My Sunday Reset Routine as a Stay at Home Mom

How I reset the house and get organized for the week ahead as a stay at home mom of 3!

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If I’ve learned one thing in the last 10 years of being a stay at home mom it’s this: being prepared and organized doesn’t just magically happen. 

It takes planning and the implementation of daily routines that support your goals.  

If this sounds like something you want to try, but you’re not sure where to even start, don’t worry!

Today I’m going to walk you step by step through my Sunday Reset Routine.

Mom Hacks

I always like to preface that you do not have to be a stay at home mom to benefit from these tips and ideas!

All moms need hacks, tips, and practical ideas to help them get organized!

Naturally, our weeks will look different depending on multiple factors such as:

1. Job/Work schedule
2. Ages of kids/Number of kids
3. Kid’s daycare/School schedule

Whatever you’ve got going on, I’m going to help you set up your Sunday Reset Routine so you can have an easier week! 

You May Also Like:

• My Nightly Reset Routine
• 10 Minute Timer Decluttering Challenge
• What I Fed My Family This Week
• My Daily Laundry Routine

What we’re going to cover in this post:

1. Getting the family to help
2. Sunday meal prep
3. “Big” cleaning (laundry, floors, etc.)
4. Toy cleanup/kid’s rooms
5. Weekly planning (meal planning, planner/calendar)

Sunday Reset Routine for Moms

Getting the Family on Board

The first, and very most important part: you do not have to do this whole reset day alone (unless you want to!).

There is certainly something to be said for having your partner take the kids out of the house while you put on a podcast, bake muffins and clean your house in peace. 

In fact I think every mom needs a day like this every so often!

That being said, whenever I share cleaning or home organization tips, people will ask: what about my husband and kids? Why am I taking all these chores on by myself?

And my first thought is always: who says I am?

We talk about this more in my Ultimate Stay at Home Mom Course, but as a SAHM, I am like the CEO of my family.

I see it as my job to delegate, assign jobs, and let everyone know exactly what needs to get done and who’s doing what!

I find this to be much more preferable than being upset that everything has fallen on me and no one else is pitching in or sees what needs to be done. 

This may look like:

• Assigning kids specific, age-appropriate tasks
• Sharing a “master list” with your husband and deciding who needs to do which task
• Establishing dedicated times for certain chores (for example: kids clean their rooms every Sunday after lunch)

There’s no reason to spiral into a burnout over your Sunday Reset (or even your daily cleaning and home organization tasks)

If anything, I think this weekly routine should bring you peace and make you feel more calm and organized. 

Sunday Meal Prep

Aside from cleaning, the single most helpful thing I do every Sunday is Meal Prep! 

This is a task I enjoy (I love to bake!), and my kids have been helping me in the kitchen since they were toddlers.

I know not everyone enjoys having kids in the kitchen and if that’s the case, maybe they can watch an afternoon movie (after cleaning their rooms), while you prep a few things.

It’s about finding a rhythm for the day (and the tasks) that works best for your family. 

How I Meal Prep on Sundays

While I think most people meal prep by making specific components of a meal in advance, I see this as an opportunity to prep things that will be helpful throughout the week (not necessarily a component of any one single meal).

Here’s what I typically make:

• Baked Meatballs
• Waffles or Pancakes
• Mini Muffins or Energy Bites
• Veggie-loaded Pesto, Salsa, and/or ranch dip
• Shredded chicken in the slow cooker
• Mini Egg Waffles 

This may or may not sound like a lot, but since I make these things often, I’ve developed a good system for meal prepping. 

• The chicken is really hands-off, so I start that first thing in the morning
• My 8 year old loves to make the ranch dip and can do it on her own
• As for the pancakes or waffles: this is typically breakfast on Sunday and I will double or triple the recipe to have extra on hand for busy school mornings
• My 4 year old loves to help make muffins or energy bites – she loves to mix!
• While the meatballs are in the oven we can quickly prep the energy bites

Of course there are weeks where I get one thing done and other weeks that are more productive and that’s just mom life in a nutshell. 

Find all of my Meal Prep Essentials in my Amazon Shop

Big Clean 

Sunday is my favorite day for doing a big clean before a new week.

It’s always my goal to be sitting on the couch at the end of the day, with a candle going, the TV on, and the house just *feeling* clean around me.

We have 3 dogs as well so maybe that context is important (so much dog hair).

What’s included in my Sunday cleaning routine?

Remember that part about not putting everything on yourself? 

Depending on the ages of your kids, everyone should be required to participate in some way.

• One Sunday a month the kids take all of their sheets and blankets off their beds and put them in a pile in the laundry room to be washed. 
• At the end of the day, they are responsible for cleaning up their toys and stuffies and resetting their room for the week ahead
• Me or my husband will help them put their fitted sheet on and then they can do the rest on their own 

These are my can’t-live-without cleaning tools from Amazon 

My “Big Clean” tasks:

1. Wash bath towels and sheets/blankets if necessary
2. Run the Roomba and wet mop the floors
3. Reset all the play spaces from the weekend
4. Empty all the trashcans around the house (bathrooms, laundry room, kid’s rooms, kitchen)
5. Once a month: run a clean cycle on the laundry machine and dish washer
6. If there’s time I have my husband clean out my minivan and vacuum it (the kids love to help wash the car!)

Tasks like wiping down the kid’s bathroom I’ll typically do on a weeknight while they’re in the tub.

I don’t want to overload Sunday with too many things so I try to include certain tasks as part of our daily routine. 

Toy Clean-up & Kid’s Rooms

We touched on this in the “big clean” section but it really deserves its own section!

First, if you feel really overwhelmed with the amount of toys and things, read this first! 

• Sometimes they’ll build a big castle out of magnetic tiles on Saturday morning and we’ll just leave it for the weekend.
• Or maybe my 8 year old built a fort in her room and there are stuffed animals everywhere, from Friday to Sunday night, it’s fine.
• If you’re in the toddler years, they most likely play with different toys a lot throughout the day and if you’re home most of the weekend, constantly picking up will drive you crazy 

Shop my favorite Home Organization finds on Amazon

This may just be me, but I think it’s important for the house to be reset before Monday morning, whatever stage of raising kids you’re in. 

My older kids are 8 and 10.

I don’t want them tripping over toys trying to get ready for school, or distracted by that fort or magnetic castle at 6:30 AM Monday morning while we need to be getting ready and I’m trying to make my coffee.

Just like adults need organization to focus, kids need it to.

It’s hard to get homework done if their desk is full of things from the weekend. 

By taking 15-20 minutes on Sunday afternoon resetting their rooms, they’re setting themselves up for success on Monday. 

Weekly Planning 

Best for last!

Without my planner I’d be lost.

If you’ve tried using a paper planner before and had a hard time sticking with it, it’s probably helpful to try a different layout or system for using it.

And if you feel like you just can’t find a layout you like, try a Bullet Journal where you can design your own layout (sample idea shown below).

Stay at Home Mom Planner tips:

• Find a brand you enjoy using (I like The Happy Planner and Ivory Paper Co)
• If you’ve struggled with a horizontal planner, try a vertical or checklist layout
• Leave your planner open on the counter where you’ll see it every day (rather than tucked away in a drawer)
• Organize into sections such as: meal plan, appointments/events, home tasks, etc. 

Shop My Favorite Planners:

• Ivory Paper Co vertical weekly planner
• The Happy Planner (Michael’s usually has the checklist layout) 
• Blank Bullet Journal (for designing your own layout)
• Weekly Planner Pad (shown below)

We go in depth with setting up your planner and using it as the center of your home management system in my Stay at Home Mom Course, but here are a few tips to help you make the most of it:

1. Pick your top 3 high priority tasks for the day 
2. Break up your planner day into 3 sections: morning, afternoon, night
3. Use a highlighter to identify high priority tasks (like an important phone call or appointment)
4. Try a different color highlighter for certain categories or family member (sounds extra but can help depending on how busy things are!)
5. Write out your weekly meal plan in your planner or on a tear-out menu for the fridge

So how does this fit into my Sunday routine?

1. Typically I’ll fill out my planner Sunday night or sometimes in the afternoon while the kids play outside.
2. I just sit outside at the table, drink coffee, fill out my planner, and supervise 😀
3. Sometimes I don’t want to overload Sunday too much so I’ll do my weekly planning first thing Monday morning.

There are no hard and fast rules here.

It’s more important to find a system that works for you and practice it consistently to achieve that “organized mom” feeling. 

What to Read Next:

• My Sunday Meal Prep Plan
• Stay at Home Mom Morning Routine
• 7 Ways to Make Being a SAHM Easier
• How to Manage a Baby & Toddler as a SAHM