Hi everyone! :-)
I'd be interested to hear what kinds of morning routines you guys have. I'm definitely not a morning person. I generally prefer to shower in the evening so in the morning all I need to do is get dressed, have breakfast, put on some makeup and go. It might not sound like a lot but it can take me well over an hour. How does everyone else do it? What do you do to get ready for work in the morning and how long does it take you? What order do you do things in?
I have a programmable coffee maker, so it's ready when I wake up. I also have a "staging area" where I organize the night before what I need to take out the door with me in the morning. I keep my purse there, and anything else that needs to go with me when I leave, like outgoing mail, etc. It takes me about two hours to get ready because I sit & drink coffee & check my email before showering. Your schedule of an hour sounds about right.
I'm up at 0520 and at work by 0620. As soon as the alarm goes off, I'm up. Its mostly out of consideration for my husband who doesn't have to get up for another hour. On my way to the kitchen for breakfast (I'm pregnant and if I don't eat first thing, I wont keep anything down!), the dogs go outside. After breakfast, I hit the shower and get dressed.I wear a uniform so I don't have to worry about what I'll wear. Next all the animals are fed (2 cats, 2 dogs) and my lunch gets packed. I usually leave the house by 0605.
(I'm a teenager; this is my school day routine, though it only is so for one more day and then I'm out of school days!)
Alarm goes off at 6:40 bt I don't bother getting up till 7. Get dressed (uniform), wash face, do hair (takes a max of 5 minutes), put on jewellery, put phone in bag (I use the alarm on it), go downstairs. Get water bottle out of fridge, drink coffee (already made by doting family member who gets up earlier), eat breakfast (homemade granola bar, normally), use the loo, brush teeth, makeup (I only wear at most eyeliner, mascara and concealer so that doesn't take long) and then I normally walk out the door at about 7:32. It's a fine art :P
I save time by doing as much as possible the night before - I put my water in the fridge so it's cold in the morning, I pack my bag with all my books and equipment, I shower in the evenings, I write myself a note to remember to take whatever bizarre item I would otherwise forget etc. It normally takes me about half an hour to be ready in the mornings, but if I'm in a hurry, I can be done in 10 minutes, and I've done it in 5 before (without breakfast). I'm not a morning person so it works best for me to have everything as prepared as possible beforehand.
i have the luxury of working from home with no set hours, so i wake up whenever i wake up....which is usually around six ish.
i turn on the espresso machine, i feed the cats, i have a shower, i check my mail and then my husband is up and making coffee and breakfast.
i open the curtains, get some aromatherapy oils on the burner, make the bed and tidy up anything that is hanging around from the previous evening.
then i sit down at my desk and see what needs to be done for the day, for business and for personal.
if i need to be out the door, it takes me thirty minutes to shower, slap on some lipstick, get dressed, throw a smoothie together, sort out what is coming with me (i've started putting things that need to leave the house in baskets by the door....letters to be mailed, cheques to be banked, books to be returned etc etc....and that has certainly made me more efficient).
Most of my work is in a studio in my home. I'm up usually until 2am, so I try to get 8 hours of sleep which means I am awake @ 10am (I use the term "awake" very loosely! :) Quick breakfast of cereal and green tea. Turn on my aromatherapy (a small crock-pot filled with scented candle wax) and put on some jazz. Get dressed and do make-up and hair (15 minutes.) Make bed and do a quick tidy of all rooms...just general pick-ups and put-aways. Do paperwork/phone calls for studio for a couple of hours. Run art errands. Lunch. Go into studio and hole-up until about 6pm when hubs gets home. Supper. Then back in the studio until 9pm or so. I usually do my laundry, de-cluttering, and misc. house stuff in the late evening...it winds me down and gets my brain to shut off and I have no distractions during those hours. I have moved rooms of furniture during this time...my husband jokes that he never knows where he will wake up!!!
Of course when I am teaching 9am classes, everything shifts back by a few hours, but I find when I am not teaching, I go right back to this routine.
@ bandicoot...I'm using your "basket by the door" idea...that is GREAT! :)
I became more and more more nocturnal as my final university deadline approached, often crawling into bed long after I hear the milk float and the dawn chorus. Cat whines loudly for her breakfast at 7am, which is usually my alarm call but lately flatmate has been getting up so that I don't have to. Flatmate knocks on my door at 9ish and doesn't stop til he gets some sort of answer. Usually a grunt.
Finally wake up properly around 10 when either the cat wants breakfast number 2. Momentary panic at strange strangling sensation until I realise my eye-mask has shuffled it's way from my eyes, over my nose and chin and wrapped itself around my neck.
Turn on computer. Stumble into kitchen, feed cat, make a bucket of tea and put porridge on hob. Porridge is perfect by the time I'm out of the shower. Take porridge, tea and cat to computer and start another day's work.
Regret still being in pyjamas at 2pm when a neighbour / salesman / postman calls round and promise self I will get dressed before starting work tomorrow.
Work until the birds start singing the next day.
I get up and train my Border Collie (BC), then feed dogs, shower, train BC, dry hair/makeup etc, train BC, start some laundry, fill water bowls, train BC, go to work, come home, train BC......watch for us on ESPN someday!
LOL @ Lounger -- "Regret still being in pyjamas at 2pm when a neighbour / salesman / postman calls round and promise self I will get dressed before starting work tomorrow." I think the exact same every day! :oD
My ideal morning routine also takes roughly about an hour, provided that before I went to bed, I picked out my clothes to wear and filled the espresso machine. After hitting the sleep button for a few times, I get up, shower, get dressed, and then make coffee and eat muesli for breakfast. If I have enough time (read: haven't been hitting the sleep button for over half an hour), I have my coffee in front of the laptop to read some news. If I really really really have to, I can be out of the door in 10 minutes or less (skipping either shower or breakfast or both, in serious armageddon-like cases I even skipped coffee, gasp).
My actual morning routine currently differs a lot from the ideal one (and I beat myself up over it every day, ugh), because I'm a night owl, but I also need around 8 hours of sleep. Add in hitting the sleep button for well over an hour (which I hate, but it's been like that for the last few months, a hard habit to stop), needing at least two coffees to recover from that and a bit of time to de-zombie myself, add an hour of procrastinating, and I'm at the exact point Lounger described so well. ;o)
Thanks for posing the question! (I just realized that that last one and a half hour of sleep is really not refreshing when always hitting the alarm, and that I actually loathe waking up this way.)
6:30: Alarm Goes Off
6:32: Start making breakfast
6:35: Sit down with cereal (current breakfast of choice) and watch some SportsCenter
6:50: Get dressed during commercial break
7:00: Brush teeth, make sure hair doesn't look too bad
7:05: Out the door.
And yes, I keep time like that for everything in the morning. I also used to drink coffee in the morning but I have found that after breaking the habit I am actually better off in the morning because now I don't feel so zombie-like until I get the coffee. Now I am pretty good right from the start.
Also, generally get to sleep around 12-1ish. 5-6 hours of sleep has pretty much worked for me since the first year of Uni (about 3 years ago) although I have been known to take a nice nap on Saturday afternoon.
I also pretty much keep this schedule on the weekends as well, I find it to the ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL to not being tired in the morning, two days of waking up late kills my entire sleep routine.
@artgal....the baskets by the door were something i implemented after reading here for a couple of weeks.
we leave and enter our house via our kitchen.
we live in a remote-ish spot, so we like to cut down trips as much as possible.
"stuff" kept accumulating on a chair by the door, so i put some baskets there.
1. stuff to go to my parent's place (egg cartons, movies, books)
2. stuff to go over to the workshop
3. stuff to go into town: banking, letters, shopping lists, shopping bags
4. stuff to be donated/stuff to be given to visiting friends
it's working pretty well!
i've been reading: the way we are working isn't working
he says pretty much everyone is sleep deprived and that if you want to excel at anything, then you better get 8 hours a night, plus naps.
i am all for that idea!
I am a student and work part time, so now that summer is here, my routine went down the drain as I only have wake up early twice a week. Currently, I am sitting here in my pajamas at 12:10 P.M. and sipping my first cup of coffee. I am confused whether I should be eating lunch or breakfast. Hm.
On the days I work, I prepare everything I need the night before. I’ll set my uniform into a nice pile then fill up my bag with the materials I’ll need to bring. Sometimes I will make a note if something has to be done in the morning so I don’t forget. I’ll wash my hair at night too.
7:00 Alarm goes off, I get up, start the coffee, get some water
7:05 Take a fast shower, don’t need to wash my hair
7:15 Do hair, brush teeth, get dressed
7:25 Drink coffee, do makeup and listen to music simultaneously. Check e-mail. Relax.
8:00 Out the door I go!
I usually eat breakfast at work. I have a down time at around 9:00 where there is nothing to do except wait for ovens to preheat and the dough to rise. By this time my stomach is normally settled and I can eat food without feeling sick.
On the days I don’t work, like today, I usually sleep in until I naturally wake up. Depending how late it is, I shuffle myself downstairs to get the dishes under control, do a few other chores, get some coffee and then play around on the computer. This is the point I’m at now. Eventually I’ll get myself up to take a shower before the mailman comes because I have a couple letters to send.
I really need to get my morning routine straightened up, but right now I’m working on getting the evening one in check first. Shoot the damager at the source!
I wish I could shower in the evening, but my hair is so fine, it gets grossly oily looking if I sleep on it. So, get up, shower, put in contacts, brush teeth, dry hair, get dressed, out the door. I have a table with my purse and keys, so everything I need is all in one place. I can be out the door in 20 min.
I'm trying to add another 15 min to my mornings so I can make some fresh fruit/veggie juice. I hate mornings, so this doesn't always happen, but I need to make it happen because I feel soooooo much better on the days I have my fresh juice. (if you make it the night before, it loses the nutrients that make you feel good, hence why I have to do it in the morning.)
I don't put makeup on for work, or do much other than dry my hair and take literally 2 minutes with a straightening iron.
Jen
I love my snooze button. I am allowed to hit it until a certain time. So here is what happens
snooze. snooze. up to dash to loo. pick up coffee on way back to bed. (set up night before) slowly sip coffee until humanoid again. Pick up iPhone. Check for messages, read headlines quickly, read facebook updates, check birthday calender, look at my schedule for the day, check the weather, look at application that has all my clothing on it so I can pick out my outfit while snuggled under the covers (LURV that one, for all of you glam chicks with iPhones, check out the app Stylish Girl) Glance at time, leave the womb, pop in the shower, eat some quick breakfast (husband has usually boiled an egg for me, sometimes I whip up a smoothie)
I brush and floss in the shower when the conditioner is in my hair; have short hair that I almost never blowdry. I put on sunscreen (face burns like you wouldn't believe), put on lipstick, and am out the door.
night before I set up the coffee maker and have all work-related files, snacks, and a water bottle in my bag already. Once in a blue moon I decide early what I will wear and have it at the front of the closet. Keys hang on the door itself so we never lose them. There is a bench by the door where all things that have to leave the house live. If we did not run the dishwasher at night I start it, as well as the washing machine. I will load it up at night and run it while we are at work, then hang it when I get home. Garbage is put by the door for the first person out to drop off on the way out the door.
I am NOT a morning person so this works for me. Preparing the night before takes so little time and is really easy. In the morning making the coffee from the beginning is not possible. People get hurt. It is not possible to manage those fine motor skills of turning on the tap and scooping coffee.
My DH is an early bird, so he loves his quiet time with a cooked breakfast and newspaper and coffee while I am in lalaland
jsights, i agree with you on the morning juice.
it is SO worth it.
for me, it's a smoothie (what did i live on before i got the vitamix, i don't know)....taking the time to make and drink that thing makes an incredible difference to my whole day.
I get up, feed the cats, workout for 10-30 minutes, start the coffee maker, shower,shave, dress, eat and out the door I go. I have my wardrobe for work ready the night before, and set out my wallet, cell phone, IPOD and keys. I also fill up the coffeemaker and prepare both mine and my wife's lunches after dinner the night before. I take my coffee with me and drink it in the car as opposed to stopping each morning at a convenience store or Starbucks. Saves time and money.
I have found pre-prep the night before and de-cluttering has saved me a LOT of stress in the morning.
Here's my morning... Like jsights, my hair requires a wash in the morning, but the brevity of some of the morning routines here is impressive and inspiring!
5:45-6:00 - up, make coffee (my aeropress and water boiler mean I have a killer cup in under 5 minutes, and enjoying it is one of my great pleasures!)
6:00-6:30 - shower, get dressed
6:30-6:45 - have breakfast, toss lunch in bag, leave the house
6:45-7:25 - brisk walk to bus 2.5 miles away - this is my workout on weekdays, and I do it in all weather.
I pick out my clothes for the entire week in advance, and prepare my bag the night before. I also prepare my lunch and leave it in the fridge. In the morning, it goes in my bag and off I go!
(In the winter, I often shower in the evening, then just rinse my hair in the morning.)
@awurrlu: You pick out your clothes for the entire week?...I am IMPRESSED!!! Wow! I'm lucky to get my clothes washed in time to have a selection for the next day! :)
I am in awe of people who can function well in the morning.
If I can manage to breathe and open my eyes after the alarm wakes me up and stumble to a kids room to wake them up for school, I'm doing great.You'd think being a stay at home Mom, I'd be used to mornings- no way. I literally do not feel well in the morning.I've been like that since I was in gradeschool. My folks got me a poster for my room when I was a kid that said it all-Snoopy laying flat on his back on his doghouse w/ Woodstock pestering the heck out of him to get up, with the caption "I'm allergic to mornings".
Before I had kids, I got up early and left to be at work by 8 a.m., I don't remember how I did it,probably because I was in a fog.
But after I'm really awake,watch out-I'm good to go. Go figure.
I've never been a morning person. A couple of years ago I realized I was tired of being rushed from the minute I got up until the minute I walked in the office door. I wanted some time for myself.
So I pushed the alarm back - to 5:45 most days. I get up and take my shower, and then I have an hour to browse the web and sip coffee, or do some housekeeping, or make grocery lists. I have a somewhat leisurely breakfast and wash the dishes.
At 7 I dress & make other work preparations, pack my lunch, and listen to my favorite radio interview show. When I leave for work I am calm, (usually) unhurried, and grounded in a way I didn't used to be.
The downside to all this is that I am less focused on my employer's needs until I am on the way to work. The good news...is that I am more focused on my own needs until I get to work.
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