Iron out your morning and evening routines - day 6 | 15 DAYS TO AN ORGANISED NEW YOU

Right, who wants to get out the door with ease in the morning? Who wants to get the house closed up and make up taken off properly each night? That's a lot of hands up in the air. 

Of course you all want this, having the start and end of your day running smoothly often keeps the rest of the day on track too. Who wants to start the day in a bad mood before 7am?

Shall we get started? 

Naturally you might think we should start with the morning but it's the prep for the morning which makes each one an ease to breeze through. So let's start with your evening routine and add in a few small steps to make sure your morning is a delight to wake up to.

Your evening routine

If you completed the task I set you in this blog post you may already know your natural patterns and routines (if you haven't completed the task, set aside a day to do it and you'll soon notice how helpful it is) and which tasks you need to perform every night. Let's work through those routines and patterns. Are you shuffling back and forth in the bathroom to find what you need? Are you darting back and forth to check you've locked the windows and doors?

Map out what must be done, what can't be done and what you're wasting your time with. Be blunt, be honest. Talk to other people in your household and work together to make your home-from-work and before-bed routines run smoothly so you can enjoy the rest of your evening.
Why not make yourself a timetable for your before bed routine? It doesn't have to be a long term thing but if it slowly creates a productive routine then why ever not?
Make sure you note down every single thing you do from tying hair up to taking the bins out. Time yourself if needs be, cut out any faff. You want to be productive without any lag in time so you can hop into bed knowing everything is done. Change the way you think, your current processes aren't working - don't hesitate and say 'but' any longer, change them or continue to feel your shoulders hunched up around your earlobes. 

What do you want to add into your routine?

- Do you want to make sure you use body lotion every evening? Work out which items you use each evening - cleanser, toner, moisturiser, eye cream, hair band, a small pot of cotton pads, comb etc. and pop into a basket or basket. Add in your body lotion and make sure to use everything in that box before you go to bed every night. I know it sounds really silly and simple but having that go to box seems to jog my memory and make sure. Take a look at my organised bathroom blog post which deals with grouping things together.

What can you add into your evening routine to make the morning easier?

- Set the table for breakfast and take out the tea or coffee cups for that caffeine blast.

- Write your to-do list. I always write mine before I go to bed and read it before I get up of a morning. A simple task like this keeps me on track throughout the day.

- Add items to your bag and encourage your children to do the same - you can even make a daily check list with photos for small children.

- Get your clothes ready for the morning. I can see you roll your eyes at me 'what if I'm in the mood for something else?' well OK, if you're that way inclined just make sure you have your underwear waiting in the bathroom for you to pop on once you're dry from the shower in the morning.

Wasted evening time?

Be honest, how much time do you waste of an evening? If your house is a disorganised tip you may spend ages searching for things every evening. Do you watch too much television? It's fine to sit down and watch a specific programme but to just stare and stare at nothing very much, is a waste of time and makes you less productive, leaving you feeling tired and groggy. Give up half and hour of loafing around to get yourself sorted.

When you come in from work/school/uni/where-the-hell-ever do the following few tasks which should take a few minutes

- Hang up your coat and clothes properly and put your shoes away

- Remove rubbish from your bag and purse

- Draw curtains

- Set up your bag for the next day be it adding in new books, a pair of gloves etc. 

- Get out your clothes and shoes for the next day

- Dust one shelf 

- 'Pick up' in one room for 30 seconds

You're done! Now it is time to make supper and relax

Before you go to bed

- Write your to-do list for the next day

- Wipe down kitchen surfaces

- Soak your kitchen cloths and sponges

- Charge your phone or laptop

- Dust one shelf and one skirting board

- Pick up in one room for 30 seconds

- Set out the cutlery and crockery for breakfast

- Set your alarm

- Bathroom routine

- Wipe down bathroom sink

And off to bed you pop!

Your morning routine

Again, it really helps if you completed the homework task from day 2 of this series - so go do it now if you haven't already! 

Right, be blunt and honest with yourself - how long does it take you to get up, get ready and get out the door of a morning? Does it always feel like you need longer? Yeah? Are you ready to wake up earlier? Nope? Didn't think so. 

So ask yourself, what can you cut out of your morning routine? Do you really need that 30 minutes of sitting in front of BBC Breakfast whilst sending tweets on your phone? I know it may feel like you neeeeeeeeed it but try two weeks without it - the first week you'll hate it whilst the routine wriggles out of your body and the second week you'll just bloody get on with it and find yourself able to get out the door a bit faster and maybe in less of a rush.

The detail of your routine is up to you, it's your life and I'm not here to mother you but you need to be honest about what it is that makes your morning routine so miserable (from the tweets I receive this is how a lot of you are feeling) every single day.

Further steps

- Move your alarm clock away from your bed so you have to get up to turn it off - the temptation to fall back to sleep is too strong if you stay in bed.

- Make your lunch the night before. You can even make extra of your supper and take leftovers into work. It's easy to make something like chilli for dinner and take a portion to work with something like rice, cous cous, pitta breads, salad etc.
- Check the weather forecast before you go to bed, it may not always be accurate but it may help. If it is going to be cold get gloves out, if it looks like it will be a hot day why not freeze a bottle of water to take to work? Think one step ahead.

Read the introductory post - 15 DAYS TO AN ORGANISED NEW YOU.

Catch up with these realistic and honest organising blog posts -

Day 1 - Why do I want to be organised?

Day 2 - Recognise your patterns

Day 3 - Create a Home HQ

Day 4 - Organising for emergencies

Day 5 - Organising your bathroom

TTFN,

P.S. I'll be back tomorrow with more in the series. Are you enjoying it so far?