Have you ever went to bed on Sunday night and felt the entire weekend was wasted?  I recently read I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time by Laura Vanderkam.  I’ve been inspired by Vanderkam to develop a new habit that I love (and I’m sure you will, too)!  

One of my favorite points Vanderkam makes in I Know How She Does It is a simple and meaningful habit she and her husband do on Wednesdays.  She points out that it is very easy to get through the weekend and feel like you didn’t get anything done, or that you had wanted to get together with friends and didn’t get it planned.

To fix this situation, she came up with this Wednesday habit of sitting down together and coming up with 2 or 3 things that can easily be planned and to loosely schedule it.

For example, if the family wants to go on a hike and have lunch with Grandma, it’s easy to plan the hike for Saturday afternoon and lunch on Sunday.  By planning in advance it’s productive and meaningful.

I’ve tried this habit for a few weeks and it really does make a difference!  Whether it’s planning a few fun activities, planning a social activity, taking time to do a hobby that you love, or spending some time tackling a project, by being on the same page it lessens any tension and makes it possible to make everyone happy!  Other ideas for this Wednesday habit are to unplug, recharge with hobbies, exercising, and reflecting on your goals.

There are possible sacrifices that will need to be made to make these habits possible.  You might need to limit chores so you aren’t stuck cleaning all weekend instead of living and doing things you love (but isn’t that important)!

I love this habit for a few reasons.

• First, it has helped us communicate what we would like to have happen on the weekends.  Our weekends are usually packed with kid activities so any extra time is usually used for rest but it’s been really nice to have open conversations about any extra things we want to do (such as go to a movie, watch a movie, or take a nap)!
• Second, I’m bad at expecting Jason to read my mind.  It’s something that I’ve worked on for a long time but this has been a very intentional way of being open with expectations (back to communication).  If I want to get together with family, go out to eat somewhere special, or chill I let him know so we can plan accordingly.
• Every Sunday I feel good about getting something accomplished on the weekend, whether it was intentional family time or a project that’s been overdue on the to-do list!
• I am more organized and use my time more efficiently.  If I know we have an open Sunday afternoon it’s easier for me to relax and read with the kids while sipping hot chocolate.  I’ve let myself have more “fun” on the weekends instead of feeling like I need to cook, clean, and do “mom stuff”.
• I am more efficient during the week of doing things that need done so I can have more fun on the weekends with my family. In other words, I feel more balanced!  A mom/wife/homemaker’s job is never done so it’s important to have balance of letting go of that guilt and spending time doing things that align with your personal priorities.

Would this habit help you?  What is one of your favorite habits?

Hi ladies! Welcome to week 63 of Women With Intention Wednesdays!

Welcome to a new week of Women With Intention Wednesdays! Thanks for the patience last week when I had food poisoning and rejoining the fun this week!

The previous week’s top 3 posts didn’t click over to support their neighbors so we’re starting fresh this week.  Please remember to follow the rules to support your fellow bloggers, that is what brings a community together!

Welcome to Women With Intention Wednesdays!

Here is what you will find at Women With Intention Wednesdays:

• This is a link up party where you come to encourage one another, have fun, and share your best posts to help women live their best life!
• In other words, any post that you have written about Christian living, homemaking, relationships, healthy living, living a frugal life or that helps another woman can be included in this link up! Please just them family friendly (I reserve the right to remove anything that I feel isn’t appropriate).
• This link up is beneficial for every woman! Whether you are a blogger or a reader, this is one you won’t want to miss! I’m very excited to offer this link up as a place to not only build new relationships between bloggers but also by providing an awesome resource of information for my readers!

Here are the rules of this link up:

1. You must link directly to your post (no homepages, please).
2. Please link up no more than 2 posts each week and please do not link up the same post week after week.

3. For every link you add, please visit the link before you and one other of your choice. If your links are consecutive visit the blogger before you and your choice for the 2nd link. It’s impossible to build relationships when no one communicates! Please don’t link and run!

4. By linking up you give me permission to share your posts and photos on this blog and social media. Each week I will choose a featured blogger as well as the most popular post. I will only feature you and the most popular posts if you have followed the rules (otherwise I’ll move on to the next most popular post). All features will be linked back to the original source.
5. You also give me permission to email you a quick reminder that the party is live. You may opt out anytime. I don’t spam my readers with emails.
6. Answer the community building question below so we all get to know each other! That’s the purpose of being here! 🙂

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Community Building Question:  What is one of your favorite parts of Spring?

This is mine!  I love baby calves!  The kids have 3 favorites this year, they are Teddy Roosevelt (the one in the photo), Lucky, and Doughnut Hole (and yes, they named them all)!

Have you enjoyed what you read here today? Do you have friends or other women you know that could benefit from this resource? If so, please do me a favor! I have included the links below to share with other intentional women! They’ll be glad you did!