Tips and things you'd recommend to help

I recommend reading 1 book on each topic:

openings, strategy, tactics, endgames, annotated game collection.

For openings it could be a repertoire book or just a book on an opening you want to learn better (Sicilian, French, English, etc).

You can also consider the main categories of activities:

Playing, studying, drills.

For study, I like to pick a subject (like strategy) and make that my topic for at least a month. Then I might split my time between reading some out of a book, and playing games. Or doing drills and reading. Or playing and reading. etc. The point being that you don't have to do every thing on every day.

Drills are e.g. solving tactical puzzles, reviewing technical endgames, reviewing your opening repertoire.

And remember that improvement in chess, like improvement in other complex skills, is measured in years, not weeks or months. If your rating doesn't go up every single month don't worry about it, that's normal. Be sure to review any games you play. If it's a speed game that only lasted 5 minutes, maybe only spend 5 minutes on it, but at least spend a little time. For example use an opening database online to review you and your opponent's opening choices.

Possibly of interest:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/7192.pdf
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/excerpts/OpeningsForAmateurs%20sample.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Seirawan stuff
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm