Staying organized during a school morning can be tricky especially when you have little kids and even more so when you have a child would rather do their own thing. Any tips to make my morning smoother is a must. A morning routine can quickly turn into a mess because of little things that come up, from a potty accident, to the kids sleeping in late or me losing track of time!
I love organization, but sticking to a schedule is not always easy with two little ones under 5, especially when one is on the spectrum. Any tips that work for me, have to work in a flexible routine.
While I do not use a schedule, I do like to have a semblance of a routine. Here is what my morning looks like:
- 6:00am: I’m up getting dressed, making the bed and maybe grabbing a load of laundry to wash.
- 6:10am: By this time, I’m in the kitchen getting things ready to make lunches and snacks, starting with Daddy and our high-schooler who usually leave the house by 6:30.
- 6:30am: I’ve already started with the boys lunches by now, so it’s time to finish before they come looking for breakfast.
- 7:00am: Lunches are typically done and I’m feeding the kids by now. Their favorite breakfast is easy… milk and cereal. Occasionally I switch it up with scrambled eggs or Eggo waffles. They don’t always finish, because I’m usually tidying up the kitchen and doing some cleaning instead of sitting with them to make sure they finish. But since they can also eat breakfast at school, it’s not a big deal if they aren’t hungry enough to eat a lot now. They get another chance to eat a little later.
- 7:30am: This is about the time I am finishing up my own breakfast and any little bit of cleaning I have been doing so I can get the boys dressed. DO can dress himself and does so with pride. JO needs prompting and assistance so this requires time, some days more than others.
- 7:40am: It’s time to brush teeth, wash faces and brush their hair. Then come the socks and shoes.
- 7:50am: It’s time to get backpacks on and load everything and everyone into the truck…. This is where we make it or break it! Because by 8:00am, the truck should be leaving the house!
It’s not easy to follow this routine everyday without having some tips and tricks up my sleeve. So here are some of the things that are helping me stay on time.
1. Picking outfits for the week. Getting dressed for the day can be more time consuming than one thinks! Picking a shirt and then a pair of shorts to match, then doing it again for my second child, was going to take more time than I wanted to spend. Every minute counts any mother well knows. Part of my Sunday evening routine involves picking out their outfits for the week. A shirt and pair of shorts for both boys, for each day of school. I coordinate their outfits as much as possible, sometimes even with each other, but I often let them pick the shirts they want before setting out the rest of the outfit.
2. Store outfits where easily accessible. Once I have my pile of outfits, I need to be able to store them so they stay neatly organized, easily accessible and don’t get knocked over! We recently reorganized their room and now each of my boys has their own dresser. While this will one day make it easier for them to choose their own clothes, I prefer not to have to reorganize the drawers every couple weeks. The answer was as simple as a mesh organizer. This is wide enough to fit both piles of outfits, one side per child, and tall enough to fit all 5 days.
3. Have a set of containers that works for packing lunches. It’s not enough to be able to put some food together. Having a great lunch doesn’t do any good if it won’t stay in one piece, all together and not get mushed on the way there. I found a set of lunch containers that I used when I only had one little one in Pre-K and have loved it so much that I got another set when my youngest started this year. They even came with 2 sizes of freezer packs that are the perfect size for keeping both foods and drinks cold. And surprise, I have another mesh organizer to keep them all together and organized.
4. Prepack non-perishable snacks to choose from. I have 2 smaller mesh organizer (can you tell I love mesh organizers!) that have 3 compartments each. I prepack snack-size ziplock bags of cookies, goldfish, yogurt covered pretzels and other snacks I know they like. I also have cereal bars and fruit flavored gummies and other snacks they like that already come in individual servings. The compartments keep them neat and separate so it’s easy to find the snack I’m looking for while giving me a variety to choose from. A small metal “shelf” helps me save space by stacking them.
5.Always keep an eye out for tools to make life easier! I also found a great set of square silicone cupcake liners that I use to keep foods separated inside their main container. I can send 4 separate items in one big container without having to send individual little containers. Best part? It’s their favorite colors, Green and Blue!
I also found a metal organizer shelf for the pantry which is a great space saver!
6. Easy storage and access to the lunch boxes for me. I ran out of space on the rack in my pantry/laundry room, so I hung up JO’s lunch box last year below the rack. That worked great, so this year I added DO’s lunchbox on the other side. Easy access for me, but the kids can’t reach it to play with them.
7. Easy storage and access to the backpacks for the kids. As for the backpacks, I have two places I hang them. During the school week, I hang them on the closet doors where we keep our shoes. The two door knobs are at the perfect level for the boys to be able to get their backpacks in the morning and to hang them up when they get home from school. I also put their shoes underneath their backpacks and that little time saver has worked perfect since shoes and backpacks are the last thing they do. And I don’t have to answer “What shoes do I wear?”
But on weekends and during vacations and summers, I hang them in their room.
Since I started implementing these into my routine, I have been able to stay on time, even when I have a lot of things I want to get done in the morning. My schedule helps keep me on track and allows me to use my extra minutes to tidy and get ahead on my house work.
These tips and tricks don’t take much time to prepare and they really do save a lot of time in the morning, even when I get carried away on a task. And I’m less likely to forget something because everything is where it should be, and easy to grab. Smooth mornings make for happy starts on school days!
