How to Stop Saving Everything for Saturday

By Cathy Borg

A woman I'll call Freda retired in the spring. By August, she sometimes felt at loose ends on weekdays, as if she should be doing something useful. Saturday, though, she always knew exactly what to do. The bathroom needed cleaning. The grocery run couldn't wait. The paper piled on the kitchen counter since Wednesday, she planned to deal with on Saturday because that's the way she always did it.

It took her three months to notice that Tuesday was wide open and Saturday was as packed as it had been when she was working.

She had time. She just hadn't changed the habits she'd built around a full-time job.

Before you retired, it was simpler. Monday through Friday, your schedule revolved around the workday. You came home with enough energy to make dinner and not much else. You saved the bathroom and the groceries for the weekend because the weekend was the only time you had. Now Tuesday is free and you're still cleaning the bathroom on Saturday.

Why the Saturday habit persists

For decades, you scheduled all your household tasks on Saturday because that was the only time you had. So when you retired, you spent Tuesday afternoon reading, and you kept Saturday as the catch-up day, because that's what you'd always done.

Habits are automatic. You follow them without noticing. If you want to lighten your Saturday workload, you need to reschedule some tasks to another time. Try moving one task, then another, and see how it works for your schedule and energy level. You have Tuesday afternoon free. Use it for the grocery shopping and skip the Saturday congestion. Protect some of your Saturday time so Saturday doesn't disappear into errands again.

The kitchen — clear the counters before bed

Walking into a clean kitchen in the morning gives you a better start. Every evening before bed, take ten minutes to clear the counters, wash or load the dishes, clean your sink, and wipe down the stove. Doing this little bit of evening maintenance means you won't start your morning cleaning up yesterday's mess.

During the day, put things back when you finish with them. The cutting board goes back into the cupboard right after you use it. The coffee cup goes into the dishwasher after your morning coffee, not at the end of the afternoon. Small actions in the moment reliably beat a longer cleanup session later in the week.

Dinners: plan for the week, not just one night

Most people find it hard to decide what to make for dinner at 5 pm when their energy is low. You end up grabbing whatever is easiest.

On Sunday, plan the whole week and write the grocery list at the same time. Include takeout or dinner out on Saturday. Friday can be fast food night. You might make hamburgers and fries in the air fryer because it needs no advance prep. If you love to cook from scratch, leftovers are your best friend. A weekly plan lets you eat well and spend less. Planning your meals across the week means Saturday dinner is already decided. Do takeout or dine out and you'll avoid cooking and cleanup.

You can avoid buying duplicates and food that's gone off by spending 15 minutes a week clearing out your fridge.

Paper: one basket, one habit

When paper comes in, stand by the recycling bin. Junk mail goes straight in. If you get a daily newspaper, pull the sections you want and recycle the rest immediately. Bills and anything that needs attention go in the basket. Handle the basket once a week.

It sounds too simple to work, and then it works.

Exercise: schedule it before anything else claims the time

If you put exercise in your schedule last, it doesn't happen.

Retirement gives you more flexibility than a work schedule did, but without a set plan, it's easy to let the morning slip away on smaller tasks. Put exercise in before anything else. A 20 minute walk every day is a good place to start. If Tuesday at 9am is the swim, it's the swim. Everything else fits around it.

Ten minutes on Sunday

Spend 10 minutes going over your week on Sunday. Your weeks are rarely identical, so it's worth checking for conflicts. Check that your meal plan works with your schedule. Move things around if you need to. Figure out what you've forgotten before the week starts, not during it.

Pick one concrete thing that will make the week easier and do it before Sunday ends. Put away the laundry. Wash your hair so you're ready for your Monday morning appointment. A little prep on Sunday means you're not scrambling during the week.

Evening and morning routines are how good habits take hold. Before you go to sleep, charge your hearing aids and your phone. In the morning, check your schedule. While you're stretching, think about what you want to get done today.

Freda moved her grocery shopping to Tuesday. She was surprised by how few shoppers were in the store and how easy it was to find parking. Tuesday shopping was an easy win.

Clearing the dishes every night made sense to her right away. Sometimes she missed clearing the counters, but regardless, she was still ahead of the game in the morning.

The paper tray was her least favourite system. She hates working with paper and she'd rather stack it by her cookbooks. But she liked recycling the flyers and envelopes at the door because it meant less paper to deal with later. It takes time to build a new habit.

Start one habit this week

• Make your bed as soon as you get up. (2 min)

• Wipe the kitchen counter while your coffee brews. (3 min)

• Take something with you every time you leave a room. (10 sec)

• Open the mail standing by the recycling bin. (2 min)

• Run the dishwasher before bed, unload it in the morning. (2 min)

• Clear the dining table after every meal. (2 min)

• Do a quick walk-through before bed and put things back in their spot. (5 min)

• Plan three dinners on Sunday and write the grocery list at the same time. (10 min)

About In and Out Organizing and the Writer

Cathy Borg is a professional organizer and co-owner of In and Out Organizing, a Toronto-based downsizing and organizing company serving adults 55 and older. Brad and the team have helped seniors across Toronto and the GTA set up homes that work for the life they're living now.

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