How to Streamline Your Morning as a Working Mama

I was prepared to be away from my baby, but I absolutely was not prepared for how hard it is to take care of myself when returning to work. I quickly realized that I needed to adjust my morning routine so I can fit in more of the stuff that makes me feel my best.

Some of the changes I made to my morning routine:

• Waking up before my baby (ugh I know this one is SO hard, but I explain more below)
• Laying out my work clothes the night before
• Making ‘daycare bundles’ for my little guy
• Packing lunches and snacks the night before
• Doing my hair and makeup in the living room (this one has been the most helpful!)
• Figuring out a simple skin routine
• Setting the auto-start on the coffee machine

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Waking up before baby

This is the hardest one most days. I am an absolute zombie after 8pm, and I really struggle to be productive before bedtime. As much as I love sleep, I realized that the only way I will get any intentional movement in is if I get up at 6am, that gives me an hour before breakfast. When Henry wakes up, my husband is on baby duty until 7am so I can finish my workout. Some days my morning movement is an actual workout, some days it is yoga and some days I walk on the treadmill while making reels, editing the podcast or working on the website.

I have found that the only way I can consistently get up early to get my hour of ‘me time’ in, is if I am intentional about going to bed at a decent time. I am not perfect at this, it is definitely a work in progress. There are many days where I sleep in and skip my movement because I stayed up too late. Ugh. If you have tips on how to ACTUALLY go to bed on time, I am all ears 😛

Layout your work clothes

One of the first things I did when starting my new job was I sorted through my closet and simplified it. (For those of you who don’t follow us on Instagram I recently made a big career change moving from the hospital into public health!) It is so much easier to get ready for work when you only have 7-10 outfits to choose from instead of 45 that you don’t like that much. I loosely follow the concept of a capsule wardrobe for work.

Daycare bundles

This one is not specifically for moms, but it helps save so much time and thinking in the morning. Anything that saves time then just allows more time for us to do something for ourselves. Plus if you are not keen on the fashion choices your partner makes this one makes sure that they don’t take any creative liberties when dressing your little one(s).

When we are putting away the laundry, we take all his daycare clothes and make little bundles with a shirt, pants and socks. We keep them on the main floor, so in the morning we don’t have to come back upstairs to get dressed. This eliminates the time it takes to pick out an outfit and also the time it takes to come upstairs to get dressed. Making the daycare bundles is also helpful even if your bedrooms are on the same floor as your living space (Jen also uses this trick and their bedrooms are on the same floor as their living space!)

We put the clothing bundles in a basket and then keep them next to some diapers and wipes in our living room 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Pack all lunches and snacks the night before

One of the easiest ways to prevent unnecessary stress in the mornings is to pack your lunches and snacks the night before… Bonus points if you can pack a few days in advance!

Get ready in the living room

This is the only way I can find time to do my hair and makeup in the morning without getting up before 6am. We try to eat breakfast as a family around 7am (some days it happens, some days it doesn’t), and then my hubby leaves for work at 745am. I don’t need to leave until 815-830am to drop Henry off at daycare and go to work for 9am. I have some time to get ready, but it would be too much of a production to bring him upstairs and keep him entertained while I get ready. Our bedrooms are small and not as child proofed as the living space, so I find it stressful to have him upstairs when I am trying to complete a task.

I decided to bring my hair and makeup supplies downstairs to the living room and trialing getting ready there. It has worked out so well for us! Most days Henry keeps playing with his toys, sometimes he watches tv (thank you Caitie’s Classroom, Ms Rachel and Doggyland!), and sometimes I hold him while I do my makeup. It depends on his mood 😛

Other things to consider

We like to set the timer on the coffee machine, so we don’t have to do the annoying task of cleaning the pot and making coffee in the morning. Why is this the most annoying job? Plus the perk is freshly brewed coffee without having to lift a finger! If you are not a fan of drip coffee, then you could still adopt this approach and get as many things ready the night before as possible – sometimes I even like to put two mugs on the counter so we are extra prepared haha.

I also have worked to simplify my shower and skin care routine. My husband would probably say otherwise since it still takes me 100 years to do, but that is mostly because I am easily distracted. I have a blog post coming soon where I share my favorite affordable skin care products.

One of my top tips for streamlining your morning routine is to have a conversation with your partner to discuss roles and expectations in the morning. If you know ahead of time who is responsible for what then you don’t have to figure it out on a day-to-day basis. For example, my hubby gets Henry dressed and brings our lunch bags down to the car and I get his coat and shoes on and take him to daycare. I promise that discussing some of these things with your spouse (even if they seem silly) will help you be more efficient. Also, it helps prevent morning fights and arguments!

Alright mamas, these are my current tips for streamlining your morning routine! Let us know in the comments if there is anything you would add to this list! 👇🏻

For more tips, follow us on Instagram! We also release a new podcast episode every other Monday.

Lots of love,

The Friendly Moms – Jen + Karlee ♥