Create Your Working Mom Morning Routine Checklist: Free PDF

Start your day stress-free with this working mom morning routine checklist. It’s free and editable too! You can use it to create or customize your own. After having two kids (soon to be three), I’ve learned that the key to a stress-free morning routine for working moms like us is preparation.

Preparation in terms of sitting down and creating that morning routine checklist for busy moms (which I change several times a year – depending on the season of motherhood I’m in). In terms of taking the time to review that list (in the peace and quite of the early morning). And in terms of practicing and actually accomplishing this list. Let’s see how we can make that happen.

Why You Need A Working Mom Morning Routine CHECKLIST

You may be rightly wondering why you need a working mom morning routine checklist. Why? Do you really need a reminder for a pre-defined morning schedule for busy moms? Actually, no. What you need is a complete daily routine checklist for working moms, which includes a morning routine planner. Sounds like a lot of routine, right?

But let me tell you: A structured family life (according to pre-defined routines) is an easy, simple family life. And it will give you more time to focus on what truly matters to you.

Creating or adapting such a working mom morning routine checklist is the ideal starting point for a daily routine checklist. Because then you will need to create an evening routine checklist too (I will talk about in the next post). Having a well-planned morning (and finding a morning routine that works for you as a busy mom) will set the tone for a successful, organized day that can transform your entire day.

The challenge of those busy mornings as a working mom is when things don’t go as expected. When the kids get up earlier at 5 a.m. and destroy your routine (since you didn’t include your spouse in support). When you have to figure out what’s for breakfast (for your kids) because you forgot to prepare it last night. All of this happens when nothing is planned in advance. But you don’t want any of this in your everyday family life. You can easily prevent that.

By defining a structured morning schedule for busy moms like you and me, you immediately reduce stress. You know what to expect. And that goes for your spouse and children too. A working mom’s morning routine checklist saves time, reduces morning chaos, and helps with mental clarity. When you start the day calm and in control, it’s a whole different world.

How To Get Started With Your Morning Routine

In the last post I shared How To Create A Simple Morning Routine For Working Moms In 7 Steps. I focused on the best science-backed morning habits for busy working moms that no one talks about for a productive start to the day.

If you’re new to an organized morning schedule for working moms or if you feel like you want to change something about your current routine, follow some simple rules:

1. Decide where to keep your list & stick to it: Be honest – do you have that list easily accessible in a digital app or physical planner? If not, take care of it today
2. Decide on the duration: 30-60 minutes is ideal, 90 minutes is even better – just stick to a time-block
3. Educate yourself: constantly read, listen, and watch videos about other working moms’ morning routines
4. Involve your kids: have them remember five tasks – getting dressed, wiping the table after breakfast, brushing their teeth, packing their bag with a lunchbox, and bringing a water bottle or tea – we started with all of that around age 4-5
5. Pick one new habit at a time to change or fit into your existing routine and build from there

For example, start getting up 15 minutes earlier than you usually do (and go to bed earlier at the same time). This time is reserved exclusively for your current #1 priority. That can be fit in a special workout, a short meditation or just working (on your passion project or whatever you need to get done now).

You know the old saying: If the first thing you do every morning is eat a live frog, you know it’s probably the worst thing of the day. This metaphor exemplifies that we should tackle the most difficult task of our day first thing in the morning (the task we are most likely to procrastinate). The book Eat That Frog!: Get More of the Important Things Done – Today! is the perfect read if you’re struggling with this too.

However, as you get used to your new routine and feel like you’re going on autopilot, you can change or add more tasks, which we’ll cover in this post. But remember that you need to be flexible and adjust your routine regularly as the life of a working mother can be very unpredictable.

How To Create An Effective Morning Routine Checklist

A routine is only as effective as the systems we build around it. That’s why I believe in constantly reviewing my morning routine checklist. And I know that after a rough night with the kids, I’d forget everything without a list. This is how you can create or adapt your own effective morning routine checklist.

(Re)Define Your Morning Priorities

• What should be on your list? What do you need to accomplish every morning before work begins? I’ve put together a ton of ideas and inspiration in your free printable, which you can find below.
• Your list varies depending on the season of motherhood you’re in. It’s worth questioning.
• However, stay unplugged to not waste your precious ME Time!

Plan A Realistic Schedule Using Time-Blocking

• Time blocking means you divide your day into blocks of time, each block dedicated to one specific sort of tasks.
• Avoid overscheduling yourself in any time block, as this will make you feel rushed – something you definitely want to avoid in the morning.
• A morning time block should be realistic. How much time can you realistically dedicate to it?
• (My) Example of a 60-Minute Morning Routine for Busy Moms (Before The Commute):
  • 4:40 AM Wake up & quick personal hygiene (+/5:10 AM Mindfulness & q- 5 minutes)
  • 4:50 AM Make coffee & my kid’s tea, grab my breakfast/lunch box & water bottle, pack my bag
  • 5:10 AM Mindfulness & a quick stretch by using my beloved Blackroll (recommended by my physiotherapist)
  • 5:20 AM Quick shower (without waking everyone up), change clothing, 2-minute cleaning
  • 5:40 AM Start the day (and my commute)
• Disclaimer: As I wake up that early, I’m in bed around 7/8 PM. I waive time alone in front of the TV or on my phone as that is simply not as important as good quality sleep to me. I talk about the science behind getting better sleep in the post The 10 Surprising Benefits Of Waking Up EARLY (As A Mom).
• Bonus Tip: If you find it difficult to stick to a time-limited routine, you can use timers to help. If you don’t want to use your phone for this, you can use an alarm clock which I prefer (as you can see actually it belongs to my kids).

Prep Your Morning The Night Before

In the next post, I share my ultimate evening routine for working moms. Here’s a sneak peek:

• Make yourself a healthy, nutritious breakfast box (& lunch box)
• Set up your workspace with a water bottle and your schedule ready to go
• Unload the dishwasher (if you haven’t already) and reload it to enjoy a clean sink in the morning

FREE Printable Morning Routine Checklist For Moms

This is what’s inside your free morning routine checklist for moms:

• Two pages with customizable sections for personalized routines in the six most important areas
• One Page with ideas for your ME TIME and (science-backed) inspiration for your morning routine
• Simple layout for easy use

My Step-by-step Morning Routine Checklist For Working Mothers

I am a full-time working mom. I’ve always been. The only exception were the first few weeks with a newborn at home. However, I also worked part-time during this period. This was only possible because I juggle two jobs – my corporate job and my flexible self-employed work. Over the years, my morning routine has changed a lot.

Here’s a look at my current 2.5-hour morning routine while working from home, with only my start and finish times set (Disclaimer: As I wake up that early, I’m in bed around 7/8 PM as mentioned before):

• 4:40 AM Target wake-up time (+/- 15 minutes) & personal hygiene
• Drink water to rehydrate, make coffee & kid’s tea, put out breakfast boxes, heat up my heat pad
• Quiet Time & Mindfulness on the couch with coffee and heat pad (balm for my back)
• Stretch by using my beloved Blackroll on our gymnastics mat (my kids also use every day)
• Get ready, change clothing
• Go to my home office with my breakfast box as kids will get up soon (water bottle is prepared)
• Computer is on, reviewing daily schedule & morning priority I need to work on for our blog
• 1 hour of Deep Work on my blog priority #1 (ideally 1.5 hours)
• Short break (and finish work on the blog if I have a home office day for my corporate job)
• 7:00 AM End morning routine and start the day

I want to emphasize the importance of “using” your short breaks to do things around your home. I use my first short break before 7 AM to make the beds. Meanwhile, the kids are downstairs with Dad, finishing their breakfast so they can get ready to drop off at daycare. Once they’re out the door, I use every next short break for a quick 2-minute chore using my alarm clock. I swear by doing small chunks of household chores throughout the day to stay on top of things at home.

At work, I like to use the Pomodoro technique: work with high concentration for 25 minutes at a time, then take a 5-minute break and repeat. I have found that I am most productive this way. Since my working hours are limited, I have to get the most out of it. That’s why I particularly like my alarm clock because it’s also a visual timer and I can see at a glance how much time I have left in my work session.

A quick, last note about our gymnastics mat. We bought it second-hand and everyone loves it because it’s really high quality compared to all the others mats we’ve had before. Our kids often use the foldable function to create their own little play world. If you’re interested, I can recommend this high-quality gym mat you can order online from Amazon compared to ours. The initial investment was well worth it for us.

Every working mom’s schedule is different. Some work from home. Others have to commute to work. And others do both. Whatever your work schedule, I encourage you to give the morning routine checklist a try and see where it can take you. Next, we’ll take a look at the importance of a consistent evening routine.

Now I’d love to hear from you: Have you tried to develop and stick to a consistent morning routine and what is your biggest struggle? Let me know in the comments below.

When you walk away today with at least one new idea to improve your financial journey, I’d love to show you some more in the next post. If you haven’t already, you can apply to become a part of the community to not miss any new release. For that you can subscribe to our newsletter below in the green footer.

Title image source: Thomas Bormans on Unsplash