15 Ways to Step Out of Your Daily Routine???

Written by Mary Lutz

You may be looking at the title and thinking “huh?!?” I would be too, if I didn’t write it…LOL. But as a former work OUT of the home mom, I had to have a daily routine otherwise I would have been late for work, ran out of gas on the way to work, or had some other mishap along the way. In other words, if I stepped out of my daily routine, I would have been totally unorganized and disarrayed, and then everything goes wrong. So, why am I writing about stepping out of your daily routine??? Because I think as stay at home mom’s we get “be organized”, “stay focused”, “establish a routine” shoved down our throats so often that we forget to relax and step out of our routine once in a while. So, here are 15 suggestions you can practice to step out of that daily routine.

1. My personal favorite-sleep in! At least an hour or two extra. It will help you rejuvenate!

2. If you normally take a shower when you first get out of bed, wait till the afternoon or evening to take it. I find that a shower or hot bath right before bed is the most relaxing and really helps me fall asleep.

3. Get dressed up-a little anyway! If you’re like most stay at home moms, you may tend to spend the day in your PJ’s (which is awesome and one of the benefits of being a WAHM!). But, sometimes it actually helps you be more productive to get out of the sweats or PJ’s, and put on something a little dressier, even if it’s jeans and a sweater.

4. Don’t get dressed up. The opposite of above if you tend to get up every day and get dressed. Try being more relaxed and lounging around in your sweats and PJ’s. I am of this group because I used to have to get dressed up every day for work, so now I enjoy the days when I don’t HAVE to.

5. Do you plan dinner for every day of the week? Try not planning it, just for one night, and wing it with the ingredients in your cupboards. You never know what great concoction you will come up with.

6. Do you have the same thing for breakfast every morning? Switch it up! Do something different. My hubby loves cold, leftover spaghetti for breakfast! I thought “ew” until I tried it! If you make a hot breakfast, eat a cold one or vice-versa.

7. Have breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast!

8. Don’t watch your favorite TV show(s) for one week! You may find you may not even miss one that much and may free up some time for more productive work.

9. Have a friend or relative pick up the kids from school or daycare for you. As a Nana, I would be thrilled to pick up my grandson’s, if it applied.

10. Put on some makeup! This kind of goes along with suggestion number 3, but if you don’t normally put on makeup, give it a shot for a day. See what your hubby and kids think – it will be fun!

11. Switch up your daily cleaning routine. Switch the order around of the rooms you clean, or the order in which you wash the loads of laundry.

12. If you make regular phone calls throughout the day, try changing the times around.

13. Get out some old, or new, music and play it while you work. It will re-energize you!

14. Get out a good book, perhaps one you didn’t finish or one you keep saying you’re going to start. Read a chapter a day, or read the whole thing in one sitting!

15. Play a game; with your kids, with your spouse, or on-line! It’s a great way to relax your brain (I think!) and re-energize.

Obviously, you have to use some discretion when choosing some of these, depending on the nature of your business and your home life. But, if you try just one, to get out of the “same-old, same-old”, it will leave you feeling refreshed. You may even find you like what you’ve tried and make it part of your daily routine!

Tags: 15 Ways to Step Out of Your Daily Routine, daily routine, Show Mom the Money, Stay at Home Sanity