My Night Routine
Before COVID-19, I was on top of things. I had all sorts of systems and tricks for keeping our lives together. However, as quarantine lasted longer and longer, a lot of my systems fell by the wayside as we were just trying to survive. After six months, I have re-instituted some of the old systems with modifications for our current reality.
One of the biggest systems I had was my night routine. I have a secret, well it’s not really a secret. It’s more of a confession. I am not a morning person. I am on the struggle bus when it comes to anything before 10 am, but whether we have our life together or not, we have responsibilities that have to get done. So to alleviate the stress early mornings bring I have a night routine to start the week off right.
Organize clothes
On Pinterest, there are several tips and tricks for getting organized. Check out my favorite ideas on Kids Organization Board. I prefer to hang the kid’s outfits with socks so that there is not arguing or thinking involved in the morning. Mama ain’t got time for that! Corrina has a definite and loves to put together her outfits. As the Jerod gets older, I will let him lay out his outfits, too.
I also lay out my outfit. I know that I have absolutely no where to go. I am working from home, but lately, I have realized that staying in pjs all day or workout clothes does not make me feel like I am together. I currently have so many beautiful clothes that I wanted to rediscover. But when I lay out tops with bottoms and accessories, I can be pulled together, even though I am not fully awake yet.
Plan Meals
Ben Franklin has a quote, “If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This is true for me and meal planning. I make those decisions on Sunday night and during the week I will refer back to the plan and make sure that I have everything I need on the ready, so I can easily move into preparing meals and keeping our schedule on point. There is nothing worse that waiting until six to try and figure out what to fix. It usually ends with either getting delivery or it is after 8 before we eat.
Also, I like to know that my little ones are getting good nutrition, so planning our meals is important. I have also found that when I didn’t at least I have an idea of what we would be eating for breakfast and supper, we usually end up eating crap food and that’s no good. Because I buy in bulk, I also have to take some things out the freezer so thaw overnight and be ready for the day I need it.
Pack bags
On the rare occasion we have somewhere to go, I pack what we need the night before. I also make sure that we have extra masks and sanitizer, just in case. When I am really on top of my game, I go ahead and put them in the car. Once I was in the bathroom changing the baby and realized that I only had one diaper. Ack! I had to cut my trip short for fear of the dreaded blowout. Never again! I make sure that I am stocked. (Obviously this incident happened before quarantine. You wouldn’t catch me in a public restroom now to save my life.)
Check Email
Back in the day when I was a teacher, I learned to not bring work home. As a mom, I want to spend time with my family, so I used to have a policy to leave work at work. Since working from home, I have set boundaries and limits to when and how I work. At first, like many of us I was overwhelmed with trying to maintain the same level of productivity. I didn’t and I couldn’t. So I adjusted to a work schedule that makes more sense for our family.
After the kids are asleep and in bed, I will do a quick check of my email to see if there are any appointments, or urgent business that I need to be prepared for. While I try not to schedule morning meetings on Monday, sometimes, you have to do it. And ultimately, I will forget it.
Write out my To Do List and plan my schedule.
I have a highly sophisticated method that I have finally fine tuned into a system that works for me. For my To Do List, I write a quick list of everything I know that has to get done. I will then cross check it with my running list of to dos. I will highlight anything I know I will not get to. I, then, schedule my To Dos. I try to be specific and measurable so that I can feel accomplished. I then schedule when I will complete each task.
These five things are simple ways to make sure that you are prepared for the next week. My night routine helps me get each day started off right. I have been so much more productive and back on top of our game. I hope this helps you and I hope you have a great week!
