Developing Routines

We’ve all heard it. Routines make your life easier. Routines bring a sense of calm to your life. Where do you start establishing routines?

Over the years, I have learned to pinpoint those routines that we do daily that are necessary to life, such as eating and drinking. Then, there are other routines that are important, such as a daily bath and brushing your teeth twice a day. After that, there are lots of routines that will improve your quality of life and bring peace into your life.

When life is busy, having routines helps you get through the craziness by giving you a sense of order and purpose. Adults and children both do well with routines. It’s important to note that we should not become driven by the clock to rush from thing to thing.

The routines are our guide, but there are times and situations when you revert to the most important routines and the extra little routines you enjoy might go to the wayside for a bit. Don’t let yourself get so caught up in your routines that you are a slave to them.

To develop routines, take a look at your daily and weekly schedule. Decide what things you need to accomplish in the evenings before you go to bed. By having a solid evening routine in place, you are setting your morning up for a peaceful start. What things make you happy to have ready in the morning? Put these things in your evening routine.

Mine are, as follows:

That might look long or complicated, but I can do it on auto-pilot. I have done it for years. Very little changes in my evening routine even when life is crazy. All of these things work to make my morning start off smoothly, and we all like to have that.

My morning routine is much shorter than my evening routine, unless you factor in the time it take me to exercise. I have streamlined my morning routine to the basics that need to be done before I start school with my children.

It would be very similar if I have a job to go to every morning. My morning routine starts before I wake the boys up. This means I get up very early in the morning, but I prefer it that way.

My morning routine looks like this:

After the boys eat, we spend a little time on home maintenance and cleaning.

They also get dressed and brush their teeth and make their beds. It really moves along like clockwork. I have taught them these routines since they were young. I rewarded them for becoming independent and helping around the house. While they are doing school, I generally do little things around the kitchen and laundry room that keeps me close for help with their schoolwork.

I do have designated teaching times with them, too. We all know just to do the next thing on our lists, whether it is schoolwork for them or house stuff for me. I have certain tasks around the house that I do on certain days of the week. Each person has a designated laundry day for clothing and bedding.

We have lunch and move into our afternoon routine. This is where I have the most flexibility. Most days I am either writing or doing online consultations in the afternoons. I start dinner right after lunch, so it cooks while I am working.

I finish up laundry, and I do any cleaning or decluttering that I did not finish in the morning. I often run the dishwasher in the afternoon, so it is ready to fill up again after dinner. I do one or two loads of laundry per day. The boys help with this task. It’s harder to make a list for my afternoon routine since it is so varied from day to day. The main constants are preparing food and laundry.

By developing these basic routines, our home stays clean and free of clutter. We work together in small pockets of time to accomplish our tasks. The work around the house does not just fall on my shoulders. We use the teamwork approach. I don’t have resistance from the boys because I have spent the time teaching them and rewarding them for a job well done.

Your Zone Mission today is to declutter the kitchen counters and wipe them down.

Your Home Blessing for today is to dust and vacuum.

My menu plan for Tuesday is Taco Tuesday and a salad.

Have a great day!