Please tell me how you organise your days? We are all over the place at the moment..

[Blossomhill]

Please help me. I have 2 children aged 6 and 8 who are obviously at school all day. I am a SAHM.
Currently all of us are finding it so hard to get out of bed in the mornings. Sometimes we are getting up as late as 7.45-8am
After school is all over the place too. There is just no structure to what we do. Homework/reading has been pretty slack too.
I cook all dinners from scratch.
Would really appreciate other people's routines in the morning and after school.
Anything I should be doing etc.
I know the first thing I need to do is get up earlier

I think it's quite hard if the kids like sleeping in. I had to wake my two up at 8.10 this morning and we only just managed to leave the house at 8.30 to get to school in time!

Here's our normal routine..

wake up (if need to) kids 7.45
have cuddle in bed but have to be dressed and downstairs by 8.00
Do breakfast and be finished by 8.15 (only kids have breakfast now)
Brush teeth, do coats and be out by 8.30

In terms of after school, if we don't have a play date
Homework straight away and play time afterwards
Tea between 5-6pm
Bath 6.15-6.30
Upstairs and ready for bed at 6.45pm when eldest does reading homework (she loves reading) and if time, read another story to them both
Aim to have lights out at latest 7.30pm
Straight away get all school stuff ready for next day and put book bags by the front door

Can you have a nap after lunch so you are fresh for the morning?

foxinsocks - sounds a very good routine, thanks

twirlaround - I just can't relax/sit down/sleep in the day. there is always so much to do. I know I should but I just don't find it easy.

it doesn't always work and probably 2 days a week, they are still eating breakfast on the way to school (if fruit or toast!). Also, little one is still on half days so I'm only having to worry about one set of homework etc. which is no doubt infinitely easier than 2 lots!

Is the getting up at 7.45/8 a problem? I think that not wanting to get up is always a winter problem with dark etc. Could you do some dinner preparation earlier in the day before kids get home from school?

Could you organise the cooking so that some weekday evenings you have some of the meals you have cooked on other days from the freezer? I do this a lot and it's a sanity saver.

Stuff like fish pie, shepherds pie, bolognese sauce, any casseroles are easy to make extra portions up to freeze.

I've found it frees up a lot of time for other things.

7am - Hubby wakes kids up with a drink, me with a cup of tea.
7.10 - me shower and make up
7.30 - all down stairs for breakfast
8.00 - upstairs get dressed, wash clean teeth
8.30 - shoes on... pack bag,
8.40 - leave for work and school... the kids walk to school... only 2 mins walk away.. no roads

depending on what hubbys shift is we eat about 6.30 - 7 pm
then its tidy up tea things
upstairs to bed at 7,30.... bath ect and for DS7 lights out 8pm

Daughter has lights out at 9pm and reads with a small light.. lights out for her at 9.30

daughter never seems to get any homework,
and son often gets up and does his in the morning before breakfast.
pack lunches are done the night before...

this seems to work for us....

oh yeah didn't put our dinner in the routine thing. I tend to start cooking dinner for us (if not the same as the kids in which case I just heat up whatever is left) after the kids are in bed - so 7.30ish and then aim to eat anytime between 8-9pm depending on when dh is home.

Getting up at 7.45/8am?? I don't think I have those times on my watch! Admitedly we live two mins walk from the school but dd and I get up at 8.20 and do everything quite comfortably before school.

As for general routine, I can't offer any advice - routines aren't our scene in this house.

Perhaps you should sign up for this . I'm sure the BBC's idea of the ultimate domestic goddess will know exactly what to do to make your life run more smoothly .

organise.......organise...... whats that? oh yeh I think I remember! thats when I managed to get everything sorted every day... nope not had that for 6 years now

I find the key is to get everything ready the night before. Lay out uniforms, make pack lunches, have school bags packed. You could even lay the table for breakfast with cereal already in the bowls so you just need to add milk.

My alarm is set for 7:30, but I haven't been getting up until eight. We have to start getting ready to leave the house at 8:35, and I still manage to find time to check emails (and mumsnet), clean out the fire, do breakfast dishes, and put a load of washing on. Ds and dd pretty much get on with getting themselves ready with a bit of nagging (they are 6 and 4)

After school is a different story - we tend to flounder a bit, as I am tired by that time. Luckily ds doesn't have much homework, and I don't have to cook dinners from scratch (you do because of your dd's diet IIRC?)

Hi Blossomhill, Sorry you are struggling with this. We feel fairly chaotic most of the time but it has got a bit easier since DS2 started school full-time this term

We get up about 7.30 and I aim to have them upstairs getting dressed by 8.20. We leave for school at 8.40.

I do packed lunches and, if I remember, swimming and book bags, the night before.

We cook everything from scratch too, because of DS1's diet, so I try to do large casseroles/soups etc while the boys are at school and freeze them in smaller portions for quick meals. So 2 schooldays a week I cook something new and the other 3 I get something frozen out in the morning to defrost by tea time.

I also freeze cooked chicken in small pieces which I find very useful for adding to quick meals eg pasta, noodles, fried rice.

Tuesdays and Fridays we go out pretty much from school (swimming and karate). The other days we come home, have a snack, organise homework (cue screaming and shouting from DS1), play a game (new year's res from me) and then I get tea ready while they play or watch TV.

I'm aiming for 5.00pm tea now, with bath over by 6.30, so time for 4 year old to have stories and read to me before bed at 7.15. DS1 (7) does spelling right after tea while the bath is running and DS2 draws or if he's in the mood practises writing.

DS2 in bed by 7.30 at latest, then I read with DS1 in his room for 20 mins or so.

If we're eating something different, I start our dinner at 8.00 ish, and go back up to see DS1 and turn lights out at 8.30.

This is the ideal, but it doesn't always work and there is often a lot of shouting and nagging on the way.

Hope this helps a bit and sorry if too long!

I always get my kids up as early as poss so they don't have to rush round too much.I also try and wake up half an hour before they have to,so I feel a bit more awake by the time they are.I also get all school things ready the night before,and uniforms/clothes out ready to put on. My kids are;ds 5(6 in march)and in yr1,dd1 3(4 in feb) and in morning nursery,dd2 who is 2 beignning off feb.
6:30am-I wake up with dh,we chat have cup of tea and toast in bed.I get dressed
7am-wake kids up,while dh showers.Have quick cuddle with them,then help them get dressed.
7:20-prepare breakfast for the kids.They eat it at the table.
7:30-dh pops in to say goodbye then leaves.
7:45-we go upstairs to brush teeth/hair and have a wash.
8am-we check we have everything ready by the door.The kids play quietly while I use the internet.
8:30-put shoes and coats etc on.
8:40-leave the house.
8:50-get to the school,kids chat to friends,I chat to mine.
9am-kids go into school.
9-11:30-depending on the day we go shopping,to toddler groups,clean house and cook. I tend to cook in batches and freeze alot so I can just pull it out ready in the day.
11:30-go and pick up dd1.
12-lunchtime.
12:30-naptime for dd2.dd1 has quiet time
12:30-1:30-I use this time to prepare stuff for evening meal,check e-mails,chat to friends on phone.
1:30-quiet time is over for dd1.We use this time for one on one play.We do jigsaws,read books play with play doh etc.
2:30-dd2 gets up,we get ready to leave to pick up ds.
3pm pick up ds. On days he has no playdates/classes we come home.
3:15-kids can have quick snack time.
3:30-homework time for ds.The girls can either draw(do their 'homework')quietly at the table or they can go and play with their toys.
4-5pm-I usually take the kids outside to the park,or I encourage them to play in back garden as I actually find this hour one of the toughest in the day as they are all wound up at this time.
5-5:30-they watch t.v. while I prepare dinner.
5:30-dinnertime for the kids. I sit with them and chat about the day.
6:15-bathtime
6:30-dh usually comes in round about now and he comes in to finish off bathtime.
6:45-kids are put into pyjamas.dh talks to them about their day.
7pm-dh goes to put our dinner on(he loves to cook to help hime wind down,I hate it)The kids clean their teeths and brush their hair.
7:15 they climb into one bed.Dh comes to say goodnight. Either he reads the bedtime story,or I do (we take this in turns)
7:30-lights out.
7:30-8:00-I get the school stuff ready,then go and take a shower.
8-its our dinnertime
Then I just rleax

Thanks to all of you that have given me some really useful ideas.

I am trying to implement lots of your ideas here!