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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My new morning routine (and how it eases up the rest of my day)

I am not a morning person.  Not. at. all.  Ask Teacher Man.  He'd be happy to tell you what I look like.  What I sounds like.  How grouchy I really am.  Actually he might not tell you.  He's nice that way.  He also did all my dishes last night when I burned my hand making him cheesy garlic bread.  And brought me ice packs.  And got me Tylenol.  Love that man.  I found his first gray hair on Saturday while giving him a haircut... but that's another story.

My mornings fall into three categories: weekday (Teacher Man gone), Saturday, and Sunday.  Saturday is chilled, and I try to let Teacher Man sleep while I make hot breakfast although sometimes he returns the favor.  Sunday we've worked out a trade off of showering, feeding the kids, dressing the kids, and getting the stuff together to be out the door by 9:15 a.m.

But the weekdays...well, it's hard for me to pull it together until recently. This is a new routine for me now that I'm not nursing or waking up three times a night.  I can actually muster the energy to do it, and it makes the whole day better.  I got the idea from Large Family Logistics because, though I have no intention of rivaling the Duggars in family size, I would like to streamline my household jobs so I can enjoy more time doing things I love.  So I have a five-item wake-up routine that starts as soon as Dave leaves and I get up.

1. Get out of bed.
2. Make bed so I cannot get back in it.
3. Open blinds to let light in or let in the promise of light coming later. (This feels surprisingly good.)
4. Throw load of laundry into washing machine.
5. Unload dishwasher.

This means that my room looks nice whenever I go back into it, instead of depressingly messy.  The house is bright and cheerful as soon as the sun comes up.  The laundry is not an issue since most weeks I only have around 5-7 loads.  Once it's started, the momentum of having it going is enough to get it done by the end of the day.  Lastly, I have an empty dishwasher for when the men's dishes start to pile up after breakfast.

Just the act of doing all these things also helps me to feel successful.  Even if the children wake up 5 minutes after I get out of bed, I've already gotten a lot done and have done things that will help the rest of our day to go so much more smoothly.

Because I need to have time to do this:


And this.

And to go get clothes for this little dude.
I love his chubs.

I was telling a friend that I'd like to start making a loaf of bread in the breadmaker first thing in the morning, but I think I'll wait until after the holidays to try to add to the routine.  My 5 things are working really well for me and keeping this house in good shape without distracting me from what's really important.


Not that they would let me forget.

1 comment:

  1. I don't know if you ever started the bread in the morning routine, but my SIL puts the ingredients in her breakmaker the night before and sets the timer. That's a great smell to wake up to.

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