I don’t know about you, but it feels like I blinked and summer is almost over. And to be honest, I’m equal parts elated and terrified. I love the freedom that comes with summer – no schedule, sleeping in, staying up later, hopping from park to splash pad to pool.
But after a while, that laid back attitude goes from enjoyable to chaotic and stressful. Add in trying to figure out how to work my new job into our schedule (or, okay, lack of schedule) and it was a recipe for disaster.
When I started looking ahead at the calendar and realized school was starting SOON, I panicked – and then decided we had to change things around here.
Enter the Make Over Your Mornings and Make Over Your Evenings courses, created by Crystal of Money Saving Mom.
Sanity is Important (Trust Me)
Disclaimer: I actually started Make Over Your Mornings over a year ago, only I tried to do the entire 14-day course in one afternoon. While it’s possible to watch all the videos and do the worksheets that way, the changes didn’t stick. Don’t be like me!
This time around, I decided to do the course work and videos one day at a time – like it’s designed. I decided to start with the Make Over Your Evenings course, because that time of day gets pretty stressful around here.
The great thing about the course is how each step is broken down into small pieces. Crystal did an excellent job of helping me think through why I need my evenings to change and figuring out how I could make a difference in my home’s evening atmosphere. It’s definitely not a one-size fits all approach – you set up a routine that works for you family, not adapt to a cookie cutter schedule.
Make Over Your Evenings
So, for the nosy ones, here is the routine we’ve adopted for our evenings:
Dinner
We all sit down to eat together and talk about the high and low of our day. Even the 2-year-old has started sharing his high, which is normally something about trains or big brother.
Clean Up
I clean the kitchen, load the dishwasher, and quickly sweep the floor. The kids work together to return toys, shoes, and anything else in the main area of the house back to their homes. Hubby folds any laundry that I’ve done throughout the day and puts it away.
Family Fun
Right now, we all ride bikes, head to the park, hit the pool, or play in the sprinkler. As it gets cooler and darker out, we’ll have game night, watch a movie, or play hide and seek. On derby nights, I head to roller derby and hubby takes care of the boys. I love that the routine is flexible-its adaptive to our needs on any given night.
Kid Bed Routine
Baths, clothes picked out for the next day, a story, and in bed.
Brain Dump
Hubby and I sit and go over the calendar for the next day. I make a To-Do list, get meat out of the freezer for the next night’s dinner, and gather up anything I need for errands the next day.
Parent Bed Routine
Hubby sets up the automatic coffee maker to turn on the next morning, and I set up our essential oil diffusers. Then it’s showers, pick out the next day’s clothes, maybe watch a little TV, read, and sleep!
Final Thoughts
As you can see, this routine is pretty flexible. Sometimes we eat dinner at 5:00 and we have lots of time in the middle to play. Sometimes, we don’t eat until 7:00 and then our “Family Fun Time” may be just one lap around the block. The only specific times we adhere to are getting the kids in bed by 8:00 and ourselves in bed by 10:00.
I think my favorite part of the course was Crystal’s emphasis on giving yourself grace. As a mom to little kids, every day is a new battle. Sickness, tantrums, and otherwise crazy days happen – more often than they seem that they should. I’ve been amazed to see that even when we don’t complete the routine exactly as it’s laid out, the atmosphere of our evenings has changed. No more chaotic craziness!
From August 8-15, these courses will go on sale for the LAST TIME until 2017. They normally cost $17 each, but right now you can get them for just $10! And, even better, if you buy one course at $10 you can add the other for just $7 – that’s 50% off the cost of both courses. Check out Make Over Your Mornings and Make Over Your Evenings now and see the difference they will make in your home!
