Working Mom Morning Routine Tips for Busy Moms that Will Make You an Organized Rockstar (your morning routine checklist)

Inside: Rock your busy working mom morning routine with these helpful morning routines for moms! Use these ideas to create your perfect mom morning routine checklist! 

I see it every morning. I know what you’re going through. Rushing to get out the door. Already running late. Checking the traffic report and dreading the drive ahead.

The toddler just doesn’t want to put on his shoes or leave his latest obsession: the measuring spoons. The fussing and “hurry up” and stress that happens every day.

Mornings are rough enough for a working mom. Not only do we have to get ourselves ready, but we also need to get the children up, dressed, and fed.

Do you have an organized working mom schedule? What does your working mom morning routine look like?

The morning is often the most chaotic time of day for families with small children. Moms are trying to get themselves ready for the day while also getting their kids ready and out the door. Having a solid morning routine can help make mornings less hectic. Here are some tips for creating morning routines for moms that works for you and your family. 

Updated in 2023

Enjoy these helpful mourning routines for moms!

The Best Morning Routine for Working Moms – Get out the door on time with these working mom organization tips

The worst thing we can do as busy working moms is to have no plan for how we run our mornings. Trust me, I tried the “fly by the seat of my pants” routine, and it does not work so well. At all! This is why I need a morning routine for moms.

It isn’t just the mommy brain that makes mornings feel like you’re walking through a pool of water, though being sleep-deprived will totally do that, we just have too much. Too much to do, too much to remember, and no magical unicorns to make it happen for us.

So what is a busy working mom to do? We come up with our own plan – our organized working mom routine – to make our mornings run smoother. Because if we don’t take control, who will? Oh, that’s right. Those tiny humans we created. It is so important to create your organized working mom routine to keep you sane.

So here are some tips for your best morning routines for busy mornings!

What’s the #1 tip for mornings that run smoothly?

Mornings run smoothly when you plan ahead in the evening. Truth, and it isn’t that surprising, is it? That’s why I’m sharing these morning and evening routines for working moms.

If you’re anything like me, running around from task to task in the morning trying to remember and grab everything you need, is exhausting. And then you’re flustered, and your hair sticks out in all directions, and you still have to drive to work.

Implementing an organized evening plan for the next day is crucial and helps make the morning run more efficiently. You just check off the tasks on your (mental or physical) to-do list and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

An Organized Evening Plan for Working Moms

Take a moment after all the chaos of the evening is done (i.e. children are in bed, and dishes and food have been put away) and think about the next day. Do a brain dump of what you need to get done tomorrow and in upcoming days. I like to do this on Sundays, so I know what tasks are going to be keeping me up at night all week. Kidding. Sort of. Let’s look at what we need for your morning routine checklist.

Are there important events coming up? Be sure to put them on your command center family wall calendar or your digital Google calendar. Or you can use the lovely daily agenda printable I have prepared for you!

Plan out your meals – hopefully, by Sunday night you already have your grocery shopping done and meal prepping started, but if you wing it each night that’s OK too!

Part of planning meals for me is lunches. I like to prep my lunch bag on Sunday night and then add or swap out items each evening as needed. Here’s what goes in my lunch bag:

• Spoon and Fork in a baggie
• Five days of salad dressing. I love these individual salad dressing packets from Kraft, great for my salads without having to “lose” my dressing in the communal fridge at work.
• Five days of vitamins in those little pill containers
• Snacks, granola bars, etc.
• Fruit
• Yogurt
• Salad
• Main course, usually a Lean Cuisine or Nutrisystem meal that gets added from the freezer in the morning

After getting home from work, I replace the utensils, add fresh salad in a container, add new fruit and snacks and yogurt and put the lunch bag in the fridge. That makes my mornings quick and efficient. Grab the lunch bag, grab the main course from the freezer, and stick it in my car.

I also remind myself to prep and set the coffee pot as soon as I get home from work, so I don’t forget later at night and get mad at myself in the morning. Coffee is non-negotiable!

I also prep what I need for daycare for the week – clean blanket (my toddler loves this airplane blanket) and more diapers, and put that in the car in the evening so I don’t forget it in the morning.

Another important item to do in the evening is to plan what you are wearing tomorrow and lay the clothing out. Getting dressed in the morning is hard for me – I keep staring at the closet and not seeing anything. But if I already have my clothes planned and ready, I just put them on while I’m half-blind with sleep and keep going. When my toddler first started daycare, I would lay out all five days of clothing for him in a pile next to his changing table. Then when I changed him out of his pajamas and overnight diaper, I just grabbed the next set of pants and shirt and done. That really helped with the morning fog.

A Better Busy Working Mom Morning Routine – your morning routine checklist

In my mind, the best busy mom morning routine is the shortest. And it is an important part of your daily routine for working moms.

The less you have to do before getting out the door (preferably on time) the smoother things will run. Get everyone dressed, fed, and load up the car are the important tasks – extra stuff that gets squeezed into the race can be trouble.

My morning typically look like this:

I get myself up and do the grooming and getting myself dressed. Sometimes I snooze the alarm a few times, especially if the toddler wakes a lot at night, so my mornings can be a bit rushed.

First, I let out and feed dogs – they are the easiest to take care of.

I stick my breakfast in the microwave and my son’s waffle (whole grain, of course) in the toaster. I do the pouring of the coffee into my Supernatural themed coffee tumbler and bring out my lunch and laptop bag to the car.

Then I set out everyone’s breakfast.

Then and only then do I wake the toddler (unless he is already up and causing trouble). I change him quickly (or as quickly as his squirming body allows) since the day’s clothing is already laid out, and I stick him in his high chair so we can both enjoy breakfast.

Then, once breakfast is done, I let out the dogs again and do a quick clean up.

Finally, I grab the toddler, clean him up, and shuttle him straight to the car. He doesn’t get a chance to run around in the morning, or we’ll be there all day. Straight from the high chair to his car seat, and since everything else is already in the car and ready to go, we’re done!

What do you think needs to be added to this morning routine for moms? Is there something else special in your working mom schedule with infant and toddler?

Ultimate Morning Routine for Working Moms

As a working mom, you know that the morning can be hectic. You’re trying to get yourself ready for work while also getting your kids ready for school. It can be hard to find a balance between taking care of yourself and taking care of your family.

But there is a way to make the morning less stressful. By following an ultimate morning routine, you can make sure that you’re taking care of yourself and your family. 

There are so many tasks we need to accomplish as part of the morning rush, but it is also very, very important to take the morning to find some quiet to start the day off right. Here are some ideas for your perfect morning routine for working moms baby.

Get up early – only a bit!

I only wake up 20 minutes earlier than my son does – so I can get myself dressed and be ready for everything else. Getting that time to yourself in the morning lets you have that pause worked into your routine. For example – can you do some deep breaths while you pee? Can you think of something you’re grateful for while brushing teeth? Can you remember to drink glass of water in between getting dressed and doing your hair?

Make breakfast and drink water.

Start your day off right with a nutritious breakfast. This will give you the energy you need to get through the day. And plenty of water, along side your coffee.

Movement

OK so you might not have time to exercise. Let’s be realistic. But, can you do some quick stretches to get the blood moving through your body? Or include movement of some other kind – like walking the dog around the block, or taking a walk around the building before you go inside to work. I like to walk my son to school (it’s less than a half mile walk but it’s something) and the dog likes to come along.

Schedule check

You’ve hopefully done all your evening routine planning and know what’s up for today’s schedule, but it doesn’t hurt to give your command center another glance in case you forgot something overnight.

Morning chores?

Let’s keep the morning chores to a minimum! Like run the dishwasher after breakfast, and sure wipe up any spills and such, but otherwise let’s not leave any evening chores to be done in the mornings.