Money Saving Mom®

I spent the last 24 hours mostly offline because I was just soaking up some quiet, refreshing time with my family and dear friends here. After my bone tired week last week, a little time offline with life-giving family and friends was exactly what I needed.

But I still somewhat followed my new morning routine. Here’s how Day 7 went for me:

6:43 a.m. — I wake up and head downstairs to clean up the kitchen. I unload and reload the dishwasher.

7:06 a.m. — I make some coffee, do a quick clean up of our bedroom, and gather the laundry from the bedroom hampers and start a load in the washer. I also empty the trashes and take out the kitchen trash to the dumpster in the garage.

7:22 a.m. — I sit down and read my Bible, write in my Blessings journal, and read a chapter from Pursue the Intentional Life.

7:41 a.m. — I take one of the items out of washer that I need to wear today and stick it in the dryer (shh! don’t tell anyone it wasn’t all the way finished going through the wash cycle!). I head upstairs, put on my running shoes, take a few minutes to chat with Jesse, and quickly post two posts on my blog and schedule a few posts on Facebook. Then I head down to the garage for a really quick run.

8:18 a.m. — I hop in the shower, get dressed, and leave to meet a friend for coffee in town.

Why My Morning Routine Didn’t Work Well

So I’ve been analyzing why I’ve struggled with my morning routine this week. It’s not like the days were awful. By being intentional about my mornings, I got a lot more done in the mornings than I would probably have otherwise. I also did a much better job of not getting on the computer until after the essentials were done in the morning.

However, my morning routines this week have been a far cry from what I want them to be. I’ve gotten up quite a bit later than I wanted to every morning and that stems from the fact that I’m not going to bed early.

I know, so very earth shattering. Ahem.

But truly, if I could just go to bed earlier, I’m pretty sure that would have a big impact on my mornings. I wouldn’t struggle to get up when my alarm clock goes off. I wouldn’t hit snooze. And I’d probably actually get up on time.

Yup, I gotta just stop knowing this in my head. And actually, you know, DO IT. {Truth be told, this would fix most of our issues and problems, wouldn’t it — if we just stopped thinking about it, knowing it, and talking about it, and actually DID IT!}

So anyway, I’m making a public commitment to you all that this coming week I’ll be in bed, lights out by 11 p.m. every single night. I’d really like to move that back to 10 p.m. eventually. But you have to start small and set realistic goals. So we’re going with 11 p.m. for this coming week.

And to help me follow through with this commitment, I’m going to keep a log of what time I go to bed each night start Sunday evening and I’ll post this on my blog next Saturday.

How did you do on your morning routines this week? What are you going to change next week? What have you learned? Let us know in the comments!

How’s your new morning routine going? I’m encouraged at the slow and steady progress I’m making each day in following my New Morning Routine. I’m far from where I want to be, but I’m going to focus on the forward momentum I’ve made this week — instead of being discouraged at how far I am from where I’d love to be!

Here’s how Day 6 went for me:

6:30 a.m. — My alarm goes. And I turn it off and go back to bed. {Yes, I know… I feel like I’m the worst example this week when it comes to early rising and discipline. But maybe I’m an example of how to give yourself grace when you’re tired or something?? ;)}

7:10 a.m. — I get up and realize it’s 7:10 a.m. — yikes! Gratefully, I have a quieter day today schedule-wise, so I’ll just jump in and make the best of the day, even if I’m getting a late start. I head downstairs to clean up the kitchen and living room.

One child wakes up and immediately starts whining. So I send them back to bed until they can have a better attitude.

7:30 a.m. — I’m finished cleaning up the kitchen, so I go back upstairs and clean up our room, make our bed, and go to gather up the laundry in the hampers so I can start a load. I’m excited to realize we don’t have enough laundry to run a load — yay!

I write out a to do list for the day. While doing so, I realize that I’m supposed to go grocery shopping today. So I go back downstairs and clean out the refrigerator to make room for the new groceries and make sure we don’t have any “science experiments” made up of old leftovers growing somewhere in the back of the fridge.

8:06 a.m. — I make some coffee and grab my Bible and books and go back to sit in my comfy chair in our room to read my Bible. Silas follows me upstairs and asks if he can sit on my lap and snuggle. So while I read my Bible, write in my Blessings journal, and read 3 short chapters from Pursue the Intentional Life, I have a little buddy cuddled up on my lap. And I soaked up every moment of it!

8:43 a.m. — Jesse comes in our room and we chat for a bit while I’m cuddling with Silas. I finish with my Bible time and Jesse makes bacon and eggs for breakfast and then the kids and Jesse eat breakfast while I read a chapter from The Saturdays aloud.

Then I head out to the garage to run on the treadmill while listening to my Scripture memory passage (Romans 1) on the YouVersion Bible app. And then it’s time to open the laptop and start on my morning computer work.

How did you do on your morning routine today? Let us know in the comments!

How’s your new morning routine going? I’m encouraged at the slow and steady progress I’m making each day in following my New Morning Routine.

Here’s how Day 5 went for me:

6:30 a.m. — My alarm goes off. I roll over and fall back asleep for 5 minutes.

6:35 a.m. — I crawl out of bed and head downstairs to clean up the living room and kitchen. The dishwasher needs to be unloaded and re-loaded and there are quite a few odds and ends around the living room. I make a pile on the stairs of all the items that need to go upstairs and then make one trip up to put everything away.

7:04 a.m. I light a candle in the now clean kitchen and take a few minutes to answer and send some texts. Texting is one really effective way I’ve found to keep up with most of my close friends. I often text to ask what I can pray for them, to let them know I’m thinking of them and praying for them, or to just pass on a quick word of encouragement or to share a fun story to brighten their day.

7:18 a.m. — I head upstairs to our bathroom to put my contacts in and wash my face.

7:23 a.m. — I gather all the laundry from all the hampers in the bedrooms and start a load of laundry. I take the kitchen trash out of the big dumpster and then wipe the kitchen countertops off.

7:35 a.m. — I make some coffee and sit down at the kitchen table  and read my Bible, write in my Blessings journal, and read 3 short chapters from Pursue the Intentional Life.

8:00 a.m. — After my Bible reading is finished, I hop online to take care of a few quick things and then change into my running clothes.

8:14 a.m. — I head out to the garage where the treadmill is and read a chapter of Love Idol while doing my walking warm-up. And then I get in a short but good run.

8:40 a.m. — When I come back in, everyone is up and around. I drink some water and switch the laundry into the dryer.

8:50 a.m. I make myself a bowl of granola, finish loading the dishwasher, and then sit down to read aloud to the kids and enjoy my breakfast. (Today we read two chapters from Brother Andrew: Behind Enemy Lines.)

9:30 a.m. — Time for me to do my Morning Computer work.

I just had to share this photo that Kaitlynn took of the clouds today. It’s so peaceful and beautiful — and makes me smile every time I see it.

How did you do on your morning routine today? Let us know in the comments!

How’s your new morning routine going? I’m encouraged at the slow and steady progress I’m making each day in following my New Morning Routine. I might not be following my routine perfectly by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m getting a lot more done and staying a lot more focused.

Here’s how Day 4 went for me:

6:30 a.m. — My alarm goes off. I’m tired so I make the decision to sleep for another hour.

7:30 a.m. — My alarm goes off a second time. I get up and turn on my laptop as I have a project with an early morning deadline and it needs just a few finishing touches before it is done.

(As much as I’m trying not to turn on the laptop until my morning routine is done, you sometimes just have to do what you have to do — even if it means veering from the ideal. The good news? I was disciplined this morning and only stayed on for 15 minutes — just enough time to finish what had to be done. That’s progress, right??!)

7:45 a.m. — Project done, I shut down the laptop and head downstairs to the kitchen to clean up a small mess leftover from the evening before (we’d gone over to one of our friend’s houses for dinner and had brought some of the food… we’d gotten home late, so I just pretty much dumped the plates, bowls, cooler, and utensils in the kitchen and gone to bed. Yep, that’s how I roll sometimes!).

8:05 a.m. — I gather the dirty laundry from the bedrooms, sort it, and start some laundry.

8:11 a.m. — Silas is up so I help him get some breakfast. Jesse and I decide to let the girls sleep in for a bit since we were out late last night. Jesse and I chat a bit while I make coffee.

8:29 a.m. — I sit down in the living room with my coffee and read my Bible, write in my Blessings journal, and read 3 short chapters from Pursue the Intentional Life — I’m really being inspired and blessed by this book!

9:00 a.m. — I answer a few texts from friends — one asks me for prayer requests, another wonders if we can chat on the phone to catch up this afternoon or evening. I’m so blessed and thankful to have such wonderful friends in my life!

9:05 a.m. — The girls wake up and saunter down to the kitchen to get their breakfasts. I help Silas take a quick bath and get dressed.

9:12 a.m. — I switch the laundry and then sit down at the kitchen table with everyone and read one very long chapter from The Saturdays with the kids while they eat breakfast. Silas and Kaitlynn ask Jesse if he can help them make apple/carrot juice. So while I’m reading, he pulls out the juicer, helps them chop and wash the produce, and makes juice for them.

10:00 a.m. — We’re finally finished with the chapter and breakfast. Jesse sends the girls upstairs to get ready for the day and I delay my run and shower for a bit and instead open up my laptop to get started on my Morning Computer work.

This morning, I pretty didn’t follow the outline of New Morning Routine at all, but that’s life sometimes. You get home late the night before. You give yourself grace when you’re tired. And you just jump in where you are and do the best you can do!

How did you do on your morning routine on Day 4? Let us know in the comments!

How’s your new morning routine going? I’m encouraged at the slow and steady progress I’m making each day in following my New Morning Routine.

Here’s how this morning went this morning:

5:45 a.m. — My alarm clock goes off. It’s raining outside and I’m still tired, so I lie back down to sleep “for a few more minutes” (ahem).

6:13 a.m. — I roll over and look at the time and realize that “a few more minutes” was actually almost 30 minutes… oops! I get up and go downstairs to the kitchen to make some coffee. While the coffee is brewing, I unload the clean dishes out of the dishwasher and re-load a few dirty dishes that were left in the sink last night.

6:30 a.m. — While I’m thinking of it, I gather the dirty laundry from the various hampers (everyone has a hamper in their room) and start a load of laundry.

6:43 a.m. — How did 30 minutes already go by?? I read my Bible, write in my Blessings journal, and read 4 chapters from Pursue the Intentional Life (the chapters are short, so that’s not as ambitious as it sounds!)

7:21 a.m. — Jesse arrives home from the gym. I head upstairs and wake the kids up. While they get up and around, I make our bed, clean up our room, and do a quick clean of our bathroom.

7:35 a.m. — The kids and I sit down at the kitchen table and I read a few pages from Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing to them, as well as a chapter from Brother Andrew: Behind Enemy Lines. Jesse makes bacon and eggs while we’re reading.

8:00 a.m. — I head out to the garage to run on the treadmill. I read a chapter from Love Idol while doing my walking warm-up and then listen to Romans 1 on the YouVersion Bible app while running.

8:23 a.m. — I come back in and get some water to drink and notice Jesse has a plate of bacon and eggs set out for me (yes, he’s such a great guy!). He’s already sent the kids upstairs to take baths, get dressed, and do their morning chores. We chat about the day while I eat breakfast and then I head upstairs to take my shower and start my morning computer work.

It feels good to get so much done by 8:30 a.m. and I’m excited because I manage to keep the laptop off until after 8:30 a.m. today. Yay!

How did you do on your morning routine today? Let us know in the comments!