5 Tips To Help Organize Your Mornings

Hello friend! I have a wonderful post for you today. We just finished the second week of school and I think I’ve got our mornings pretty well streamlined. When my mornings go well the rest of the day usually follows suite, don’t you think? So I thought I’d share with you 5 Tips To Help Organize Your Mornings and maybe tame a little bit of that chaos and drama that ensues in the AM. So let’s get to it!!

1. I’m going to start off with my fav, getting up before everyone else. It’s so peaceful. You can shower with no distractions, check emails, respond to comments, write To-Do list for the day. On Mondays, give your week a rough plan with any appointments, meetings, etc. Take this quiet time to practice yoga and/or meditate. Heck, catch up on that book you’ve been reading. You know, stuff that’s difficult to do with people around.
2. For me, a daily planner is a must! You know the saying, “I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached to my bod”, well, I lose my head even though it is attached to the bod! Seriously though, if I don’t write everything down it will be forgotten. Especially lately. I have so much on my mind and I can get distracted pretty easily. My planner saves me from this. My appointments, to-do’s, shopping list, etc. are all in there for me at my finger tips.  There are so many different kinds of planners and everyone’s needs are different. Take your time in choosing one that’s going to work for you, not against you. Do you need a smaller more portable planner to fit in your purse or a larger one to stay right on your desk? Do you need/want the works including a budget section and/or address book? Or do you simply need a monthly and daily calendar for appointments? These are questions to ask yourself when purchasing your planner.
3. The biggest problem we had in the mornings this year was getting dressed. Or, rather, finding the clothes to dress in to. Apparently, my daughter lost the ability to locate anything that she needs! Her room is like a black hole. And at some point through the morning you will hear me say, “1st thing after school this room gets clean!” Then I’d forget and you know she won’t remind me. So now I make sure the outfit is out of the room, away from the black hole. Tip: If you have multiple kiddos, I recommend during the weekend, get all the kids outfits for the week! I have one kiddo and she wears a uniform so her options are limited. But if she wore regular clothes, you better believe I’d get her outfits ready that Sunday before.
4. Prep as much as you can for the lunches the night before. Portion snacks, wash and cut fruits and veggies any dip to go with it, salads with dress on side, PB&J’s can be pre-made and frozen like homemade Uncrustables (Hint: PB both sides of bread so jelly won’t seep through.). For breakfast, the most important meal of the day! Have healthy (not boxed sugar) cereals and non-dairy milk (vegan here) available, with bowls and spoons set out so kiddos can serve themselves. Make overnight oats for a quick bring-with-you-breakfast. You can find tons of recipes on Pinterest for those! Here you can check out my Oatmeal Breakfast Treats and my healthy Corn Muffin Special recipes. Make a batch or two for a few more ideas for bring-with-you-breakfasts. Like almond butter on your toast or bagel? Make your own for a fraction of the cost.  Here’s my recipe for that, too! Also, a must is simply fresh fruit for the morns! I love a big bowl of red grapes and sliced bananas. That fruit combo also make a delish smoothy. I use my homemade rice milk, frozen red grapes, frozen banana, couple dashes of cinnamon and tbs ground flax. smoothies, another great breakfast option. These can be prepped too. Each week portions your smoothies ingredients (check out Pinterest for ideas) into containers and in the AM, toss into the blender with non-dairy milk or juice and in a minute or two, breakfast! This should give you a good starting point for quick morning meals!
5. And finally, is this a familiar scene at your home? My daughter gets makes it up the stairs and in the house by the time my foot hits the first step off the sidewalk. As I get to the kitchen, I see her backpack thrown haphazardly near the table, jacket on couch in parlor, shoes taken off where ever. She’s not like her dad at all!! Find a home for all those things. I love those 3M easy removable hooks. There is a size for everything!! Place the hooks on a wall near the entry way if you don’t have a closet. Even if you do have a closet. We all know how hard it can be for a child to open a door, hang a jacket, then close said door, as opposed to grabbing a jacket and backpack with out even having to stop moving! And because they won’t hurt your walls you can remove them any time you want. Like a holiday party and you don’t want the kids coats and bags hanging around. Then put back up after. And lastly, also near the entrance, keep a small table and mirror for elastics, brush, hair spray, lint roller, for last minute touch ups. Keep a small basket there too, for things like keys and sun glasses. Keep school shoes by the entrance in a small wicker laundry basket. Or if you have a closet, {no you can’t just throw them in there }buy one of those over-door shoe organizers or a shoe rack. I have my daughter’s in a laundry basket and it seem the shoes make it in there for the most part. For now…;)

So those are my tips for a more streamlined morning. Now obviously, every family is different and has different needs. This is just a starting point, guideline, what ever you want to call it. Some tips may work for you and some may not fit your needs. Just keep trying and tweaking these tips until they suite your family’s needs.

Are your mornings chaotic? Do you often wish in the morning that you’re an ostrich and could hide your head in the ground to get away from said chaos? I’d love to hear about it and what you do to tame that chaos. Please don’t forget to follow on one of my social plats! Thank you for taking the time to read my post and we’ll see you soon!

Kristine        xo

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