Are you feeling overwhelmed with things to do around the house? Our three-step process can help you. We offer printable forms below to help you set your priorities and plan your week.
Feeling Overwhelmed with Household Chores?
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with things to do. It happens from time to time, especially when the seasons change, since our schedules change, along with the chores and tasks around the house. Stress can also happen when there’s a major holiday coming up, like Easter or Christmas.
Where to start when you’re feeling overwhelmed
Sometimes, when there’s too much to do, you may not know where to start. That can result in nothing getting done at all. So, start by thinking about what you want to get done this week.
It’s easy to create a long list of things to do. However, at the end of the week, you may find that you completed many of the tasks, just not the ones that really mattered. That’s why you’ll want to set some priorities and schedule time on your calendar. Let’s look at a real life example.
Three Steps to Planning Your Week
Our example for this purpose is the week of April 7th. We are officially in the spring season, and Easter is less than two weeks away.
Step #1: Determine what you want to get done this week.
In order to answer this question for this time of year, we took a look at our Spring Cleaning Checklist, Easter Checklist and April Household Chores Checklist. (Links to our printables are at the end of the article.)
Then we jotted down our top priorities for this week, in no particular order:
- Drain pool water from pool cover
- Take patio furniture out of shed
- Put down weed preventer on mulch
- Finalize Federal and state income taxes
- Decorate house for Easter
- Shop for items for outdoor entryway: pansies, doormat, welcome sign
- Shop for Easter clothes
- Organize children’s clothing (put away winter clothes, donate clothes that do not fit; store hand-me-down clothes)
- Work on Spring Cleaning: Dining Room
Step #2: Group like items together
We grouped our priorities into activities that could be done together. Here are our priorities, in their appropriate groups:
- Outdoors:
- Drain water from pool cover
- Take patio furniture out of shed
- Put down weed preventer on mulch
2. Money: Finalize federal and state income tax returns
3. Maintenance: Decorate house for Easter
4. Shopping: items for outdoor entryway: pansies, door mat, welcome sign, Easter clothes
5. Organize children’s clothing / Hand-me down clothes (Child #1; Child #2)
Five Spring Cleaning Projects
Since one of our priorities was to work on spring cleaning our dining room, we selected five spring cleaning projects. So there’s one project for each day of the week:
- Remove cob webs and dust from ceiling and walls, vents; clean wood trim
- Wash curtains
- Clean windows and glass doors
- Dust and polish furniture (dining room chairs, hutch, curio cabinet)
- Vacuum/Mop floor
Step #3: Schedule Time to Work on Your Priorities
Now, you’ll need to schedule time to work on these priorities. We jotted down the days of the week, Monday–Saturday, and scheduled each priority on a specific day. Then we scheduled one spring cleaning project for each day of the week.
Tip: Since some items are weather dependent, check the weather for the upcoming week before slotting your projects.
Monday
- Shop for items for outdoor entryway: pansies, door mat, welcome sign; Easter Clothes
- Spring cleaning: Dining room: Clear cob webs/dust from ceiling and walls, vents; clean wood trim
Tuesday (rain)
- Finalize federal and state income tax returns
- Spring cleaning: Dining room – Wash Curtains
Wednesday
- Decorate house for Easter
- Spring cleaning: Dining room – Clean windows and glass doors
Thursday
- Hand-Me-Down Clothes (Child 1)
- Spring cleaning: Dining room – Dust and polish furniture (dining room chairs, hutch, curio cabinet)
Friday (Rain)
- Hand-Me-Down Clothes (Child 2)
- Spring cleaning: Dining room – Vacuum/Mop floor
Saturday
- Take patio furniture out of shed
- Drain water from pool cover
- Put down weed preventer on mulch
Printable Priorities Chart, Weekly Planner and Checklists (just click on the link below):
Setting priorities can help you accomplish what needs to be done. It will also help you meet important deadlines, such as filing taxes.
Step #1: Take a few minutes to set your priorities. Click on the blue link for our printable Priorities List:
Step #2: Group your like items together.
Step #3: Schedule time to work on your priorities. Click on the blue link for our printable Weekly Planner:
Additional printables:
Spring / Fall Cleaning Checklists – Room by Room
Easter Checklist Hosting Easter? A Menu Planner, Cooking Timeline and Checklist You Can’t Miss
Household Checklists – Month by Month