitably will.

This means I only get one real weekend day every week. As much as I love my job, I also love recharging—and one day a week simply isn’t enough for me. Yet, I did this for years on end because I thought this was simply part of being an adult.

That is until I read an article about alleviating Sunday Scaries that stated I could simply move all my Sunday chores to another day. This is one of those things that sounds so simple when I type it out now, yet felt truly groundbreaking when I first heard it.

While I initially resisted the idea because I hate change (and I feared that I’d have nothing to talk to my fellow Millennials about if not Sundays sucking), I went for it. And after doing it for several weeks now, I can safely say it’s been a game changer when it comes to my weekend happiness.

Now, whenever I don’t have plans on Saturday morning, I spend time getting through my list. Because, as it turns out, it usually only takes an hour or two (three if putting clean sheets on my bed’s involved).

Why does it fly by on Saturday when on Sunday it feels like an all-day process? Because on Saturday I know that the sooner I get it done, the faster I can get to the rest of my weekend. (Whereas on Sunday, the faster you get it done, the sooner you can start stressing out about the upcoming work week.)

Plus, because you’re working your way through your chores ahead of schedule, there’s far less internal pressure to get it all done—and far more satisfaction waiting for you when you actually do. While I’d never want to suggest that you should do anything in life with the end goal of feeling smug, I will say I’ve felt that way many a time when I hear people complaining on Sunday about how much they still have to do.

Meanwhile, I now get to be the person who wakes up stress-free on Sunday and enjoys the entire day—right up until the very end. Even if “enjoys the entire day” just involves me doing absolutely nothing.

Are going to give this a try? Let me know how it goes on Twitter!

 

This piece was originally published by The Muse.