Routines Rock: Evening Edition

When I first became a stay-at-home mom, I struggled to keep up with everything that had to be done.  I would sit down on the couch at the end of a long day and tell my husband, "I don't know how other women do this!"  It always felt like there was never enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that I thought I should be doing.

Thankfully, not long into my homemaking career, I came across the idea of creating routines {one for the morning, one for daytime, and one for the evening}.  As someone who naturally likes schedules, to-do lists, and the like, I was excited to put this tip into practice.  Now that I've been implementing routines for a while now, I am more confident than ever in their ability to simplify life.

So, this week I'd like to focus on routines, walking you through the process of creating your own.  Today, we're discussing evening routines and Wednesday we'll cover morning routines.  Then, on Friday, we'll talk about creating a flexible, but effective daytime routine.  Also, with each one, I'll share what mine looks like... just in case any of you are curious.  Deal?

First up: the evening routine.

Why the evening routine first?  Why not start with the morning routine? Well, if an evening routine is effective enough {meaning both planned and completed}, it can often alleviate most of the things that contribute to morning chaos.

Okay, Alana.  That makes sense, but how do you create an evening routine?

Glad you asked...

PREPARE FOR TOMORROW

The whole purpose of an evening routine is to both wrap up the loose ends of today, while making preparations for tomorrow.  But, in order to properly prepare, we must first identify what needs to be done each morning before we leave the house and/or start our day.

But, Alana, we haven't tackled our morning routine yet.

I know.  We will use this list as a starting point for our evening routine and then refer back to it when we tackle the morning routine.

To give you an idea of what I mean, I'd like to share my list of things that happen in the mornings at my house:

• Wake Up
• Exercise {3x per week... Well, it's supposed to happen anyways... I'm working on it.}
• Shower/Get Dressed
• Bible Study/Prayer
• Little Man Wakes Up
• Make/Eat Breakfast
• Little Man Gets Dressed/Brushes Teeth/ETC

Now, this isn't everything that we do before noon, of course, but it is what kicks off our day.  So, based on this list, there are several things I try to do the night before to help my mornings flow smoother {which is awesome for those of you who would not call yourself a "morning person"}:

• Set my alarm clock to make sure I wake up in time to exercise and/or do my Bible study.
• Lay out my exercise clothes and shoes on my dresser; Put the DVD in the DVD player.
• Chose tomorrow's outfit and Hang it on the hook in our bathroom.
• Gather my Bible and notebook, placing them on the dining table {where I read/study}.
• Do any breakfast prep work necessary for tomorrow's meal: cut up fruit, boil eggs, etc.
• Chose and lay out Little Man's clothes for the next day.
• Check my calendar and create a to-do list for tomorrow.

WRAP UP TODAY

{Pic found via Nourished Kitchen in a great post about soaking your grains, nuts, and legumes}

KITCHEN CLEAN UP

When step into your kitchen first thing in the morning, what do you normally see?  Are there dishes piled in your sink?  Crumbs all over your dining table?  Or do you see a clean room, ready to use?

If you answered "yes" to the questions about your sink and those crumbs, don't feel bad.  I've been there.  It wasn't too long ago that I'd have answered the same way because my kitchen was rarely ever clean before going to bed.  Eventually, I got tired of waking up to a cleanliness "hangover" from yesterday's dinner.

Now, I can honestly say that I end most nights with a clean kitchen.  But, it didn't happen overnight.  It took months of adding one extra tasks a night until it became a habit.  To start with, I simply tried to make sure my sink was empty.  Once I was consistent with that, I moved on to clearing and wiping down counters.  Then, lastly, {which has happened fairly recently} I've made sure that my floors are crumb-free before leaving the kitchen.

{Via}

WHOLE HOUSE PICK UP

This is another task that could have prevented months of frustrating mornings.  I would wake up to a living room floor covered in toys, a kitchen counter covered in unopened mail and old receipts, and a basket full of clean clothes that didn't get folded the day before.  Talk about waking up to stress!

Putting everything back in its place before bedtime is a great way to eliminate the cleanliness "hangover" that I spoke of earlier.  Here's what I do:

• Take fifteen minutes or so to walk around my house, putting things back where they belong.  
• Little Man is responsible for picking up all of his toys.
• The cluttered counter tops get taken care of when I clean up the kitchen.  
• The laundry gets folded and put away before my hubby gets home at the end of the day.  So, this technically isn't a part of my evening routine.  I'll come back to this when we discuss daytime routines on Friday.

GETTING READY FOR BED

Once you've prepared for tomorrow and wrapped up today's loose ends, the next step is to start preparing for bed.  First, if you have children, begin by writing down everything that they need to do {or you do with them} before going to sleep: getting a bath, putting on their pajamas, brushing their teeth, reading a story, saying prayers...  Next, after you know what you want them to do, determine what you need to do before you shut your eyes: put on your pajamas, brush your teeth, read your Bible, pray...

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

By now, you should have three lists: "Ways to Prepare for Tomorrow", "Ways to Wrap Up Today" and "Ways to Get Ready for Bed".  Congratulations!  You now know "what" needs to be done and that's half the battle!

Next, we'll  determine "when" these tasks need to take place.  To do this, you'll need to start with the time you need to be asleep.  To determine your bedtime, you've got to figure out what time you wake up, in order to ensure the proper amount of rest.

So, for example, I am trying to wake up at 5 o'clock on "exercise days" and 6 o'clock other mornings.  This means that I should go to bed at 9 pm on the days that I need to exercise and 10 pm on the days that I don't have to exercise, if I want to get 8 hours of sleep.  Realistically, though, the 9 pm bedtime just isn't going to happen most nights, but I try to shoot for 10:30 pm, at the absolute latest, whether I'm exercising or not.

When you know what time you need to go to bed, work backwards and start matching up times and tasks.  Use your "Ways to Get Ready for Bed" list first, since these are things you'll do right before you go to sleep.  Then, working backwards from your children's bedtime, plug in their getting-ready-for-bed tasks.

Next, grab your "Ways to Wrap Up Today" and your "Ways to Prepare for Tomorrow" lists and begin to plug those in.  The best time to clean up the kitchen and prep for tomorrow's breakfast may be right after dinner.  The best time to pick up the whole house might be fifteen minutes before you're supposed to start your children's bedtime routine.

A LOOK AT MY ROUTINE

If you're like me, it's sometimes easier to tweak an existing example than to start from scratch.  So, here's a look at my bedtime routine:

5:00 pm - Make Dinner

5:45 pm - Eat Dinner

6:30 pm - Hubby Spends Time with Little Man; I Clean Up Kitchen

7:30 pm - Whole House Pick Up
{Little Man Picks Up Toys; Hubby and I Straighten Everything Else}
                   

8:00 pm - Little Man's Bedtime Routine 
{Bath, PJ's, Brush Teeth, Read Story, Pray, Lights Out}

9:00 pm - Plan for Tomorrow 
{Check Calendar, Write a To-Do List, Set Up DVD and/or Lay Out Bible Study Supplies}

9:15 pm - Quality Time with Hubby or Quiet Time Pursuing Hobbies

10:00 pm - Get Ready for Bed
{Chose Clothes - regular and exercise - for Tomorrow, PJ's, Brush Teeth, 
Read Bible or Other Book, Say Prayers}

10:30 pm - Lights Out

A few things to note about my routine: I don't stick to it all the times.  Sometimes we are not even home until after Little Man's bedtime.  Other times, I run out of time to do one thing or another.  But, the point is, the routine is there and I stick to it as much as possible.  {If you have afternoon/evening plans on certain days of the week, consider creating two separate routines: one for when you're home and one for when your not.}

Keep in mind that even the most thoughtful, detailed routine won't do one ounce of good unless we put it into practice.  Trust me.  I'm the queen of creating a plan/routine/schedule and not sticking with it.  But, when I do, it makes a world of difference.

What are some ways you prepare for tomorrow
and/or wrap up today?



P.S. A HUGE "Thank You" to Lauren from MercyINK  for featuring this post on her weekly link up party on September 18th, 2012. If you write about anything related to heart or home and wish to join the Heart + Home Gathering at mercyINK, click HERE.

Blessings,

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