Tuesday, August 9. 2022
I am dubbing this month “Automatic August” and I thought I would share in case this helps anyone else!
As a teacher, August has always been a rude awakening. First of all, it feels like Satan’s armpits outside and I am a cranky hot person.
I go from Summer Amy to School Year Amy and it’s sometimes not pretty. Just ask Tom. He knows that he must walk on egg shells in August as most years I dramatically shout, “I cannot call the electric company for you! I cannot take on one more thing right now! This is August! You know not to bother me in August!”
That being said, I still try to make dinner every night and do the necesary household tasks in August. But, in the summer, I do more because I can. I take on more of the responsibility and let Tom have a bit of a break, plus in the world of commercial construction they are really busy in the summer. So, gentle reminder to Tom that this shift is getting ready to happen. He has been with me for 25 of my teaching years so he should know this, right?
At the end of last summer, I really thought about my mental health and made a self-care syllabus for myself.
This summer, I tried to think about what I could make “automatic”, thus I am dubbing this Automatic August.
I started working full time yesterday and my kids are still home from college until August 21. So, my routine will be one thing for awhile and then I will need to tweak it again when the nest is empty, I’m sure.
What in your life can you make “automatic”? If you still have K-12 kids, you have much more to worry about than I do! I firmly believe that kids and families need routines that are just automatic. The Lazy Genius podcast has given me several good ideas and one of them is her Decide Once principle. Decision fatigue is a thing. We make so many decisions in any given day. What can you decide once and then just go with?
Meal prep is something that helps me to automate. I made 10 faux Egg McMuffins on Saturday and put them in the freezer. I will grab one each morning. What if I get tired of them? I will probably just make a few breakfast burritos and add those to my stash.
I plan to have one cup of coffee at home and take one to go. I still think it’s important to have my morning quiet time before my day gets busy.
I plan to do my nails every Sunday night – because I like to have nicer looking nails and it’s something for me.
I plan to rotate through my dresses and skirts at the start of the year. I will wear one and then move the next one up in rotation.
My blogging is automated to some degree with Hello Monday, Friday Favorites, usually Fashion Files on Thursday.
Grocery pick up is another automatic. I like to do a Wednesday or Thursday pick up these days to be stocked for the weekend and to take a weekend chore off my plate.
Amazon Subscribe and Save can be a way to automate your life. You know you will order it/use it with certain things, so why not make that automatic?
Meal planning/dinners are a really easy thing to automate. Do what works for your family.
Example:
Monday could always be clean out fridge from the weekend, sandwiches, breakfast for dinner, or pasta – just do what would make Mondays easier for you
Tuesday can always be Mexican or tacos
Wednesday can always be grill night
Thursday can be take out because you have a late lesson or sports practice
Friday can be pizza
I have a single mom friend who did “Eat the Alphabet” with her girls on the weekends. They either got take out or went to restaurants around town that started with each letter of the alphabet and had so much fun finding and going to new places.
If you have older kids, ask them what they think should be automatic in your household.
What do you make automatic in your life? What tips or hacks do you have to share?
I will be back here Friday for Friday Favorites – no posts for the next two days as I welcome students back to class and get my ducks in some sort of a row!
Amy
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 
This is such a good idea – the start of the school year is never pretty! It’s hard to juggle it all and it’s exhausting. You have some great tips and ideas and your meal planning is on point!
xo,
Kellyann
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Thank you! It really isn’t! It;’s always a shock to the system to go from zero to 60, but that’s ok.
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This was a great post! I can certainly see how making things rote would make your life so much easier. Even though I don’t work (yet) outside our home, there are things I do at set times each week: I blog at night and schedule my blog posts in a notebook, I pick up groceries on a certain day, I clean on a certain day and maintain everyday after, I have one day that is set aside for our church- Bible study and choir rehearsal at night, etc. I’m such a routine person! I know that, but it’s always surprising to read when I list it out. I also have major OCD tendencies….so I really love structure. It’s not as bad now as it was when the boys were all in school.
I’m hoping for a great next couple of days as you get back in the swing of welcoming your students!
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Thank you! I think we all have more routines than we think, right? It adds structure to our days and weeks. Thank you so much!
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Eat the alphabet is such a fun idea! For 20 years, I’ve driven Travis crazy because I usually don’t care where we eat out 😂 Travis has been with me for all of my 20 years, so he should know what to expect. I had to remind my own kids yesterday of all that it takes out of me the first couple of weeks of school. I have dinners planned this week! I want to get back to Kroger pickup on Friday if I can…or even Saturday.
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Isn’t that cute? Maybe keep a list in your phone memo? I have been doing that with new places I want to try. Yes, the kids need the reminder and I reminded mine, too. One of mine is done working and one is working 9-5 right now, so the one at home is getting more lists of things to do now! I am not sure what my routine for pick up will end up being, because the ordering takes time, too, and I want to be thoughtful about it. Happy first day!
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Yes! The time to order is what gets me haha. I hope you have a great first day!
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Nice post. I enjoy your blog about daily life. if you have an “automatic” day planned its makes it easier especially if you’re employed and still run a household. My husband and I are empty nesters but I find that I still like to automate the house cleaning. Mondays -clean bathrooms (whether they need it or not, its so much easier) Tuesday-dust, Wednesday-clean laundry room Thursday-run the vacuum down stairs. Friday- vacuum rugs up stairs. I have a roomba that runs faithfully to catch the dust bunnies. My house stays clean and I’m no longer a bear, lol. Of course, daily kitchen clean up and run dishwasher. It’s nice to have a weekend to do whatever you want.
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Thank you! I agree that you should even automate as empty nesters. You still want to enjoy your weekends and have a routine. Lack of routine isn’t good for anyone! I love your schedule and would like to create something like this.
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Great post! Yes on the rotating of dresses/skirts and doing nails every Sunday! I always put out my clothes the day before, and put my computer and phone on charging the first thing I do in the morning. Wow, back to reality… The weather is so fantastic (!) so we’ll probably stay in the cabin for a week or two, bus transfers work great, even though I have to catch a bus quite early (well, not early for you :-D). The only problem is that I only have very summer:y clothes and lounge clothes here… 😀
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Thank you! Those are great routines and help streamline your mornings, right? Soak up those last few days of magic at the cabin and in your casual summer clothes!
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I love this thought process of automatic things! My sister is a school teacher and she just says she has to make it to Labor Day before things start to settle into routine.
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Isn’t that the truth! Thank you!
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