The quest for my perfect evening routine continues. I’ve written about this before and I am making some progress. Let’s talk about the process of developing an evening routine, its various components and take a peek at my current routine.
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Evening Routine:
A Productive Day Begins at Night!
We all hope our days will be be at least moderately productive and that we’ll have the energy needed to handle necessary tasks. One of the best ways to create a productive day is to begin the night before with an evening routine. A good evening routine can set you up for the next day and ensure you don’t begin the day already feeling behind.
What should we consider including in our evening routine? It’s highly individual. For instance, some might want to watch a favorite TV program each night. I can’t imagine not having my evening cup of tea. You might want to have a long bubble bath.
The individual parts of the routine will vary from person to person but there are some basics to include in one fashion or another.
Components of an evening routine…
Tidy up – It’s discouraging to start your day with a mess staring you in the face. Give yourself the gift of waking up to an orderly home. A quick 10 minute tidy-up can make a huge difference. Try to get the whole family on board with this.
Plan the next day – Take a look at your calendar and make a list of your tasks for the next day. Depending on your situation this could be anything from a list of 2 or 3 things you need to do jotted on a sticky note to a fully time-blocked calendar. The main idea is to get things out of your head and onto paper (or a digital device).
Prepare for the morning – Lay out clothes, pack lunches, set the table for breakfast…whatever you can do to make the morning run more smoothly. If you have children that need to leave the house in the morning, the best tip I can offer is to make sure shoes, coats and gloves are all accounted for and ready to go. Nothing can ruin a morning quite like a frantic search for a missing shoe or mitten.
Self care – Make time for your own self care. That might mean a bubble bath or just a quick shower. Take time for skin care and whatever else you need to do at night to feel relaxed and cared for.
Wind down – Allow time to relax and wind down before bed. You can read, watch television (maybe avoid anything terribly exciting or scary just before bed), work on a puzzle or a quiet hobby. There is evidence that avoiding blue light from computer, TV or phone screens 2-3 hours before bedtime is wise.
My ideal evening routine…
This is what my ideal evening routine would look like. Do I actually do all of this? Sometimes. Not often enough, if I’m being honest. But I’m working toward it!
1. Clean the kitchen right after dinner. Tidy up. Fold and put away any laundry that hasn’t already been done.
2. Finish up any work-related tasks.
3. Make to-do list for tomorrow in my bullet journal.
4. Shower, skin care, turn down bed and spray with lavender linen spray. Turn on diffuser in bedroom and leave bedside lamp on.
5. Make cup of hot tea and settle in my comfy chair in the library to read, watch YouTube videos or a couple of episodes of old sitcoms (currently I’m enjoying One Foot in the Grave, The Donna Reed Show and Leave it to Beaver).
6. Turn off downstairs lights, adjust thermostat and go upstairs.
7. Brush teeth, take meds, apply lotion and get in bed.
8. Do two crossword puzzles on my phone then read until sleepy.
This is definitely a work in progress for me but I know I’ll feel better and get more done if I make this evening routine a consistent habit.
More about sleep…
How to Get Better Sleep ~ 10 Tips For Getting Better Sleep and Feeling More Rested
You may also enjoy…
Create a Beautiful Life With An Evening Ritual
Theming My Evening Leisure Time
Create a Welcome Home Evening Ritual
Need more help? I love this course by Crystal Paine:
Learn how to maximize your evenings in order to experience more success in your life, more order in your home, and more joy in your soul.
My ideal evening routine would be similar to yours, with the obvious addition of settling the petkids and making sure they have all they’ll need for the night. Although, you do a few things I wouldn’t bother with. For example: I don’t bother turning down the bed, I might use a bit of lotion or something after a bath or shower, but don’t always bother even then, and I wouldn’t put the lamp on before I went for my evening cup of tea even if I needed the lamp… I’m one of those people who only feels lights need to be on in the room you’re currently in, so the only light I don’t turn off when I know hubby’s not in the room or about to return any moment – other than the lamps for the tortoise, which are an obvious exception to my, “Turn it off if you’re not in the room,” rule – is the one in the hallway I know he leaves on intentionally because the placement of the switch makes navigating the hallway to turn it on difficult for those who rely on light to locate things like doorways.
I’m usually the one going around turning off lights in unused rooms. There’s something nice and welcoming about a soft light when I go to the bedroom, though.
However, you gave me a good idea. We have several lights downstairs that can be operated by a remote control. We should get one for the bedside lamps and I can turn them on by remote just before I go upstairs. Thanks for making me think this through and come up with a solution that doesn’t waste energy but still allows me that welcoming glow.
Good ideas, especially for those who still have kids at home. Since I don’t and I’m retired, my evening routine is now…cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, setting out my tea mug with the tea bag in it, emptying the cat water fountain and setting it on a drying mat on the counter, setting out the cat meds for the morning, turning down the heat, getting my pajamas on, turning on my heated mattress pad (only winter, of course), brushing my teeth and washing my face and applying night moisturizer, looking at my phone one last time (email, social media), then turning it off (except for the phone ringer – that stays on 24/7 in case of a family or friend emergency), and finally relaxing with reading material…either a book or magazine.
Sounds like a nice evening routine. 🙂
I love my morning and evening routines and definitely feel the difference when I get lax. I too am an empty-nester. We even lost our last pet late last year and have decided to go at least 1 year without getting another. So a truly empty house for my husband and me. I usually will shower or attend to my facial skincare if it’s not a showering-evening. I change into my comfy PJs and settle into a living room chair. I peruse various sites on my laptop for a short time or catch up on far-flung family happenings. Then I read for 30-60 minutes in whichever nonfiction book I currently have out. When finished, I kiss my husband good-night, turn down the thermostat (he always forgets if I leave it), brush my teeth, take my nightly supplements/medications, write in my 5-year journal and attend to my nightly “lotions and potions” (as I call them)–so hand cream, cuticle cream, lip conditioner. Then it’s under the covers for another 30-60 minutes of reading a fiction book. I don’t think I can get to sleep anymore without my nightly reading…lol.
I’m sorry for the loss of your pet. We lost our sweet dog, Shiloh, last October. Your evening routine sounds great. I have to read myself to sleep, too – ha!