Okay, so I’ve been doing TONS of research on productivity in order to give you guys the best of the best.
I’m my search, I kept coming across “themed days of the week” and why they were important. To be honest with you, the phrase is new to me. But the concept is something I’ve been practicing for a LONG time!
Disclaimer: All of the views and opinions in this post are solely my own and are not sponsored. This post includes affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission through links at no cost to you.
What are themed days of the week?
Okay. So what are “themed days of the week”? What does that even mean?
Having themed days is, more or less, assigning an overarching idea or task to a specific day.
For example:
Assigning Tuesday as a whole house cleaning day or a Wednesday as an errand day.
I’ve seen a number of bloggers, moms, youtubers, and entrepreneurs share their themed days and their strategies.
I will share mine with you at the end of this post. However, I thought this post would be more beneficial to you if I taught you more about “theming” your days, why it matters, and ways to do it EVEN IF you work a 9-5 (cuz hey, I’ve been there!).
So, how broad does the theme have to be?
In my experience, pretty broad. You can’t spend a whole day going to the grocery store. That only takes an hour or two. What would you do with the rest of your day?
A general rule of thumb is picking an overarching term that will define your day.
For example, you could have a food prep day. Your day could include all of the following:
- grocery shopping
- Meal prep (making food and storing it for the week)
- Meal planning (creating meal ideas for each day of the week)
- Taking care of your garden, if you have one
- Drying herbs
- Visiting the farmers market
- Making a dessert for the family
Honestly, ideas are endless.
But even if you only did the top three ideas, that could still be around 5 hours worth of work. Which is a great amount for a themed day!
What kinds of themed days are there?
If you need ideas, I’ll list some below:
- food prep day
- Errand day
- Work day
- Blog day
- YouTube day
- Kids day
- Couples day
- Personal day/self-care day
- Whole house cleaning day
- Declutter day
- Shopping day
- Church/religious day
- Hiking/exercising day
- Mini vacation day
- Movie/craft/book/indoor day
- Paperwork day
I think you get the idea.
So why is this so important to do?
Here are the reasons I’ve found theming your weekdays to be invaluable!
1. It saves time
I think the greatest thing about theming my days is that it saves me loads of time. I’ll use chores as my example. I don’t do chores every day. (Aside from dishes). This is because for one, it’s not necessary, but most importantly, I can save my time by working on other things rather than worrying about the books scattered on the coffee table.
Now this one might be a poor example, if only because I understand that some people like spotless and pristine homes (I envy you and have no idea how you have the motivation to vacuum daily but it certainly pays off!).
Perhaps a better example would be: if I have dedicated blogging days, then I don’t waste my time on social media or editing posts or researching keywords on my other days. Having a day solely for blog work keeps me on track and saves me more time on my other days.
Which leads into my next point.
2. It keeps you organized and on track
I’ll use blogging again: by having two days solely for blogging, I am able to dedicate every hour (that I’m willing to work that is) to the blog. I don’t go grocery shopping, or cook, or clean, or visit friends. It’s purely for the blog.
This keeps me organized because I know exactly when and what my plans are for the week. I take care of all of my pinning, tailwind, marketing, blog writing, blog editing, photos, etc. on the two assigned blog days.
3. It relieves stress
This is the whole reason I started theming in the first place. Stress relief.
I’m the type of person that freaks out and gets super agitated if things aren’t done. I worry. A lot.
Before theming my days, I would feel so scatterbrained. I would try to incorporate all of my to-do’s into one day and it was impossible. Then, I would feel angry that I hadn’t accomplished everything which, in turn, forced me to move my deadlines to other days and increased my stress levels.
Theming my days relieved the stress brought about by “uncertainty.” It also allowed me to have a possible to-do list.
4. It makes you more productive
Remember what I said about a “possible to-do list”? Yeah. That’s what this means. You are more productive when your to-do list is a healthy length.
Challenge is great! But burnout is a real issue. Having themed days also means have a limited to do list (more or less).
For blogging, my lists are almost endless. But I’ve learned to batch my projects.
Chores are a better example of this tip because they are a limited task anyhow.
My Sunday theme day could look like this:
- put laundry away
- Change bed sheets
- Sweep and mop all floors
- Vacuum rugs
- Re-organize living room
- Dust
- Clean the toilet
- Clean the tub
- Clean both sinks
- Clean the stove top
- Wipe down the kitchen table
- Clean out food from fridge
- Do the dishes
- Re-organize office
- Throw out old paperwork
- Clean the bunny’s cage
The end.
The list is not “endless.” And having a whole day to accomplish all of the above is totally possible!
I always feel more productive when it’s over because I can see my progress. I can see every check mark on my list and feel pride knowing I accomplished my tasks.
5. It makes sense
Theming your days just makes sense. It makes life so much easier and you know EXACTLY what each day will bring. It feels productive, stress free, and enjoyable.
I don’t know why people haven’t learned this sooner?
What do my theme days look like?
Sunday: cleaning, groceries, house prep
Much like what you saw above except sometimes I have to include groceries and meal prep!
Monday: blogging
I will do my best to come out with blogging schedules in a separate post but for now, know this:
Monday’s normally include writing posts, editing posts, and using tailwind.
Tuesday: blogging
Tuesdays normally include writing newsletters, working on the online shop, and partaking in other marketing strategies.
Wednesday: free day!
Wednesday is sort of my “do whatever needs to be done day.” Sometimes it’s grocery shopping that I didn’t get to. Sometimes it’s more blogging. Maybe Matt and I are building something for the house, or hanging shelves or picture frames. It could be a gardening day. It could be a date day. It changes all the time!
Thursday: youtube
I spend the majority of my Thursdays filming and editing YouTube videos. That’s it!
Friday: couples day/personal day
Friday is typically a couples day. Matt and I usually go on a date whether that be to the beach, on a hike, watch a movie, have dinner together, etc. But it’s usually spent together.
Sometimes we visit our families and friends on these days so it can become a day for that instead.
Or, if Matt’s gone, I’ll turn it into a self-care day with skincare, bubble baths, good food, etc. Something for me!
Saturday: errand day/extra work
Saturday’s include farmers market trips, shopping trips, errands, getting gas, etc. It can also be an extra work day for my job or my blog. It all depends on what’s happening.
So what about for those of us who work 9-5’s? How can we benefit from themed days?
Answer: the same way I can!
I used to work weird hours at Target. But I still had themed days. Sometimes I just had to make adjustments.
On days that I closed 3:30-11pm at Target, I cleaned the house all morning. If I opened 8-4pm, then I would spend my afternoon/evening blogging.
On half days, I would run errands, have dates, do whatever I needed to. And on shifts 11-7:30pm, I’d buy groceries after work or have a date night.
My days were a little less predictable and did revolve around my target schedule but that didn’t make it any less themed!
It’s totally possible to do. You just need to be cautious of burnout and be creative with your time!
If you like this post, check out some similar posts of mine below:
Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know how you organize your days!
You can also email me with questions or concerns you may have at info.amelia.wilson@gmail.com
Also, check out my poetry book, The Lights are on but Nobody’s Home, available now on amazon for $6.99!
Disclaimer: All of the views and opinions in this post are solely my own and are not sponsored. This post includes affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission through links at no cost to you.
Thanks again