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Stay at Home Moms
susanmosley
member
How much do you prep at night?
susanmosley
member
What things do you do nightly to help the following day run more smoothly?
I make sure my whole house is picked up and cleanish before I go to sleep. But I am starting to try to plan ahead a bit more and use the evening/night to prep for the following day. That really isn't my strength.
Give me all you got on this...
If you are feeling so excited by this topic, throw in ideas of how you plan ahead in other areas 
(celebrations, events, disaster, whathaveyou)
This discussion has been closed.
Re: How much do you prep at night?
I think the thing that helps me the most is that I have all the girls shower at night and prepare their clothes for the next day. I also set out DH's lunch items that don't need to be refrigerated and prep anything that needs prepping for his lunch such as the tuna salad for sandwiches or the meat mixture for his burritos. Now that I have a bigger house, I want to do a nightly clean up and a thorough kitchen cleanup every night when the girls are in bed or having quiet time. I have not learned how to prep anything for myself the night before as this I need to work on.
As far as other areas where I get a headstart on: I start buying Christmas gifts and school supplies starting in the begining of the summer. I buy one school item and one Christmas gift per pay check and then right before school starts when all the office supply stores have their huge saving sales is when I get all the items that I have not already gotten for their school supplies.
oooh - that is a good one - how organized of you!
I just 'reset' the house at night. Everything goes back where it belongs, dishwasher gets run, everything in it's spot. Sometimes I fold a load or two of laundry but that's negotiable - The 'reset' is a must.
The one thing I'm psycho about are gifts/cards. Here's what I have done this year and it's working out well for me.
I made a spreadsheet for gifts. I have the months listed and what birthdays (that we buy for or send cards for, anyway) are in those months. I also made my Christmas list.
I love to get good deals so I check a couple of deal sites regularly - slickdeals.com and hip2save.com
When I check the sites, I keep this list in mind and if something pops up at a good price, I order it and mark that person off on my list (and list what it is I bought them). At this point, I'm set through September for birthdays and for Christmas, I'm 90% done shopping for the list of ten people I needed to buy for (excluding DH, DS, DD).
Not only do I feel extremely organized, by taking the entire year to scour for good deals for everyone, I've gotten gifts that were perfect for the people and I've hardly spent anything at all.
Ha - I like calling it a reset. Very accurate.
All this pre shopping business may be a bit much for me. Baby steps.
During this past year of Preschool, instead of putting Emily in PJs, I dressed her in the clothes she was going to wear the next day. Worked great because everything she wore was soft, cotton, comfortable AND it completely eliminated those morning struggles and a lot of the rushing around.
While she ate breakfast and watched cartoons, I brushed/fixed her hair. Again, no struggles from her and less rushing around because I was multi-tasking.
The night before, I also packed her backpack/lunch and had it with her sweater/coat by the front door.
The only other "night before prep" we do is we run our dishwasher every night and DH washes all dishes, cleans the counter tops and stove (if used), checks to see if the trash needs to be taken out, and fills the water filter pitcher. He gets the kitchen all ready for me to use the next day. Love him. I also started making his lunch for the following day while making Emily's dinner and that cut down on how much I do in the morning to help him get out the door.
Because Preschool was such an adjustment for us, that's about all I could focus on the last 1.5 years. I'd love to be more organized with other parts of our life!
eclaire 9.10.06 diggy 6.2.11
Because of our schedule in the spring we had to be out of the house everyday between 8-9 if I did not prep the morning was a mad rush. Next fall DD will be in kinder and we will need to be out of the house by 8:00 everyday, I will need to prep.
I make sure the house is clean.
Make lunches and pack backpacks for the next day
Homework folder is signed and in backpacks
Clothes and shoes are laid out downstairs including underwear, bows, socks and shoes.
If we have an activity the next day then we are packed for that.
When the kids are eating breakfast in the morning I throw the cold packs in the lunches and take those, the backpacks, and my purse out to the car so the only thing I actually have to load when I leave is the kids.
Cleaning house: I have daily chores I do each day which is basically tiding/decluttering/quick cleaning, plus I deep clean 1 room/day. The deep cleaning can be done during the day or at night, just when I get to it. This is easiest if you have a written list/schedule out.
Prep for the next day: I always pack the diaper bag the night before (including snacks/water bottles) and lay out clothes for myself and DS.
Food prep: I sometimes start some dinner prep for the following day - esp if it involves vegetable chopping. It's so much easier to have diced onions/peppers/celery already in the fridge. Similarly if I have bought fruit like cantaloupe or watermelon I'll cut it up at night and throw it into a tupperware container to make it easier to serve. Also take out any items to defrost overnight if needed.
Gifts/cards/etc: I don't have a set monthly schedule or anything, but I do have an emergency stash of generic thank you/baby/birthday cards on hand in case of emergency. Otherwise once a month or so at target I'll stop and think about what events are coming up and buy a bunch of cards at once for that.
I keep a running to-do list. I usually have a daily list of stuff to be done, a weekly list, and then some other random stuff to do whenever. This is separate from my meal planning list and my cleaning schedule.
Once a week I make the meal plan, the schooling plan, and other projects for the week. At this time I gather the necissary materials for the school work and projects. Sometimes I will prechop some onions if we plan to use quite a bit during the week. I don't do anything nightly just once a week so I can enjoy more family time.
For celebrations, I pick up gifts as I see them on sale. If there is a book that DH wants and I see it a used book store, then I get it then. For the kids toys, if I see it at a garage sale or Goodwill, then I pick it up then. For disasters, I update our kit in early spring before torado season. I make sure the kids have clothes that fit and make sure all the numbers are up to date, and I change out the food supply to eat up the old stuff in the bin.
This is one area that if i don't prepare ahead- my days will just seriously not run smoothly- especially with 2. But mind you - i have always been more on the organized side- just my personality-
Food:
I have to meal plan- no qualms about it- Babypup inspired me to do it monthly- and at first while it seemed daunting- it SAVED my sanity-. Each week we do one of each(for dinners) chicken, beef, pork, pasta, fish/seafood, salad, leftover of whatever meat (made into a new dish). I ALWAYS double at least 2 of my weekly meals. So 2 nights for dinner during the week I make a double batch and freeze one. Also EVERY dinner I make can double as a lunch the next day for me and the kids (extra meat/veggies).
I HAVE to wash/chop veggies/fruit the night before for the next day for the kids. I have 2 big fruit/veggie eaters. So I have to have things ready to go for meals
Same with breakfast- I usually cook pancakes/fresh waffles the night before and just warm it up for the kids in the AM. I also cook pasta ahead of time and put it in a bowl in the fridge- my kids are pasta a-holics. so i always have cooked pasta on hand.
When I am in the kitchen- I just cannot cook one meal at a time- When I am making lunch for the kids i am also prepping dinner.
I run my dehydrator a lot at night time- and make dried fruits for us and jerky for DH. let it run all night long
Activities/games
Gisele is the kind of kid who NEEDS to be engaged in a project/activity at least PART of the day- Sunday nights- I make a loose plan of activities for the week. Just things we can do around the house. More of a 'plan' for me- and I write them down and stick it on the fridge- so i can just look at it and do something with her- i have ideas broken down into different categories: cooking, math, science, arts and crafts, reading, pretend play, games etc. (and when I say that i 'plan' this- I am just talking of ideas like- go on a nature walk and look for nests in the trees under 'science' --- ) Its more of a sanity saver for me- when i am feeling a little scattered I feel like I can just look at the list and go from there. Takes me MAYBE 30 min Sunday night- and I come up with 5 things in each category- I found and bookmarked a ton of great websites online that has REALLY helped me- in addition to all of the 'play' books i have. (with 2 I have found that if I am not more organized- our days are just more frazzled)
Gifts-
I really plan ahead for gifts- I have a large 'gift' closet in the basement. I just don't do well with 'omg- i have to run out and buy a present' ~ when I pick up gifts- i usually have an idea for who its for- And then I always pick up tons of things AFTER holidays- for the next year- (I picked up about 200.00 worth of Easter arts and crafts for Gisele/Chase for 10.00) And I just tuck it away with my decorations for next year. I do the same with after summer deals- bubbles, chalk, crayons etc.
Also- Amazon has GREAT deals on gifts- yesterday I grabbed a 7.00 Melissa and Doug sprinkler for my neices birthdays. I already got them disney princess towels with their names on it from the disney store- and cute sandals and sunglasses and sand buckets. For both kids it was under 30.00.
We go out three mornings a week; the night before I'll make sure Nola's little bag is packed with wipes, snacks, and a change of clothing for accidents.
On the days we're not going out, I usually plan for a fun morning activity: a walk to the pool/playground, bake some cookies, do an art project, etc.
If DH is going to be eating in the office (he gets fed a lot by his team), I'll pack a lunch for him the night before. I usually do this while I'm making dinner.
Around the house, I do the evening meal dishes, wipe down the kitchen surfaces, and make sure the place is picked up while DH is putting DD to bed.