The Night Before

[Exile]

I'd like to pass along a couple tips about easing the morning scramble to get to work on time. These are pretty self-evident. However, from what I observed from my co-workers and others before I retired, not many people follow them.

Prepare whatever you can the night before. This includes showering (and for guys, shaving as well, unless you have a five-o-clock shadow that becomes prominent early in the day).

Select and lay out your wardrobe and for that of any young children in houshold for the next day (Older kids can be trained to do it themselves). If it needs touch-up ironing, why wait till morning? Besides, this is something you can do in front of the TV.

If you brown-bag, this is also the time to prepare your lunch for the next day. So in the morning you can just it grab it from the fridge and go. If you eat breakfast at home, set the table and put out the non-perishables before you go to bed.

If you're coming back from vacation, return home at least two days before going back to work. This will give you time to wind down, handle the emotional blues that often occur at the end of a trip, and do the chores and errands that need attention before you return to the salt mines. I've never understood why people come back from vacation literally hours before they're scheduled to go back to work, knowing that there's so much to take care of beforehand. It must be even harder on parents with kids in tow. The whole family is likely to be feeling pretty crabby at that time anyway. (Ever notice how a bad mood just grows exponentially among family members under these conditions?)

And on this topic, I'm unclear on the concept of "getting away" for the week-end or a holiday, which usually includes hours of being stuck in traffic, coming and going. So many week-enders wind up getting home Sunday night worn out from driving and facing such wonderful chores as grocery shopping and laundry. If you really want to go out of town for the week-end anyway, see if you can take care of at least some of the chores on Friday night, leave Saturday morning, and come home Sunday morning. You'll likely feel more relaxed and have a better time for it. After all, when it comes to getting away, you can escape from everything but reality.

Many people consider getting out of bed and going to work the hardest part of the day. These are just a few steps that you can take to make it easier and more stress-free.

[lynclarke]

Mornings are easy around here. My husband's morning tea things- tea carafe, mug, container for boiling water "live" on the far side of the dish drainer. His breakfast tray hangs on the wall near the microwave. I rotate his breakfasts- toast with cheese & tomatoes, pancakes (premade- take out the night before), cereal, bagels, occasionally egg substitue and a meat of some kind (prepackaged in freezer taken out the night before), or toasted banana bread with cheese (premade, sliced, and prepackaged). His lunches are premade. When I serve supper at night, I fill a lunch container at the same time that I serve our plates. He takes last night's dinner for tomorrow's lunch- by then he has completely forgotten about the meal and he thinks it is new. When he comes home from work, I empty his lunch container. I re-load it with premade bags of pretzels, cookies, a little chocolate treat of some kind, and a fruit. The next morning I grab the premade dinner, two sodas, and one ice tea (premade) and his lunch is ready in literally two minutes. I make up the lunch packs when there is something on TV that I want to watch! Even the cats have a routine. They sit and wait until my husband's breakfast tray is done, then they line up in front of their dishes and expect their food!

[Exile]

Mornings are easy around here. My husband's morning tea things- tea carafe, mug, container for boiling water "live" on the far side of the dish drainer. His breakfast tray hangs on the wall near the microwave. I rotate his breakfasts- toast with cheese & tomatoes, pancakes (premade- take out the night before), cereal, bagels, occasionally egg substitue and a meat of some kind (prepackaged in freezer taken out the night before), or toasted banana bread with cheese (premade, sliced, and prepackaged). His lunches are premade. When I serve supper at night, I fill a lunch container at the same time that I serve our plates. He takes last night's dinner for tomorrow's lunch- by then he has completely forgotten about the meal and he thinks it is new. When he comes home from work, I empty his lunch container. I re-load it with premade bags of pretzels, cookies, a little chocolate treat of some kind, and a fruit. The next morning I grab the premade dinner, two sodas, and one ice tea (premade) and his lunch is ready in literally two minutes. I make up the lunch packs when there is something on TV that I want to watch! Even the cats have a routine. They sit and wait until my husband's breakfast tray is done, then they line up in front of their dishes and expect their food!

Whoa! And I thought that I was organized.

[Fred333]

That is crazy organized.

[jodi]

Good for you both! I attempt to be organized, making my lunch ahead of time most days, but I kept forgetting it! I even put a sign on the door to remind myself, but I still walk right past it. I've learned to keep a few meals in the freezer at work for days like that. I used to keep snacks at work too, until we got a mouse in the office and he ate all my chocolate. Now I keep a little something in my car.

[lynclarke]

Not to belabor a point, but I really can't tell you how much it helps filling the lunch container at the same time I fill our dinner plates. I use those lock n lock containers which freeze and microwave. When I cook, I ALWAYS cook an amount which will serve one meal --one large husband sized serving and two smaller servings which is my dinner and his lunch the day after tomorrow. I may cook more but never less. It is positively liberating!! One thing in my favor, my usband never gets a choice nor does he usually remember that he ate the same meal two days ago.

OK- one last thing I do- I alternate which protein I cook- chicken,pork, fish, venison, beef, or ? . So, when I am standing in front of the freezer trying to figure out what I am going to cook next- I run through the list and pull out the next item on the list. After I get the item, then I run through the list of varieties of food-- Chinese, Italian, Greek/Mediteranean, Cajun/Creole, Japanese, bbq, etc. I choose a variety and then narrow the selection down to what I am in the mood to make. And, the advantage is that my husband is not eating Italian for lunch and then coming home to an Italian meal that night! Oh well, it makes it easy for me!

[Hanuka]

That is crazy organized.

lol yah

[queenmamma]

congrats on accomplishing that...i can't do it....

[mom-from-missouri]

Before we homeschooled, we would put the backpacks for school in the car the night before.

[Jaun22]

in the car.... wow.

[mackybethsmommy]

The way I keep from forgetting my lunch is after I put it together and put it in the fridge I put my car keys on top of my lunch containeri n the fridge. That way I can't leave the house without my keys and I see my lunch underneath them.