Weekends: Scheduling Vs. Unscheduling?

Grumpy Rumblings prompted me to write about whether I prefer to schedule my time for the weekends as opposed to not scheduling. Over the years, we’ve definitely tried both approaches, but finally have come to the conclusion that we prefer to a more scheduled weekend.

I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot since the beginning of the year, and have spent time evaluating how we want to spend our weekends. I’ve tried to determine:

• What each member of the family both needs and wants to do during a weekend
• What we need and want to do during a weekend as a family
• What my husband and I need to do together

NEEDS:

• My son needs to go his 2.5 hour coding class
• My daughter needs some alone time, and time to write
• We need to get groceries, and complete necessary household chores
• My husband is on a tennis team, with scheduled matches on a weekend
• My son, who is the proud owner of one of the fastest metabolisms known to man yet is also maybe one of the pickiest eaters ever, needs to eat 3-4 LARGE meals a day, with lots of protein as he has to gain weight (this, in addition to two weight gaining shakes a day)
• My husband and I need date nights once a week–this includes nights out with couple friends, concerts, dinner parties, plays, movies, etc. Yes, I did say “need.” YMMV.
• I need to work out both days, preferably Orange Theory Fitness classes which includes both HIIT and strength training. Again, with the need. I definitely need to work out.

WANTS:

• We host at least one joint family dinner on a Friday night with one of the twins’ school friends and their families, once a month. This has been a lot of fun, and we’ve enjoyed getting to know families better.
• Playdates with friends for both kids
• I like to cook and bake. This weekend I’m going to make this lemon rosemary cake that was inspired by my mom’s poem “Lemon Bread”!
• We usually like to complete one household project a weekend, like organizing our linen closet, decluttering a bedroom, or cleaning out a bathroom cabinet for example.
• My husband likes to watch TV or read in a quiet area by himself for a few hours
• I like to do something that is relaxing by myself, like a massage (we have a bunch of free points at our gym that allow us to get these for free every once in a while!), a pedicure, or even a nap.

Obviously, it can be difficult to meet every single one of these wants and needs. But we can fit more into a weekend, if we plan. Also–it’s more budget friendly to book ahead. For date nights, we plan ahead as much as we can, scheduling activities with friends, booking events, restaurants, and most importantly babysitters often months ahead of time. Same with the family dinners, as you have to work with the calendars of two other adults, and multiple children, which is complicated.

That’s not to say that spontaneity doesn’t play a role in our weekends. As you’ll see from our message board, last Sunday looked wide open–but not mentioned was grocery shopping, household chores and Orange Theory Fitness in the morning. However, our afternoon was relatively free, so when a friend invited us to a family event we were able to fit it in. This long weekend, we will be fitting in a “Black Panther” showing–although showtimes are booking up fast! We probably will need to buy tickets tonight. So much for “on the fly”–ha.

There is room for improvement. We should host more playdates than we do, as the kids’ are invited to playdates more than we host them. One of the household projects we will tackle soon is revamping the big kids’ “rec room” downstairs, with an easy-to-use TV, computer for gaming and better organization for the legos, robotics equipment, EV3, etc. I also want to get a ping pong table, as all of us enjoy playing ping pong. I think it would be fun for friends to play during playdates, although we have a great basketball court area that no one ever uses, so maybe not? These are indoor kids.

What do you prefer–scheduled or unscheduled weekends? Would love to hear about your schedules and tips.