My Ultimate Working Mom Evening Routine: Secret To Streamlined Mornings

I’m sure you’ve all got a routine in your life! Even if you think you don’t think you have anything official you will have some form of a routine – it isn’t easy to survive life without one, with or without kids. Well, I thought today I’d share one of mine……my highly curated working mom evening routine.

I say highly curated because I’ve been perfecting it for many years, and when I say perfecting, I mean starting from scratch multiple times because I can never get it right! I have, after all, got 3 boys all far apart in age, and so it has been a challenge to find one that works for us all with their various stages of life.

After 20 years of finding a workable working mom evening routine, I like to think that what I have now is one of my best iterations! It’s not perfect, but I’m not expecting it to be, and it took quite some time to accept that fact! The joys of being a busy mom!

As a brief interlude from this blog’s normal skincare article schedule, I thought I would give you a little glimpse into my current working mom evening routine, and hope that it helps inspire you to find one that could finally work for you too.

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Why Routines Are Important For Us

When I was doing a bit of research for this post I came across this article here. Something that blew my mind was the discussion on the phrase “An apple a day keeps the Dr away”. We all know it…….it’s been around for generations.

Well, what does this phrase mean to you? I can tell you I’ve been around enough patients with diabetes to know that most of us focus on the apple part of the phrase as being healthy for us. 

Therefore, does that mean if we ate 100 apples in one day we’d be extra healthy? No of course not!

It’s not the eating of the apple that is the focus of this phrase, it’s the eating of one apple on a regular basis that is the way we keep healthy. In other words, it’s the routine of eating healthy that keeps the Dr away.

Side note: writing about apples for the last 10 minutes has got me craving that nice juicy apple sitting in the fruit bowl rather than my hidden chocolate in my bedroom (who am I kidding? I’ll have the chocolate as well!)

I love this concept (and will be using it in my many healthy diet nags!). That’s the beauty of routines – they can positively impact our physical and mental health by encouraging the regular incorporation of beneficial practices, such as regular exercise, mindfulness and other self-care activities.

To quote the article above, a routine can be defined as:

“repeated behaviour involving a momentary time commitment task that requires little conscious thought.”

So, by establishing a routine, we create habits and patterns that essentially streamline our decision-making processes. 

Have you ever experienced decision fatigue? Like when given too many parking spaces in a car park? Well, a routine can free up our mental energy for more important tasks, like……well with kids, practically anything!

Lastly, and most obviously, routines also promote efficiency and productivity, as they help us allocate our time more effectively.

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Why Routines For Children are Important

Another quote from the same article tells us:

“Routine is consistently found to be important for children. A bedtime routine is associated with increased family functioning and improved sleep habits. Family routines have been linked to the development of social skills and academic success, and adherence to family routines has been identified as important for family resilience during times of crisis.”

But we don’t need a quote from a PubMed study to know they work, do we? It doesn’t take long with a newborn to start craving some sort of normality, albeit a new normality! 

Routines are essential for children’s development and well-being, providing a sense of security, structure, and predictability – something I think most adults love too.

The consistency and familiarity of routines create a stable environment in which children can thrive – knowing what to expect gives them a sense of control.

This predictability helps to reduce anxiety and behavioural issues too – exactly the reason why schools keep to a routine. I certainly know a lot of children who struggle when the normal school day structure changes.

Let’s not forget how routines can teach valuable life skills like time management, responsibility and self-discipline – the same outcomes we as adults hope to achieve from them!

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My Stage of Life

My husband has his own physiotherapy business and, as I’m sure everyone who has experienced self-employment knows, works very long hours. 

The main bulk of bringing (dragging!) up the kids, house management etc has always been for me. Juggling this with working part-time as a nurse means having to be laser-focused on streamlined systems. I know it’s the same for all of us mums, especially if working full time.

Right now my 3 boys are ages 19, 15 and 7. Yes I’m out of the young children stage (took forever as they are so far apart in age), but it turns out teenagers are just as challenging and time-sapping as toddlers! Who knew!? 

Plus my 7-year-old still needs plenty of time with homework, reading etc so life feels as full on as when they were little.

Why This Routine Has Developed Like This

One thing I hate is that stressed and rushed morning. I hate getting to work and regretting the nagging with the boys, knowing my skincare hasn’t been done, and thinking that I’ve got to go home to a house that was still trashed from the morning……I’m sure you get the picture. 

I can spend my time working relaxed, knowing everything is already organised at home.

I learnt many years ago that to make the mornings smoother, I need to be prepared and have jobs ticked off the night before.

My current day-to-day life also means that my exercise workouts are best done and dusted before the school run. That’s why my morning routine is quite short and simple whereas my evening routine….er, is not!

What Time Does An Evening Routine Start?

Well, I consider mine starting once I’m home from clubs or playdates with my 7-year-old, but I’m really a looooong way off from going to bed! This is the time I am doing things with the thought of making the next morning easier, so that’s why I think of it as the start of an evening routine.

As this timing is very fluid, as clubs finish at different times, my evening routine start time will vary.

I’m very blessed to have a job that finishes early enough for me to pick up my youngest son from school…..and that’s when the hard work starts!

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Evening Chores

I’m afraid there’s no getting away from the fact when I’m responsible for 4 children (yes I am including the adult son and husband in that!), 2 pets and a house, there will be chores done in the evening. These are the jobs I regularly do and sadly have to be part of a working mom evening routine:

Dinner Time

Once all the clubs and playdates are finished, this is the first thing I get on with. Like most of us, I had a love/hate relationship with cooking, so as I didn’t have a choice, I flipped it on its head and turned it into a fun hobby.

Unfortunately, turning it into a hobby, means that it can take me quite a while to get our meals on the table, so I try to meal prep earlier in the day so we’re not eating at 11.30 pm (yes that has happened!!)

It’s quite important for us to all sit down together and eat dinner, and I know this is not always possible with the nature of busy families. 

Having older brothers, Joel has always had to slot into a later bedtime due to their later evening events I have to taxi for. Thankfully there is not a hint of Joel being an early riser, so we can also keep him up later to all have dinner together once Andy is home from work.

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Clear Up Time

With dinner comes the inevitable clean-up time. I’m a bit over the top about clearing away as I cook, to the occasional annoyance of others, but I find there are always natural breaks in cooking that are perfect to avoid the larger job after dinner.

The family are all good here at clearing up together and I don’t always subscribe to the “I cooked dinner, therefore I don’t have to clear up” so I join in too. This way I don’t have to clear up after my husband has cooked…..I’m sure you get me!!

The dishwasher has to go on at this point to ensure it is ready to be emptied before going to bed

Laundry Time

With five of us all in some form of uniform (school, sport and work) there is a lot of washing. When you consider three are over 6 feet tall, clothes take up a lot of space in the washing machine (let’s not forget the smell teenage boys create!!).

There needs to be a wash load done daily for sure – there is no conceivable way I could do one full day of washing a week. The other benefit to this is we need less clothes in our cupboards, therefore avoiding overfilling them.

I normally get the daily load on at some point earlier in the day, normally with my morning routine, and at this point in the evening I’ll be folding and putting away.

Just to point out with Ewan I wash and fold for him, but he is responsible for the rest. Jonathan deals with his clothes entirely by himself now, which will be interesting in a few weeks when he starts his police degree and will be in a full police kit!

Homework/Reading Time

Joel and I will get homework, school phonics reading, spellings etc done at some point throughout this evening chores period. Really whenever it slots in. Thankfully Joel is a really good lad and is no bother getting him to do it anytime.

The beauty of having big brothers is sometimes they will help me out by doing this with him if needed or offered – they’re great big bro’s!!

Obviously, the older 2 are responsible for their own studies, and generally, they’re very conscientious. Ewan has now reached the age where he realises the only person missing out by not doing revision etc, is himself!

If you have little ones who are a struggle to get them to sit down and do these jobs, it can make the evening less than enjoyable. I did have this to some extent with the older 2 and I have plenty of friends that struggle with this.

I’ve tried plenty of different timings over the years, and while there are pros and cons with any time you pick to do this, I find the best is after dinner. They’ve had plenty of time to wind down after school, have full stomachs and will agree to anything to stay up later!!

Prepare For The Next Day

If there is a more important part of a working mom evening routine, I’d like to know what it is!?

I help Joel get ready for the next day, but the older 2 get themselves ready (I should think so at nearly 20!!) and have done since they started secondary school.

I used to have to do lunch boxes with the older 2, so I used to make them at this point. Joel has school dinners, free until September when he goes into Yr 3…..and you can bet it will be worth every penny to start paying for them!

Clothes-wise, I make sure my workout clothes are ready right next to my bed for me to crawl into in the morning, and I make sure Joel’s school uniform is all present and correct.

Ewan in secondary school still wears a uniform, but he is responsible for ensuring it is ready. He knows full well that there will be no last-minute hand washes or mad searches for something he is missing.

Joel’s book bag and PE kit are checked. I’ll also check the calendar to make sure there isn’t any school event the next day I’ve missed like swimming, forest school or odd socks mental health day (yup, that’s a thing!).

Jonathan and Andy? Well, they’re big enough and ugly enough to take care of themselves and get their own work clothes ready!!

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Kids Bedtime Routine

When I say kids, I do just mean Joel’s……I don’t do any of what follows with a 15 and 19-year-old!

We’ve cracked the short but sweet bedtime routine with Joel. We’ve always had bedtime routines with each of them but this one is much more concise (hashtagthirdchild!).

We have a wind-down time where we have a “snuggle cuddle” under a blanket on the sofa and a book. I used to read to him, but he’s now started a new book series called Beast Quest in which we read a page each. I used to do the same with the older as well.

It’s then wash, teeth, toilet and into bed and if it’s early enough he’s allowed the light on for a bit to read on his own.

This is always the time I’ll spend time cuddling him and chatting through the day – again, it goes back to kids doing what they can to stay up later, and most of my school friends say this is the time the whole day comes spilling out. 

I say use it! It’s so difficult to get any information on their day out of them, so now’s the time.

My PM Skincare Routine

I feel like a genius coming up with this idea fairly recently……honestly it’s so obvious I’m sure you’ve all been doing it since you hit puberty!

As soon as we say goodnight I head to my bedroom and do my skincare for the night. I’m so tempted to crash on the sofa, but I have stopped allowing myself to do that. 

Once I hit that sofa, there’s every chance I will stay there right until the last minute before I should have lights out. There have also been numerous times I fall asleep, so head straight to bed, bypassing my skincare drawer.

After double cleansing and getting the day off my face, I apply my Tretinoin. I give this time to sink in before following up with my serum and night moisturiser. Once a week or so I take longer and enjoy some relaxing time with music and a face mask.

Yes, skincare can, and should, take time which is why it doesn’t work for me to do it just before I go to sleep – I want to do it properly (especially when you consider the cost of it all) and enjoy it, not resent it because I just want to go to sleep. It is my form of self-care…..

Just in case you’re interested here is a post on some of the best multi-purpose skincare products on the market – they help you save a bit of time!

I might even do my teeth at this point to stop me from eating any chocolate the rest of the evening, but that takes a lot of willpower! 

I will then change into nice nightwear that I feel good in. This, I feel, is vital for me. For way too long I’ve had comfy, but scruffy, pyjamas that did nothing for my self-esteem.

The feeling of having face, teeth and classy/elegant nightwear on before snuggling up on the sofa with Andy just can’t be beaten! Part of a working mom evening routine has got to be some form of self-care

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Bonding Time With The (Older) Family

I do go to bed relatively late and this is a choice I’ve made right now. In this season of my life with 2 teenagers, I like to be around for them……and being teenagers, they stay up late. 

It’s surprising how much teenagers do need their parents, in their own way. For chatting through plans for the next day, chatting through issues with their friends – it all comes out at midnight!

Thankfully Joel, my 7-year-old, has always been a fantastic sleeper and has never woken me up early, so this staying up late lark is not a problem.

This is the time when I’ll force myself away from the computer, and fiddling with this blog (which I would do all day if I could – I love it!), to sit with Andy in front of the box.

Sometimes the older boys will join us, sometimes they won’t – it all depends on what they want to do. Have to say, we will always watch what they want to watch as we just want to encourage any time spent together when they’re teenagers!

It could be a movie, box set, sport, news we watch…….anything that takes our fancy. If they’re all watching sport, I’ll be reading thank you very much! Sometimes we’ll just sit together listening to music and chatting – they’re the best evenings!

At the weekend we often enjoy a board game together – we’ll let Joel stay up late with us for this. They’re the best times as a family and I would never want him to miss out on them. I’m very happy for my working mom evening routine to go out the window at the weekend!

Write a To-Do List For Tomorrow

Once I’ve had the wind-down time and get my exhausted butt to bed, my stupid mind then starts waking up and telling me all the jobs that I haven’t done, have forgotten about and need to get done NOW!!! Ugh!

So I silence it by setting alarms on my phone for the next day – unorthodox, I know, but it works a treat.

It’s so simple. I just go into the basic clock app that comes with the phone, click on the Alarms tab, add or select the time I want if it’s already there and write under the Label section what it is I must remember to not forget!

The next day the alarm goes off at that time and it will tell me what the label is, aka what it is I haven’t got around to doing.

I can hit snooze if I can’t get it done there and then, and it will keep shouting at me every 9 minutes until I finally stop hitting snooze and get the job done.

Incidentally, the Reminders app is rubbish for me. We have an Apple family account so annoyingly the reminders just get lost among our 4 mobiles. 

A lot of working mom evening routines have some sort of a written “day Planner” – you might have noticed I don’t. Trust me, I’ve tried that…..I’ve tried everything! Like most systems I try, it worked for a while and then I lost interest.

That type of routine checklist just doesn’t work for me. I’m not held accountable to a piece of paper, whereas I am to that 9-minute shrieking alarm (or to anyone else in the house who shouts at me to switch it off)

Shutting Down for Dream Land

We try to be strict about getting to bed and a reasonable time to give us 7 hours, but it doesn’t always happen.

There are “sleep sabotaging” distractions all around us, plus sometimes stuff just happens that we can’t control……like that mouse the cat brought in a few nights ago!

British wildlife aside, I put the dog out for his last empty, take all my nighttime HRT meds and head straight into bed.

I must say, I’m so very grateful to be able to drift off straight away, ready, like all working moms everywhere, to start it all again the next day.

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My Working Mom Evening Routine

So to recap, here is my evening routine in a nutshell:

• Cook and eat dinner
• Clear away dinner and straighten the house
• Get the laundry completed
• Homework/spelling/reading with youngest son
• Check plans for tomorrow and prep clothes/equipment as needed
• Wind down, reading, cuddle and bedtime with youngest son
• Skincare and change into nice nightwear
• Sit and just be with the older boys and Andy relaxing on the sofa
• Off to bed

Weekends are slightly different. We keep to a rough routine of this but can be a lot more relaxed. We still have football and other sports on weekend mornings so we still do have some responsibilities the night before.

Sunday evenings we get back into this routine as it’s the night before the start of the working/school week, but we will also add in looking at the whole week ahead.

While writing this post, I’ve come to realise just how much of a reliable workhorse my working mom evening routine has been for me over the years.

While it may seem like a never-ending juggling act, the structure and consistency provided by this night routine have allowed me to enjoy time with my family, prioritise my self-care, and tackle the demands of daily life.

Of course, like any routine, mine is far from perfect. There are (regular) days when unexpected hurdles arise and all of this goes out the window. But that’s the beauty of routines – they can be picked up wherever you left off, and restarted the next day…..and the next, and the next, and the next!!

A key thing I have learned over the years is routines have to be changed and adapted as the kids get older, or the amount of them increases! But the core principles will remain the same.

Each time I change a routine, I might write it down and create an evening routine checklist, but I don’t need it for long as it becomes second nature quite quickly.

Experiment, tweak, and tailor them to suit your unique needs and circumstances, and just remember, a working mom evening routine is not a rigid set of rules. It’s about getting that life balance and enjoying the mom life in all its glory.

Most importantly, embrace and enjoy them…..after all, you’ll be doing them for many, many years to come!! Strap in and enjoy the ride…..

Do tell me about your evening routine. Is it working for you or does it need some tweaking? Let me know in the comments. I love hearing other family’s routines – there are always tips you can take from them!