5 Ways to Make Mornings Stress Free

Are your mornings stressful? I try to stick to a routine as much as possible, but it is difficult getting my 3 boys up and ready before the school bus comes.Normally, I am a pretty productive person, but I get into these slumps where everything seems to get extremely hard to manage in the mornings. I feel like I run around like a mad-woman trying to get everything ready for the day so that we are on-time.Even though we have a good routine, I knew it could be better. I hopped online to see what I could do to make changes to make our mornings less stressful.This is when I found Crystal Paine’s course Make Over Your Mornings.It is a 14-day course designed to help you revolutionize your productivity, improve your routines and invest your time in things that actually matter. It only takes 15 minutes to complete everyday!Check out how to Make Over Your Mornings so that you can gain more focus, organization and clarity every morning.Whether your stress is from lack of sleep or an overloaded schedule, I have some great ways to make mornings stress free, or a little less hectic.Helping you make your life easier, reminds me to use these same tips to make our mornings more streamlined.A few simple steps can completely change how you approach your morning routine.

5 Ways To Make Mornings Stress Free

Whether you work from home or outside of the home, morning tasks can get pretty crazy. With so many more obligations, activities, and responsibilities it is hard to manage everything, and that is why these simple steps to make mornings stress free work for nearly everyone.

Prepare breakfast and lunches ahead of time.

This may seem like an obvious choice, but so many people don't really follow through.  Preparing things in advance makes your morning routine much easier.It isn't about just having granola bars and yogurt for the kids to grab, but setting up a routine for when you buy groceries and prepare meals, you automatically setup what is needed for lunches and for breakfast.I have some tips that really make it easier to manage this, while not taking extra time out of your already busy schedule.

• Prepare vegetables and fruits in individual portion sizes when you get home from the grocery store. This makes it easy for you or your kids to grab and put in a lunch.
• Use small storage containers to prepare dipping sauces once per week to go into lunches.
• Invest in quality Thermos or other storage containers for sending leftovers with kids.
• Prepare leftovers to be used for lunch as you put away food and dishes after dinner each night.
• Spend one hour each month making breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos, pancakes, waffles, or warps to freeze in individual portion size for easy “grab-heat-eat” breakfasts.
• Keep selections simple so it is easy for kids to pick their lunch or breakfast choice each day.

Create a bathroom schedule.

If you have limited bathrooms, or multiple people in your home getting ready each morning, this is an absolute must.A bathroom schedule is needed for making sure you don't leave someone without hot water for their shower, but also so everyone has chance to brush teeth, use the bathroom, and get ready in time.I am constantly reminding my boys of the amount of time it takes them to use the bathroom to brush their teeth in the morning.

• Assign showers and baths to kids at varying times. Some will bath at night and some in the morning.  This helps keep plenty of hot water and avoid a rush.
• Keep spare toothbrushes in the kitchen for those last minute tooth brushing after breakfast when the bathroom is occupied.
• Keep hair styles simple and add mirrors to bedrooms or a central location to make it easier for kids to comb and fix hair (or makeup) outside of the bathroom.
• Assign each person a color for towels, washcloths, cups, and toothbrush to avoid bathroom arguments of one person using another person's item.

Stagger alarms for larger families.

Instead of having everyone wake up at the same time each morning, stagger alarms or wake up times so you have only a few people up and awake at a time.This helps those who take longer to wake up to get a few minutes extra, and keeps everyone from rushing to the bathroom at once.My kids still wake-up bright and early and don’t even need to have an alarm, but if you or your kids have a difficult time waking up here are two things to try:

• Wake up those who bathe in the morning 15-30 minutes earlier than those who bathe at night.
• Set your personal alarm for 15-30 minutes before anyone else so you can have a few minutes of quiet for coffee, hot shower, or meditation to better start your day.

Use a family command center.

In recent years, the family command center has become a term used in many families as well as on many blogs.I love the idea of having one central location to keep items needed day to day.  When you are trying to make mornings stress free, this is an ideal place to begin.The family command center is the place to put backpacks, permission slips, receipts, requests for items needed at school, and every other daily item.It is where you can hang your purse, store your keys, and even keep shoes or umbrellas to be grabbed on the way out the door.Use a family command center to check off the calendar and remind yourself and your kids of everything on the list for the day.You can even hang a chore chart or menu plan in this location to help keep track day to day.

Avoid morning appointments.

This one minor thing helps make mornings stress free for me, and I imagine it will for others.  Booking early morning appointments adds to the rush and stress of your normal routine.Things like dental appointments, doctor's visits, or even meetings with your boss can all be stressful in themselves.Making them occur early in the day can make the rush harder to manage each morning.  Avoid the extra stress by skipping early morning appointments and making afternoon meetings more common. I know this is not something you can always avoid, but when possible it really does help.I know many parents that also add exercise into their morning routine. While this works great for many, if it makes you feel even more stressed, just change the time you workout each day.  Exercise at night, in the middle of the day, or right after work.  Better yet, head out to play with the kids after they get home from school to exercise as a family.These tips for helping make mornings stress free are some of my personal favorite methods.  While some are classics, and some are newer ideas, this list reminds you to go back to the basics.Mornings can seem hectic and crazy, but having a plan and using Make Over Your Mornings has helped me to become more intentional to reduce stress.I would love to hear the things you do to make your mornings go smoothly, please share in the comments below.