As women, we are so good at handling everything. We manage our businesses, our careers, our households and that doesn’t leave much time for anything else. We then end up exhausted, stressed out and often depressed. What could you do if you had just a little more time in the day, a little more energy, a little more freedom?

Here are 40 ideas to help you upgrade your life so you can get more done without all the stress of having done it yourself and have the boosted energy and confidence to do the things you actually want.

40 Ideas to Upgrade Your Life TODAY

1. Create a wake up routine you look forward to
   • What makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning (or whatever time you jump out of bed)? Is it the coveted first cup of coffee? The quiet of a household that isn’t yet awake? Maybe you love going for a run just as the sun is coming up or taking your dog to the park before it’s crowded with people. Find at least one thing to look forward to in the morning and add it to your routine. Find more ideas here: How to create a wake up routine
2. Work out and shower before work starts
   • Showering and getting dressed for the day when you work from home is rare. Move your workout time to the morning so you’ll be compelled to shower after and be completely refreshed for whatever the day holds.
3. Create a bedtime routine that you look forward to and makes you feel relaxed so you can fall asleep quickly
   • Take a bath, give yourself a facial, meditate, read a book… whatever helps you wind down from your busy day.
4. Take a nap
   • Feeling a little out of it and unable to focus? Research shows that there are two kinds of naps that leave you feeling refreshed – 20 minutes gives you a quick boost of energy to improve mood, sharpen focus, and reduce fatigue and 90 minutes allows you a full cycle of sleep including REM. This helps you clear your mind, aids in creativity, emotional and procedural memory, and allows you to recover from any lost sleep you experienced during the night. 
5. Leave work early 1 day per month (or week!) for nails, massage, facial, hair, shopping, happy hour, etc. – don’t forget to set your out of office reply so people know you won’t be getting back to them right away!
6. Hire a personal trainer
   • Prioritizing your health has exponential benefits. If you hate going to the gym like I do, a personal trainer is your best bet. Many will even come to you!
7. Read one book per month for an escape from reality
   • Business books are great, but nothing beats a fiction novel to break you away from your day.
8. Buy quality, well fitting clothes and shoes
   • You’ll feel better about yourself and you’ll have invested in pieces that will last a long time.
9. Spend more time outside
   • Nature – the ultimate boost for energy and creativity
10. Hire a maid
    • Save yourself at least 4 hours per week of chores
11. Hire a personal assistant
    • Send someone else to run all those errands!
12. Take control of your calendar by blocking out your lunch break and blocks of focus time throughout the day
13. Delegate things that are not within your skillset or things you just dread doing
    • This could be anything from having your kid wash the dishes to hiring a writer to handle your blog.
14. Use a laundry service
    • Sending out all your dirty clothes, bedding, towels, etc to be laundered can save you HOURS of time each week or month.
15. Have your groceries delivered
    • My favorite service! I despise the grocery store. Plus I never wind up with a bunch of crap I didn’t need.
16. Hire a dog walker
    • Unless this is part of your workout routine, hiring a dog walker can save you 5–7 hours per week.
17. Hire a pet taxi service for vet visits, grooming and daycare
    • A lot of pet sitters and dog walkers offer this service, too!
18. Coordinate transportation for your kids’ many extracurricular activities
    • You can hire someone, ask friends or family to do it, or get involved in carpooling.
19. Enable autoship for the things you buy on a regular basis
    • No more, “oh shit we’re out of dog food again!”
20. Turn a small space in your house into a retreat
    • This could be your bathroom (for at home spa days), your bedroom, or a corner in your office. Designate it as a “me only” zone and banish all who attempt to enter during your quiet time.
21. Find a dedicated space for your work zone that you can’t see when you’re not working
    • Out of sight, out of mind! If you work from home, it can be really hard to turn off work when it’s sitting out in the open. If you can’t find a space away from where you relax, at least put away your laptop and paperwork in a place that can’t be seen. Make sure you turn off work notifications on your phone, too!
22. Hire a personal stylist
    • Upgrade your personal style with some great fitting clothes that someone else picked out for you! A personal stylist will help you look and feel your absolute best and really boost your confidence.
23. Buy some indoor plants to bring nature inside
24. Invest in comfortable patio furniture or upgrade your cushions so you’ll want to spend more time outside
25. Upgrade your wifi so you can work outside (because of what I said above)
26. Plan a day trip to a nearby city or town that you have yet to explore
    • It’s like a vacation without having to pay for a hotel or plane ticket.
27. Subscribe to a monthly meal kit to reduce decision fatigue at dinner time
    • I recently subscribed to Home Chef because we fell into a funk of having the same meals every week. The meal kits made me feel like a chef and reignited my creativity in the kitchen.
28. Spend one day per week planning and prepping meals for the week – or better yet, hire someone to do it for you!
    • Meal prep takes a long time, but saves you so much time during the week. A personal chef will give you back even more time and you’ll have healthy meals all week long.
29. Use a project management tool to keep you on track
    • There are tons of free options to choose from – Asana, Trello, or even Gmail (with a combination of calendar, reminders and tasks) can help you plan and stay on top of all your projects.
30. Hire a nanny or get a regular babysitter
31. Send your kids to an after school program
32. Learn how to prioritize – and delegate everything else
    • Use this handy “Is it a priority?” map to help you.
33. Hire a bookkeeper or finance manager to keep track of your finances for you
    • Get hold of where all your money is going by having someone else figure out the budget for you.
34. Scan all important documents into your computer and throw away whatever you don’t need original copies of
35. Organize your files and folders so things are easier to find (or hire a VA do it)
36. Buy a filing cabinet, file box, or accordion folder for original documents – like birth certificates, passports, marriage license, etc.
37. Hire an online business manager or virtual assistant to handle the operational side of your business so you can stay in your “zone of genius”.
38. Hire a lawn service – 2 to 4 hours or more saved per month!
39. Subscribe to Grove Collaborative to receive monthly sustainable cleaning supplies
    • Don’t want to hire a maid because you actually love cleaning? At least do it with sustainable products! Grove has amazing products that are safe to use around your kids and pets – my favorite are the vinegar wipes. They seriously clean better than clorox wipes! Go to https://www.grove.co/ to sign up and see what all the fuss is about.
40. Ask for help!
    1. You don’t have to hire out everything! Ask your partner, kids, family or friends to help out with some of the above to free up your time.

Really want to do some of these things, but not sure how you’d ever be able to pay for them? Check out this list of money making ideas to bring in some extra cash asap!