10 Nighttime Habits For a Successful Morning as a Pregnant Mom of Four
As a busy homeschooling and pregnant mama of four, I’m constantly looking for ways to become a better mother. This often involves perfecting routines in my home to keep my days running as efficiently and stress-free as possible! Today, I’m sharing 10 nighttime habits that set me up for a successful morning (plus, a BONUS habit)! Doing these things before I go to bed have helped to reduce stress, as well as have a better start to my day. I hope they can do the same for you! Enjoy :)
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1. Run the dishwasher before bed
I never had a dishwashing routine until recently (probably because I didn’t have a dishwasher until recently thanks to 3 years of full time RV living, haha)…but this method was a game changer for me! Every night before I go to bed I make sure to load and run the dishwasher. It gets unloaded first thing in the morning, and “Wham! Bam! Thank You, Ma’am!,” we have an empty dishwasher ready to load all of our dishes for the day! I always woke up to dirty dishes until I started implementing this nighttime habit, and I will NEVER go back.
2. Start a load of laundry before bed
Similar to a dishwashing routine, a laundry routine is a MUST, and has helped me manage our large family’s laundry. Every single night before I go to bed, I throw a load of laundry in, and start it. (Some machines have a delayed setting which I’m sure is ideal, but for me, I haven’t noticed any issues just starting a load right before bed.) When I wake up, I throw the same load into the dryer, and then fold/hang/put away the clothes by the end of the day. This method has really kept me on my toes with laundry, because didn’t you know…a load a day keeps your SANITY at bay!?
3. Write out the kid’s morning chores
Having four beautiful children under 6 years old leaves me the responsibility of teaching them “teamwork.” It’s not only a valuable life lesson, but it really does help the house run smoothly from the start. Each morning on our dry erase board, I designate one of the following four chores to each of my children: 1. Feeding and cleaning our parakeet’s cage (easier than you’d think, but I do help/monitor), 2. Emptying the dishwasher, 3. Transferring laundry from washer to dryer, and 4. Cooking breakfast with Mommy. Writing out the chores the night before makes waking up easier, because our children know what’s expected of them, and can get their daily chores started!
4. Scrub the sink till she shines
Every night after I load my dishwasher, I give my empty sink a deep scrub with my “Scrub Mommy” sponge, and my special non-toxic vinegar concoction! (Let me know in the comments below if you’d like me to make a blog post on how I make it!) You can have a dish-free sink, and yet if you have grease and grime all over, it DOESN’T quite satisfy, or feel clean. Waking up to a shiny, clean sink takes all the reluctance out of entering my kitchen! I really think I’m “adulting” now…:)
5. Fill our water pitcher, and children’s water bottles
Maybe it’s because I’m pregnant and have four young children, but is anyone else overwhelmed by the constant “I’m thirsty, I’m thirsty!” first thing in the morning? To counter this, I make sure to fill up our family water pitcher the night before, because even though this only takes seconds to fill, it’s a pet peeve of mine to wake up with an empty pitcher! I have the kid’s water bottles cleaned and filled with fresh water the night before. I then lay them out for my children to grab first thing in the morning. This step really does save my sanity, and allows them get the hydration they need with ease.
Our kids are able to drink from cups, but with the headache of spills, our younger children use BPA free water bottles. I’m embarrassed to admit we’ve gone through SO many water bottles, and I have yet to find one that does not LEAK! This is probably why I currently have this highly rated BPA free and non leakage water bottle below in my Amazon cart for us to try!
6. Plan my upcoming day
I recently purchased this new faith based planner from Hosanna Revival, which I reviewed in my blog post HERE. If you’re a planner like I am, then you’ll find great relief in getting all your thoughts out on paper for what main tasks need to be accomplished the next day. This prevents me from feeling frazzled, overwhelmed, and unmotivated. Taking 5 minutes to plan my day the night before keeps me focused and driven at the beginning of each new day!
7. Set my morning alarm before bed
Setting my morning alarm is extremely crucial for me to avoid feeling like there’s not enough time in the day!! If I don’t set my phone alarm the night before, then surprise, surprise…I oversleep, and my whole day gets pushed back. When I wake up via my alarm at the same time everyday, we are able to start chores and school on time, complete our tasks, and have plenty of day for play, or whatever else we want to accomplish!
8. Prep breakfast (even if that means simply laying out your ingredients)
Breakfast seems like such a simple and easy meal to “throw together,” and yet if you don’t have a list of your “go-to” breakfast" options, or at least an idea of what you’ll be making in the morning, it can delay your whole day with temper tantrums and hangry attitudes. I want breakfast to be nutritious, delicious, and peaceful! I find cooking one healthy breakfast for everyone is the best way to provide that consistency. So, I either make breakfast in advance, or lay out all my dry ingredients the night before to make my mornings a little easier! (My current “go-to” breakfast options are overnight oats, fruit, french toast, biscuits, oatmeal, and more recently, beef bacon, egg + cheese wraps…which are surprisingly super fast and easy to make!)
9. Lay clothes out for the next morning
Since becoming a mother, getting dressed in the morning has always been my arch nemesis. However, if you’ve read my recent post, “10 Healthy Habits as a Busy Mom of Four,” you’d know that laying my clothes out the night before is my new and improved habit. This allows me to jump out of bed in the morning with confidence of what I’ll be wearing that day! We do this with our children as well, because it allows them to independently get dressed when they wake up in the morning. (It also halts a potential fight for what each child will be wearing, because it was made clear the night before.)
10. Defrost meat for next day’s dinner
How easy does this make life?! If you defrost your meat the night before, then you’ve likely already decided what will be for dinner, and have one less hurdle standing in your way of making it. I can’t tell you how many times we ordered in because I dropped the ball on defrosting my meat! BAD, LAURA! Now, defrosting my meat is one of the things I do every night that helps keep me one step ahead of dinner, and on route to feeding my family a well planned meal.
BONUS TIP:
11. Leave a clean living space to wake up to
Who enjoys waking up to a bunch of toys in their main living space?! One HUGE way we reduced this stress was so simple that I wish we started sooner! We used a hand-me-down bin to store all the loose toys before our children go to bed. Instead of mom running toys back and forth to their proper place in a sweaty sprint before bedtime, ALL of the children do an easy clean-up that involves putting all loose toys in this bin! It’s a realistic and quick way to say “goodbye” to waking up to clutter. Then, either first thing in the morning, or at a later time, they put their toys back in their rightful place, and have another empty bin to place loose toys in before bedtime.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the way I set myself up for a successful morning with these 10 nighttime habits. I’d LOVE to know what practical nighttime ways YOU set yourself up for success in the comment section below! See you next week, and happy habits!
