Everyone seems to hate on Mondays and I just don’t get it. I’ve always loved Mondays! They’re still my favorite day of the week (aside from weekends, obviously), and I even love them more than Fridays.

My reasoning is simple: On Mondays I have more energy and enthusiasm and feel like I can absolutely conquer the week. By Friday I feel a bit defeated, and more often than not my to-do list is super long because everything I didn’t accomplish on the other days is piled up before the weekend.

Now, before I get to the point of this post (which is to tell you how to conquer Mondays), I should note that I’m not an especially organized person. And I am most definitely a reluctant housewife at best. SO, if I can do Mondays, you can too.

Here’s how to start the week off on the best foot possible:

1) Drink your coffee. Mondays are not the time to decide to give up caffeine.

2) Send your kid to school. A lot of parents send their kids to preschool on Tuesdays & Thursdays (if they’re doing a 2 day schedule for a younger child). However, I’ve chosen to send Clara to school on Mondays and Wednesdays so I can have a productive Monday morning. I consider this one of my better parenting decisions.

3) Write a to-do list for your entire week using a planner of your choosing.

4) Meal plan for the week and update your grocery list. In our house this looks a bit different than in most, probably. I meal plan and then send Tim recipes and links and he updates our Amazon Fresh grocery list. This method works best for us because I hate nothing more than grocery shopping, even online.

5) Prep a meal. I do not prep food on weekends, nor do I think I’ll be starting. Ever. In our house weekends are for adventuring and socializing and napping and running childfree errands and baking treats, and I just can’t see myself ever being able or motivated to plan ahead a week’s worth of meals. BUT, if I plan that Monday night will be a meal o’ leftovers and then prep a meal on Monday morning for Tuesday night… I’ve almost gotten through half a (work) week of dinner’s by lunchtime on Monday! WIN.

Honestly, I think that’s all you’re going to have time for on a Monday morning before your little one wakes up from her nap and your older one needs to be picked up from preschool. I also suggest listening to a few Podcasts (NPR One and The Longest Shortest Time) while accomplishing this list.

And if you’re wondering if this post is a list of what I did this morning… Yes. Yes it is. This is also the first Monday morning I’ve EVER meal prepped for the next day, but I’m really going to try to make it a habit if I can find enough recipes I can make a day ahead of time.

Notice that showering, putting on real pants, doing my makeup/hair was not on this list. I can’t do it all, friends, but there’s always hope for naptime…