If your household has to be out the door by 8 in the morning (or earlier), it can be a mad rush. Whether you’re a single parent or couple, a bit of pre-planning can help make it a little bit smoother and ensure you avoid the morning rush.

Make a list of what needs to be done to get ready in the morning.

Sure you have to get yourself up and ready but what else needs to happen?

Breakfast, putting on the laundry, stacking or emptying the dishwasher, making lunches, packing bags, dressing the baby, feeding the dog.

It all has to happen, so write it all down, divvy up the tasks and know what you need to do.

Give yourself enough time to do all your morning tasks

Now you know what you need to do in the morning you can allocate enough time for it.

If you’re getting up at 7 and still rushing around at 8, try getting up at 6.45.

That extra 15 minutes could be the difference between a pleasant start to the day or a stressed out family.

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Do what you can to be ready for school or daycare the night before

Make lunches, pack bags, select and iron your outfit. Even load the washing machine so it just needs to be turned on in the morning.

Make sure older kids are prepared as well. Have they given you notes from school, finished their homework and got their uniform and bag ready? Yep. Wow.

Outsource what you can – if you can afford it

Work out the sticking points and find a solution.

You may well find a university student who is happy to work from 7-9am a couple of days a week who can drop the kids of at daycare or school then pop back to your home to put on the washing or hang it out, vacuum and stack the dishwasher. Trust me, even twice a week makes a huge difference.

Or find an ironing service, cleaner or dog walker who can take some of the pressure off.

If you don’t want to pay someone to do those everyday tasks but you know the neighbours, arrange a share situation.

Plenty of people have found that having a share-care system such as one of you doing school drop off and the other doing pick up (or drive to after-school sports) to be hugely beneficial.

Remember it takes a village to raise a child!

Minimise distractions

It can be tempting to plonk your child in front of the TV with their breakfast while you get yourself organised but this can backfire when they refuse to get ready because they’d rather watch TV.

Stick to the same routine so your child knows what to expect. Breakfast, wash face & brush teeth, get dressed, do hair. Simple! Hahahaha

Please let us know what other sanity and time saving tips you have for the morning routine. We’d love to know!

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