If your weeks already feel chaotic before they even begin, you’re not alone. Between school schedules, work commitments, appointments, meals, laundry, and trying to keep a house somewhat livable…Mondays can hit like a freight train if nothing is prepared ahead of time.
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That’s exactly why I started doing a simple Sunday reset routine. People always ask me how I manage to do it all, and honestly this is my secret.
I don’t go crazy deep cleaning my house or color coding my pantry. I focus on the tasks that I know will realistically help our week run smoother.
Just a few intentional tasks on Sunday that you complete in the margins of your day when you aren’t spending time with your family will completely change how your whole week feels.
Here is the simple Sunday reset routine that helps our family start the week on the right foot.
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What is a Sunday Reset?
A Sunday reset is simply setting aside a little time at the end of the weekend to prepare your home, schedule, and mindset for the week ahead.
Think of it as taking some of the overwhelming tasks from the rest of your week, and moving them into Sunday because it’s a slower, less chaotic day to do them.
You’re not trying to make everything perfect. You’re just getting things back to a baseline so Monday doesn’t feel overwhelming.
For most families, that means things like:
- Tidying the house
- Planning meals and doing some prep
- Checking the family calendar
- Prepping clothes or school items
- Getting laundry caught up
- Mentally preparing for the week ahead
The goal isn’t to spend your entire Sunday working.
If you’re intentional about the tasks you complete today, the rest of your week will flow so much smoother!
Why a Sunday Reset Makes Life SO Much Easier
When you skip doing things on Sundays that you could put off to other days of the week, your week shows it and you feel it in an exponentially higher stress level.
Monday morning you wake up to a messy house. No one knows what’s for dinner that night. Someone can’t find their shoes. The laundry basket is overflowing.
Basically, the week starts in full-blown chaos.
A Sunday reset helps prevent all of that by allowing you to start the week with a clean slate, save money by planning meals, and feel more organized and prepared for the week ahead.
The Realistic Sunday Reset Routine for Busy Moms
This routine usually takes about 1-2 hours total, depending on how big your family is.
You can do it all at once or spread it throughout the day.
Here’s what works in my house:
1. Start with a Quick Whole-House Reset
I can easily lose hours of my day to this, so my secret is to set a timer.
I give myself 15 minutes to rush through the house and clean up as much as I can. This is definitely NOT a deep clean.
For me, it looks like rushing from one bathroom to another gathering all of the discarded clothes that someone inevitably left on the floor
Honestly, I usually ask my kids for help during this reset. It’s so important that we teach them the importance of planning ahead and teach them how to manage a home.
These are skills they won’t learn in school and will only learn if we teach them.
After the clothes are gathered and put in the laundry room, I gather any cups that have made their way out of the kitchen and put them in the sink.
While I’m rushing around, I take note of any other big messes that require my attention.
This usually ends up being the counters in the bathrooms and the kitchen.
I spend just one or two minutes tidying the bathroom counters, putting things back in their place, and making everything appear more put together.
I do the same thing with the kitchen.
Sometimes in 15-20 minutes, I can tackle a little of the counters AND I can load the dishwasher.
You will be absolutely amazed at what you can get done in just 15 minutes!
2. Check the Family Calendar
This step saves me more stress than almost anything else.
Sit down and look at the coming week.
I keep all of our commitments in my calendar on my phone, but we recently purchased a Skylight calendar so everyone in our family can see what we have coming up.
I make sure all of our appointments, practices, and games are on our calendar.
This helps me to see everything clearly so nothing sneaks up on us.
I also jot these down on a piece of paper for meal plan purposes later.
3. Plan the Week’s Meals
I can get through this so quickly because we stick to meals that we know everyone will eat.
Our lives are just too busy for me to keep fighting with my kids about new meals at dinnertime every night.
Meal planning is one of the biggest stress-reducers for families AND it saves so much money.
How many times have you found yourself at 4:30 or 5 pm with no idea what to make for dinner?
This is when you end up justifying going out to eat or ordering take out.
Your meal plan doesn’t have to be complicated.
I write down the entire week, Monday through Sunday on the left hand side of a piece of paper.
If we have practice on Tuesday night, I jot that down under Tuesday.
That tells me that I’ll need to plan ahead and either budget for pizza or I’ll plan a slow cooker meal.
Our meal plan this week looks like this:
Monday: Tacos
Tuesday: Pasta and salad
Wednesday: Slow cooker chicken
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Pizza night with friends
Saturday: Burgers and grilled chicken
I then write on the right hand side of the paper every single item I’ll need for each meal.
You’ll be surprised how important this step is.
For example, we are almost out of ketchup and this step helped remind me to add it to our shopping list.
Shop your fridge and pantry first.
Go through the food you already have and cross it off of your ingredients list.
Finally, place your order for pickup. We use Walmart+ and Instacart.
Even having to pay for a service or to tip a delivery person has saved our budget.
The key to saving money for my family is to simply stay out of the grocery store! Who knew?
4. Do a Laundry Catch-Up
Laundry has a way of piling up quickly in a busy household.
Sunday is a great day to catch up.
Otherwise, you’ll be digging through laundry bins all week looking for what you need!
Run a few loads on Sunday while you’re tackling everything else so everyone has what they need for the week.
If folding feels overwhelming, just prioritize getting things washed and ready.
Even partially catching up helps the week start smoother.
If your kids are old enough to help, I highly suggest enlisting their help with putting away laundry!
We put on music and set a timer for 30 minutes. 45 minutes if we have a ton of laundry to catch up on.
My little ones can put away socks and underwear while my oldest kids can hang shirts and fold towels.
It always amazes me how we can put away 6 bins of laundry in just 45 minutes if we really hurry!
Why spend more time on a task when you can put on some music, dance through it, and tackle it fast?
5. Prep What You Can for Monday Morning
Monday mornings are always easier when a few things are already ready to go.
Simple things like laying out clothes, packing school bags, filling water bottles, and setting the coffee maker make a bigger difference in your morning than you’d think.
These tiny tasks take just a few minutes but can save a lot of morning stress.
When you wake up and everything is already done, mornings feel so much calmer.
6. Do a Simple Kitchen Reset
I already told you how I tackle some of the clutter on my counters during my quick cleanup, but if you’ve got time, dedicate a little more time to your kitchen.
The kitchen tends to be the busiest spot in most homes.
Giving it a quick once-over on Sunday makes the week run smoother.
Focus on things like:
- Cleaning out old food from the fridge
- Restocking snacks or lunch items
- Prepping fruits and vegetables
- Starting a batch of something simple. (In our house, we are always making a huge batch of rice for the week and soaking beans for use later in the week)
Even 15 minutes of kitchen prep can make weekday meals much easier.
7. Prep a Few Grab and Go Foods
If your mornings are busy, and most family mornings are, having a few ready-to-eat options can be incredibly helpful.
I like to cut fruit, make overnight oats, portion some trail mix into smaller bags for after school snacks, etc.
Even making sure the cereal is easy to reach for your little people can save you one extra request Monday morning.
8. Tackle the Entryway
This is one of the most underrated parts of a Sunday reset.
The entryway is where backpacks, shoes, coats, and random clutter tend to collect.
Take a few minutes to line up shoes, hang coats and backpacks, empty forgotten lunchboxes, put important papers somewhere visible, etc.
When everything has a place, mornings feel far less chaotic.
Also, someone should study the spike in the heart rate of a mom when she’s trying to get her kids out the door and she hears “I can’t find my shoes!”
9. Do Something That Helps You Recharge
I’ve learned in recent years that what they say is true…you really can’t pour from an empty cup.
Doing a Sunday reset isn’t just about productivity.
It’s also about resetting your energy before a new week begins.
After the house is picked up and things are prepared, take a little time for yourself.
For me, that looks like taking a 15 minute bath and reading a book.
I also love sitting down with a planner and some highlighters and an excessive amount of stickers.
Even just 20 minutes of me-time helps me feel less stressed and more in control.
Some part of my brain feels so calmed by spending a little time on myself. It’s almost as though my brain thinks that if I have time to take a relaxing bath, everything else must be running pretty smoothly.
Tips for Making Your Sunday Reset Actually Stick
If you want this routine to become a habit, I think your success depends on two things.
Number one, keeping it simple and number two, taking a second to appreciate what a big difference your Sunday reset makes.
Don’t try to do everything on Sundays.
Pick maybe five tasks that make the biggest difference for your family.
Get the kids involved.
Even small kids can help with things like picking up toys or organizing shoes.
Set a timer.
I’ll repeat myself here that setting a timer is life-changing. It prevents little tasks from taking all day and helps keep you focused.
Remember that “a done something is better than a perfect nothing.”
A partially reset home is still far better than starting the week with chaos.
The Real Goal of a Sunday Reset
At the end of the day, the goal of a Sunday reset is to make sure you aren’t starting your Monday feeling like you’re behind already.
It’s waking up and feeling like you have a small head start on the week.
For busy moms and families, that little head start can make a surprisingly big difference.
If you stick with a Sunday reset routine for even one week, you’ll notice a drop in your stress-level on Monday. If you keep up with it for a few weeks, you’ll really start to appreciate how much easier your week flows even late in the week. It made my weeks much easier and cut my stress-level significantly. So much so that I’ll never go back. Give it a try in your own house, I know you’ll love it as much as I do!
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