The key to a good day, I have found is to prepare the night before. Mornings are always hectic with arguments with the children about getting ready. I discovered that the more I prepare the night before the more smoothly the day goes. Listed below are a few of the best techniques that I use to try and feel ready for the day.
Dishwasher
All the dishes from the day get loaded into the dishwasher straight after dinner. This clears the house of any cooking food smells, tidies up the dining table and kitchen all in one step. I then use one of my favourite functions on appliances today DELAY TIMER this button is amazing! I fill all the dishes and then delay timer until the time that I am due to get up in the morning. Then I forget about it, by morning it is all clean! Like magic!
Washing
Delay Timer
Every evening before bed I load the Washing machine. By doing a little bit every day we never run out of clean uniforms etc and we never feel we are drowning under an immense washing pile. I then set the delay timer (yes my favourite thing again) for the load to finish as we get up in the morning.
Clean counters/dining table
Clean Counters
After dinner before the children are put to bed, I run a bowl of water quickly wipe down the counters, dining table and the cooker top (especially if my husband has been cooking… it’s like a food splatter massacre!) This means that once the children are in bed, I can crash for the evening and know that the house is tidy and clean.
10 minute pick up
Just prior to the children going to bed I run round and do a quick 10 minute pick up of everything that is out of place. All the children’s toys and clothes and other random abandoned items, are all deposited in their rooms before they are put to bed for the evening. This way the grown ups can stretch out on the sofa without having a piece of Lego in their back. I personally find it a lot better for relaxing and sleeping, if the house has been tidied up.
Packed lunches
I try and prepare all the packed lunches for the next day the night before. This prevents trying to throw a half-hearted lunch together in the morning. This also helps massively with sticking to any diet plans. Favourites in our house at the moment are cheese dunkers for the children and pasta salad for the grown ups.
Breakfast prep
Fridge Oats
I absolutely love the fridge oats, they are healthy, filling and take next to no time to make. There are hundreds of recipes on the internet, however I will share my “not so secret” recipe with you at a later date. So I prepare my breakfast the night before and then in the morning all I have to do is microwave them in the morning and enjoy. Minimal preparation and minimal clean up, win win in my opinion.
Workout
Last thing before I completely run out of my get up and go is my workout. I love a workout of around 30 minutes as I get bored exceptionally quickly and usually spend that time thinking about all the more helpful tasks I could be completing instead. I also find that having a TV show on while I complete my workout helps pass the time quicker without me getting fed up. You should look for a workout that you enjoy doing, failing that you should find a workout that gets the job done! I have just completed P90X3 and after three months of working out, I can assure you I still hate working out!
Clothes
When I am hoping to be SUPER organised, I will also lay out my clothes that I plan to wear the next day. This only works on occasion though as I often change my mind in the morning or the weather means that what I had chosen wouldn’t be comfortable. I’ve tried checking the weather forecast before bed but have yet to find an accurate forecast.
These little evening prepare routines help my morning and in fact my whole day run smoother. These work for me however there are probably other things that you may find of benefit to add to your routine. Let me know if these help you or if there are any others that you have found work well.
