Organize your Life with a Night Time Routine

 

This Night Time Routine can help you organize your life. Mornings can often be pretty hectic and stressful – trying to make breakfast, pack lunches, get children dressed, get yourself ready for work. There is a lot to do in sometimes very little time. Taking 30 minutes or less the night before to make a few next day preparations can help make your morning MUCH less stressful. Following a night time routine can make your life so much easier every morning.

Successful Habits and Night Time Routine to Help Organize Your Life

 

10 Minute Tidy

Set a timer for ten minutes after dinner and have your entire family straighten up. Take this time to wash the dishes and put dinner away, clear the table, pick up toys that are strewn about, straighten the sofa pillows, and just generally pick up all the items that are misplaced from being used that day.

Setting a timer to devote only ten minutes to this each evening will help the task seem less overwhelming. Not only will this help your home be more tidy and clean, but you’ll likely sleep better knowing the house is in order and be in a better mood when you wake up because your surroundings aren’t chaotic. Scientists have found that physical clutter negatively affects your ability to focus, process information. No wonder you feel overwhelmed!

Getting the entire family involved in this habit is helpful since many hands make light work. It will also help to instill this great habit into your children. Set the timer for ten minutes and see how much you all can get done. I have been doing this with my kids since they were little. We usually do this tidy around 5:00 pm in addition to the after dinner tidy on days we have been home. It helps keep things under control and it can easily be done in ten minutes or less. Even when you are super busy at home, it isn’t too hard to find ten minutes for this routine.

Lay Out Clothing & Items

Take 5 minutes while your children are bathing or before bedtime to lay out the clothing you and your children will be wearing the next day. In the early morning stress, it can be difficult to make wardrobe decisions or to get your children to cooperate with these decisions. Having your clothing planned the night before makes getting dressed a quick and easy task. And even young children can easily get themselves ready for school when their clothing, shoes, and socks are all laid out for them when they wake up.  Our

Our mini capsule wardrobes can make it simple to pick out an outfit. I had a reader write a tell me she prints out the capsule wardrobes and posts them right in her closet! She says it makes it so easy for her to find a great outfit.  This habit will also prevent last minute morning reminders of particular school days that require special clothing, such as crazy hair day, or other such themed school days. If you know at least the night before you can make sure that the appropriate clothing is clean and ready to be worn the following morning.

Apply this plan ahead principle as well to backpacks, school work, sporting items, and all other things that will need to be taken to school or work the next morning. It is much easier to find all these items when you are not in the morning rush.

Pre-Make Meals

Take a few minutes before bed or while you are waiting on dinner to cook to pre-make school lunches. Having those in the fridge ready to grab and go will save you a lot of stress in the morning.

You may also consider pre-making breakfasts as well. You could easily make a few batches of pancakes, breakfast burritos, boiled eggs, or muffins. Plan a free afternoon to pre-cook breakfasts and then all you’ll have to do is heat them up in the microwave and have a fast warm meal for everyone without much morning effort. This freezer friendly egg muffin recipe is wonderful. They take under a minute to heat in the microwave.

Make a Plan

Sit down at night before bed and go over the plan for the next day. Keeping a day planner or calendar will be helpful to keep your daily appointments and tasks organized.  I am a huge fan of my Erin Condren planner.  It is pricey but helps keep me on track and looks so cute too! (You can get $10 off if you shop through my link and are a new customer) Make a short to do list of things you need to accomplish the next day and double check your schedule to remind yourself of school and sporting activities that you can do a bit of preparation for the night before.

Having an idea before going to sleep of what the next day will entail will help you to be more prepared for the day and to sleep better without wondering if you are forgetting something.

5 Minute Family Talk

Make it a nightly habit to sit down as a family for a few minutes each night. You can see how everyone’s day was and double check to see what everyone’s plans are for the following day. This is a good time to go over your day planner or calendar as a family and make sure everyone is on the same page. This should help to eliminate a lot of stress in the morning with last minute reminders of things your children need to do or have done.

Spending about 30 minutes each evening preparing for the following day can create a much less stressful morning. What are some ways you remove stress from your morning routine?

Have you joined our clean & organize challenge yet?  This challenge can help you organize your life all year!

 

Looking for more ways to simplify and organize your life?  Check out these articles

How to Get Organized at Home

How to Keep a House Clean – Simple Steps

Easy Tips to Make a Home Inventory