{Fresh} Morning Routine Part 4

Ya know who else needs a routine? Kids! 

I can tell you first hand that when we don't have one going on, life is rough in the mornings!

Some things we do here that aren't actually part of our morning routine..

~ Here the kids have a few things they can do at night to make the morning smoother.

Backpacks, outfits and lunch can all be prepped the night before.

~Streamline necessities in the morning with baskets!

We have (and love) our Good Morning Basket

Gloves and umbrellas are all in 1 basket, so no hunting for them.

I think a visual checklist of some sort helps kids stay on task, which will help you! Less time

directing, more time doing what needs to be done.

We have used these CHORE PACKS for years now. They are going to be getting and overhaul soon!

How do your kids do mornings?

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{Fresh} Morning Routine Part 3

It starts the night before!

Remember, big things first! So what needs to be done at night for you to have a GOOD morning?

Write it down! Make a quick night routine. It doesn't have to be detailed or complicated! Maybe you don't even need a list, just set a time for 15-20 minutes and do what is most important to you that day.

Mine looks like this:

Tidy, because waking up to a mess bugs me.

Clothes, choose and lay them out. Including workout stuff
Breakfast Prep
Check Planner/ To do list

Prep Coffee (A MUST!)
Write in kids books (more on this soon)
Load Laundry, or at least have a load ready
Pack Lunches

Not always in that order, but usually.

The most important thing about nights?

~Go to bed on time, I swear I get days behind if I stay up even a little late.

It really doesn't have to be super detailed or long and drawn out. Just enough to make your mornings and the start of your day the best they can be!

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{Fresh} Morning Routine Part 2

Rise and SHINE 

I don't care how EFFECTIVE your routine is, or how many things you can cram into the time you set for yourself, if you are miserable doing it, then it's just not right.

 2 hours is what I can do in the morning. Most mornings our kids catch the bus right after 7 so getting up at 5 would be my 2 hours. This won't be the same for everyone, I am not saying you have to get up at 5. You decide how much time you need in the morning.

Maybe you aren't naturally a morning person? I am, a little.  I find that music in the morning helps me get going as does getting enough sleep (or as close as I can).

I don't know if there is any 1 way to make it work but these are some tips that I either use, or have used in the past and worked overall, maybe some will work for you too!

~Give yourself some grace. Every morning isn't going to go well, but don't give up!

Waking up early is HARD!

 ~Important things first. Prioritize your time. What is important to you will likely be different than what's important to others. Make this YOUR thing :) Getting those important things done first helps set the tone for a productive morning.

 ~I talked about enjoying the morning, not always easy I know. Try candles, diffuse some oil, good music, maybe a splurge type coffee creamer, open those curtains or get ready for the day first thing. I feel better if I'm put together. Do something that makes YOU feel accomplished or is a stress for you, pay bills, balance the checkbook and get it over with.

~Get up before your kids! This is no secret to getting stuff done in the morning. However, at our house it's also not really possible. So don't scrap the early bird stuff just because your kids get up early too! We implement quiet time in bedrooms, or getting dressed etc (more coming soon). that way I still have a teeny tiny bit of alone time. 

What are 1 or 2  things you do in the morning to feel good?

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{Fresh} Morning Routine

For sure my morning routine is NOT Fresh and hasn't been working for months,
maybe even a whole year or more! 

I've shared about mornings and how we do them. Except that was 2 houses and a baby ago. We really needed an overhaul. January is the perfect time. If I can get up when it's freezing  and dark out then it will just get easier as the mornings get lighter and warmer. Not sure how much it will change from what we were doing before, but we did have some changes that require some altering of our routine.

Quick list of reasons WHY we do morning routines. Key word is routine, not schedule!

 ~We have 4 kids
~Not a fan of being late

~My Sanity

~Calm and Happy Mornings

No one likes mornings where we are frazzled, stressed and rushing. Routines help me to make our mornings productive and peaceful.

I don't want it to come across as a mission to get MORE done,
but a mission to get what needs to be done, done BETTER.

How long does a routine take? Depends on what YOU choose! Super basic could be 20 minutes. I am going to give it 2 hours every morning and be intentional with every minute of it.

Just dedicating those 2 hours gives the rest of my day a super start. I get more done and feel better about things.

I can't tell you how much easier it is if you ENJOY your routine. 
If you hate what you do every morning, that is just going to be ROUGH! Mornings set the tone for the entire day. I have to constantly choose to be happy and thankful that I can do all this stuff and it makes the whole day better. I will share some more ideas about making it enjoyable soon.

  Part 1. What do I want to accomplish before the day really starts?

Knowing what I want/need to get done will help me make a plan. You in? What do you want your mornings to look like?
Part 2. Rise And SHINE
How I make mornings shine (as best I can)

Part 3. Night Prep
Make the most of your night to make your mornings work

Part 4. Kids Routine
Help to make their morning run smooth too!

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One Little Word 2016

Do you do the one little word thing, or word of the year? I think it's an interesting concept and kind of fun! I knew from about mid November what my OLW would be this year!  I don't think it would work so well if last year my word hadn't been REFINE. SO much change and refining last year!

~ We moved 2x and got rid of so much stuff! Refining our belongings.

~Gave up a whole lot of our normal doings. Refining how we spend our time

~Changed (a little) about who we spend our time with. Refining more of our time.

Refined some of what we eat, how many chores we have, activities. Just a whole lot of changes for the better!

But now we are here with new priorities, time commitments away from home, meals and we still have a house that is not even CLOSE to being done!  So looking at how we do everything with FRESH perspective.  It almost feels like we went through every aspect of our life, cut a whole bunch out and now we just have piles of piles that needed to sorted into Fresh ways of doing things.

So there it is. Fresh. Everything here is about to be FRESH!

What is your WORD?!  I want to hear all about it!

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