The following is a guest post from regular contributor, Sharon at Mom of 6.
It’s the end of the day and you are exhausted (with a capital “E”!). But before you crawl off to bed and allow your head to hit the pillow- there are a few things you should do in order to both appropriately “close the day” as well as get yourself set up for a good day tomorrow! Here’s my list of 5 Things to Do Before You Go to Bed!
Declutter and Clean Your Kitchen Counters!
I bet many of you have heard FlyLady’s recommendation to make sure that you “shine your sink” every night before you go to bed, so that when you walk into the kitchen in the morning you’ll see your beautiful shiny sink and feel a great sense of accomplishment. But I have to say that for me… it’s not about the sink! It’s about the kitchen counters! If I walk into my kitchen in the morning and see not only a stack of dirty dishes (I have teen boys that seem to require an entire meal at 10pm every night!), but also piles of school papers to review and sign, newspapers that need to be recycled, lunch bags that were never emptied, and so on…. I feel completely unorganized! And that I have a large amount of work staring me in the face at a time when I really want to focus on making breakfast for the kids and getting them out the door in time to meet the bus to school!
So before I go to bed each night, I spend some time decluttering my kitchen counters. All dishes get loaded into the dishwasher and I start it so I have clean dishes in the morning. (And the teens are instructed to at least rinse their dirty dishes and place them in the sink after late night meals!). I sort through all of the paperwork and read, recycle, add items to to my calendar/to do list, or put it on my desk to follow up on later.
And when I am done, I clean those counters too! A neat and shiny kitchen counter is a great way to start the day!
Make tomorrow’s to-do list
In the evening I like to grab my calendar and to do list and make a short list of what I plan to accomplish the next day. I also try to take a moment and review what I tackled today and give myself a little pat on the back or silent cheer for all that I did get done! (And try not to focus on the things that I just didn’t get to!)
List 3 things you are grateful for
Last month some friends and I took PopSugar’s 30 Day No-Fail Happiness Challenge which was based on the idea that happiness comes from inside of you. We had to take on one new small task each day for the first 5 days, and then continue to do these 5 new things every single day for the next 25 days. Hopefully these five daily inspirations to happiness would become a life long habit.
But for me… only one of the habits really took hold, and that was the idea to write down three things that I am grateful for every single day. The feeling of gratitude leads to a happy heart, and that is a great way to end a day!
Tuck them in, connect, kiss them goodnight
There are days when I am still downstairs cleaning up the kitchen, and it is already bedtime for my youngest ones. And I feel so “busy” and have “so many things left that I’d like to get done”, that it would be really easy to tell the kids to just put themselves to bed… knowing that by the time I actually made it upstairs, they would be sound asleep. And I’ll admit that I have done this on a few occasions. But later on…. I regret it. Bedtime is such a magical time of day when you have kids. It’s usually when you can get them to open up and chat about what’s on their mind. It’s a golden opportunity to give hugs and kisses and let them know how important they are to you. Don’t let it slip by!
And the same thing goes for spouses! Be intentional about saying goodnight and letting them know how much they mean to you! It’s important to do this every single night!
Set our alarm and set an intention for the first thing you’ll do!
Of course don’t go to sleep without setting an alarm! But take it one step further, and think about what you’ll do first right when you wake up! Head out for some exercise? Strike a few yoga poses? Meditate? Reflect?
If you have an intention, you will be less likely to hit the snooze button, and you’ll get tomorrow started off in the right way!
Do you have anything you’d add to this list of things to do before you go to bed?
If you get a chance, I hope you’ll stop by to see me at MomOf6 – a place where I write about organizing your home, using a family calendar, creating household routines, hosting at-home birthday parties, and making meals that kids will actually eat!
Sabrina | Frugal Italian Family says
I lay the table for breakfast and prepare clothes for the next day too 🙂
Sharon at Momof6 says
When my kids were younger, I did the same thing! But now that they are older, I rely on them to select their own clothing for the day, and assist in making their own breakfast, and cleaning up when they are done!
Nolie says
I always make sure the kitchen is clean before I go to bed. Starts me off in a better mood in the morning.
Sharon at Momof6 says
I just feel so defeated when I walk into a messy kitchen in the morning!
Beth says
I just detest having an unloaded (or worse, a full & dirty) dishwasher when I start the next meal prep. And, yes, the teen’s fourth/fifth meal. I turn on the dishwasher before I leave in the morning. The first one home empties the dishwasher. No exception. Then finishing evening meal prep, snacks, and homework, all seem to fall in place!
Bennie says
For me it’s lay out my clothes for the next day. I always have my outfit for work planned so that I don’t waste time in the morning hemming and hawing. This way if I’m moving slow it’s one less thing to thing about so I don’t miss my train.
Tammy says
You have beautiful counter tops, what do you use to clean your granite? I have hard water and get water spots and white deposits around my faucet
Justine says
Looking at my kitchen counters now and feeling overwhelmed. I did, however, shine my sinks. The benchtops destroy me though.
Amy @ The Quiet Homemaker says
I love this! What great ideas! Thank you so much for sharing! I just recently jumped on the clean kitchen before bed thing. It has made a huge difference in my mornings. I was just so tired by the time I got done with dinner! It was cleanish, but definitely not the way that I wanted. A few weeks ago I organized part of the kitchen so that I could clear off my kitchen counters and I love it! I now get up quite a bit earlier with the intention of coffee and Bible Study. This organizational plan also helps me get through my day. I just love the peace and quiet before everyone is awake!
Thanks again!
Blessings,
Amy