Most people have morning routines that they are accustomed to. Morning routines are an essential part of your day and are great to have, but I am here to tell you there is NO routine more important than your night-time routine. The key to keeping order in my home is to keep things from building up and making sure the house is completely RESET at the end of each day.
The kitchen counters need to be cleared off and cleaned, toys need to be put away, bathrooms should be wiped down, dining table should be cleared, and all trash has to be taken out of the house. It may seem like a lot at first, but as you turn your tasks into habits and remember they have to be done eventually, they will become part of your routine. Your night-time routine will help set you up for the next day and make your morning routine and the rest of your day run smoothly. Don't wait until the next morning to clean up yesterday's mess.
Here is my night time routine:🌙
The kitchen sink is one of my most important tasks at the end of the night. To function in the morning the kitchen sink has to be empty. After dinner, under NO circumstance do we sit down or do anything else until the kitchen is cleaned up. I've waken up too many times to a dirty kitchen, I'm over that part of my life. All dishes are washed immediately, which is SUPER IMPORTANT because after 20 minutes or so the food hardens and is much more difficult to clean. We sweep under the dining table and wipe down the table and chairs. The counters get cleared wiped down I take a quick (reluctant) pass at the stove top (the stove top is my least favorite chore). Can I please hire someone to come clean my stove top every night?!
Once the kitchen is clean, we move on to putting the Littles to bed.
If it is a night for the all the kids to bathe, we find it works best if we treat it like an assembly line. And I what I mean by 'if it is a night for the kids to bathe' is if they've been playing outside all day and are dirty, beach days..etc. On regular nights I try to get three kids bathed per night. That way they can switch off nights. I just can't bathe 7 kids every single night every night.
But on 'everyone bathes' nights: 🛁
We have the two oldest boys take turns taking showers and brushing their teeth while the little ones clean their room, pick out their pajamas, and make their beds. When it is their turn in the shower, the first one showers, then gets dressed and while she brushes her teeth, the next one gets in the shower and so on (it's easiest to keep the shower running as they file in and out). As soon as their teeth are brushed and flossed (they are currently obsessed with flossing...I'll take it) they grab a quick sip of water and turn in for the night. When everyone is in bed, they wait to be tucked in and kissed (and tickled). How come kids are the most ticklish when they are all tucked in bed? I would love to be the mom who reads to her children while they are tucked in every night. But usually by the time all of the kids are in bed I am hanging by a thread. I usually read to them after school during homework time. The shower-time assembly line works for the four little ones because it keeps them out of each other's way and from it taking all night long.
After the kids are all down for the night we move on to the rest of the house.
Bathrooms are next:
Now that everyone is done brushing their teeth the kid's bathroom sink looks like a smurf threw up all over it. So the sinks get wiped clean, we take a quick pass at the towels and refill the toilet paper and empty the trash cans (if needed). I deep clean all of the toilets when the kids are at school. There are three toilets in our house so I alternate the deep cleaning schedule.
Once all the bathroom trash cans are emptied from around the house we take out the kitchen trash. Taking the trashes out is one of my biggest nightly priorities. I can't stand waking up in the morning to the smell of stale trash. Then I set my coffee pot, Hubby goes around and makes sure the doors and windows are all locked up and we make sure the living room is sorted out.
Once the common rooms are done I go upstairs and pick out the children's clothes for the next day, then set them out where the kids can access them themselves in the morning. My life changed when I started doing this. I am NOT a morning person. The last thing I want to do is make decisions in the morning. Sometimes I let them pick out their school clothes the night before, but they are still at that age where they don't mind what I pick out. I'll peek at the weather and see what type of clothing will be appropriate for the next day. Mornings before school they all know to get dressed before coming to the breakfast table. This is also a great habit for my kids, when I started implementing this strategy I noticed our breakfast time seemed less rushed. They used to eat before getting dressed.. mornings were more chaotic back then.
On school nights we pack the school lunches. It works best for me if I pack them the night before. Anytime I forget (or am too tired) to pack lunch the night before, it always seems to coincidentally land on a morning when I accidentally sleep in. So I really try to always pack them the night before.
Finishing Touches:
I always check my calendar to see if I need to be anywhere in the morning. If so, I will set anything I will need to take with me next to the door; diaper bag, outgoing mail, grocery bags, etc. After that, we will finish any laundry that needs to be folded (which always seems to be the last thing I do every night). We pile up the clean laundry on the master bed so it has to be folded before we go to sleep, if it is washed today it gets put away today.
The whole idea is to clean up everything from TODAY so it resets your house for tomorrow. You and your kids deserve to wake up to a clean home.
And I want you to know, this routine is extremely effective. There are definitely nights in my house where some of these things don't get done and that's okay. But I do notice when they are not done and it adds to my morning to-do list.
I love feedback, please comment below with any questions or insight you might have on this subject. Do you have a night-time routine? Is there anything that I do that you do as well?🌿