After a busy working week, you no doubt look forward to some time to yourself at the weekend.

However, when Sunday finally arrives, you might find yourself preoccupied with household chores, life admin, childcare, or preparing for Monday morning.

Before you know it, the weekend is over. You’re back at work without feeling rested or like you properly stopped or even slowed down at all.

The French do things a little differently. Traditionally, Sunday in France is treated as a genuine day of rest. Shops close, families spend hours around the lunch table, and there’s no pressure to use the day “productively”.

This has recently become known as the “French slow Sunday”. Here are three simple ways you could bring some of this attitude into your own weekends.

1. Permit yourself to be unproductive

Doing “nothing” might sound easy, but what about in practice? If you’re used to a busy schedule, an empty Sunday afternoon could simply provide time to dwell on all the jobs you could be doing instead.

You might decide to clean the kitchen, catch up on emails, or tackle one of the many other tasks you’ve been putting off for some time. But try to resist this urge.

You don’t need to earn a period of rest by completing every task first. There will nearly always be another job waiting for you, so you could easily miss the chance to completely switch off.

Instead, allow yourself a few hours where achieving nothing is the entire goal. Read a book, sit outside with a cup of tea, or simply see where the day takes you.

2. Take your time over something you might normally rush

A long Sunday lunch is often an important part of a traditional French weekend. Rather than eating quickly before moving on to the next activity, families and friends might spend several hours around the table eating, drinking, and talking.

You don’t need to painstakingly recreate a five-course French feast to borrow the idea. Instead, it’s worth choosing something you normally rush and deliberately giving it more time during the day.

For example, you could cook breakfast and make a point of sitting to eat together as a family, rather than rushing out the door and picking up something quick and easy. Or you might take the dog for an extra-long walk without worrying about what time you’ll get back.

Over time, slowing down could become a more familiar part of your day, allowing you to appreciate daily events such as your morning coffee, rather than viewing them as another item on your list to tick off.

3. Make Sunday different from the rest of your week

Perhaps one of the main reasons why French Sundays can feel slower is that the day plays out differently to the rest of the week.

With many shops and businesses closed, there’s simply less to do.

In the UK, however, where shopping and entertainment are available almost constantly, you may need to create boundaries yourself.

You might decide not to check work emails on a Sunday or avoid doing the weekly food shop on that day. Or, if you spend too much of your working week staring at screens, you could leave your phone in another room for a few hours and do something more tangible and non-digital instead.

This isn’t to say you necessarily need to ban technology entirely or set yourself strict rules. Instead, the aim is to stop Sunday becoming just another day.

Even creating a small difference on a Sunday compared to the rest of the week could make the weekend feel longer and give you a clearer break between one working week and the next.

Get in touch

Please contact us if you’d like some support managing your finances as you focus on spending your Sunday relaxing. De Mellow & Co’s expert financial planners are on hand to help.

SJP Approved 03/11/2026