Having a morning routine, especially as busy mum’s, helps us set up our day for a calm and less stressful start.
Your morning routine should start with blocking some time out for you, even if it is just 10 minutes to drink a hot cup of tea in peace.
The next half of your morning routine should be focused on your home, and getting some things crossed off your daily plan that are going to get your day off to a good start.
I’ve set my morning routine up so that even if I don’t get anything done for the rest of the day – if someone wakes up unwell or we need to be out of the house all day, once those morning routine tasks are done the house will still feel calm.
Those morning routine tasks also mean that when I do get a chance to sit down at the end of the day or if I get home from a day out then the house feels calm – I am not coming home to chaos.
This is part 2 of the morning routine posts. You can read part 1 here.
That is what part 1 is all about, how to create a self care morning routine that will set you up for a less stressful day.
Your morning routine starts the night before
The morning can be a bit chaotic.
If you are trying to get everyone out of the door for school or work by a certain time, then things get a bit chaotic.
Some mornings it feels like trying to herd cats.
The more things that you can prepare or plan for the night before, the less stressful the morning is going to be because there will be less things to do or think about.
So an easier morning routine starts with a good evening routine.
Here are a few things that you can do:
- Get clothes ready for the morning
- Make packed lunches for the morning
- Get bags ready
- Make a todo list for the next day
- Load and turn dishwasher on
- Pull out meat or food for dinner next evening to defrost
If you want more help with your evening routine, I have written a blog post all about it here.
I think it’s a good idea to start with a strong evening routine because it will save you so much stress in the morning.
Self-care first
As tempted as you are to skip this section….don’t.
Giving yourself a little bit of time in the morning to focus on you is so important.
It is a lot easier to take care of your kids in the way that you want to, when you are looking after you too.
It doesn’t have to be an hour long morning routine if that isn’t what suits you or the season you are in, just ten minutes with a cup of tea will make a huge difference to your day and how you feel and cope with whatever the day brings.
Just making sure you have some time for breakfast or giving you time to get dressed for the day helps.
Take any medication you need or take your vitamins.
Making it a part of your morning routine means it’s more likely to get done.
If you have a child who needs help with regulating their emotions, if they don’t like going to school or whatever they may get upset or need support with – you need to be regulated before you can help regulate them and having a little bit of time to yourself is going to help you to do that.
I’ve written a blog post all about this part of your morning routine here.
Move your body
Moving your body is so good for you.
Not only is it good for us health wise, it’s also good to help us with our mental and emotional health.
It makes us feel better about ourselves, it helps us close the stress cycle and it helps us have more energy.
So it is definitely worth including in your morning routine!
If you are the sort of person that can wake up and instantly exercise, then definitely do that if you enjoy it.
For the rest of us, getting it done at some point in the morning is a good aim.
I usually do my exercise after I’ve done my morning routine, I just need to be a little more awake for it.
Doing it in the morning is helpful, because it’s done and I don’t have to think about it for the rest of the day and try to work out where I can fit it in, and by the time I can actually fit it in I find myself too tired to do it.
If you can do it in the morning – do it.
Plan your morning routine
Your morning routine isn’t about doing your weekly cleaning tasks – it’s about doing the things that need doing every day that help your day and your home run a bit smoother.
My morning routine includes all my non-negotiables, so if we go out for the day or if someone is unwell or our plans have to change for whatever reason – the house stays (mostly) calm.
Or if someone randomly calls in, the house is – on the whole – not too chaotic.
Start in the kitchen
Typically, the kitchen is the hub of the home and has the most tasks to do in the morning.
If the kitchen is tidy, it tends to help the whole house feel better.
Things to do in the morning in the kitchen:
- Dishwasher
- Laundry on
- Wipe kitchen
- Make packed lunch
- Make breakfast
- Tidy after breakfast
- Quick reset
- Feed pets
- Pull meat out for that night
- wipe down toilets
Quick reset
Again, this isn’t your weekly clean.
This is just a 5-15 minute reset (depending on how much time you have), where you just pick up things from the main areas to ‘reset’ your space.
I’ve done a blog post here all about it if you want to read more about what a reset looks like.
If you only have 3 minutes before you leave, just do what you can in those three minutes.
You will be amazed how much you can get done in 3 minutes if you are on a timer.
Go room by room, start with the main areas, and ‘reset’ them.
Basically, the aim is to get them looking as they should look.
So things like, taking empty cups etc to the kitchen, tidying throw blankets and cushions, putting toys back where they belong etc.
Remember this isn’t a deep clean, it’s just a quick tidy.
Bathroom
Every morning, once everyone has brushed their teeth etc and got ready for the day, I get an antibacterial wipe and I quickly wipe down the sink and toilet.
It makes the bathroom feel a lot cleaner and it also means that if anyone unexpectedly calls in during the day, I know that my toilet is clean.
I use an antibacterial wipe, but you can use a spray and a cloth if you prefer.
I also wipe down the bathroom mirrors every morning.
I sometimes use windowlene mirror wipes or I use my window cleaning cloth that just uses water.
We are slowly moving things over to be more environmentally and health friends (less chemicals), but it’s one step at a time!
Make your bed
There is nothing nicer than getting into an actually made bed in the evening.
It also makes your home look a hundred times tidier having tidy sheets.
Making your bed is one of those things that takes 2 minutes and it gets you off to a really good start in the morning.
It feels like a tick off your todo list (hello dopamine!) and it makes you feel ready to tackle the day.
If your bed takes longer than a few minutes – maybe it’s time to declutter some of those things on it.
If you do it, make the kids beds too.
If they haven’t had a chance before they go to school I do always make their beds.
It’s just nice for them to come home after a long day of school to a made bed and a calmer bedroom.
Let in the fresh air
Yes, even in winter.
Open the curtains and open the windows.
You don’t have to open them wide, just open them a little bit to let some fresh air into your home.
Opening the windows means that the stale air can escape and fresh air can come in, which improves the air quality in your home.
Which is good for our health and wellbeing.
Viruses and bacteria in the air also have the chance to escape, which does help to minimise the spread of colds etc in your home.
It also helps to stop mold in your home, get rid of any odours and any pollutants etc that shouldn’t be there.
There is just something about fresh air in your home that wakes you up as well. It’s an instant mood boost.
I try to keep our upstairs windows open for a couple of hours, but if it’s freezing ten minutes will do.
We usually have a couple of windows on ‘night-vent’ so that there is always an in-flow of fresh air into our home.
Somewhere, I once read that if you don’t have any windows open in your home it’s like living in a tupperware tub and it freaked me out a little bit.
Hence why we always have at least 2 windows slightly open!
Personalising your 5-9 routine
The things that I have written about so far, are on the whole what everyone needs to do in their morning routine.
But we all live completely different lives, you may have things that you have to do every morning that are non-negotiables in your life – add them in.
For example, we have a physio routine with Anest that is a part of my morning routine, and giving her blended food and medication etc – while that is a bit part of our morning routine, that isn’t going to be a part of everyones.
Maybe you need to walk the dog (counts as exercise!) or maybe you have other animals to feed.
Grab a sheet of paper, or your notes app on your phone, and brainstorm what the perfect morning routine would look like for you.
My routine
My morning routine can sometimes change, depending on what is going on with Anest, while I am writing this Anest is post-surgery and isn’t in school so our morning routine looks different to normal.
I love seeing what other people do, so if you fancy a nose at what my morning routine looks like – here it is.
5am – I like to wake early, I need a little bit of time to be on my own – and that is okay, so my morning starts at 5am, I give my teeth a quick brush, grab my cardigan and make myself a cup of tea then work on my blog and try to get an instagram post posted before going to get myself ready at about 6.30ish.
6.30 – 7am – Get myself ready, wash my face, makeup on, get changed in to exercise clothes, do my hair.
7am – 8am – Wake everyone up, make packed lunches, giving Anest medication and blended breakfast, tidy kitchen, home reset, open curtains, wipe toilet etc. All the things get done here.
8am – 8.15am – Kids go on the bus to school. My breakfast and finish tidying kitchen.
8.30am – Exercise
9am – Get myself dressed and ready for the day, laundry on, finish off morning routine.
At the moment, working on my blog and exercising are really important to me so I get them done in the morning so that it moves me a little bit closer to me goals and they are instantly done for the day.
What does your morning routine look like?
Let me know in the comments.
Beth x
