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Morning Routines for homemakers

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It’s so important to have a good morning routine! For the modern homemaker, it’s a good idea to start your day off on the best note possible.

Everyone has a morning routine of some sort, whether we know it or not. Sometimes it’s just not a very organized one.

For a long time my morning routine looked like….

Slump out of bed after the kids are awake, then shuffle around in search of coffee while kids ask for help with breakfast. After bouncing from unfinished task to unfinished task, I’d finally plop into my chair to start school feeling a little more edgy than I’d care to admit.

Then I would spend the whole day trying to catch up and feeling like I’m behind.

This is NOT a very peaceful way to start the day.

After years of working on my mornings, I’m very glad to report that I now LOVE my mornings.

If you’re not naturally a morning person, just know you’re in good company!

I would even argue, that getting advice from people who ARE naturally morning people might be hard to apply. (If you, like me, are not naturally a morning person.)

Is there a perfect morning routine?

Many of us crave that “old-fashioned homemaking routine” but sometimes it’s hard to put our finger on exactly what that looks like.

Having a personalized morning routine is a great way to boost us into the rest of our day with a positive attitude and crystal clear clarity!

We all have different priorities when it comes to what we want on our productive morning routine.

Not to worry! This post will be a great way to find out for yourself what will best serve you.

First things first!

The one and only thing I can confidently say with certainty is that we ALL should start our day with the Lord.

In his book “A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23”, W. Phillip Keller explains how sheep are actually able to be sustained for long periods of time from the water that forms in dew drops on the morning grass.

cover of book titled "A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23".

He argues that rising early, to be filled with the “still waters” of God’s great love is the key to a thriving Christian life.

“In the Christian life it is of more than passing significance to observe that those who are often the most serene, most confident, and able to cope with life’s complexities are those who rise early each day to feed on God’s word.”

W. Phillip Keller -A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23

This is the biggest place to start.

If you want to start a more structured morning routine, the first thing to start with is reading God’s word in the morning.

Then work on adding the other things in as you get accustomed to your new daily routine.

Spending a bit of time first thing in the morning is the biggest priority for all of us. If we pray over our daily tasks and ask God to guide us, He will be faithful to bless our efforts.

And… if the day doesn’t go according to plan… maybe that was His plan all along.

Starting out by orienting ourselves to what is truly important is the very best way to start the day.

Morning time with the Lord doesn’t have to be a three-hour endeavor. (It Can be!) But for the full-time homemaker, spending even ten minutes will be absolutely critical.

You deserve to start your day in the most loving way.

You have to find what works for YOU!

woman in beige sweater holding a cup of coffee with a little girl in the background.

Everyone will have different priorities when it comes to crafting a “perfect” morning routine. This is the beauty of it!

As I mentioned earlier, I highly recommend starting with spending time with Jesus.

Reading scripture, praying, and journaling are all great ways to connect with God in the morning.

After that you can choose what’s most important for a good morning routine. Let’s go over some of the most common ones for your morning routine needs.

The following are what I would consider “Core Morning Routine Components”.

Moving your body

Getting a little exercise in the morning is a wonderful way to start the day.

This doesn’t have to be strenuous or sweaty, you can just take a brisk walk or do a 20 minute weight-lifting exercise. (You can always do more if you want!)

Sometimes it can be as simple as some stretches in some comfy clothes before you get yourself dressed for the day.

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Remember to build up your morning routine slowly, so you don’t get overwhelmed and give up altogether!

Freshen up

In my post on “How can Christian women feel sexy?” We discussed how being clean and properly dressed can be the biggest morale booster.

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If you work outside the home, your daily wardrobe will look a bit different than if you work full time at home.

But if you’re a stay-at-home mom, be sure to actually get dressed each day. You don’t have to spend much time on this, but putting on a little makeup and wearing clean clothes can really go a long way.

Sometimes it feels a little silly when you know you’re not going anywhere and you’re not going to see anyone outside the home.

Plus you’d be saving on laundry if you stayed in your pajamas all day!

But trust me, your ambition (not to mention that of the members of your family) will noticeably suffer. If they see Mom showing up each day fully dressed boasting a lovely smile, they will join you in your positivity.

The whole environment of the home will feel different.

Of course, I’m not saying we need to be wearing anything over-the-top fancy or complicated. But we should treat our homes as our jobs and show up every day of the week!

You’ve heard the expression… These are your kids childhood days, but these are also your motherhood days.

Think about how you want to remember this season and move forward accordingly.

Nourish your body

spinach omelet with chopped tomatoes and cheese.

If you get busy with the tasks of the day and forget to eat (we’ve all been there) you will find yourself hangry and famished at an inopportune time and that’s when we just shove into our mouths anything we can quickly get our hands on.

This is usually not a very healthy choice!

Take the time to thoughtfully and intentionally nourish yourself first thing in the morning.

That way, even if your day goes completely off the rails… you have a good base of protein and fats to carry you through with a smile on your face!

Notice I said “nourish” your body. I’m talking about some good, real food. This is going to look different for everyone, but please make sure you’re taking good care of your body on a daily basis.

The add-ins

At this point, you can add in anything else that will best serve you in the season you’re in.

Some homemakers like to start a load of laundry and get the kitchen cleaned up to start the day.

Some people like to have an intellectual book to chip away at each morning. Still, others will use a bit of morning time to work on a side-hustle or a home business.

Use a daily planner (or cheap notebook) to write down some things you might like to add in once you get used to your core morning time routine.

What are the most important things for you?

Decide what you want to prioritize and plug it in accordingly. Remember to add things in slowly so you don’t get overwhelmed and quit! (Ask me how I know…)

The pitfalls

Remember earlier when I said I’m not naturally a morning person? Well, I’ve failed at creating a “morning time” many times. So I have lots of lessons I’ve learned.

Pitfall #1- Staying up too late.

It’s really hard to get out of bed in the mornings for some of us. It’s even harder for us to get out of bed in the morning when we didn’t get much sleep the night before.

I have 4 young children. I know what it’s like when you finally have a moment to yourself at the end of the day and you really just want to stay up a while and enjoy a little “me-time”.

But if you’ve made it a personal goal to institute a more structured morning time, then getting to bed at night is going to be your biggest contribution.

It’s a funny cycle of “I didn’t get anything done today, so I need to stay up late to get a few things done now” to “I was up late doing laundry, so I need to sleep in a bit to make sure I’m getting a little rest.” and on and on it goes.

But if you can break the cycle and just get yourself to bed at a decent hour (you need to decide what your ideal time is) your future self will thank you!

There may be some growing pains, but it’s totally worth the effort.

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If you are in a season of not getting enough sleep, please check out my post on “Surviving Chronic Sleep Deprivation in Motherhood.”

Pitfall #2 -Not Using an Evening Routine

If you use an evening routine to set yourself up for success, you will be well on your way to executing your morning routine.

A few things I like to do in my evening routine are: set out my clothes for the next day, make sure the living room is picked up, and have my Bible ready to go for the next day.

A new part of my routine in the evening is folding a little bit of laundry if it needs to be done. I’ve found it’s way faster to get it done once the kids are in bed.

This might not be for everyone, but try to consider what simple task you can do to bless your future self!

Pitfall #3 -Lying to Ourselves.

If you made a promise to someone in your family that you were going to show up for an event, would anything stop you from doing it?

I doubt it.

Why, then do we find it so easy to break promises we’ve made to ourselves?

It’s a funny thing to think about isn’t it!

I think for me, it’s easier to break my promise to myself that I’m going to actually get out of bed and not hit the snooze a dozen times, because no one else is witnessing this struggle of mine.

I’m only lying to myself!

But that should still matter.

I challenge you to consider this. If you make a promise to yourself that you are going to wake up when the alarm goes off in the morning, you should honor that.

When I was really struggling with this (it was a HARD battle for me!) I remember telling my husband how I was struggling, and asked him to help hold me accountable.

If this sounds like something you’ve struggled with, consider asking someone you trust (a best friend, perhaps?) to check in on how you’re doing with it.

Pitfall #4 – Falling into time sucking activities in the morning

woman holding a smart phone.

It’s a real shame to do all this work to wake up early in the morning, only to squander the time on something that isn’t life-giving!

For most of us, this is social media. Some people like to avoid checking emails in the morning.

I would also argue this is NOT the time for online shopping.

Make sure you guard your morning time with vigilance. It should be used wisely, as it is precious!

If we aren’t intentional, it will be wasted away and the day will hit with the full force of a subway train, and we will be hanging on for dear life (AGAIN!)

Instead, we want to feel like we are in the driver’s seat of said subway train, in full control of our day. Or at the very least, happily riding shotgun.

We don’t want to sabotage our to-do list.

One of the best things about a morning routine is that we can feel like the rest of our day has a beautiful momentum of productivity. A good routine will help us so much!

We want to get to the end of the day and feel a good sense of exhaustion, but with a satisfactory notion woven into it.

There are far too many days when we get to the end of the day and we’re surrounded by all our half-finished projects that we were pulled away from for various reasons.

Living with interruptions is just a part of life, but we can still find a productive moment or two (especially when we have a good start to the day!)

Some variations

Once we get the hang of our “core morning routine”, we can start adding in some productive variations. This is where theme days come in.

A theme day is just a simple theme for each day of the week. For instance, Monday could be your laundry day. Tuesday might be your meal prep day, and so on.

Having routines of the day can be such a great way to take the decision fatigue out of the equation.

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I used to break down my home into zones. I created 6 zones and tried to clean one each day. Everyone loves a clean home!

*I failed miserably at this, but for some it could work wonders.

For some homemakers, having a set schedule for themselves is the best way to stay on task.

This would be as simple as waking up and saying to yourself, “Oh, it’s grocery shopping day. I think I’ll get my grocery list finalized before I wake the kids up.”

That’s it! You don’t have to do any larger projects. You can just have a mental leg-up on what you now know is coming in your day.

As we strive

There will be days when you need to give yourself grace and catch a little more sleep.

I find it highly ironic and quite humorous that as I’m writing this I failed to do my morning routine this very morning.

We had an awful night of all the kids being up all night (even the older kids.) Since my husband was home to get up with the early riser this morning, I was able to sleep a little more this morning.

These days happen, and I’m not going to stress about it!

The key is that these days are the exception, and I know that tomorrow I will get right back into my morning routine, because it’s a good thing for me and I’ve learned to love what it does for my effectiveness.

I’m not trying to create a rigid schedule; my routine is meant to serve me.

When these days happen to you, just know that it’s normal and you can get back to it tomorrow. Everything’s going to be just fine.

As we strive toward what we think is ideal for our personal morning routine, we must remember that we are doing the best we can.

The last thing I want is for you to read this and feel defeat or discouragement.

On the contrary, I pray you feel encouraged to keep striving (in a healthy way) toward your own standard of excellence.

If you’re still unsure…

an open bible being held in a lap.

If it’s been a long time since you’ve attempted a structured morning time, may I suggest you start with a simple Bible time. Just carve out 10 minutes to spend with the Lord tomorrow morning and take note of what it does for your day.

I remember my husband once telling me “As long as you stand up when your alarm goes off, you’re good to go!” And I always thought, “….maybe for you! But I can stand up, and want to fall right back in my bed and go back to sleep.”

So, right now, I want to talk to the person who is struggling like I was.

You can do this. Just make a promise to yourself and keep forming the habit. Before you know it, you’ll look back and be amazed at how much you love your morning time.

God bless you as you work to glorify Him in all you do!

Hi, I’m Stephanie! I’m a Christian wife, mom of 4, homeschooler, and a technically trained chef. I love creating a simple, beautiful life with our sweet family.

I’m so glad you’re here!

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