Wednesday, September 9, 2009

WFMW: nightly prep work

I am a huge believer in prep work to make the next day run smoothly.

At night I can be found spending 15 minutes to prepare the house for the next morning.


Morning.
Its almost a 4 letter word in our house.

But it has 7 letters.

So its a 7 letter word in our house. Probably in your house too. You can't change that I guess.

We have two non-morning people in the house. They like to sleep. If they don't get enough sleep they are cranky. I don't like cranky. I don't put up well with cranky.

Well, I like to sleep too. But if I didn't get up then no one would get up. So I have to get up.

At night during my 15 minute prep I can be found...

In the kitchen packing Carah's lunch for kindergarten...setting out Brady's and Carah's breakfast...packing my lunch and Jeff's lunch

In the kids bedrooms getting their clothing out for the next morning...

In the bathroom giving it a quick once over...

In the family room picking up any stray toys that didn't make it into the toy bins during clean up...

In me and Jeff's room setting the alarm, setting out my clothes for the next day...

And in the mud room setting out Carah's backpack and shoes (and jackets if need be) so they are ready to head out the door in the morning.

It takes constant prodding to get the kids to stop entertaining each other during breakfast and actually eat before they have to go out and face the world. But with these simple steps I take at night to prepare for the day ahead it makes the morning go a LOT smoother.

What works for you?
Check out what works for others HERE.



2 comments:

Becky @ Our Sweet Peas said...

I hear you. I find that I do better when I get things finished at night!

Jennifer (Niffer) said...

I guess I do that too! I don't pack my 1st graders lunch at night... trying to incorporate that into the routine though...

Morning is a "4" letter word for me to. I work 12 hr night sifts so getting up before the rest of the gang is near impossible, although this morning I did hit the shower (the only way I wake up well) by 6:05.

I do my best when I'm one step ahead of my kiddos too!