Building Blocks of an Effective Morning Routine

We are all different and we all have different needs but here I am listing the basic building blocks of an effective morning routine.

Wake Up First

Sounds simple right? I find my morning routine works best when I am awake 60-90 minutes before the rest of the family. Even now with 3 adults in the house I am usually up an hour to an hour and a half before Ron and Jordan. Why? It takes time to wake up and be ready to deal with other people. Each step in your morning routine is helping you prepare for your day ahead and being awake…and pleasant is a wonderful way to greet your family each day.

Hydrate

Your body has gone at least 8 hours without much needed hydration. Start your morning with an 8oz glass of cold water BEFORE dehydrating it more with a caffeinated beverage. Water wakes up your body internally and re-starts your bodily functions.

Stretch and/or Exercise

I am not a morning exercise person but every morning I do some basic stretches to get my body moving and work out the kinks after a good night’s sleep. Some of you would rather head to the gym, jump on the treadmill, such as the under the bed treadmill, or go for a run first thing in the morning. If that is you, go for it.

Reflect and Give Thanks

I start my day with a time of Bible study and prayer. This time alone on my comfy couch with my Savior is the most important time of my day. This centers me and focuses my mind and heart on what is truly important.

Do the Hard Thing

There are a few household chores that I hate or even tend to forget, so I added them to my morning routine. I hate emptying the dishwasher. I know it only takes a few minutes but I just don’t like to do it. Now if it needs to be emptied, I do it right after my Bible study time. Then it is done and nothing will pile up in the sink because there is room in the dishwasher for them. I also do my laundry as part of my morning routine. I start a load as soon as I get up and
I move it after my Bible study time voila, laundry done for the day…and I didn’t leave it sitting in the washer for hours!

Self Care

Do you like to shower in the morning? Do it early a nice cool shower will wake you up and get you moving. Take a few extra minutes getting ready for your day. When you feel good about yourself it helps you move through your day with confidence. If you are looking to buy a self-care kit, you may visit the UnboxMe homepage for more options.

Breakfast

Whether you eat breakfast alone or this happens after the family is awake and they join you at the table, eat a protein rich breakfast to help propel you into your day.

Mom Maven’s Morning Routine

Remember, my morning routine will look different than yours. My household is myself, my 20 year old college student son and me. I have been where you are, remember, we homeschooled for 16 years, my mornings haven’t always been so “me” focused.

• 7:00am Wake-up (Mon-Friday)
• Stretch
• Start laundry if needed
• Mix up my Plexus Slim with 12 oz water, take my Accelerator and X Factor
• 30+ minute Bible Study and Prayer time
• Move laundry if needed
• Empty dishwasher if needed
• 20 minutes of reading time while enjoying a cup of hot cocoa. I usually read a Christian Living or Business book during this time.
• Breakfast-usually eggs and toast or a P96 shake while scrolling through Facebook.
• Get dressed
• 8:30am Hubby gets up, he has been watching the news in bed for about 30 minutes
• 8:30am Mon & Fri out the door to my morning chiropractor appointment. Tues, Wed, Thurs get some housework done
• 10:00am Into my office and start the work day managing my blog, my travel agent clients and my Plexus team.

I hope this post has been helpful. Another great way to prep for your day is by having an effective Evening Routine. I hope to get a post up soon about how my evening routine, which is shorter than my morning routine, is helping me sleep better and start each day off smoother. If you have any questions or comments please, I love to hear from you!

The post How to Create a Morning Routine that Works for You appeared first on The Mom Maven.

I almost didn’t write this post because I missed most of my goals for November but, I made a commitment to myself to document my goals, successes and failures for a year so, here it is.

Review of November Goals

Business

• Pageviews to 15,000 and uniques to 13,000. I don’t know how, but I did it! Pageviews 18,762  and Uniques 16,254. My best month this year!
• Book 3 vacations. It’s not too late to plan a Cruise or Disney vacation for the holidays!-I quoted a few vacations but no one booked
• Sign 2 new Plexus Ambassadors and find 5 new customers.-nothing

Personal

• Walk 5000 steps a day. I’m doing a 21 day walking challenge with Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home program.-Nope
• Drink 100 oz of water a day.-no
• Lose 5 pounds-I haven’t gotten on the scale.

Spiritual

• Work through Good or God?: Why Good Without God Isn’t Enough by John Bevere. This may take more than a month.-I haven’t started this book yet.

Household

• Menu plan-Already done!
• Daily Chores-I’m trying a new way to organize these.-New plan didn’t work
• Decorate for Christmas the week before Thanksgiving!-Didn’t get done

December 2015 Goals

Business

• Pageviews to 20,000 and uniques to 18,000.
• Book 3 vacations. It’s time to plan your spring getaway!
• Sign 2 new Plexus Ambassadors and find 5 new customers.

Personal

• Walk 5000 steps a day.
• Drink 100 oz of water a day.
• Lose 5 pounds

Spiritual

• 31 Day Christmas Scripture Writing Plan
• Advent/Christmas Devotionals on the YouVersion App

Household

• Menu plan-Already done!
• Daily Chores-Trying a 3 a day method this month

I’m praying December goes a little more as I have it planned than November did. If you blog your goals, please add your post to our linky!

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The weekly view in the Erin Condren Life Planner is separated into 3 sections each day, morning, day and night. While those sections may work for some people, they don’t currently work for me. I use the “morning” section for personal and church items, the “day” section for my blogging to-dos and the “night” section is for my travel agent work, Young Living Essential Oils business and my Plexus health and wellness business. This works best for me to stay organized and on task. I often use washi tape or fun planner stickers to embellish and organize my planner.

I love that the Erin Condren Life Planner is so flexible! They even have 3 layouts available now. I use the original vertical layout, there is also a horizontal layout and the brand new hourly weekly layout which is awesome for people with strict schedules. There is a life planner for everyone! They even make a teacher lesson planner and a wedding planner as well.

I’ve been busy searching the designs to decide what kind of cover I want on my 2016 life planner. Now is the time to place your order for yourself or for a gift because as we roll into December, inventory gets limited so buy now and avoid possible disappointment in the future. Do you use a paper planner? I suggest you go check out all that Erin Condren Life Planners has to offer, you won’t be disappointed.

The post How I am Using my Erin Condren Life Planner appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Review of September Goals

Business

• Pageviews to 15,000 and uniques to 13,000.-I did 13,000 and 11,000 which is fine for being away from the computer for about 2 weeks.
• Book 3 vacations.-I didn’t book any
• Sign 2 new Plexus Ambassadors and find 5 new customers.-I got 4 new customers

Personal

• Walk 5000 steps a day.-If I average out the month I did well, thanks to the cruise!
• Drink 100 oz of water a day.-I did great until the cruise. The bottled water available on the cruise was horrible and metallic tasting so I didn’t drink nearly what I should have.
• Lose 5 pounds-I lost 2.2 pounds while on the cruise!

Spiritual

• Continue with my “Believing God Bible Study”-continued
• Begin to read “Good or God” by John Bevere-started

Household

• Menu plan-done
• Daily Chores- sort of done

October Goals

Business

• Pageviews to 15,000 and uniques to 13,000.
• Book 3 vacations. It is National Plan a Cruise Month! Who is ready to plan a cruise?
• Sign 2 new Plexus Ambassadors and find 5 new customers.

Personal

• Walk 5000 steps a day.
• Drink 100 oz of water a day.
• Lose 5 pounds

Spiritual

• Finish my “Believing God Bible Study”
• Continue to read “Good or God” by John Bevere

Household

• Menu plan
• Daily Chores-I’m trying a new way to organize these, I’ll let you know how it goes!

The post Goals for October 2015 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Review of March Goals

Business

• Pageviews are way down this month I didn’t even hit 10,000. I know part of this is because I was offline 4 days straight while I volunteered at Friendraiser but it is still frustrating.
• Thankfully, the Type-A Challenge for March still hasn’t been posted because I still haven’t gotten to February’s yet!
• I got some work done on my ebook but I am still behind schedule

Personal

• I did better on my steps in March but I am still having trouble even hitting 5000 a day on most days.
• Water, I did much better on. Now I just need to keep it up.
• I hardly read at all in March even though I enjoyed it so much in February.

Spiritual

• I did not finish the Covenant Bible Study on time. I have 9 days of work to finish but I really hope I will finish it by Easter. I always spend noon-3pm on Good Friday in the Word and worship so this year I will be focusing on completing this Bible study.
• I decided not to sign up for the next online Bible study, partially because I was behind on Covenant. Instead, I’m going to start Thrive by Mark Hall after Easter.

Household

• With Jordan leaving last week we are in the midst of shifting chores around.
• I’m getting better at completing my daily chores.
• We have also gotten more work done in the den/office.

April 2015 Goals

Business

• Get up to 12,500 pageviews.
• Spend at least 8 hours working on my ebook.
• Launch my Young Living Essential Oils Business.
• Get caught up on the Type-A Challenges.

Personal

• 5,000 steps a day minimum. Start doing a Leslie Sansone workout 3 days a week to help reach this goal.
• Get to 64oz of water a day, every day!
• Read 30 minutes a day.

Spiritual

• Finish the Covenant Study.
• Thrive is a 30 day devotional so hopefully I will be 75% of the way through it by the end of April.

Household

• Daily chores.
• Keep the kitchen sink clean.
• Continue meal planning.
• Move the white dresser into the den/office and hang my whiteboard over my desk.

Have you blogged your goals? Add them to the linky so we can all support each other in our efforts!

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Review of February Goals

Business

• <Gasp> I haven’t even looked at the Type-A February Challenge. It came out late, mid-month and I haven’t had time.
• I’m almost done with my media kit from the Media Kit Smash class! The class was awesome. I just have some tweaking to do.
• My pageviews are up over 20% YAY! Thanks for your help.
• My weekly newsletter  is set up and will start in March. You can subscribe here. Also, I’d love for you to take my 3 question Newsletter Survey
• I have started writing my eBook but I am a bit behind schedule.

Personal

• Still failing at the water consumption.
• I’m averaging 3,392 steps a day. I need to get moving more.
• We still haven’t found a time that works to get together with Aaron & Summer regularly. Aaron is working a lot of evening events lately.
• I have done well on my reading goal. I finished Kingdom Keepers V: Shell Game. 

Spiritual

• I am a few days behind on my Bible study but I am loving Covenant: Gods Enduring Promises by Kay Arthur.

Household

• Meal planning is still on track
• Living Room corners and media area de-cluttered
• Game closet de-cluttered

Overall, February was an ok month. Some goals have been hit and others still need a little more work.

March 2015 Goals

Business

• 15,000 pageviews. we are close and with your help, we can get there.
• Type-A Challenge for February and March
• Get half way through eBook writing

Personal

• 5,000 steps a day minimum-this is going to take a lot of work
• 64oz of water a day
• Continue reading a chapter a day for pleasure

Spiritual

• Complete the Covenant Bible study on time
• Sign up for another Bible study with WomensBibleCafe. I’m leaning towards How to Study Your Bible: Discover the Life-Changing Approach to God’s Word.

Household

• Keep up the meal planning
• Get back on schedule with daily chores
• Continue work in the den/office
• De-clutter kitchen

You may remember, I am part of a Facebook group that encourages each other as we set and work towards our goals. We have created this linky so that we can share these goals. If you write about your goals, please feel free to link up with us

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No matter how young or old your child is, there is a Mabel’s Labels school combo just for them. The Mabel’s Labels Ultimate Back-to-School Combo (only available til 9/30/14) is for the pre-school and elementary age kids. This collection includes 40 dishwasher and microwave safe Skinny-Minis, 50 washer and dryer safe Tag Mates, 16 waterproof shoe labels and 2 teeny tags and is available in 4 solid palettes or 40+ multi-colored designs! The Tween Pack includes 25 unique personalized designs that are dishwasher and microwave safe. The new Mabel’s Labels New Stylish Scholars Combo for the big kids includes 40 Skinny Minis, 50 Tag Mates, 16 Round Labels and 2 Teeny Tags and comes in 12 modern colors and designs.

I received a Mabel’s Labels Ultimate Back-to-School Combo for the purpose of this review and I had them put my 8yo product tester’s name on them. He started 3rd grade yesterday and he went back to school with all of his uniforms and belongings all labeled up. His parents are hoping that they won’t have a repeat of last year when an expensive school uniform hoodie went to school and never came home again! Now if something does end up in the lost and found, everyone will know if it belongs to him!

Moms, Mabel’s Labels aren’t just for the kids either. I have the Custom metal Bag Tags on my camera bag and my laptop case, they also have a full line of household labels to get you organized all over the house. I hope your family has a well labeled school year.

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Every kind of label is customized with your child’s name so even if your child doesn’t have a common name or spelling, they can still get customized labels! On most labels you have a choice of colors and designs too. Now through September 28, 2012 you can get a great deal on their Ultimate Back to School Combo for only $42.00!

As you know my kids are 17, 17 and 19 and they were all excited to receive their Mabel’s Labels Tween Packs for this review. School starts next Monday and we haven’t done much shopping for supplies because they don’t know what they need until they attend each class for the first time, but here are some pictures of what they have done with their stickers so far.

As you can see Mabel’s Labels has something for everyone, I personally use their Bag Tags on my camera case and laptop bag Have you used Mabel’s labels before? Which kind is your favorite? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Dsiclosure: I received 3 Tween Packs, one for each of my kids for the purpose of this review. All opinions are 100% mine. There are affiliate links in this post.

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Back to school time is upon us and the best way to have a smooth transition to the hectic school year is to get organized and plan ahead. Today I thought I’d share a few simple tips and tools to help you have a smoother transition and hopefully a less stressful school year.

Establish a Bed Time Routine

Bed time routines aren’t just for babies and toddlers. we all benefit from a wind down period before heading off to dreamland. Make a list of what needs to happen nightly before your child goes to bed-bath, prayers, story, choose clothes for the next day, homework, pack lunch, organize backpack etc. This list is up to you. Kids ages 5-12 need 10-12 hours a sleep for their bodies to adequately recharge while 13-18 year olds need 8-10 hours of sleep. Make sure you plan your bedtime routine to insure your child gets enough sleep.

Once you have created your list and chosen an appropriate bedtime, work backwards from that bedtime and figure out how long your bedtime routine is going to take (usually about an hour). Start introducing your child to the bedtime routine 1-2 weeks before school starts so that they will become used to the routine and thus more comfortable with the procedure. Kids thrive on structure and when they know it is time to start winding down they will enjoy their bedtime routine and so will you.

Prepare the Night Before 

Another way to make school time easier is to prepare the night before. If your kids are in elementary school and go to bed early then you can pack lunches, set out their clothes and organize backpacks once they are in bed. Everything you can accomplish the night before makes the mornings go more smoothly.

Establish a Morning Routine

A morning routine is just as important as a bedtime routine. A smooth morning at home sets the tone for the entire day. You can structure your routine to suit your family but a few suggestions include doing some breakfast menu planning so you know what is for breakfast each morning, this also eliminates everyone asking for something different, you can have cold cereal and juice one day, bagels and peanut butter another etc. Make sure the routine includes getting dressed, brushing hair and teeth and any morning chores. Again, work on this for a few weeks before school starts and make sure you wake the children in time to accomplish everything in a calm manner before it is time to leave for school or child care centers.

Create a Central Calendar and Message Center

Have a central spot with a calendar that has plenty of room for each family member’s activities. This should be kept near a file box where you can have a file for each person’s important papers. When a paper comes home from school, sports, church etc immediately write the info on the calendar and file the paper in that person’s file folder for future reference. That way as an event nears you can pull out the paper and check if there is anything you are supposed to bring to the event or if there is a cost involved. Having a central calendar also cuts down on overlapping schedules and makes it easier for everyone to see what the day/week looks like. I like to use a calendar that has spaces for each family member’s schedule or I use a different color for each person to help keep our schedules straight.

Look Ahead

I like to spend some time on Sunday evening going over the week ahead’s schedule with my husband. This way we can work together to help make the week run smoothly and make notes of who is carting which kid where, who is cooking dinner which nights and any evening meetings or events we have where childcare might be needed at home. It usually takes about a half an hour but it sure saves time and reduces stress during the week.

I’m sure there are lots of other tips out there so please share yours in the comments section!

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