How are you this winter Wednesday? (Or summer Wednesday for those in the Northern Hemisphere!) I hope you are going well. As I wrote in my monthly review for July, I am pretty happy to see the end of July as it means only one more month of winter left. At the start of July, I realised I was falling into the trap of my winter doldrums. To counter this, I used a strategy that has always worked a charm with me – I plan and organise myself more!
This meant that as I wrote my Sunday night master to do list, I then planned out the key tasks across the whole week, not just for the next day. I tweaked my morning routines to give me the best possible start to the day given my current circumstances. I am unfortunately not running at the moment and this is usually the cornerstone of my morning routine, I was a bit all over the place without it so needed to fix that. I also refocused on getting to bed at a time that meant I was getting enough sleep. If I am tired I am much more likely to procrastinate and do less.
These are all pretty small changes but combined they were enough to get me out the winter doldrums and for me to look back on July and be happy with how I worked, rested, and played! Never underestimate the power of small changes implemented consistently. You can read my full monthly review here.
Menu planning ideas and lunch box ideas for August
With the new month approaching, I sat down on the weekend and spent some time planning out the meals for August. We have a lot going on in the month of August for us, so having this task completed in advance allows me to go into it knowing I have feeding the family sorted.
This month I also have shopping lists for each plan. This means I can easily delegate the main grocery shop for the week! You can download the shopping lists and use them too if you want. Head here for all the links to the recipes and the shopping lists you can download - Menu planning ideas and lunch box ideas for August 2022.
As I have noted before, the idea of planning so far out freaks some people out but if you look at what you eat over the month you will find there is an underlying pattern to what you eat with the family favourites and the easy to cook meals appearing frequently.
You will notice that is what happens in my menu plans too. You can fall into the trap when menu planning to choose fancier meals that require more time and energy than what you can muster on a weeknight. Keeping it simple is key to menu planning success.
If you use the plans, let me know how they work for you! Have a great rest of the week.
Nic