How To Simplify Your Home Routines When Life Feels Busy (back to school edition)
It’s back to school for many and the shift out of Summer mode is in full swing. When I feel things ramp up, I like to take some time to pause and reflect on how we can keep peace in our home to avoid feeling run over by our schedule shifts.
The feeling of being rushed is the worst. It adds unnecessary anxiety to my kids, myself and everything we’re doing. It just sucks the fun out of life and I’m not here for it.
Today we’re going to brainstorm together a slew of ideas to find extra pockets of time in your day and streamline your home routines during the week to add more ease and peace when life feels busy.
And for the record, use whatever tips work for you and your family. Not all ideas will work for you and that’s OK. Tweak and adjust things to fit your life, your family and your home, deal?! OK, let’s get going.
Observe The Chaos
Before I start listing out a bunch of ideas to save you time and energy during the week, I want you to take moment to reflect on where you saw, felt and were involved in the most chaos during your days this week.
For example, in our home, getting out the door for school can be very dicey. I have two kids that go to school at two different times, yet are somewhat close together. There is very little room for error. I am always looking for ways to make this go smoother and be as stress-free as possible.
Another example is our very full Monday afternoons. We have a chunk of time in between gymnastics and soccer practice where we have to squeeze in a light dinner, which can also get dicey because there is so little time.
Maybe the end of the day is harder for you. Maybe a certain day of the week is particularly challenging. Own it. Write it down. List out on paper or in your phone each of the moments that feel stressful, take too many steps or are just down right not fun. Now we’re getting somewhere. Now we can start talking solutions! You’ll now be able to start aligning your most chaotic times of day in your life and home with some of the ideas listed below that make the most sense for you.
Daily Routine Simplifying + Plan Ahead Ideas:
Eliminate things in your schedule. If it doesn’t have to be done, don’t do it.
Weave in shortcuts throughout your week. Always shopping for the same groceries? Have a standard list and stick to it or automate it with a grocery pick up order.
Know what things might be forgotten ahead of time. If a paper has to be signed last minute (it’s going to happen), locate a pen right in your pack up location so you don’t have to go running through the house looking for a pen last minute. If your kids always need extra ponytail holders, have an extra stash right near the door.
Pre-wash and chop fruits and veggies for the week that can handle it. I don’t do this with raspberries, for example. Cucumber spears, carrots, celery, grapes and some other berries get used to throw into lunches and pulled out for quick dinners all week long. I’ll also do this for apple slices and toss them in lemon juice and they last for days without going brown. This 10 minute effort on Sundays saves countless minutes all week long.
Make most meals extremely predictable and mindless. In fact I want to challenge you to repeat meals week after week. Get creative only when you want to and have the energy for it. For example, our Monday nights now are always grilled cheese with raw veggies and fruit. Wednesdays are salmon, 3 minute jasmine rice and steamed veggies that cook quickly while the salmon cooks. Dinner is done in 10 minutes. Friday nights we elect to grab something out, usually pizza!
Take 5-10 minutes at night to reset a clutter/chaos collector space. This can be a kitchen counter, a kitchen table, part of the living room, the bathroom, anywhere will do. We just have some spots in our home that need to be revisited most days. It’s just reality. But a little light maintenance each day will prevent loads of clutter and overwhelm at the end of the week when you’re just ready to relax.
Meal Plan. I know you don’t want to but it might be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. I have lots of tools for you like the School Meals Idea Planning Sheet or the Groceries and Meal Planning Bundle.
Fill up water bottles the night before (kids, adults, etc.). They’ll be cold for the next day and more time for other things in the morning.
Clear out and pack up bags the night before (or as much as possible). If everything can’t be packed at night, lay out anything else that needs to go in close by to it’s easy to pack the next day.
Lay out shoes near your exit location. We don’t keep all our shoes in our exit location because we are limited on space, but the shoes my girls wear for the next day go right next to their backpacks. No running through the house last minute to find shoes, yes please!
Create outfits that already go together that can be folded or laid out together in a drawer or hung up in the closet. This could work for kids and adults. My kids don’t use this method most days but occasionally plan something out the night before.
Create a personal clothing uniform. This can be easier during certain seasons for sure. Right now I am a cropped linen pants or light joggers and t-shirt girl. It is easy. It is comfortable. It is predictable. It is mindless. If I want to off-road one day I do it.
Add hooks to hang up items to take or reminder notes for the next day. It’s hooks for days over here in this house. I couldn’t go a day without them! From a jacket, to clipping a dollar or return receipt to a hanging basket, or an encouraging note for your child on their way out for school, hooks near your entry/exit areas can help streamline your efforts to remember all the extras.
Cook a meal on the weekend that lots of left overs or is easy to reinvent. One of my favorite weekend meals is chili or pasta with meat sauce. Both of these give us at least 3 dinners during the week. If I want something easy to reinvent, I think about grilled chicken. It can go into pasta, we have it on top of beans with avocado, make tacos or quesadillas, can throw it on a big cobb salad, etc.
Add good music to a mundane task. I’m not sure this will save you time (it might if it makes you do the task faster!) but it will certainly add more joy to your day!
Do a quick reset of your entry/exit zone each week. Remove any non-essentials and clutter that showed up that week. Check out this past blog post helping you do exactly that HERE.
Do a morning routine audit. Frankly, you can do this with any part of your day or your end of day routine (or bedtime routine). Remove any steps that are making the process harder or less enjoyable. More details on how to do this in a past blog post HERE!
Get more sleep and go to bed earlier. Not sure how this will save you time during the day? In a nutshell, everything your brain and body tries to do the next day on more sleep will be easier. Oh, and your overall health will be better for it too! Check out these 7 Surprising Reasons To Get More Sleep to motivate you even more!
Don’t give up precious minutes/hours of your day over to mindless phone scrolling. Recover extra minutes in your day by intentionally using technology and setting healthy boundaries for yourself. If you’d like help with digital decluttering, check out my guide HERE.
Leave out a task list for important items that randomly pop into your head you need to remember. Save yourself brain space and put it in a spot where everyone can see it. Write it down, get it done and most importantly, don’t forget it! See our favorite This Week Printable Planner HERE.
