Still late? 5 ways to get out of the house… on time!

Entry #23, February 12, 2010

Let us help you get out the door…

It’s the classic story, your alarm didn’t go off, your kids all had “emergencies”, and you couldn’t find your keys.  Every night you vow to get out of the house on time. Every morning, you are cursing yourself because it didn’t work, again.  Here are 5 ways to help you and your family get out of the house, on time.

• Prioritize: For every member of your family, figure out what activities can occur in the
  

  Pack up the night before, your bed won’t fire you because you’re late!

  evening, and which need to happen in the morning. If you are trying to iron, cook, feed the dog, dress, and clean out the back of your car, all before 7:30am, you are going to be late. For your young children, try to have laundry, daycare bags, backpacks, and lunches prepared the night before.  This way when the unexpected occurs, you have time to react and fix the emergency. The same applies to other members of the family.

• Get organized: A good priority plan only works if you’re organized enough to use it.  Organization isn’t just the physical activity of putting things in their place. Organization is also mental. The ability to organize things, activities, and events in your mind is difficult for some. Don’t stress, and relax. Take a few ideas at a time, and learn to keep up with them through the day. Add on activities, then events. This will
  

  Save mind complicating chores for later in the day, not in the morning.

  help you and your family start to live and think in a less chaotic manner. Try this mental exercise daily… you’ll be surprised.

• Trust yourself: If you know you aren’t a morning person, then don’t try to do complicated activities in the morning, like balancing your checkbook!  If you are a morning person, save this time for more productive activities, like helping your kids to make their beds, or picking up after your toddler.  Trust that you know how long it takes to get ready, drop your kids off and commute to work. Once in a while lateness is natural, every day is preventable.

Wake up before your family, and enjoy some “ME” time.

• Wake up before your family does: This seems obvious, but rarely do people do it.  How do you like to wake up on the weekend? Have your morning newspaper and hot cup of tea?  Would you rather be gulping down hot coffee on the morning commute with a Pop Tart? If you wake up 15-30 minutes before your family, you can enjoy a few minutes to yourself, and be happier once everyone wakes!
• Stop the excuses: We all make them, on why we can’t leave the house on time.  If you were told 1,000,000 dollars was waiting for you, if you arrived on time… how would you do?  Enough said.

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