EVENING ROUTINE
My evening routine would have to be what helps my mindset for the following day. To not wake up to a messy kitchen and make a start on cleaning the dirty washing. Adding a few of the tasks that may take up too much time in your mornings to your evening routine, may just be all that’s needed for a less chaotic morning.
My evening routine has not changed over the years, it seems to work well for me. However, remember like I mentioned in the previous task create and find a routine that suits you and your family. One thing that I may do differently to a few households would be that I put a load of washing on in the evening and hang it on the line before dark. As I live in QLD the sun shines early and strong, if it’s put on the line the night before (providing it doesn’t rain), it’s usually dry by 10am. Which allows me to get another load out if needed.
This was my routine when the kids were in primary school, now they are older we don’t do readers, they clean their own bathroom and go to bed a little later.
My Evening Routine
5.30pm – put on a load of washing
5.35pm – start making dinner
5.50pm – hang washing on line
6.00pm – serve dinner, eat together as a family at the dining table
6.30pm – do dishes, put on dishwasher, wipe bench, quick vacuum under chairs
6.45pm – watch TV with the kids
7.30pm – read with kids
7.50pm – straighten up the kid’s bathroom
8.00pm – kids lights out & relax and chat with hubby, watch more TV
9.00pm – get ready for bed
I don’t dry my dishes, instead, I leave them to dry overnight and I put them away in my morning routine. We will talk about the dishes in more detail throughout the challenge.
It’s a good idea to switch off from work, chores or the computer at a reasonable hour leaving time to unwind in the evening. I find that if I check emails, facebook or look through Pinterest before I go to bed my mind starts thinking and I find it hard to sleep.
Create your evening routine
Use the blank evening routine list create your own routine. Be realistic with your evening routine, don’t fill it with too many chores as the evening is the time to rest and relax.
- Perhaps if you don’t have time throughout the day to clean add an additional cleaning task each night to your evening routine (preferably before dinner).
- If you are time poor in the mornings consider making lunches the night before.
- Having your meals planned for the week ahead will reduce the amount of stress during a busy evening.
Create an evening routine for the kids
Kids benefit from a regular routine, knowing what is expected of them soon becomes a habit. Create tasks within their routine which will teach them about responsibilities they have has a family member as well as it helping you, ie. tidying the bathroom after they brush their teeth, or picking up toys in their bedroom.
This chart is available in my shop in a range of colours, along with an option to personalise with your own tasks.
[wlchecklist name=’PreTask4Kidseveningroutine’]
DOWNLOAD
Print the evening routine lists to help you create your own evening routine that suits you and your family to help make tomorrow calmer.
- EVENING ROUTINE – file behind ‘Routines’ divider – click to download.
- BLANK EVENING ROUTINE – file behind ‘Routines’ divider – click to download.
213 comments
Done! Quite different from yours, but I found it really useful to help find what the priorities are for us and how it would work best. Having this list is going to make such a difference for us 🙂 thx
All families are different, glad you have manage to create one that suits you.
Evenings are chaotic in my household as my husband is a shiftworker & I have two little ones under 4. Writing a routine out was quite helpful as it made me reaslise just how much we manage to fit into those last few hours of the day.
And if anybody comes to visit or if hubby is home he can checkout your list and help with a task or 2 😉
Routine sorted, though I haven’t attached times to it as our afternoons are all over the place. So long as I get the tasks done, it will keep the next morning organised and keep me rolling.
That is will!
Done!
Great work Sally!
Task 4 done 🙂
Your onto it!
Done
These routines will be a great help to you Kate!
Thanks Kat it is good to have a routine. Although I find this afternoon/evening much harder to stick to. I like the idea of having several routines on hand.
Perhaps choose the few tasks in your routine which are priorities and make sure that at least you can accomplish these each day, then once you have mastered that add in another
Evening Routine – for the kids DONE (they are in a good evening routine (including Master 7 months)
For me: WORK in PROGRESS! I do a 15min tidy of the house once the kids have gone to bed…then I know the rest of the night I can just sit and relax, talking with partner, watching tv or on laptop (Facebook/Blog). Although I need to have a time that I HAVE to get off laptop and go to bed.
Hubby and I were talking about this last night, sometimes when I watch TV alone I play on my iPad/social media, but I find when I watch TV with him I put the devices away and that’s my relax time, but I can’t seem to do it when watching TV alone.
These routines are all going to be fantastic if only I can keep to them! That is going to be the challenge…….
Put them on your fridge Angie so you have them constantly at your glance
I’ve created a couple of these – our nightly routine changes depending on which night of the week it is, whether hubby is working, whether I have been at work, eldest son has tutoring etc etc. And the routine is obviously different for the boys so I think it will help them having their “own” routine as opposed to mine.
It’s a great idea to have a variety of routines!