I don’t know about y’all, but I struggled to find a solid morning routine for a very long time. I was the queen of snoozing. Seriously, I would easily snooze my alarm 6, 8, 10 times. (My husband loved me for it. 😉 ) Then our mornings were crazy as I was trying to get ready for work, lunches packed, get kids ready, dressed, fed and out the door. It wasn’t always pretty. (Can anyone else relate to this?) Last summer my oldest son was about to start kindergarten and I knew I had to make a change and quit snoozing, but truthfully I didn’t know how. I had tried different techniques, numerous times and all had failed. I had a bad habit that I couldn’t seem to break. So literally one day last summer, I got on YouTube and typed..”how to become a morning person” and came across Mel Robins! 🙌🏼
She had the most simple solution…she puts her phone in her bathroom at a certain time every night and leaves it there. Light bulb!!!! (Why it took me hearing some one else saying that to trigger the light bulb I still have no idea, but I am sure glad it did.) I had tried putting my phone in different areas around my room but would press snooze and crawl back in bed immediately. When she said the bathroom, it was an “ah-ha” or even a “duh” moment for me.
**Side note….if you have never heard of Mel Robins, more specifically, her 5 second rule I highly suggest you listen to her. When I came across her talk on snoozing/morning routine it captured me when she said, “it was a winter morning in Boston and for the first time I had beat my snooze habit.” (something along those lines). She has tons of content out there, gives great advice, and gives good gut checks. This is just someone I have enjoyed and benefited from listening to and thought you might too!**
Anyway back to not snoozing. The trick was she put her phone in her bathroom every night at a certain time and left it there. When her alarm would go off, she used her 5-second rule (counting down backwards…5…4…3…2…1…and then physically moving) to get out of bed, and get her morning going instead of snoozing. So I implemented that technique immediately. (Again, I had tried various places in my room before, other than my night stand, but found myself snoozing and quickly hopping back into bed.) The bathroom placement and 5 second rule has worked like magic. As soon as I get out of bed, walk to my bathroom to quiet my alarm I turn on a small light so it triggers me to wake me up so I am not standing there in the dark tempted to go hop back in bed. Y’all…this has been an absolute game changer for me so I wanted to share with y’all in case anyone else is having trouble with that pesky snooze button.
I have also found that when I put my phone away (usually about 8:30 pm give or take a little) I get in bed and read a book now instead of mindlessly scrolling my phone. I love to read but never took the time, now I make the time by putting my phone away for the evening, another mental game changer for me. 🙂
I get up at 5 am every morning now. Some mornings it is still a struggle but I haven’t hit the snooze button in over 9 months! I have time to enjoy a cup of coffee (usually 2) before I start waking the rest of my family. It gives me time to have a little quiet time, exercise, organize my day and thoughts and get ready. I do my best not to look at my phone during this time either. Our mornings are now calm and run smoothly. I don’t have to yell “we’re going to be late!!!” anymore.
I am not going to break down our exact schedule as everyone has a different morning routine with different times and places they need to be. Since I work outside the home a lot of my time is spent getting ready, so thankfully my husband is a huge help in getting breakfast ready and the lunches packed for the kiddos. I help them get them dressed and then do all the dropping off. It is what we have found works best for us since I have to be out the door fully ready with all 3 kids by 7:25 am.
You may be thinking what does this have to do with organizing or decluttering, but truthfully the answer is everything!! I used to run out the door leaving our house a wreck from the morning chaos and then it was all still waiting for me when I would get home after 5 pm. Not what I wanted to greet me when I walked through the door everyday after work. Plus, then it would take me all night to get the house re-organized and straightened. This new morning routine of waking up early has allowed me to mostly keep things looking pretty tidy prior to leaving the house since we are not rushing around like crazy people. I have time to make our bed every morning, put things back in the appropriate spot after I finish using it, (it isn’t just abandoned on the counter as I rush out the door), make sure the boy’s have everything they need for school and daycare, etc.
I am all about the real life, so don’t think that every thing is always sparkling clean when we leave…there are probably crumbs on my kitchen floor as head out the door, there might be a few dishes in the sink from breakfast, an empty cup on the counter that never made it to the sink, but all in all our house looks SO much better than it used to when leaving for the day.
I highly encourage you to set your own morning routine/wake up time, depending on what works best for you and your family. My biggest piece of advise is not to snooze! You can set a morning routine on paper all day long, but if you over sleep due to snoozing that routine is more than likely going to get abandoned. Actually get up at the time you set your alarm for and get done what you need or want to get done each morning. It truly has made a huge difference in our mornings, making them fun instead of stressful. I used to get so annoyed when my boys would wake up any earlier than I wanted them to, which was always changing since I never got up at a consistent time. Now even if they wake up earlier than normal I am ready to great them as I have had a little quiet time, coffee, maybe even exercised and am ready to see their little sleepy, bed head selves! And they enjoy being greeted by a smiling Mama with open arms rather than a grumpy one, which was what there were previously getting. 🙂
I just wanted to share this tip/trick with y’all as it has been such a game changer for me. Before I started putting my phone in the bathroom, I snoozed every.single.morning. I just wasn’t disciplined enough not to. I know some people are extremely disciplined and have no trouble getting up on time. I am more of a moderately disciplined person so I needed a little help in finding a technique that actually worked!! So plug your phone in your bathroom, set your alarm and then when it goes off, get up and start your day (and dont start looking at your phone)!! It stinks for about 2 minutes, but the benefit of starting your morning on time will be 100% worth it!
XOXO,
Sarah
tacklingtheclutter.com 