As a SAHM, its up to me to structure my day. As much as I love a list and filling my calender, I have to work really hard to not get in a rut. I find that I can let hours pass in the morning playing with the girls, attempting to do laundry or cleaning up the kitchen from the night before. By the time I’ve gotten us together enough to get out of the house, its time for lunch and naps! (for reals my life revolves around nap schedules right now!)
Now that our fall schedule is back in place, I’m trying to get myself into a routine to help our mornings run smoother and to help me feel successful at the end of the day! Whether you’re a CEO of a household or a CEO of a company – everyone wants to feel satisfied with their day, right? Although the girls are just toddlers, we do have at least one out of the house class or activity everyday so that really helps motivate me to stick with some ground rules! These are some things that I know help our family be more calm and ready for the day and just help keep us all happy and organized!
Disclaimer: this is truly like one big pep talk to myself. By no means do I have it all figured out and this is just a way for me to organize my ideas for myself and feel accountable!
Preparation | “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin hit the nail on the head with that one. It is so simple, but it is the hardest thing for me to do. Procrastination has been the name of my game for years! Why would I pack our drinks/snacks/lunches the night before when I can do it in the morning when I’m rushing around with two kids at my feet?! Because. I want to feel ready for the day, and not frazzled first thing in the morning.
One load a day | Laundry is a task that I really don’t mind doing, but it can definitely turn into a lofty chore if it let it! Our hamper, the girls’ hampers, sheets, towels…I know everyone has to wash their clothes but why does it feel like we have enough laundry to cover the entire neighborhood for the week?! I’ve found that spending an entire day in the laundry room isn’t fun for me or the kids. So putting in a load in the morning that I can switch over at some point in the day and be done with by nap time is an easy way to eliminate the dread of tackling Mt. Everest once or twice a week!
Set an alarm | Sleep is a hot commodity around here. With a 2.5 and a 1 year old in the house, I feel like I’ve been in a constant state of “mombie” for the past few years. We have finally gotten into a good bedtime routine with the girls so that we get an hour or two to ourselves before we go to bed, but I’m still waking up once or twice at night with the little sis. Even so, having 30-60 minutes to myself before the crazies wake up is a great way to start the day! Hot coffee, I can get ready if I want, empty the dishwasher in peace, or just relax on my phone or computer to blog. Do I still snooze? Yes. But ultimately I try to remember how good I feel once I’ve had some time to myself first thing.
Keep a clean sink | Do you know how long it takes to put one coffee cup, one plate, and a couple of utensils in the dishwasher? Like 45 seconds. Do you know how long it takes to put an entire day’s worth of dishes in the dishwasher plus clean up from dinner?! It feels like an hour! Throughout the day I find it really easy to just set things in the sink and move on to the next thing. But you know what the bummer is? My mom isn’t coming behind me to wash them all! I am the mom…what?! At the end of the day after dinner, its better for all of us and our bedtime routine if dinner clean up is just that and not from the entire day!
It has a place | We have a few areas of the house that can easily be considered a drop zone. Did I grab the mail? Set it by the phone. Did I just come in from running errands? Drop everything on the island. Do I have clean laundry? Leave it on the laundry room counter. This may be my worst habit. The kitchen can tend to become the ‘catch all’ area and soon feels like a cluttered disaster that seems like I can’t keep clean. By having a place for everything, it eliminates the clutter. By taking just a few minutes to put things away in their proper place I don’t feel like I have to overhaul the entire house to get it clean. I was watching InstaStories and Kate from The Small Things Blog (k8_smallthings) mentioned that she keeps her house within 10 minutes of clean. So at any point – for example if some company were to say they’re coming – you could get your house picked up within 10 minutes. Such a good rule.
(In a dream world my kitchen would look like this all the time. It was short lived!)
These are some things I strive for but still have to work on each day. When I take the time to prepare for my day I feel like the days run smoother and I enjoy my time with the girls more. Do you have any go-to tips for feeling prepped and ready for your day? I’d love to know!
xoxo
Whitney
Head over to Confessions of Parenting to find all sorts of home and family posts that linked up for the first #WanderingWednesday!
the Whitney Michaels blog 
I am a planner, too. I hate going to the store more than once a week (and most often refuse to) because it seems like such a waste of time. So I am big on consolidating trips, planning ahead, etc. Laundry is my struggle, too. Maybe I should try the one load a day thing. And the dishwasher advice is great, too!
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Thanks for reading! I didn’t even go into grocery shopping because it’s my weakness! I would love nothing more than to meal plan every week and be on top of it but it just never ends up being a priority! Luckily the grocery store is just a 5 min walk, so you’ll find me pushing a stroller filled with groceries a few days a week!
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Yes, being a “mombie” is a REAL thing, and mindlessly picking up the house everywhere you go is a definite super power you develop when you become a mother. Thanks for the pep talk to be more MINDFUL and organized with my day to day cleaning, managing and keeping the home. I can definitely say that I get in a rut very often as well but having set goals and expectations for myself every day really helps in keeping me from feeling unaccomplished.
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It’s interesting because having a daily routine is truly important no matter if you work at home or outside so the overall concept can really be applied to anyone; but I have to say that your pictures make this stuff look really exciting! 🙂 Love it!
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Thank you 😊
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Oh my goodness that is my dream kitchen! It is gorgeous and amazing! I love your thoughts and ideas! With 5 kids life gets crazy, but I am a stickler on not a single dish in the sink. I love your idea of a load a day… I need to work on this, it usually turns into a load a day and have it sit for a day and then rewash because it is now smelly. I need to heed these tips! Thanks for the ideas.
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Oh my, just staying afloat with 5 kids would be a win for me! Ugh…rewash is the worst! Happens every now and again though! Thanks for reading!
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