Are you able to get stuff done in the morning before you go to work?

[suchafunnybear]

I'm hoping people will tell me the secret of how to do anything first thing in the morning.

All I can do is shower, dress, clean teeth and brush hair before leaving for week.

I can't even eat or drink anything, and I don't know how people find the time to have breakfast.

If I get up earlier then everything just takes longer so I still have no time.

But I know of other people who clean their houses, write novels, bake, learn Japanese, do DIY etc before work.

I just want to be productive in the morning because it feels like I'm wasting time but I don't know how. How do you make time in the morning and stop it disappearing?

I used to be like you OP, in fact I was one of those awful people (in MN world) that sometimes did my makeup on the train.

Then I had kids lol. And I realised dashing around getting ready like I used to was just not feasible when my toddler takes a million years to eat breakfast and won't stop dancing while I'm trying to get her ready, and if I get too stressed I shout which is not healthy. So I forced myself to make changes, get more organised, cut down my getting ready time, do more things the night before and wake up earlier. Don't get me wrong I am often still a bit rushed but nowhere near as much as I used to be. Now I at least have time to have a coffee, eat breakfast as a family and make the bed if nothing else!

Thanks for all your replies.

I've tried getting up earlier but getting ready just seems to take longer.

When the children were young I was able to get them washed, dressed, breakfasted etc, no problem. But now I don't need to do anything for them in the morning that time's just vanished. It's like I can do whatever's necessary in the morning but no more.

I suppose if I want to learn Japanese or write a novel first thing in the morning I would have to find a way to convince myself that it was necessary.

If I get up earlier then everything just takes longer so I still have no time.

What do you do when you get up earlier? You're saying currently you don't have time for breakfast - but what if you got up 15 mins earlier and had breakfast right away. And then once you've eaten you'll be back to your normal schedule/timings for the rest of your morning?

Yeah I get up put a wash on and have a protein coffee (PCOS so recommended to have protein as soon as I get up) then walk the dogs or go on the treadmill if dp is walking them.

Have shower, sort the washing, make a coffee, blow dry my hair (not properly just blast it its dry), put my make up on usually listening to a podcast get teen DS up for school, then get dressed and pack my bag for work. See DS off go to work.

The days I work from home I will usually do something like clean the bathroom in the morning or the kitchen and do the other at lunch.

I food prep on a Sunday so everything is in the fridge for my office days.

Absolutely not.

I'm a morning person so I'm most productive early hours but by 8pm I'm ready for bed. I prep tea and put in slow cooker while making coffee, will put a wash on and have a whip round downstairs.

DH is not a morning person and will stand watching the kettle while it boils instead of doing little bits but he's much more productive on a night. Play to your strengths!

I’m a up-breakfast-dressed-out person. Showers and other jobs are done in the evening and/or days off. No kids at home.

No never. Mornings are awful for me. A real pain struggle. I do most at night. It works well.

Is it not all crinkly from being in there all night?

No, I like a nice relaxed morning, including watching some tv while I eat my brekkie. I shower and sort my bag the night before so I can focus on getting us all ready (teenagers get themselves ready but they need to be forcinly removed from their beds and frequently nudged to get ready and not stay wrapped up in their blankets all morning)

Make it a priority to do something for yourself before you do stuff for anyone else.

I always go outside for a walk or run before starting work.

I put it on the timer to start in the early morning.

I get up at half 6 and leave at 7 .15. I manage nothing other than shower and get ready in this time. I refuse to get up earlier because I already go to bed at 10 and need my sleep. Life is too short to have 16 waking hours and fill every minute of them.

No.
Will watch and learn alongside you, op!

Not much! On office days I leave the house by 6.30, on WFH days I’m out by 7.50 to take DS to the childminders- might put some dishes away or something on those days but otherwise I just get us ready and go.

Good grief-NO

Absolutely everything done the night before.
Dishwasher done and emptied, dinner stuff for the next day out of the freezer
Lunches, bags packed,clothes laid out
Bath, hair washed and dried
Sleep in a silk cap and just tweak, 5 minute make up
Exercise, I either walk or cycle to work

Zero faffing with laundry either, can't bear washing hanging about all week
Done on one day.

I'm up, dressed, coffee and out

Pre covid, my morning routine was:-

1. Get up
2. Drive to the livery yard (15 mins)
3. Feed and muck out horse (30 mins)
4. Exercise horse (30 mins)
5. Turn horse out and give dogs a a quick run (20 mins)
6. Drive home (15 mins)
7. Shower
8. Have breakfast
9. Drive to work (40 mins)
10. Start work before 9.

Post covid, WFH 99% of the time, horse retired and dog died - morning routine is

1. Make tea and breakfast
2. Watch breakfast TV for 30 mins
3. Shower
4. Start work @ 9:00

I miss the old days

Absolutely not. I think you have to work to your own personality/body clock, I learned long ago I am not a morning person. I'm an efficient and organised person, but I will wake up at the very last moment I have to. I can organise myself, tidy and do my exercise at other points of the day! I am finding I'm naturally waking a little earlier the older I get though, and easier in the summer, but I'm never ready to anything like exercise in the morning. Never.

Teacher with two under 4. I get up about 6 very reluctantly because kids get up 615 absolutely raring. Breakfast and out the door by 720 to get them to nursery so I can plan for an hour at work before teaching
I do a lot of prepping the night before / Sunday night to make sure we have smooth mornings. I’d rather stay up later and do stuff as would dh but that ships sailed!

I get up at 4.45am and get straight in the shower, do my makeup and get dressed. Downstairs for 5.30am and take my multiple medications, make Breakfast and a cup of tea. At 6.20am I make the dogs Breakfast then clear/wipe down the kitchen surfaces and load/unload the dishwasher. At 6.40 I hoover the kitchen/utility room, lounge, stairs, landing and our bedroom. My husband deals with the laundry and cleans the bathroom.
We leave for work at 7.20am. It is doable but you need to be strict with the routine!

Don't be so bloody ridiculous. Absolutely not.

I can't do it either, and like a pp I have a burst of productivity around 9pm. However I don't get to bed early enough, but I think that's unavoidable at the mo...don't get home till 6ish, then 6-8ish is a blur of cooking and taking kids to various activities. Sometimes we're not all back in the house till after 9pm, then I do packed lunches, tidy up after dinner etc.
I saw upthread that someone gets home at 4 - that would give me like 2/3 extra hours to get stuff done, then I could get to bed earlier, then o might be a productive morning person!
Do you get to bed early or late?

I do by making sure I do the housework right at the start, then relax for faffing if there is still time. So the washing machine and dishwasher go on before 8 the night before and the kitchen gets cleaned down. I get up at 5.30, go downstairs for a wee and then straight out to hang out the washing. I come in from doing the washing, have a shower and sling on a dressing gown. Then through to the kitchen and chop up and apple and fill dad's water bottle for school. Then I put on porridge and make a cup of tea and empty and reload the dishwasher while those are heating and clean down all the work surfaces (DH makes umpteen rounds of evening snacks after I am in bed and trashes the kitchen). Then by about 6.20 I have breakfast. 6.40 I go upstairs and get dressed and am out the house for 6.50 to go to work. DH gets up with DD about 7.30 and makes her breakfast and gets her ready for school and does the school run on the way into work. I get home from work about 2.15 and have time to clean the kitchen and have some lunch then it is school pick up time.

I'm a single mum and get up at 5am and run or walk the dog for 50 mins. I then make 3 packed lunches, hoover/mop and put a wash on. It's back upstairs to wake my 3 boys (15, 10 and 9) shower and make beds, boys shower and get themselves breakfast, I then eat breakfast, put a wash away and maybe one other quick job before it's off to work and breakfast club, I leave the house at 7.45am. I try and do extra bits in the morning as I hate getting in from work to have to do housework, I only like to cook tea, sort out dog and washing. I am an early riser though, my alarm rarely wakes me as I'm already awake, I do however, go to bed early!

I wake at 7am. Get showered and do teeth first. Then have a cup of tea and spend 20 mins or so doing wordle and reading the news. Get dressed and ready around 8am, then I minesweep the house put a wash on, do any dishes, give the Bathroom a quick spray and wipe, make sure the dogs have food and fresh water. I leave about 830/845 and I'm always early for work 😂 I should spend longer in bed really!