Tips for Happy Living - Managing Your Morning and Evening Routines

As a working mom it is very important that you set up routines for yourself and your household. Routines allow you to know what's going on at that particular moment so that you will not forget anything. Routines prepare you for the next day and help you move faster and more coherently than flying around looking for this and that item.

At one point my morning routine consisted of me waking up (late, cause I'm always trying to get more sleep). Rushing to take a shower, trying to figure out what I'm going to where, make breakfast (ha!! yeah right), making sure my husband is up so he can take the little one to school. Lastly, I'm racing out the house to catch the bus so that I can make it to work on time. Does any of this sound remotely familiar? I even bet the rest of your day you are unfocused, handling a million task at once trying to get it all done so you can get off from work to race home to pick up your children from daycare, come up with something to eat (preferably something that takes 30 minutes or less), watch your favorite shows, help kids with homework, go to bed so you can lay there thinking about all that you did not accomplish for the day (and tomorrow). To be honest this is a waste of time and there is a better way to manage your morning and evening routine.

3 Steps to Manage Your Routines Better

1. The first step is to think about what are the things you do every single morning and every single evening. For example, in my wild routine every morning I wake up late (keep hitting that snooze button) so I now have to rush to get ready so that I can catch my bus. I never know what I'm going to where, so that put me behind as well. These things will never change.
2. The second step is to figure out what will help make those steps easier. If I knew what I was wearing to work that morning that would decrease the time it takes for me to get ready in the morning significantly. I can spend about 10 - 20 minutes trying to figure out what I'm going to where. But if I already know, then it only takes 10 minutes to put the clothes on.
3. The third step is to take action. What I started to do was think about my outfit for tomorrow the night before. Actually this starts at the beginning of the week. On Sunday I get a vague idea of what I will where for the week so that I can think about my outfit the night before.

These are 3 simple steps to help you manage your evening and morning routines better. But keep in mind one thing, Flexibility. It's important that you don't get too attached to your routine that if change happens to occur it ruins your entire routine. A perfect example of this is instead of my husband taking my little one to school, I must do it because his schedule has changed. So I have to adjust my routine to allow for the time to get my little one ready as well so we both aren't running around crazy.

Having a more relaxed routine can help you tremendously. The major reward is seeing how much time you can actually skim off of your morning and evening so you can do more with family, friends, and yourself.

Do you have routines? Do you manage them well? Share with us below.

This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITE.