[PODCAST 293]: 5 Routines That Keep My Home Life Flowing

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I always love hearing about family and home routines that others have found helpful, and in today’s podcast, I thought I would share a few of my own!

As with all things at LearnDoBecome, we encourage you to adapt the things we share to meet your own needs and current circumstances. I’ll be sharing a few things that have been really helpful in our family setting, but I recognize that not everyone has children or families in the exact same stages as mine. I’ll share a couple adaptations below, and if there are any favorite home/everyday routines that you’d like to share with us and the community, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section on this post!

(1) Entryway Routine

I’m sure every one of us has misplaced our keys or wallet at some point–I’m certainly not the exception!

I felt like I was forgetting something every time I went out to the car or left the house to run errands, and it was taking a lot of mental energy to go around the house gathering everything I would need while I was gone. (Especially if I was bringing our kids.)

I made it a project on my Current Projects List to establish a solid entryway routine. My Next Actions included finding a shelf that would fit the space, hanging up our car keys, and gathering up all the essentials for day trips in one place.

This shelf (pictured below) helps me get out the door quickly because my keys, wallet, diaper bag, reusable grocery bags, and any items I need to take out to the car are easy to access.

When I get home, I immediately return the keys to the hook and put everything back where it belongs. It takes me maybe 30-60 seconds to reset each time I return home, but I love the feeling of knowing that everything is in its place and that I won’t need to spend time searching for anything!

(2) Laundry Routine

A few years ago, we used a hamper that was segmented into 3 sections, and once a section was full, we would do a load of laundry.

Now that we have kids and a lot more laundry, I found that the best way to keep myself from procrastinating doing the laundry was to keep the washer open all the time.

This means that whenever we have dirty laundry, it goes right into the washer and skips the waiting stage (aka, the hamper).

Of course, some things need to be washed separately so the colors don’t run together, but for the most part, everything we own can be reasonably washed together. This has been so helpful to us because we end up doing 2-4 loads of laundry a week, and there’s never a build-up of clothes on the floor or in other parts of our apartment.

This helps our spaces feel really light, open, and clean because all of the laundry is contained. And once the washer fills up, it’s time to start a new load of laundry!

(3) Resetting the Apartment at the End of the Day

This routine was one of the projects on my Current Projects List last year. My husband and I noticed that we were going to bed too late and forgetting to tidy up the dishes and other areas of our apartment.

We would wake up to a mess, and it wasn’t a fun way to start the day. We really focused on the elements of an evening reset that would make our mornings feel better (identifying those things were our Next Actions), and we added calendar reminders each evening to prompt us to stop what we were doing and start tidying up.

After a few weeks of calendar reminders, the routine started to stick! Of course, every day is a little bit different in terms of how much energy we have and how much we are able to do.

Is there an area of your home, office, or other space that needs consistent attention each day? Just a few minutes of tidying and resetting each day helps us avoid a major cleanup at the end of the week. Once we get to the weekend, the last thing either of us want to do is lots of cleaning, so this daily routine has been extra motivational for both of us!

For example, this is what things looked like in our kitchen one morning after we did a half tidy. We were super tired, but we at least got the dishes done and my husband was able to put away the majority of his sourdough baking items. It wasn’t perfect, but it was nice to only have a handful of items to put away the next day:

And this is a picture of our apartment at the end of the day when we have energy to do a full tidy. The kitchen is totally clean and all the dishes are drying in the corner:

(Our apartment’s main area is what gets messy during the day, so we focus a lot on the living room and kitchen during this tidy. We rarely use the rooms during the day, so those don’t need as much attention during this daily routine.)

(4) Toy Rotation/Reset

Our son’s toy area is right in the middle of our living room, so we do our best to make sure it isn’t overflowing with toys. We get out 3-4 sets of toys at a time and store them on a little shelf. Here’s what it looks like at the end of most days:

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Before he goes to bed, we work together to gather up the toys and do a simple tidy alongside him. Once he’s in bed, we switch out some of the toys with ones he hasn’t seen in a couple weeks. It feels like a brand-new play area when he wakes up in the morning.

Either my husband or I will tackle the toys in the evening while the other focuses on dishes and other kitchen tasks.

Here’s the “after” photo of this space:

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Is there a space in your life that gets heavy-duty use each day? Maybe a makeup bag or bathroom drawer during your morning routine? Maybe the front seat of your car gets lots of items piled in it during errands or on your way to and from work? How could you take a couple minutes each day to straighten this area up and leave it looking and feeling great for your future self?

(5) Nightstand and Baby Items Reset

We have a 1 month old baby right now, so anything we can do before bedtime to make the evening feedings and wake times easier is very appreciated!

During our apartment reset each day, we’ll restock the diapers and other baby items in the two places they’re used most–the living room and my nightstand. I appreciate this routine so much because I don’t need to hunt for any baby items in the middle of the night. Everything is in one place and just an arm’s reach away. (I included a picture below of our living room baby station.)

And if you don’t have a baby, you can totally apply this to other goals that you’re working towards! For example, if you have a goal (and a subsequent routine) to go to the gym 3x a week, you might establish a routine of setting out all your gym clothes and items on the dresser the night before. If you want to be a better journal writer or more consistent reader, you might set up your nightstand as a journal/reading station with everything you need in one place.

This kind of daily reset can be applied in SO many different ways (even with things like packing a healthy lunch for work the next day or making sure your bag is prepped for school/work). It might take a few calendar reminders to become a consistent routine, but sooner or later it will “stick.”

Do you have any favorite home or family routines that you’d like to share? I love learning from this community and hearing what has made a positive impact in your life. Feel free to share your own routines in the comments section below!