My Sunday Reset Routine: A Realistic Checklist for a Calmer Week

A Sunday reset is simply a little time to take care of yourself, your home and the week ahead. Mine fits around the Sunday I actually want to have.

I want Monday to feel easier because of a few things I did on Sunday, but I still want a day off. So my rule is very simple: do something for Sunday. Do something for Monday.

Put a load of laundry on, then make croissants. Freshen up the bathroom and take your time getting ready. Change the sheets, then disappear underneath a blanket to watch Formula 1 with crisps and a Coke.

There is no fixed order, and some weeks I do less than others. The useful things and the lovely things both belong here.

My Sundays tend to begin early, but they rarely begin productively. Coffee comes first: sometimes in bed together, sometimes downstairs on my own with YouTube on.

Breakfast is often something a little nicer than an ordinary weekday breakfast. Croissants are very welcome here. On a morning when I’m awake before Bas, I might already be making them by the time he comes downstairs.

There is no rush to get dressed and no need to turn the morning into something useful immediately. I think this is part of the reset, too. The week contains enough appointments and places to be. Sunday morning gets to feel different.

Sunday is usually hair-wash day for me, which means it quite easily turns into an everything-shower day. And I fully commit.

I wash my hair, take time over a scrub, and do my skincare properly: a double cleanse and a good mask afterwards. The whole getting-ready ritual can easily take me an hour and a half. I enjoy having the time for it.

Your version might be much shorter. Use the steps and products that already suit you; this is a moment to enjoy your usual care routine, with a little less rushing.

I’ll often put the washing machine on beforehand, so something practical is quietly happening in the background.

Occasionally there are PR packages waiting for me, too. Sunday is a lovely time to open them properly and enjoy what’s inside. It’s a small part of my own working life that sometimes finds its way into a very ordinary Sunday.

I tend to notice the little things that will annoy me during the week and deal with those. While I’m in the bathroom, for example, I might clean the bathroom unit and the toilet. I replenish the towels and washcloths so we have enough to grab all week without thinking about it.

The washing machine is usually already going. And most Sundays, I strip the bed.

Fresh bedding on a Sunday evening is one of life’s great tiny luxuries. Knowing that a clean bed is waiting upstairs somehow makes the entire evening better.

This is the housekeeping that makes a difference to me: clean sheets, a fresh bathroom and the everyday things ready to use. Once those are taken care of, I’m happy to leave the rest for another day.

During Formula 1 season, Bas and I usually end up on the sofa for the race, whenever it’s on. Blanket, crisps, Coke. I look forward to it.

Food on Sundays tends to go to one of two extremes in our house. Either I have plenty of time and decide to cook something elaborate, or we order dinner. There seems to be very little middle ground, and I’m perfectly happy with both options.

We often eat on the sofa while watching a film or a series. Afterwards we’ll make another coffee, and quite often there is some good chocolate involved.

This is as much a part of my Sunday reset as changing the bed. You don’t have to earn the sofa by completing a checklist. The sofa was part of the plan.

Later in the evening, I do one last little reset. I look at my calendar for the coming week: meetings, appointments, days that require something different, anything I’d rather know about before the morning arrives.

Then I choose my outfits. I have a clothing rail in the bedroom, so I roughly plan what I want to wear during the week and hang everything together.

It saves me an astonishing amount of time in the mornings. It also saves decisions. Sunday-evening Esther can spend a few minutes choosing; Monday-morning Esther can simply get dressed.

I make sure the bathroom towels and washcloths are topped up. The bed is fresh, I know what the week looks like, and my clothes are ready. That is enough.

I usually head upstairs fairly early, watch a little television in bed and fall asleep listening to an audiobook.