Establishing Routines

So I'd like to say that every day I follow a routine, but let's face it - I'd be fooling you and me both.

Establishing routines are hard to develop, but like any habit take time to process and maintain. It takes about 21 days to develop a habit, so don't feel so bad if a routine takes that long or longer.

Last week, we discussed what routines were. Routines are getting up in the morning, daily tasks, and evening whine downs that end us up in bed getting the 8 hours or less of sleep we need each night.

I'd like to say my mornings are the most routine and organized of the day, but truthfully my afternoons are more dependable.

In the mornings, I get up write, send the kids off to school, then write some more. (or I'd like to try). but basically my mornings are filled with errands, household chores, book making, and so on.

Sound familiar?

So how do you establish a routine that works for you? Remember, the key word here is WORKS FOR YOU.

Start using a daily planner. Using a daily planner helps you go back and review what you've been doing, so you know what you need to do in the future. They're great for keeping us on task and for settling into new routines.

Keep lists of routines in a notebook or posted on walls around your house - little reminders if you're as forgetful as I am with all the things going on in your house.

Keep a family calender posted in a central location in the house. Doesn't sound like routine does it? But if you're house is high traffic with comings and goings this will help you establish a routine around what's going on in this particular season of your life.

If you had a perfect routine in mind, what would it look like?
Be realistic. I'm not super woman and neither are you.  But hey, if you've got an idea of your routine should be, then ask yourself how you're going to go about accomplishing that routine?

Look to the suggestions above, what do you think? Got a routine established or still working on it?