A productive day starts with a productive morning. As a stay-at-home mom, if you don’t have a routine or a schedule to stick to, you will most likely be left feeling as though you didn’t accomplish your goals when the day is done.
I keep a simple morning routine to get my day going in a positive way without the need of coffee or caffeine. It’s important as a stay-at-home mom to “loosely stick” to a routine because with kids, we know we are pulled in all different directions. We want to start our day off in a positive and productive way while remembering that our primary job is “mom”. Everything doesn’t always go as planned.
The best way to approach the day is to start with the mindset of finishing your to-do list, but to be completely content if it doesn’t get finished. This mindset leaves you feeling less stressed and less frustrated with yourself and possibly your children. Just add the things you didn’t finish to tomorrow’s list.
What Is A Productive Morning Routine?
A morning routine is a set list of tasks you accomplish every morning to get yourself in a positive and productive mindset for the day.
How To Create A Productive Stay-At-Home Mom Morning Routine
Every mom is going to have a different stay-at-home mom morning routine they follow that best suits their lifestyle. To figure out what best suits your daily life, pull out a piece of paper and answer these few questions:
- What time do your children typically wake up in the morning?
- What small tasks do you do every morning? (i.e.- make the bed, brush teeth, get dressed, make coffee, bible study)
- What gets you feeling motivated? (i.e.- cup of coffee, listening to motivational podcasts/speaker, seeing others working (clean with me YouTube videos), exercise, yoga, morning walk, cold shower)
- What is one thing you’d like to add to your morning routine? (Something you’d like to try to incorporate and see if it helps your daily productivity –i.e.-gratitude journaling, exercise, early morning cleaning, ext.)
Answering these questions will help you create the most productive stay-at-home morning routine catered to you and your family. You can be motivated in a way that gets your day going positively so you can accomplish everything on your list without it feeling like a daunting task.
That being said, let’s get into the productive stay-at-home mom morning routine that I follow every morning to help myself get into a productive mindset, accomplishing most everything on my to-do list.
Click to get the FREE Morning Routine Checklist
Wake Up Early
As a mom, mornings start early. If you’re able to, try starting your morning 30 minutes to an hour before your children wake up.
This gives you time to set your intentions for the day, beginning your morning in a calm atmosphere. It promotes a better mood and mindset with a little bit of me-time.
Make The Bed
Making the bed is the first productive task of the day. When the bed is made, it makes the room look more put together.
This is a great way to start a productive day. It’s a quick, easy task and if you do it daily, it’ll become a habit; making your bedroom look tidy all day.
For me, when the house is cluttered, my mind is always running and I find it harder to complete other tasks. So I always start with tidying the bedroom in the morning.
Drink Water
When you sleep, your body dehydrates. Just think, if you’ve gotten 8 hours of sleep, that’s 8 hours you haven’t had any water intake.
Drinking water first thing in the morning can help with fatigue. You may be thinking “that’s what coffee is for”. In reality, it’s best to have water before coffee or anything else in the morning.
Water helps kick start your metabolism and gets your digestive system running at its best. It also helps lubricate your joints before a morning exercise and helps your skin stay clear and plump.
Exercise / Yoga
When I start my day with a short exercise or yoga, I find I have a very productive and fulfilling day. If I wait to exercise later in the afternoon, I often just don’t get to it.
Exercising first thing in the morning, before sitting down to work or even to eat is what I’ve found works best.
A morning exercise is linked to greater productivity throughout the day; along with a better mood, lower blood pressure, and better sleep at night! It also helps in the ability to burn more calories throughout the day.
Express Gratitude
Start a gratitude journal and write down three simple things you are grateful for. You can write more than three if you’d like!
Sometimes I just say them out loud, for example: “Thank you, God, for giving me ____”. Or “I’m so grateful for ____ being in my life.”
To create the habit of expressing gratitude every morning for the wonderful things in your life, it is best to write it down until you get in the routine of doing it every morning.
Remember, even if you are going through a hard time, there is still something to be grateful for.
Expressing gratitude creates a sense of peacefulness for what you are blessed with.
Eat A Hearty Breakfast
For breakfast, always try your best to create a well-balanced meal to keep you filled with energy until the next meal.
This prevents the distraction of hunger and keeps your stay at home mom routine more productive. I like to include protein, fruits, and grains.
Get Ready For The Day
This is the time to brush teeth, fix your hair, put on a little makeup if you’d like, and get dressed.
Getting out of your pajamas will put you in a different mindset. Try an outfit that is less comfortable to lounge in.
Get into one that gets you ready for the day and everything you can accomplish. An outfit that boosts your confidence would be perfect.
When the day is over and work is done, get back into those comfy clothes!
Daily Housework
At this point, the morning routine is nearing its end. This is the time when I start a load of laundry. Laundry is an ongoing thing, never-ending in any household. Throw a load of laundry in first thing in the morning to get a head start on the housework.
If you have the luxury of owning a dishwasher (my house doesn’t have one), this would be the time to load or unload that.
Doing a little housework in the morning helps keep me focused when I sit down to work. It erases the distraction of thinking about all the chores that need to be done later!
If you’ve ever been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, as I have, this is something I highly recommend adding to your productive stay at home mom morning routine.
Clearing clutter and starting passive housework early, such as laundry, significantly helps the productivity of someone with ADD/ADHD, and I’m sure would help others who don’t have ADD.
Start The To-Do List
The productive stay at home mom morning routine is now complete! Now it’s time to start the day with important tasks on your to do list!
With a to-do list, make sure to finish the tasks that are high priority, first. That way, if you aren’t able to complete your daily to-do list, at least you were able to finish the high priority tasks.
