How To Get Your Weekend Hours Back

In 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially included burnout in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon. And many South Africans are struggling with this. 

WHO notes that “Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. 

Ideally, to overcome this, we should be using our weekends as a time to relax and recharge. But we are not. Instead of relaxing, we’re doing chores around the house, catching up on life admin and worrying about the week ahead. 

So, just how can we better use our weekends to rest and recharge? How do we take our weekend hours back without actually falling behind on the tasks we would usually do over those two days? Here are five ways to claim back your weekend. 

1. Spread tasks among family members  

If you are finding that you are doing most of the household tasks yourself and that everyone else is enjoying a care-free weekend, the first step is to spread these tasks out a bit more. Your older teenager is very capable of meal planning for the week ahead, while your partner can certainly help a bit more with life admin. You don’t need to take on everything yourself. Get the whole family involved and you will find that things get done a lot quicker, which leaves you with time to relax and enjoy the weekend. Use the app OurHome to coordinate chores – family members can create to-do lists and assign tasks to each other, such as wiping counters or setting the table, with a note box allowing comments to be added. 

2. Get outside help 

Sometimes it’s just better to outsource the work because you simply can’t get to everything. If this is the case, look into services such as SweepSouth. Yes, they have SweepStars who help clean the inside of your house, but did you know that they have outdoor services too? This especially comes in handy when you need garden services and someone to help clean those gutters, cut the grass and do general maintenance on the outside of your house. You can book these services over the weekend to take place during the week and tick one more thing off your list of worries and concerns.

3. Get away from the house

As a treat to yourself and your family, you can also just go away for the weekend. When you are away from home and on holiday, you are less likely to feel inclined to do chores or life admin. Take a break for a few days. Head to somewhere where you can lose signal and just relax for a while. You will find that with more hours on your hands, you can get to that reading you’ve been wanting to do or simply just laze the day away. 

4. Prepare for your Monday on a Friday

Many of us get the “Sunday blues” where we spend so much of our Sunday worrying about Monday and the week ahead. A great way to combat this is to prepare for your following week on the Friday before. Make a to-do list of what tasks you will need to tackle on Monday, what you want to get done and what your week will look like. This way, you not only feel more prepared heading into the week, but you also won’t be stressed on a Sunday night wondering what your week has in store. 

5. Shop online 

Let’s be honest – many of us use our weekends to shop and stock up the house. This can easily take hours out of your day as it includes driving, walking, browsing and getting distracted, too. Shopping online can help with this. With online shopping, you just search for the items you want and you are not browsing aisles and stores you don’t need. And it gets delivered to your door, so there’s no travel time either. 

Claim your weekend back and set yourself up for more rest, more relaxation and less burnout in your life!