Well, today is the last day of summer. Tomorrow the kiddos start 5th and 2nd grade at a school we love. Super thankful and all that jazz…but it doesn’t make gearing up for the hustle and bustle of the school year any less daunting! SO I wanted to share a few routine hacks that work for us and a couple we’ll try this year!

Weekly Clothes Buckets

We are not morning people…at all. We need to make sure we are making the least amount of decisions possible each morning to ensure we are leaving the house at even a reasonable time. One of the ways we tackle this is our weekly clothes buckets. Each Sunday, I tackle the kids’ laundry, iron what needs to be ironed (hate this!), and then pick out their clothes for the week and place them in the buckets! Each morning, my kids wander over to their closets and know that everything they need to put on their body for Monday is in the Monday bucket. This includes uniforms, undergarments, socks, masks with lanyards, etc. Easy peasy!

Weekly Planning Session

Additionally, each Sunday we all gather our planners, calendars, and daily school folders to chat about the upcoming week. I’m not sure if everyone gets these folders, but both of the kiddos have each year so I’m assuming we will this year as well! It’s always filled with an upcoming schedule for the week with any tests, due dates, or special activities…basically invaluable information that we depend on heavily…super hoping we see these again this year. 🙂 Essentially, we use this “planning session” to iron out all the details of the week…from who is dropping off or picking up to what we will have for each meal. I don’t like surprises so we try to mitigate any that might pop up with this planning session every Sunday afternoon. Spoiler alert, the kids don’t love it and barely participate…but we are working on building good habits over here! 🙂

Evening Routine

I was recently reminded that I can’t get mad at anyone for not following the schedule, if they don’t have a copy of the schedule. Which makes complete sense. So, in an effort to streamline our evenings, I printed out a copy of the evening routine for both kids and taped it above their sinks on the bathroom mirror. We have entered the sweet spot where both can basically get themselves showered and ready for bed…with a little guidance and checking! 😉 So we’ll see if this works!

Once the kiddos are sleeping soundly, there are still things we need to do to ensure the next morning runs smoothly. So, this is when we’ll make sure their school bags are set out and ready to go, we’ll pre-pack whatever we can in their lunch bags (essentially everything that doesn’t need to be chilled), we’ll pre-set the coffee so all we have to do in the morning is press go and pour, we’ll set out breakfast items (we aren’t big eaters in the morning so this is primarily just setting out quick morning snacks), and then we’ll set out the actual platter for the next day’s snack platter. Basically, we are making sure everything is quick, easy, and painless in the morning because, again, none of us thrive in the morning!

Morning Routine

So, to really drive home the point…we aren’t morning people in the Chenry household! To make sure the expectations are clear for the kiddos, I taped their morning routine on their bathroom mirror as well. Our biggest challenge for them is waking up on time (they both have alarms AND I have to shake them a few times!) but also making sure they don’t try to sneak in a TV show or two. We can all be easily distracted around here so I’m hopeful the routine/check list helps keep them on track! Once everyone is dressed, we just have to finish packing lunch bags, fill water bottles, and move out the door!

After-School Routine

Now, for after school…this is where it can REALLY get chaotic. Because Chen and I work until 4:30pm/5:00pm, we are thankful that the school is offering extended day again. It’s not ideal getting home between 5-5:30pm, but with the right routine, it can all get done! Again, I’ve printed a routine and placed it in our family command center so it’s visable for all to see. I wanted to make it clear that homework comes BEFORE any TV or video games!

So, first things first, everyone is expected to throw their dirty masks in the washbag in the laundry room as soon as they walk through the door. It’s just an “unmentionables” washing bag hanging on a command strip! Next, I want lunch bags emptied and placed by the sink for wiping down. Then they can grab something from the snack platter and start tackling homework. The snack platter is something I picked up from The Lazy Genius podcast and it’s a game changer. Basically, I toss a few items on a platter that they can grab without rummaging through the pantry or bugging me for help. Because it’s so late when we get home and so close to dinner, it takes very little effort and just keeps them satisfied while I attempt to cook dinner. Or, in a more realistic scenario…while Chen cooks dinner like a super star! 🙂

Our goal is to eat dinner each evening at 6:30 p.m. so everyone has time to chill a little before our evening routine kicks off around 7:45 p.m.

Themed Dinner Nights

And speaking of dinner…

If you are good at math you’ll notice that we don’t have a lot of time between getting home and going to bed…so it takes a team. Typically, while one cooks dinner, the other will tackle a chore, check homework, water the plants, etc. What has helped us knock it all out, is creating a dinner routine of themed nights. Here are some of our themed dinners (keep in mind we are vegetarians, but you’ll still get the drift):

Rice Night (i.e. Fried Rice, Beans & Rice)

Sandwich Night (i.e. grilled cheeses, veggie burgers)

Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner…yum!)

Pasta Night (i.e. spaghetti…and that’s really it. We all really like spaghetti!)

Pizza Night (Every Friday…without fail)

The only night set in stone is Pizza Night but we might mix it up each week with Pasta Night being on Monday one week and maybe Wednesday the next. It just depends on what we are feeling when we schedule it all out on Sundays. While it does leave little to the imagination, the repetition hasn’t bored us yet. For the season of life we are currently in, we need easy to keep on track!

And that’s really the key here, our season of life with two small kiddos can be a little chaotic without routines and plans. These are a few things that help us BUT I would LOVE to hear some life hacks that work for your week days! Please share in the comments! 🙂

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