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Working Moms
KathrynMD
member
Can I ask a really stupid question about "getting everything ready the night before"
KathrynMD
member
in Working Moms
I see people mention this all the tiem as the secret to organization or something. What all are you guys doing? I tried doing everything at night, but I'd always forget soemthing or have to do soem kind of follow up in the morning, etc.
I get up about 20-30 minutes before DD - I make coffee and toast for myself and while that's going, I gather up lunch and breakfast for DD to send to daycare, sometimes I pack a lunch for me too. I eat my breakfast, pour a sippy of milk for her when she first wakes up and then go get ready for the day. By then, DH is out of the shower and he gets DD up and dressed if she hasn't already woken up. Some nights I remember to lay out an outfit for her, other days not so much - but I'll pick one then and it takes like 30 seconds.
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Re: Can I ask a really stupid question about "getting everything ready the night before"
My twins are 5! My baby is 3!
DS#2 - Allergic to Cashew, Pistachio, Kiwi
DS#3 - Allergic to Milk, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nuts and Sesame
I have as much ready as I can, including:
sippy cups filled and in the fridge, both for breakfast and car ride
my lunch packed and in fridge if needed
all of our clothes laid out on the back of the sofa (I dress everyone out there, it's just easier)
Bags packed and lined up by the door, purse and keys on table by door.
I set the coffee pot, etc.
It sounds like you are doing well.
Every extra 30 seconds doing an extra thing adds up. Think grab-and-go. The things I can suggest you might try to be more organized would be maybe:
- 5 compartments for clothes for you and your LO that can be laid out the night before or on Sundays. It's amazing how much time I waste looking for socks or something in the laundry.
- Pack both your lunches the night before, putting them in lunch bags in the fridge so they are ready to grab and go.
- Preset the coffee maker and toaster so all you have to do is turn them on.
- Have her sippy cup of milk already in the fridge
If there is something predictable about your morning, see if you can do it ahead before you go to bed. It really saves you time in the morning. If you are overall prepared, then the extra 3 minutes you spend doing something not on your usual agenda doesn't throw you into a tail spin.
met DH 1995 ~ married DH 2006 ~ completed our family 2008
Life is good!
This sounds like a great idea. What do you mean by "5 compartments?" How do you keep this from turning into a disorganized mess?
DD and I each have one of these in our closets.
https://www.target.com/Whitmor-Hanging-Accessory-Shelves/dp/B002OEUINE/ref=sc_qi_detailbutton
Every Sunday, I check the 5 day forcast to get an idea for temperatures for the week then fill the cubby with an outfit for each day before I put away the laundry. I put shoe options in the bottom cubby. It saves us from searching in the morning.
met DH 1995 ~ married DH 2006 ~ completed our family 2008
Life is good!
I'm with you. I'm not a "night time packer" nor do I feel I need to be. I get DS in the morning, and he's fine waiting the 20 seconds it takes to put milk in his sippy. It takes me about 3 minutes to pack my lunch the days I bring one. DH usually gives him breakfast while I shower.
DS is watched by my MIL every day, so there isn't really anything to "pack" for every day. Once a week or so, I put some food in the diaper bag for him to have for the week there, but not much b/c she makes him scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast usually (his "second breakfast") and stuff, so I just give her yogurt, cheese, goldfish crackers, and maybe some mac and cheese cups and such for lunch. I send diapers and wipes about once a month.
My mornings don't seem too hectic, but I do only have one child and a very short commute so maybe that's why.
I've never really had to do this. Daycare always kept extras of stuff my kids needed during the day, so I only replenished as needed. Now they keep a stash of snacks, extra clothes, etc. I do get their bags ready for the week on Sunday, if necessary. But the bag stays there all week unless there's a reason to bring it home (e.g. someone has an accident and needs new clothes).
I do set out their clothes the night before b/c DH gets them dressed in the AM. But, I just wake up early and pack lunches (unless we happen to have leftovers and then I'll pack that up when I'm cleaning up from dinner), make breakfast, etc. before they wake up.
I used to get DS's bottles and daycare stuff ready before bed. Now, we leave most everything at daycare and there's not as much to do. Sunday nights, I do try to get my lunch and stuff ready the night before, but most days, I just do it in the morning because it doesn't take much time. My bigger tip is to do a bunch of stuff at once. I take gym clothes for the week and usually lunch for the week on Monday so I don't have to remember every day.
DH gets DS dressed, but even if it was me, I wouldn't pick out outfits ahead of time because it takes literally 10 seconds to grab out a shirt and pants.
I don't do as much as I used to when I was BF-ing and pumping at work: back then, getting things organized at night was a must because there were simply too many little bits and pieces to gather up every morning.
What I used to do:
Set up pump for morning session
Lay out work clothes
Pack work/gym bags with clothes, work stuff and pump parts/bottles
Pack day care bag
Make bottles
Organize lunch in fridge so it can be easily popped in work bag
I still lay out my clothes...but that's about it. And maybe pack my work bag, lay keys and sunglasses by the door (if they're not there already: they usually are.) There's just not as much to do now and DS is much more easily entertained nowadays if there's something I need to do in the AM...not so when he was very small.
For me, all bags are packed the night before. This means all work bags, daycare bags with clothes and sheets (only needed on Monday morning), all lunches, and when DS was younger, the pump bag was ready to go (only had to add the ice packs on the way out the door.) All of the above often takes me over an hour to prepare so it is super important for me to have it all ready to go. Also when DS was younger and prep involved lots of pump cleaning and bottle prep, I had a checklist on the fridge that DH used to help me get it all done.
This way the only thing I do in the morning is shower, dress and feed DS and grab my cereal and coffee. Out the door in usually an hour from wake up.
I'm just not super with it in the morning and I find that mornings can be unpredictable - by doing everything I can the night before - I don't forget things. DH is also not much help. I get up at 6:10 and am out the door at 6:50.
pack DD's breakfast and lunch. Sometimes I figure out what she'll eat for dinner since she's starving when we get home at 5.
pack my lunch
make sure anything that needs to go to daycare is packed.
lay out my clothes
shower, dry hair
defrost DHs and my dinner for the next day.