MORNING MADNESS- GOODBYE!

Since I'm now leaving the home each morning and heading to our office I realized I need to find some way to ease the morning madness.

I've always thought I could do things to help in this area but since I came back home after taking the Rugrats to the bus stop I had time to do things then. The truth is even if I had time to do them when I got home there was still morning madness looking for homework, getting packed lunch etc. And now because I don't leave the office for lunch, I also need to pack lunch for myself.

I've done some research and come up with a few ideas I plan to implement to help cut down on this morning madness.

The biggest thing is getting ready the night before for the morning. I KNOW I'm exhausted the night before from the day of...... BUT...... if it will make the day of's (is that a word?....lol) morning go so much smoother, it will be so worth it!

A big thing for me is getting up and making my coffee. Get the coffemaker ready the night before. At times I have done this. I just have to push the button and start it in the morning (or some have a timer you can set so it's ready when you wake up). Every morning I have done this I'm sooooooo glad I did. It only takes a few minutes to do but in the morning when you have a million few minute things to do it's wonderful to just push the button!

Another suggestion I found was to set the breakfast table the night before. I'm teetering on this one but I'm going to give it a try. Often my Rugrats get cereal or egg sandwiches but I think it's worth seeing the difference it may make.

This is a BIGGIE...... Make a to do list of all the things you need to do the next day. List, List, List.......I honestly think this is a HUGE key to organization. After making the list you can see what items you need to have ready to go in the morning instead of leaving the house without the checks you need to deposit, or the shirt you need to take back, etc.

Pick your clothes out for the next day and have or help your children pick theirs out too. Then when your son needs to wear his wrestling sweatshirt and it's dirty, you don't find that out when you need to leave in 15 minutes and he would either be wearing it stinky or wet because there would not be enough time to dry it. Also cut down on the I don't know what to wear problem that we all sometimes have. Trying on a million things and then not having time to hang them all back up when you finally find what you want to wear.

Another BIGGIE in my book: Have a central control station (ie: table, counter top) near the front (exit) door and make sure everything you need to take with you is placed here the night before. Determine what homework assignments, library books, sports gear or musical instrument the kids need to take with them to school and place them at the central control station.

Make as much of the school lunches as possible the night before and put them in the refrigerator. If you are packing your lunch to take to work now is a great time to do that also. Especially if you are trying to stick to a healthy eating diet plan the last thing you want to happen is to not have time to pack and just HAVE to go to your favorite Mexican food restaurant for chips and salsa the next day. I've implemented this and started taking the left overs from dinner and putting them in a Tupperware container for me to take to work. It's yummy, easy and saves money........which we all know is a great thing to do!

This is a big one for me. If you are going to need meat for tomorrow nights dinner take it out and put it in the fridge to thaw before you go to bed. This way you don't get stuck with frozen meat you are trying to defrost in the microwave OR do what I did often and say forget it and order a pizza!

Of course this last one I've known for a long time but seem to sometimes have a hard time with it...... Getting the required amount of restful sleep tonight will help you to have the energy you will need to tackle whatever tomorrow brings!

Cheers to easing or saying goodbye to the morning madness!

Ciao Bellas~