Our morning and evening routines are very important parts of the day. Have you ever had a chaotic morning that put you in a bad mood for the rest of the day? Our morning sets the tone for the rest of the day, and our evenings can be used to wrap up all the day’s activities, get the family together for dinner, prepare for the next day, and then have time to relax together.
Morning Routine
The first step to a smooth-running morning is to wake up on time. DO NOT HIT THAT SNOOZE BUTTON! If you do, you’ll be racing around all morning trying to catch up. You need every minute you can get in the morning. By the way, your wake up time should be planned the night before. Make sure you have time to do everything in your morning routine before going to work or starting tasks at home.
Try to keep your morning routine the same every day so you don’t even have to think about it. It also helps your kids to know what they need to do without being told. Everybody’s responsibilites are different, so you’ll have to plan according to your own circumstances, but try to make time for some basic things that should be done in your mornings, such as breakfast, exercise, and getting dressed. After getting dressed, I think it helps to spend about 30 minutes doing some basic things around the house, such as straightening up clutter, loading the dishwasher, checking on dinner ingredients, and feeding pets. So after that, if you’ve kept to your morning routine, you should be ready to either leave for work or, if staying home, be ready to start your tasks at home.
Evening Routine
Your evening routine starts when you get home from work or school, or when you start fixing dinner. For me that starts about 4:00. If you’ve been working all day, you might even want to start a load of laundry before starting dinner and then finish it after dinner. Dinnertime will probably take about two hours for cooking, eating, and cleaning up. If you have kids, they could be doing homework while you’re fixing dinner. That will give everybody more free time after dinner. After dinner, I like to plan the next day’s dinner and get meat out of freezer to thaw and check for missing ingredients that you might need to get at the store the next day.
After dinner is over, we should take about an hour to finish up tasks for the day such laundry, checking kids’ homework, etc. Then we need to take about 30 minutes to prepare for the next day. This is crucial for making your morning go smoothly. You MUST plan ahead. So, first you have to plan your next day’s schedule. Then get you and your children’s clothes ready for the next day. Also, put together everything you need to take with you in the morning, such as purse, coat, lunch, and list for the store. If you have kids, help them to get all of their things together, including their lunch, bookbags, signed permission slips, etc.
If possible, make it a goal to be done and ready to relax with your family by 8:00. Everybody’s worked hard all day and need time together for fun and relaxation.Since you’ve planned the next day’s schedule, you know what time you need to wake up the next day. So count backwards and make sure you go to bed in time to get enough sleep. Most people need to wind down before going to bed, so about one hour before going to bed, have a getting-ready-for-bed routine such as brushing teeth, washing face, setting alarm clock, etc. Then for the last 30 minutes read or relax before going to bed.
You’ve worked hard today and prepared for tomorrow. You need and deserve to spend time with your family and have time for yourself. Come back tomorrow as we learn how to plan for FUN.