Week #12 Organized Home Challenge
Make A Morning Routine & Evening Routine
In this week's Organized Home Challenge we're focused on making both a morning routine and an evening routine. When you do this challenge you'll learn how to set yourself up with some simple habits that can help you stay more organized and keep each day more under control.
I've been asked a few times why I focus on things like meal planning, laundry routines and cleaning schedules, and this week, these daily routines, in a program designed to organize your home.
I can understand why, on first glance, these things don't seem to belong. It's not as straightforward and obvious that a cleaning schedule, or meal planning, can keep you organized in the same way organizing your bathroom can.
But I stand by my belief that these routine and schedule challenges, along with the daily missions, are actually some of the core organizational systems you should have in place in your home to get, and then keep, your home and your life organized and running smoothly.
Why? Because organization is, at its core, about anticipating what needs to get done and doing things proactively, instead of reactively.
Are you new here? The Create A Morning & Evening Routine Challenge is part of the 52 Weeks To An Organized Home Challenge. (Click the link to learn how to join us for free for future and past challenges if you aren't already a regular reader).
When we think things through, and plan ahead, we can get tasks done more quickly, because we can be efficient. But in addition, we can also do these tasks at pace that isn't frantic or that causes additional stress.
Planning ahead is the singlest biggest step you can take to feel like you've got things under control in your home, and your life. (If you'd like to learn more check out this article about the 5 characteristics of organized people here.)
So far, in the weekly organizational challenges, we've focused on specific subsets of tasks that are cycles, like meal planning and preparation, or laundry, and made our plans for them, so you could feel in control of those aspects of your life and home. But now, this week we will put all these plans, habits, and schedules together, because we know we don't just focus on one thing in life at a time, really. Instead, life requires us to keep many things going all at once.
And that's what the daily routines we'll deal with this week do for us. They allow us to keep multiple organizational balls up in the air at once, without all of them falling down on our heads.
Of course, these daily routines I want you to focus on this week are also a bit broader than just organizational tasks though, because you will focus on making sure you can fit everything you've got to get done into your busy life. This will include things you do to take care of your home, take care of yourself personally, tasks for taking care of your loved ones, and also focusing on work tasks as well.
In other words, this week is where the rubber meets the road, and you focus on all the things you want to get accomplished, across all areas of your life, and then make a (hopefully realistic) plan for doing that.
My hope for you, as you work on this challenge, is to really think through what your goals and priorities are, and have them reflected in your daily tasks. That's because I firmly believe, "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day."
Step 1: Create A Morning Routine
The first step in this challenge is to create a morning routine. Why? Because we know life gets busy fast, so I try to live by the motto, "first things first," and so should you.
When life gets busy if you've done "first things first," then you've already done the most important things for the day, and if you get sidetracked later it is OK, because at least you've done the priorities.
Your morning routine is all about "first things first," even if at a glance some of the items in your morning routine, like starting a load of laundry, or getting in a few minutes of exercise, seem mundane and routine. While in one sense those things are pretty mundane, you'd be surprised how these routine things really are the foundational blocks of a happy, healthy, organized life.
Benefits Of Creating A Morning Routine
There are many reasons having a morning routine is actually beneficial to you, instead of being a burden or something that holds you back. Here are some of the biggest reasons:
- Once you've established your routine as a habit it makes mornings, when you brain is still sleepy, easier because when something is a habit you are less likely to forget to do those important tasks. (You can check out my 5 recommended morning habits here if you'd like to see some of the ones I think have the most impact.)
- Having a routine frees up time because the decisions, such as what you need to get done, are already made for you. All you have left to do is to actually do them.
- A kid's morning routine, such as when kids are getting ready for school in the mornings, gives a child independence, and provides you with a break from excess supervision. Instead of micromanaging each task you just need to check at the end to make sure everything was completed.
- When everyone knows the expectations of what needs to get accomplished there is less conflict and confusion, which leads to less stress because there's no need to shout out orders or rush around to do forgotten steps.
To help you think through your morning routine, I suggest you fill out this printable morning routine chart I've created for you to use.
The accompanying article with the chart provides some additional thoughts and ideas of the types of things you can include in your morning routine, plus a trick for how to more easily, and with less stress, get yourself and your family out the door each morning for school and work, by working backward when planning your mornings.
Step 2: Create An Evening Routine
Step 2 of this challenge is to create an evening routine. While I believe that first things should come first, I also believe that preparation the night before, for the next day, is vital to making life easier on yourself.
It can be helpful, sometimes, to think through both your morning and evening routines at the same time, especially if you find what you plan to do in the morning has gotten to be an overwhelmingly long list.
If you find this happening it often makes sense to change some of those morning to do items into tasks you instead do the night before. That could be simple things like making lunches the night before, instead of the morning of, or setting out breakfast dishes for the next morning. Here's a list of 7 things you should do the night before, which will make your mornings better.
Your evening routine should help you finish tasks that you began during the day, get you prepared for the next day ahead, and finally, after you've done any needed tasks, the last few items on your evening routine should help you relax and unwind for the night.
I've created a free printable evening routine chart that you can fill out once you've made your plan. In addition, the linked article also provides suggestions and ideas for the types of activities you can do in the evenings.
Step 3: Make A Daily To Do List
While your morning and evening routines focus on items you need to do consistently, typically daily, to keep your life and your home running smoothly, we all know there are tasks that pop up that aren't regular or consistent.
That's where your daily to do list comes in, and I recommend that you use a time blocked to do list, because it helps you see if you've made a realistic list and can fit all the tasks you hope to do within your day.
Two items on your daily to do list might be, "morning routine," and "evening routine." Sure, that encompasses quite a few tasks, but once you get in the habit of doing these routines consistently all those tasks can be grouped together in your mind. The printable to do list page I've provided, and linked, has a space to allow you to list not only those two routines in the "chores and routines" section of the list, but to then help you think through when in your day you'll accomplish these two routines, plus any other chores you'll need to do for the day, such as your 15 minute decluttering mission, tidy up routine, laundry tasks, or cleaning tasks, to name a few.
Then, you can also make sure you properly prioritize and focus on non-regular or non-recurring tasks by consulting your time blocked to do list.
To help you get in the habit of making a daily to do list, and sticking to it, I've also provided a free printable to do list form you can use. The accompanying article also has tips for making and sticking to a realistic list, since if you add too much to your list each day it is actually counter-productive to getting things done.
Step 4: Create Systems To Track Your Routines & Hold Yourself Accountable So You Can Make These Daily Tasks Habits
I've discussed throughout this article that I hope that when you think about your daily routines that you're prioritizing the things that are most important for you. Often though, setting up these daily routines are eye opening because, as you do the steps of this challenge you may realize you're not currently focused on what you really want your priorities to be.
For example, you may not currently be doing certain tasks at all that you decide, from now on, that you want to do daily.
Changing your routines to incorporate these new tasks requires developing new habits, and the best way to do that is to track what you want to do to keep yourself accountable.
So, the fourth step in this challenge is to track the tasks you've listed in your morning and evening routines, especially the ones that are not currently habits for you, so you can develop these tasks as daily habits, and then maintain them.
This is how you make sure instead of just writing down what you plan to do that you're actually doing it.
Here's an example. If you decide that each day, as part of your morning routine, you want to meditate for 20 minutes, and you currently don't do that, you should focus on building that one habit. While normally your to do list would include as an entry, "morning routine," now it might include 1) morning routine, and 1a) 20 minutes of meditation (morning routine). This is your extra reminder to make sure that new task that you've decided is important for your emotional health gets incorporated into your normal morning routine. You should daily write out this task, on your day's to do list, despite it being part of your morning routine, until it actually does become a habit and is a part of your morning routine that you remember to do without having to look at a list. Using your daily to do list you can track how well you're doing this habit by seeing if daily you're actually checking it off the list.
You can track new tasks, to help make them parts of your routines and habits, in whatever way works for you. Many people find writing these tasks down on a to do list, daily, which was what was mentioned in the example above, works well for them. Similarly, you could schedule this new task in your calendar daily, or report into an accountability partner.
If you want to incorporate many new tasks into your daily routine I suggest going slowly and giving yourself grace. It is best to add only one new task at a time, and make it a habit before you add another, so you don't get overwhelmed. Too much change all at once makes it nearly impossible to succeed, so slow and steady wins the race!
To help you I've created a free printable daily agenda that can be used to write down your priorities, to do's, regular routines and chores, special appointments, track your fitness and food and water intake, and more. Grab your free copy of the daily agenda printable here.
Listen To Taylor's Video Tips For This Week's Organized Home Challenge & Declutter 365 Missions
Do you want more in-depth tips and instructions for how to do this week's missions and challenge all about creating and sticking to a morning and evening routine? If so, I've got recorded video tips from me, Taylor, from the video archives in the Declutter 365 Premium group, all about this week's challenge and missions.
These video tips are available on demand in the archives, once you're a member of the group.
In Week #12's video I discussed the following topics, among others:
- Tips for developing your morning and evening routines
- Incorporating all your routines and schedules into a cohesive whole
- How to reset your day when things don't go as planned
- Declutter 365 missions for week
I suggest watching the video archive for the week, perhaps while you're doing some decluttering or cleaning around your home, before starting the week's missions and Challenge, and then you'll be able to breeze through this week's worth of decluttering missions, as well as organize what's necessary for the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, based on the advice and instructions within those videos.
It really is like having me, Taylor, available, 24-7, as your decluttering and organizing coach, for every area of your home!
Plus, once you're a member of Declutter 365 Premium you get access to not only this video, but all the videos for the 52 weeks of the year, for 5 years (that's over 260 videos available in the archives!)
Get This Generic Room Decluttering Checklist + 32 Other Decluttering Checklists For Your Home
Whatever room of your home you're trying to declutter you can use this generic room decluttering checklist to help you know exactly how to do it. The checklist helps you break down any room into smaller steps, to make the process less overwhelming, and helps you choose a good order for tackling these tasks.
I've done the hard work of breaking down these tasks into smaller more manageable steps for you, so you don't get overwhelmed or worry you're forgetting a task, and you can go at the pace you want, whether that's fast or slow.
In addition, you can tackle these decluttering tasks in whatever order you want when you use these checklists!
Want More Help? Recommended Morning & Evening Routine Courses
Do you want more help, or to dive more deeply into the topics of developing either a morning or evening routine? If so, then I recommend these courses from my friend Crystal Paine, from Money Saving Mom.
(Please note, I'm an affiliate for her courses, meaning if you purchase a course through my links I get a commission, at no additional cost to you.)
Make Over Your Mornings is a 14-day online course to help you start your days well, so you feel less overwhelmed and also feel like you are getting more accomplished throughout the day because of the good start.
The course costs $17, and you can find out more about it at the link.
Make Over Your Evenings is the sequel course to Make Over Your Mornings, and it helps you understand that a successful day begins the night before.
Find out how to set up a realistic, workable, and life-impacting evening routine in this 14-day course. It costs $17, and you can find out more about it at the link.
Tell Me How The Create A Morning & Evening Routine Challenge Is Going For You
I would love to know how this week's Create A Morning & Evening Routine Challenge is going. You can tell me your progress or give me more ideas for how you've designed your daily routines in the comments.
I also love before and after pictures of your scheduling and habit tracking systems, and would love to see some of yours. Submit your pictures (up to four per submission) and blog posts and get featured in the Creative Storage Solutions Hall of Fame. You've worked hard to get organized, so now here's your chance to show off!
Sneak Peek For Next Week's Challenge
We're working on our homes slowly, one area at a time, so don't get too distracted from the Create A Morning & Evening Routine Challenge this week.
However, I know some of you love to know what's coming next, so I'll tell you. After this week we're switching gears, since this challenge concludes the large section of the program dealing with scheduling and routine building. Next week we'll again focus on home organization, and begin focusing on storage areas in our home starting with the Basement Organization Challenge.
Make Sure You Make The Most Of These 52 Organizing Challenges
Get your copy of the printable one page 52 Week Organized Home Challenge schedule for the year here, so you can see all the challenges we're working on.
Further, if you'd like to join a community of others who are all commmitted to these organizing challenges and corresponding decluttering missions, and want more interaction with me, Taylor, video archives of Taylor providing more tips for each of these challenges and missions, as well as live monthly group coaching sessions focusing on the skills and habits necessary to maintain your home from now on, I'd urge you to join the private and exclusive Declutter 365 Premium Facebook group (you can learn more about it at the link).
In addition, have you gotten your Declutter 365 Products yet, to make sure you can get even more assistance with decluttering and organizing your home this year? There are both free products (like the Declutter 365 calendar, a $20 value), as well as add-ons, such as daily text messages, planner stickers, and a Premium Facebook group, as well as a pack of printabe decluttering checklists.
Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase a product through them I receive a small commission which helps me provide this information to you for free, plus support my family. My integrity and your satisfaction are very important to me so I only recommend products I would purchase myself, and that I believe would benefit you. To learn more please see my disclosure statement.
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