Stay at Home Mom Night Routine Ideas

Are you a stay at home mom who needs some time management help? Do you want to make your morning routine work? Then use these ideas for a stay at home mom night routine to completely change your day!

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I struggled for years with time management. When I worked in the corporate world, before I was a stay at home mom of six children, I was always running late. I thought becoming a stay- at- home mom would take care of my time issues. I quickly found out, however, that stay- at- home moms need the same, if not better time management skills than working moms, because we don’t have the external time restraints of a job to keep us on track.

Having a morning routine completely changed my day, and dare I say, my life when I was finally successful with it. After weeks of trial and error in finding the perfect elements of my routine, I discovered the key to a successful morning routine is an evening routine that would set me up for success.

It is an absolute miracle that I get up with my alarm clock every day at 4:30 a.m. I have never really been a morning person. I don’t love the idea of getting out of my nice warm bed. The alarm clock annoys me. However, I learned there are a few things I can do to make it easier for me to get up early, and none of them are done in the morning, but the night before.

How to Create a Stay at Home Mom Night Routine

Set a Bedtime Alarm

Knowing what time you will go to bed is just as important as knowing what time you will wake up. When you plan your bedtime as well as your morning wake up time, you plan the number of hours of sleep you will get. Getting an adequate amount of sleep largely determines what kind of day you will have the next day.

Even if you can’t control when you go to sleep, you can control when you physically get in bed. Even if you are not sleeping, your body can begin to rest.

Once you have determined your bedtime, you can work backward through the elements of your nighttime routine to figure out when that routine should begin or how many time blocks you need to complete the rountine.

Iphone has a sleep setting that will send you a reminder fifteen minutes before you should be in bed. There are also several other clocks that do everything from beginning to play relaxing music to diffusing essential oils on a schedule.

Stop Eating Early

When I eat late, I don’t sleep well. In fact, the earlier I stop eating, the better I sleep. This was one of my earliest discoveries when I started focusing on my health a couple of years ago. I also quickly discovered that eating sugar had a huge impact on my sleep and overall health. You can sign up for my 21 Days to Sugar Free Challenge here.

In addition to eliminating sugar, I developed an intermittent fasting protocol. This protocol closed my eating window well before bedtime and resulted in a much better night’s sleep.

Hydrate

When you stop eating for the evening, its always a good idea to start hydrating. You might make a few extra trips to the bathroom before bed, but the detox benefits your body will receive in the morning are well worth it. In addition to hydrating before bed, keep a bottle of water beside the bed for drinks during the night, and so you can begin hydrating as soon as you wake in the morning.

Brush Your Teeth

There are a couple of theories about when you should brush your teeth in the evening. Some people recommend brushing them right before bed to clean the bacterial out of your mouth just before you go to sleep. I like to brush my teeth as soon as I am finished eating for the day. This discourages late night snacking.

Check Your Schedule

Take a look at your schedule for the next day. Notice any appointments or schedule changes that will be out of the norm. Think about how you need to dress for the day, what you will need for the day, and check your to do list or make one.

Lay Out Your Clothes

Laying out my clothes for the next day is one of those things I was always told to do, but never did until it was absolutely necessary. I actually started to see the benefit when I was going to the gym in the early morning. It was so much easier to talk myself into getting out of bed if my gym clothes were were already out and within reach. I’ve heard that some people even sleep in their gym clothes.

Think about what you will need to wear for the first part of your day, then pull those clothes, and even the shoes you will need and lay them out.

Pack for the Next Day

After you check your schedule, pack your purse, diaper bag, lunch bag, or whatever you will need to take with you the next day if you are going out.

It also helps to think about each one of your children and their activities the following day. Pack their bags or encourage them to pack them. We have a specific place to set out our bags when they are completely ready to go. When we go to homeschool co-op, this make it easy to see who is completely ready the night before.

Check Your Menu

Check your meal plan for the next day. Make sure you have all of the ingredients for the meals on the plan, or pull the correct Once-a-Month Cooking meals from your freezer so they are thawed in the morning.

Tidy Up

I am easily overwhelmed by visual clutter. It took me a long time to learn to work in a room that was not completely tidy and clutter free. Knowing my house is tidy when I get out of bed makes is so much easier for me to want to get up. However, with six children, three of them teens who stay up later than I do, that isn’t always easy. Here are a few ways I try to make sure my house is tidy in the morning:

• Encourage children or anyone who stays up late to pick up after themselves. Make the expectations clear, i.e. no dishes in the sink, clear surfaces, personal items taken to personal spaces. Get my free Age Appropriate Chore List here.
• Do a quick pass through your morning path just before bed.
• Clean the kitchen. Make sure the dishwasher is loaded and running, counters and table are wiped down and the floor is swept up.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

The most important thing you can do to set yourself up for a successful day is to make sure you get plenty of quality sleep. The best environment for sleep is a cool, quiet, and dark room.

Adjust the Thermostat

Research continues to indicate that we sleep better in cooler temperatures. Adjusting the thermostat down a couple of degrees just before bed may help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.

I don’t like waking up to a cold house, so using a programmable thermostat like this one has worked best for me. I set it to drop a couple of degrees about an hour before bedtime, and to come back up to the normal day temperature one hour before my alarm goes off in the morning. This also saves money on our utility bills in the winter.

You can also use a ceiling or oscillating fan to cool the room. The fan will move air in the room to keep you cool and it will also produce “white noise” to help mask the ambient sounds that may wake you up at night.

Turn off Lights and Screens

You can use black out shades to eliminate early morning light. Turn off your cell phones at night so that any emails or texts you receive will not disturb your sleep.

Use Essential Oils

Essential Oils can be used to promote healthy sleep. Diffuse them in the room where you sleep or apply them topically before bed. Some of my favorite night time oils are:

• Lavender
• Bergamot
• Vetiver
• Cedarwood

You can find my complete night time essential oils routine here. You can also find my beginner’s guide to using essential oils here.

Natural Sleep Supplements

Using natural sleep supplements, especially during times of high stress, can help promote better sleep.