Evening routines will keep your busy life organized and more productive the next day.
Clean your kitchen as you cook
When you're finished cooking dinner and you sit down to eat, there should be very little left to clean up.
Wash dishes as you go. Clean up spills on the countertops and stove as they happen. Put ingredients back into the fridge or pantry where they belong when you're finished with them.
This evening routine ensures that one of the main areas in your home will stay clean and organized at all times.
Do the dishes and shine the sink
It may seem like a small thing, but if you don't stay on top of the dirty dishes, they pile up fast. Plus they are harder to clean once they've been sitting there for a day or two.
There is great satisfaction knowing that your kitchen is clean at the end of the night. Your sink is empty and clean. The dishwasher is humming away. You can walk away feeling good about going for a walk or taking a bath or watching some TV or cracking open a good book.
You won't ever feel guilty about leaving a mess behind or experience that awful feeling the next morning seeing a disaster.
As strange as it may be, a clean sink has a powerful effect on your mental state.
Try it and you'll see what I mean.
Prepare for dinner tomorrow
We've all been there.
You come home from a long day at work and you have nothing planned for dinner. You're tired and you just don't have the mental capacity left to think about what to make for dinner.
Well, the kids have to eat so you look in the freezer and ask yourself "What am I going to do with the chicken?!"? Ugh. It's still frozen and you have no plan.
So what do you do instead? Order in? Eat a bowl of cereal or a bag of chips? Or worse yet, you make nothing. Then you're starving 3 hours later, binge eat anything that isn't nailed down and have a crappy sleep because you feel sick.
I've done this too and it's not pretty.
What's the simple solution? Make it a routine to take the chicken out of the freezer while you're making dinner the night before.
Having a plan increases the odds you will follow through.
Plus your wallet and your waist line will thank you!
Do one load of laundry
This evening routine is golden because who likes to face mountains of laundry on the weekend when you could be doing a billion other fun and relaxing things??
After you get home at the end of the day and you're changing out of your work clothes, fill one hamper.
Before you start making dinner, put the one load of laundry in the washer.
When dinner is almost done, put the laundry in the dryer.
Once dinner is done, fold and put away that ONE load of laundry.
Just think about what else you could do if you didn't have 5 loads of laundry to do on Saturday!
Small steps done consistently is the key to staying organized and on top of your household chores using these easy evening routines.
Tidy up before bed
Tidy up the common areas of your house before bed. Fold the blankets on couch, have the kids tidy up their toys, put any projects away you were working on.
Just a quick 5 minute tidy up is all you need because your kitchen is already clean!
Have a shut down ritual
Structured evening routines are good for you and good for your kids.
As life gets crazy, you can all rely on the fact that some things stay the same. That being said, routines aren't meant to be rigid and inflexible but supportive and positive.
Do whatever helps you shut down to be ready for a restful and restorative night's sleep.
Read. Talk with a friend. Do yoga. Meditate. Take a quick shower. Journal.
Life happens so if your preferred routine doesn't happen, if you don't feel like it or maybe your kids need a bit more of your time and attention, that's perfectly okay.
Go to bed on time (on early!)
We all know by now how important sleep is.
Set your phone alarm to remind you when it's time for bed.
Resist the urge to watch that next episode of your favourite show. Don't keep scrolling through Instagram.
Your sleep, your health and how you function the next day is far more important.
Nightly habits are good for your kids.
Implement these suggested evening routines and you will appreciate the structure, confidence and improved focus it will give you and your entire family.
Teaching your kids to have an evening routine will actually help them cope with change as the structure is good for their mental health.
Set you and your kids up for success with these high-functioning and healthy household routines!
Learn more about organizing strategies for your kids.
Find your freedom.
Live your life.
Noreen