Hello friends, welcome back to the Bulletproof blog. Today I will be sharing with you five Sunday actions to improve your finances and have a productive week. Five easy, straightforward actions that can get you ready for a Monday, improve your finances and your mental wellbeing.
There was a time in my life when the thought of waking up on Monday morning made me sick to my stomach. I struggled to look forward to Monday, and Sunday nights became a time of panic and sad feelings. Monday blues were a real thing for me.
I hated Mondays so much that it began to affect how I felt about my job and how productive I was during the week, especially in the first three days.
You are probably reading this and thinking – Ronke, you are describing my life!
Well, guess what? I hacked Monday and my story has changed.
Since I discovered and started doing 5 simple things, Mondays have become my favourite day of the week and my productivity has skyrocketed.
Once you start practising these actions, you will begin to look forward to Mondays with enthusiasm and motivation.
So, let’s get right into it.
BILL PAYMENT
You need to sit down on a Sunday and schedule your bills. Check what bills are due this week and try to pay as many as you can. This might mean logging into your bank account to check how much you have there to see what bills are ready to be paid, especially for bills that are not already on direct debit.
Are your bills are on direct debit? This is also a good time to check in on them to see if they are going to go out that week and what day they will. If they are not, then you need to sit down and go through them one by one.
For those who buys their transport ticket for the week, you should sit down on Sunday and sort that out. It gives you a great view of what’s ahead of you financially so that when the bills are being paid during the week, you’re not worried about them.
This is also a good time for you to make additional credit card payments. I always suggest that you have direct debits set up for your credit card payments. The minimum required payment should be put on direct debit so that no matter what happens you’re not missing a payment.
On a Sunday afternoon, you can sit down, log into your bank account, see how much you have and what extras are left, then move the extra into your credit card as an additional payment so that you can pay off your credit card debt as soon as possible.
RESTOCKING
The second action you should be taking on a Sunday to make the week easier for you and improve your finances is restocking your pantry and kitchen.
This is a good time for you to sit down and plan your meals for the week. Once you have done your meal plan, you will have a view of what groceries and dry food you will be cooking and eating that week. With this in mind, review your pantry or kitchen to determine what is missing.
Once your meal plan is done and you’ve seen what you need in your kitchen and pantry, write a top-up grocery list and take a trip to the grocery store to purchase these groceries.
I always suggest you do a monthly or bi-monthly grocery shop so this grocery shopping you are doing as a top-up should be a short one. If it has 20 items, then there is something you are doing wrong.
Restocking on a Sunday keeps you from dashing to the stores mid-week when time is likely to be more precious and you are likely to be more tired.
MEAL PREPPING
Now that you have done your meal planning and restocked your kitchen and pantry, it’s time for meal prepping. You do this by looking at your meal plan for what you can cook ahead so that during the week you can just fish them out of the fridge and heat them.
The beauty of a Sunday meal prep is that it makes it easier for you to eat healthy during the week, it cuts down your cooking time during the week because you have less cooking to do and on some days none at all.
You are less tired and also less likely to worry about “what’s for dinner?” because you have made provisions for a lot of dinners ahead.
Meal prepping also prevents you from constantly cooking during the week and raising your electrical bills.
It also saves you time because the amount of time you need to boil one cup of rice is the same time as you’ll need to boil three cups.
I like to cook stews, soups and a pot of jollof rice on Sundays, which I portion into bowls before storing in the fridge. I also like to make grilled chicken and cookies with my air-fryer on a Sunday, ready for midweek dinners. Meal prepping saves you money and is a great hack for ensuring you have an efficient, less stressful week.
DIARY SCHEDULING
The next thing you want to do on a Sunday to plan your week is to schedule your diary.
I have a post on my blog where I talked about how to get things done when you don’t feel like it. One of the things I emphasized in that post is planning. On Sunday, you need to sit and plan your diary.
Who’s dropping who off for football, dance, swimming? What programs or meetings do I have to attend?. Sunday is when you update and familiarize yourself with your diary so that you already have a visual picture of how your week is going to turn out. If you use a mobile diary, you can set alarms and reminders to help you even more.
I am a firm believer in a physical diary and that’s why I have created the Bulletproof Life Planner especially for my Bulletproof community; so that you can sit down on a Sunday and plan your days and week. So that on Monday morning, you’re not panicked about what you have to do. I personally don’t hate Mondays because I already have my diary schedule sorted. The Bulletproof Life Planner is available to buy on Amazon.
Checking emails..
Another important part of diary scheduling is checking your emails on a Sunday evening.
I like to stay away from work emails from 6 pm on a Friday – I take a complete break to allow my mind to rest and recharge.
So on Sunday evening, I always check my work email and familiarise myself with any new things that might be waiting for Monday while also taking note of my work diary for Monday. I read and flag as unread if there’s any work email that needs to be done urgently on Monday morning.
Doing all these frees up the first few hours of Monday for you so you’re not panicked or quickly trying to get on top of emails while the day is flying by. Diary scheduling also reminds you of any financial commitments you have like payments and submissions during the week.
REVIEW YOUR BUDGET
Sunday is a perfect time to review your budget and make adjustments to your budget. You will need to ask yourself what you need to add or remove. What is still valid? Am I on track? have I fallen off the rails? Do I need to make any adjustments? And so on.
Reviewing your budget helps you stay on track and have a productive week because you see your goals and what you’re working towards. It also gives you peace of mind knowing that your bills are paid for the month, you have saved and invested, your direct debits have been sorted and you are doing what you should be doing. I always suggest you do all these on a Sunday night.
So now you have my hacks! The 5 things I do that make Monday easy for me and help me have a super productive week. I hope you will start hacking Monday and setting yourself up for a fun, happy, productive week.
If you found these tips useful, don’t forget to leave me a comment.
Till next time.
With love,
Ronke
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