Let’s talk about stressful mornings for a moment, shall we? You know the kind – the kind where chaos spawns from chaos and it’s all you can do to get out the front door. Forget about being early, most of these mornings are late from the second you hit the snooze button the first time (or is that just me?!). Because I am that person, and my kids are basically small versions of me, I made this evening routine printable checklist to help set ourselves up for success in the mornings. And if we actually follow it, it totally works.
This post was sponsored by hello products.
Evening Routine Printable Checklist
Mornings can be so, so tough. Our mornings start early…the kids start school at 7:30 AM (yawwwwwn). I’ve learned that our mornings can go two ways:
- Stressful Disaster Mornings: you know the type! Everyone is late, someone is crying, there are no shoes to be found, everyone hates breakfast, someone is refusing to brush their teeth, and you forgot to pack lunches the night before.
- Peaceful Mornings: more rare, the Peaceful Morning involves little crying (I won’t say there’s no crying, because, kids), shoes are where they belong, breakfast is easy, clothes are laid out, teeth are brushed, and backpacks are packed. Everyone gets out the door mostly on time.
Every morning in our house used to be a Stressful Disaster Morning.
I’m far from a morning person (like, waaaay far), but a few tweaks to our evening routine have resulted in more Peaceful Mornings than not. I want to share these with you, because I think having less stress in the morning is life-changing!
An easy morning starts the night before. Here are the things we do at night to ensure our mornings go as smoothly as possible.
Lay out clothes – we love these cubbies!
We lay out clothes for the entire week on Sunday night. I have the kids do this for themselves. I give them guidelines (I look at my weather app and tell them which days they need long pants, heavy coats, shorts, etc.) and tell them to include socks and undies for each day. They have hanging cubbies in their closets and the clothes for the week go in the cubbies.
Put shoes away.
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been late because of a missing shoe! Now, before bed, everyone needs to make sure they have shoes for the next day in their closet.
Pack lunches (bonus if your kids are old enough to do this themselves!).
Pack backpacks and set them by the front door.
I go through folders, sign what I need to sign, and pack up backpacks the night before. In the morning, we add the lunchboxes.
Plan your breakfasts.
You can even prep breakfasts ahead of time (need some ideas? check out these make-ahead freezer breakfasts!). Knowing what’s for breakfast will save you a bunch of time each day, even if that means prepping something you can eat on the road. If you need help with meal planning, you can join my 30 Day Meal Planning Challenge here.
Go to bed earlier.
During breaks, we let the kids stay up later. But on school nights, we try to have them tucked in by 8PM…at the latest. There are plenty of times we send them to bed at 7:30. It makes a *huge* difference in how they feel in the morning.
Have a hair station.
If you have a kid who needs to do their hair in the morning, have a designated place for the brush and hair accessories…and make it their job to make sure their hair station is stocked each night.
Have a toothbrushing routine.
My kids seem to think they don’t need to brush their teeth (despite my repeated warnings/threats that their teeth will fall out if they don’t brush). After they brush their teeth at night, I have them get everything set up so it’s ready to go on the counter for the morning brushing.
Print out this checklist and use it for a week or two. I bet you’ll start seeing positive changes in your morning routine right away!
Download your free printable pantry checklist below by clicking on the black and white “download here” button.
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