This.
One tip:
www.manilla.com
It takes a while to set everything up but you never have to pay bills again once you do it and its free. You have to like electronic banking to make it work however. Spend a few hours on a weekend setting everything up and sit back back for the rest of your life laughing at people hunched over at the kitchen table still writing checks.
That was hugely successful part of my life-automation project that I decided to try as an experiment last year. One of the other big successes was getting a higher model Roomba that vacuums for me every day when I am at work. I expect my place to be freshly cleaned every day when I come home from work or it is just a big POW right in the kisser. It is like being a 50’s husband without the hassle or stigma. I don’t have to clean much at all anymore and dusting is minimal too.
Full tank of gas.
When I have all my meals made and packed for the following day at work. Breakfast, snack, lunch (usually multiple components), all assembled and ready to go in containers in the fridge. If I didn’t do this the night before, I’d have to wake up 20-30 minutes earlier in the morning to get it ready, and…hell, no.
After all the children have gone home from one of my kids’ birthday parties and I have cleaned up I have this wonderful feeling of contentment because usually I have been getting things ready for the party for at least a week and now no one can possibly expect me to do anything. We will eat party leftovers for dinner and for now MY WORK HERE IS DONE.
RV fully prepped for an extended trip: oil change, propane full, water tank full, batteries charged, everything on board and stowed.
School starts Monday. Classroom is organized and for the next six weeks I have every handout, reading, and assignment I need for AP Macroeconomics and AP English Language printed out, copied, and put in order in the filing cabinet. Every key for the first 5 weeks is made up. This weekend is the “riding up the roller coaster” feeling, but it helps to know I am as ready as I can be.
On a smaller level: Every Sunday evening, no dirty laundry in the house, everything hanging or folded, all my outfits for the week queued up. I didn’t miss a Sunday for about 2 years, then I had a baby and that whole system went to hell. Trying to reestablish it now.
Sunday night. All the trash and all the recycling at the curb and ready to go.
Having all my files filed away properly. Knowing that I’ve defeated entropy, at least for the time being.
Clean and well-stocked kitchen. I can’t stand dirty kitchens.
I’d love to hear more about this - have you done threads about it? what else worked? what was a total failure? how have the changes stuck over time?
I love self-help books and improvement projects and all that jazz. 
I enjoy running and I try to run 25mi per week. I have been doing so for many years.
When I reach that magic number, I feel like I can now relax for the rest of the week.
And there are few moments as enjoyable to me as the feeling of satisfaction when I am heading home after a 10mi or 12mi run.
I often tell people that I run long distances because it feels so good to stop, and I’m only half kidding. It really does feel great to stop running at the end.
certainly my favorite thing about working out is when it’s over!
Why am I not surprised at how not-practical my all-set items are? I like a stack of books, a big bag of yarn and needle choices, and maybe a pot of soup. Once the coffee is done, I’m SET! for the day off.
On a day in the office, I’m all set when I pull an open shift report and the next couple of days look fully staffed…
Saturday morning cleaning.
It used to be my ritual - put the 1812 Overture on (how can you not clean to well timed cannonfire?), start laundry, clean the kitchen, the bathroom, put stuff away, and then vacuum. If the weather was anything under 85 degrees, open all the windows and turn on the fans. Light a vanilla scented candle.
I’d be all sweaty at the end, but by golly, the place was clean and well-ordered, and everything smelled like Mr. Clean, Comet, vanilla, and laundry soap. That is to say, it smelled right.
Many many scenarios for me - I am ALWAYS thinking ‘Be Prepared’. Like stocking the emergency pantry for winter: not a lot, not Mormon proportions, but a few canned goods, TP, pet food, litter, toiletries, ibuprofen and such, pasta and sauce, flour, sugar, liquor, coffee/tea, evaporated milk…similar, stuff in the freezer and refrigerator. Road salt in the garage to get up the driveway. All this NOT to be touched before winter, unless it is promptly replaced, because when the snow and ice is hammering us, I don’t want to have to jump in the car and risk my life just to get a box of kitty kibbles.
Sunday night: iron Mr. Sali’s shirts for the week, socks and underwear all put away in the drawer. There is no more chilling sound than “I can’t find any socks, are they still in the hamper?”. Or, “I’m running late, could you please quick iron me a blue shirt?”
This tempts me. We got an early-model Roomba shortly after they came out, but it wasn’t awesome, so we haven’t tried again. I hear the new ones are better so it might be worth giving it another try.
For me, a clean house and a stocked kitchen. As much as I like having company (and we have people over often), that “guests have just left” period where the house is company-clean and the fridge is full of leftovers is just great.
I love the idea of this thread. For some reason, I didn’t think other people would get this concept. I believe most of my time is spent in search of this feeling.
Me, too. I love to READ that stuff. Like when I come out of The Container Store, even if I didn’t buy anything, I FEEL more organized.
A stack of new books. Used to be a sack from Borders or B&N. Now it’s the UPS man delivering a box from amazon.
Also, slipping into a newly made bed after a shower: freshly washed sheets, featherbed fluffed and flipped, blankets washed, pillows have been outside baking in the 100-degree sun all day so that you smell the sunshine when you put your head on them. Aaahhh.
Drawer full of clean underwear. Makes me happy.
Just getting the random objects that accumulate on tables, bars, and countertops put away into their proper places.