Aside from quiet mornings, evenings are just as sweet in our little house. My husband and I come home from work and begin our routine. Although every night looks different than the evening before, we still have a routine that sets us up for a good night’s rest and an easy morning.
No matter what your family looks like, I hope that these tips will present themselves to be useful!
Get comfortable: This part is very hard for me sometimes. When I first got married I focused so much on maintaining a clean home and took pride in always having a warm meal on the table. But after working 8 hours, coming home to clean, and cook a meal, I would be too tired to shower and take even just 5 minutes to dedicate to self care. I was stuck in this vicious cycle for the first couple months of marriage until I realized I needed to switch things up a bit. Once I come home, I do what I need to do to wine down and get comfortable after a long day at work. No matter how long that takes. This is my time to slow down!! Whatever your family dynamic is, do not forget to set aside a few minutes each day to nurture yourself. If you are feeling good then your household will feel the same also.
Tidy up: A little cleaning each day goes a long way! Yes, there are weeks that my husband and I are just exhausted and dishes stay in the sink a little too long or the small pile of dirty clothes quickly becomes a mountain. But even a few dishes and a load a day helps so much! This is my time to do a quick 30 minute clean up. My husband is the sweetest and helps me so much with this task as well. Just 30 minutes and the house looks better than it did before! We have a small house and if we got a couple days without this vital step, it feels claustrophobic and just a mess. I know that it won’t always be perfect but cleaning something little by little makes a huge difference!
Make dinner: I love this part! Making dinner is the best. Joshua is usually next to me on my laptop playing all of our favorites videos on Youtube while I cook. I try to keep our dinners 30 minutes and under to keep things quick and easy. The more involved dinners I save for the weekend when I have a bit more energy to give to it. Pinterest is your friend! I get 99% of my dinner ideas here from mom bloggers. And let me tell you. Mom bloggers have the 30 minute dinner down to a science!
Make lunch: After dinner is done, I prepare our lunches so that it is something we don’t have to worry about in the morning. Even when we don’t feel up to it, we push ourselves to get it done. It only takes a few minutes and it feels so great when it’s prepared. The next morning you will thank yourself and maybe feel a bit better when you hit the snooze button the first time. 🙂
Relax!: This is my husband and I’s time to spend some quality time together! We play games, do devotional, check-in with each other, cuddle and laugh! Whatever we want to do, this is the time to do it. Phones away. Whatever this looks like for you, do not skimp out on this step. This will fill your cup more than anything! It could be a family movie night with your kiddos. Make a fort and pop some popcorn and introduce them to one of your favorite movies! Maybe even an evening walk if the weather permits. You don’t have to wait until the weekend to enjoy slow evenings, enjoying your sweet family.
Get some sleep: My husband and I have set a pretty strict 10 pm bedtime for ourselves. Sometimes if I bat my eyelashes I can convince him to stay up 5-10 more minutes with me. I am sure this will change when we have children but for now this is what works best for us. When we first got married I had to sleep with the TV on since I really didn’t have a routine. I just did whatever, whenever but that didn’t work. I often went to bed scrolling on my phone which lost me an hour or two of sleep. This was not functional at all and I wanted to make a change once I moved in with my husband. Now I sleep like a baby! I sleep with worship music playing and the TV off. Our rest is peaceful and fulfilling since making the change. I would love to invest in a sound machine. Maybe I will ask for one on my birthday!
Feel free to take my night schedule and tailor it to fit your lifestyle. Whatever you do will be best for your family and they will love you for it!!
