Five step before bed routine for calmer mornings

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Unless you’re a superhuman and you get up very early and do a whole lot of stuff before the rest of the family wakes, I’m going to bet you usually spend most of your mornings between the bathroom and the kitchen.

Am I right?

You know the key to a smooth-running morning?

A good before bed routine.

Like my five step before bed routine for calmer mornings. 

I know it probably sounds a little anal, but making sure just a few little things are done every night before you hit the hay can make such a difference to your morning.

It means you’re not waking up to a kitchen full of dirty dishes or a searching for a missing water bottle when you’re already running late for school.

I’m going to focus on the kitchen in this routine and if you nodded your head when I talked about where you spend your time in the morning then you’re going to have half your morning sorted.

I know you probably already have a giant list of things to do before you got to bed at night but I promise these are easy and quick.

Five step before bed routine for calmer mornings:

STEP ONE - Dishwasher

Put the dishwasher on (even if it’s not completely full). I know it might seem wasteful but getting into a routine with your dishwasher means you’re never left with a stack of dirty dishes.

Emptying the dishwasher can take as little as 3 minutes (yes I timed myself) so adding it to your morning routine isn’t a huge deal. You can probably do it in the time it takes to boil the kettle.

Make sure the kids water bottles are in there or better yet hand wash them and fill them ready to go for the morning.

STEP TWO - Random removal

Put away any random items that don’t belong on the kitchen bench.

STEP THREE - Quick clean

Wipe down the benches and taps (use a bit of all-purpose homemade spray) and throw the tea towel, hand towel and dish cloth in the washing machine.

Each morning when I wake up, I put out a new tea towel, hand towel and dishcloth. This way I never have to think about the last time I washed them.

STEP FOUR - Floor

Do a quick sweep or vacuum (you can probably get away with every second day but it’s easier to do every day so you don’t have to think about when you’ve done it).

STEP FIVE - Prep for tomorrow

Have a quick look at the meal plan and see if there’s anything little you can do or have scheduled to do tonight for tomorrow.

Is there anything you can do to make tomorrow morning run more smoothly?

Fill the kettle, lay out the breakfast stuff, pack lunch boxes, prep the slow cooker for tomorrow if you’re slow cooking. This all depends on what you have to do the next day so just pick one thing that will make tomorrow easier and do that before calling it a night.

Want a printable checklist of the 5 steps that you can put on your fridge? Click here, enter your details and I'll send it straight to your inbox.

Try it tonight and let me know what a difference it makes to tomorrow morning.