How do you spend your weekends?

[SwirlingSea]

This summer has been so good for my family. We’ve got it tough at the moment due to a variety of things.
I want more weekends to be slower and more relaxed and more time to have fun rather than stressed out and miserable by Sunday because things still need to get done and no fun was had.
How do you get good weekends from time to time? Does it take a lot of planning? Do you just book stuff in?
Give me ideas please.

I do the food shop on a Saturday morning. Try to do all the housework, washing, chores and errands as well then have Sunday to do nothing/what I like. I usually go swimming then to a cafe with friends on Sunday morning then home to lie on the sofa, watch TV/read etc.

No kids here though.

Saturday - fun.
Sunday - get stuff done.

I get all my chores done on a Thursday so when I get home on a Friday, I'm free to do whatever I fancy. No kids here though.

Knitting, crochet, cross stitch, sewing etc

Weekends for us are generally the days that we get things done around the house, we never go to the shops on the weekend, for instance.
Occasionally we'll go on picnics or to the beach in the summer, but that doesn't happen too often.
It's weekdays that we're busy from early morning till late at night but I like being busy and although weekends are relaxing I find them a bit boring.

I love weekends! We usually manage something fun amongst the other stuff.

sometimes we go somewhere, sometimes we don’t. We might have friends over to go over to friends. We usually get in some exercise, running for me, cycling for DH. Dd2 often has work so we work around that. Dd1 is at uni but home for summer. She will also run.

we chill together. Use the garden a lot, have bbqs whenever the weather is nice. I couldn’t do the sort of weekend where you only get jobs done. How dull.

Housework mainly gets saved for the weekend. It usually takes a couple of hours max, including batch cooking for the next week.

I might meet up with friends or family, laze around with the cat, catch up on admin, go to the gym, go for a long walk or visit somewhere I’ve been wanting to see, either by myself or with company.

No kids here either though.

I work weekends and have done for years.
My 2 days off I have one practical day and one leisure/ fun day.
DC are adult now.

We both have physical jobs so look forward to doing nothing at the weekend.

I don't think there's much of a pattern. Yesterday, we went to the farmer's market in the morning, and had a late breakfast in the garden, followed by going to a family member's book launch in the late afternoon and then DS (13) went to have dinner with DH and his parents and sisters, and I went out for dinner and a drink afterwards with some of the book launch people. Today DH is in another city for a gig, DS is out with friends, and I'm at my desk. Next weekend we're all away by the sea for a few days, as DS goes back to school within a couple of days. Last weekend we stayed with friends and had a wonderful time poking around a lot of little islands you can only get to with your own boat.

Weekends are our work time (OH works Sat & Sun) leaving the rest of the week free so most things are done in reverse.

A perfect week would be spending a day or so doing a few jobs around the house & garden and then away for a couple of nights in the MoHo having a midweek break (when sites & destinations are quieter).

Just us and two Ddogs.

We’re retired so weekends aren’t any different to weekdays usually except that DH goes off to the village on a Sunday morning for a coffee and gossip with anyone who stands still long enough 🙄 while I do the chores and get dinner ready. I don’t go with him because two hours of hacking with random strangers doesn’t appeal to me!
I can do pretty much as little or as much as I feel like any day 🤷🏼‍♀️

We currently lose half the day on Saturday to bloody swimming so we keep Sunday free for a family day.

I have Fridays off so use that day to clean and organise and get any jobs done . Then sat daughter has tap early then free to chill at home or go shopping or something . Sundays they both have cheer in the afternoon .

When my DS was small we'd go to the park or swimming and then visit my parents for tea on one of the days, other day would be more weather dependent - if nice back to the park, perhaps with friends, or a trip to the city centre for a short museum/ gallery visit, visit to friends, if the weather was awful, a quick outing to splash in puddles, then home to make a cake and maybe watch a movie. We didn't have a car, or a lot of money, but really needed to get out every day. It was a bit samey, but DS was happy.

I had a supermarket delivery once a fortnight, then picked up milk/bread etc on the walk home from school, so didn't have a big shop to do at the weekend. I didn't do a big clean, but cleaned as I went, and had low standards.

As he got older there was football on Saturday, then more time with friends at our place or theirs. We still go for the odd walk in the park though - even teens like getting an ice-cream bought for them

DH and I are both teachers so Sunday is usually our work day. Saturday is for pottering, seeing people etc. We have a cleaner every fortnight so she keeps on top of most of the jobs and we just have to give things a quick swoosh.
We do an online shop so we don't waste weekend time at the supermarket, although we might pop somewhere for a few bits that we fancy. DD is 18 now so mostly off working or doing her own thing and will soon be at uni so we don't have kids to entertain.
I have spent many hours this summer holiday doing A LOT of prep work for school and I'm about to finish a qualification I've been working towards so I am hoping to get back some more Sundays in this school year for hobbies and exercise.

Sundays are my rest day after working all week so I chill in my nightie and do the bare minimum

Ours generally follow the routine of an early rise for me on Sat morning and a quick drive to the beach with my mates for a sea swim and coffee. Back home for mid morning for grocery delivery. Afternoon is normally 'jobs'..mowing the lawn, gardening, cooking, car washing and a dog walk then dinner with friends.
Sunday is free day - we go out as a family, roast in the evening and early night.

No kids here.

Saturday I clean the house and do the laundry.

Sunday my partner always comes over around 11am. So we snuggle on the sofa, watch TV, generally end up between the sheets for the afternoon ☺️

Saturday morning load of washing on 1st thing then meal plan and food shop. Often batch cook Saturday afternoon and prepare evening meal while DH is busy with DIY or in the garden. Tend to watch a movie together in the evening. Sunday I like a long run and/ or church in the morning ( used to be DS football) in between more washing, DH deep cleans the kichen and cooks in the afternoon while I tackle the bathrooms- sometimes go to see my parents.

DSC are here alternate weekends and are now 17&16 so one of goes to work for 10hrs over the 2 days, the other has a hobby that takes out most of Sunday, we then ferry them around to parties/cinema etc.

DH and I use that weekend to get all house jobs done with an occasional outing with the teens thrown in when they can fit us in 😂 although we now tend to do this during the week!
The weekend they are their mums we take time for ourselves, dinner, long walks, movies cuddled on the sofa with the dog or in this weather day in the garden listening to music and chatting

Thanks everyone. I think a big issue for me is dealing with food. It must sound ridiculous but I feel shopping, thinking about what to cook and then prepping it takes up a lot of my time.
Getting a take away is too expensive these days so we only do that once a fortnight. I try to cook things that are a bit nicer on the weekend but it’s taking too much of my time.
I think this is where I need to make changes.