A few weeks ago, Kate wrote a post about her nighttime routine and I really loved it. So much so that I’ve been thinking about my own nighttime routine and what an ideal evening would look like for me. (Figuring out my nighttime routine was even a goal for me this month!) Most evenings, I come straight home after work and, even though I have a full four hours to myself before my pre-determined “bedtime,” I feel like I never have enough time to get everything I want done. So, I took some time to plan out what my ideal evening would look like and I thought I would share it:
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM: Arrive home and decompress
I have a fairly easy commute home on a daily basis, and usually get home right around 5:30. The most cost-effective and enjoyable way to commute is by using an electric bike like these from Wisper click here. If you also want to own one, then you may head to your nearest electric bike stores. I really, really love coming home, throwing my stuff on the counter, and then lying on my bed for a few minutes, scrolling through Instagram or reading. After a full day in the office and navigating traffic on my way home, I just want to turn off my brain for a little while.
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Make and eat dinner while watching a TV show
After some time to decompress, it’s time to make an easy dinner. Typically, this is some sort of chicken recipe like healthy baked chicken nuggets or something similar. I’ll add a veggie (like corn or green peas) and call it a meal. Sometimes I’ll try other recipes like trout amandine. I will usually listen to a podcast while I’m putting dinner together and then throw on a TV show to watch while I’m eating said dinner.
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM: Work on my blog
I’m always working on something for my blog on weeknights, but usually, it entails furiously putting together a post the night before (um, like tonight). So, this is where the “ideal” part of my evening routine comes in because I never really set aside specific time to work on my blog. Somehow, I still manage to get 2 to 3 blog posts published a week, but only because I live and die by my content calendar. Anyway, I’d really love to set aside 30 minutes every evening to work on my blog, whether that’s getting ahead on posts or getting a post ready to be published in the morning.
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM: Clean up the kitchen and pack my lunch
I cannot go to bed with a messy kitchen, so I will always spend some time hand-washing my dishes and clearing off countertops so my place is tidy when I go to bed. Once the kitchen is cleaned, I’ll pack my lunch so that it’s ready to grab and go in the morning. I’ve fallen into a habit of packing my lunch in the morning, which I never really have time for, so I need to get back into the habit of doing this the night before.
This is also when I’ll either prep my coffeepot to brew a fresh pot in the morning or make sure I have enough coffee chilling in my fridge to fill up my Tervis. Iced coffee is one of my favorite things, so if I’m running low on chilled coffee, I’ll brew a full 12-cup pot and pour it into my pitcher to chill overnight. (And before you tell me all about cold brew coffee, I know. I have yet to find a brand that I prefer to my regular chilled coffee, and cold brew is more expensive, too.) To find good deals on kratom, simply search for kratom sales near me online for convenient and affordable options. Those who would like to buy kratom in canada may visit the website of Kratom Active.
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM: Take a bubble bath
Taking a bubble bath is a nightly tradition for me. I live for them. Sometimes, it’s the only thing that gets me through my day. I’ll read my book while I’m soaking, and yes, that means I bring library books and my Kindle into the bath with me. Don’t worry – I’m a professional.
8:30 PM – 8:45 PM: Wash my face and brush my teeth
Once my bubble bath is done and I’m all fresh and clean and in my pajamas, I need to brush my teeth and wash my face. I’ll admit: I am really bad at doing this every night. It’s just annoying to do, and by this time, I’m tired and just want to crawl into bed. But I need to make more of an effort because dental hygiene is important, and I regularly visit the dentist near me to take good care of my teeth! Seeing a dentist like the ones from Hershman Group twice a year can help prevent dental problems. You can also trust your smile to the best Ashburn dentist near me. And I wear makeup on a daily basis, so my face really needs a deep cleanse to get off all the dirt and makeup and grime and ugh, faces are so gross when you think of it that way. (I always use a makeup wipe to take off the top layer of my makeup, but it never gets my face as clean as it should be.) Anyway, this is also where the “ideal” part of my evening routine comes in. I really need to cleanse, tone, and moisturize my face every night.
8:45 PM – 9:30 PM: Read until I’m tired
Once all the evening tasks have been completed, I get to read! I’ll usually bring my phone to bed with me and take breaks every so often to scroll through a few Instagram Stories, which I know I “shouldn’t” do, but alas, I am weak. I’ll read until I’m tired or until 9:30 rolls around, whichever comes first.
So there you have it! My ideal evening routine. Maybe I’ll check back in a few months to report if I’m living my ideal evening life. 🙂
What do your evenings look like – chaotic or relaxing?
So this is my dream evening routine, FYI lol. Also, I am so, SO jealous of your bubble baths (we moved to a new place about a year ago that only has a standup shower. I miss having a bathtub :()
My evenings…well, it depends on the day, honestly. Some nights, they’re fairly chill and I can spend time organizing my life and winding down (the preference) but other nights are go, go, go.
For example, I volunteer with my church youth group every Wednesday night so after I get home from work, I have time to scarf down supper before dashing out the door again. Other nights, I’m driving my husband to worship team practice or trying to squeeze in a bike ride at the gym.
So it varies. But my favourite nights are when I can come home, get into comfy clothes right away, eat and plan for the next day and then just…relax.
Yes! I even get rather annoyed with myself that I can’t enjoy this ideal evening routine EVERY night, although I know I can do it most nights and writing out a schedule like this should hopefully help me actually make it happen. I love, love, love lazy, relaxing nights.
I find reading about others routines super fascinating as they differ so much from person to person. Our nights are chaotic since they are so short these days. I pick up Paul from daycare and we get home around 5 pm. We spend that hour feeding him and playing with him and then start his bedtime routine around 6. He gets a bath every other night but every night we put lotion on him, put him in a night time cloth diaper + jammies, read a book and then lay him down. He doesn’t nap much at daycare so he is usually super exhausted at this point so a lot of the time I skip like 1/2 or more of the book because he is squirmy or crabby. Depending on what we are having for dinner, I will either start it around 5:30/5:45 or I will start it after putting him to bed. Then we eat and do dishes and I sit down to pump at 7:30pm. I try to fit in a walk when I can but that’s super hard to do since I only have 1.5 hours between putting Paul down and sitting down to pump. It takes about 30-40 minutes to pump. I try to put away any clean dishes in the sink, and get the coffee pot ready to go for the morning. I go upstairs and wash my face, brush my teeth and floss and I’m usually in bed by 8:30 and I try to have the lights out at 9 so that I have a shot at 7 hours of sleep before my 5:30 alarm goes off (Paul is up 3-4 times a night so I need to go to bed super early to make up for all the times we are up during the night). (side note: I used to be TERRIBLE at flossing but at my last appointment the dentist said I was close to getting a cavity but regular flossing might prevent it so I am being very diligent about that in the hopes I don’t get a cavity!!!)
This will change completely when I am done pumping and I really look forward to that day. I don’t know what my goal is for pumping, though, as I take it a day at a time. I thought I would start to cut back on pumping when Paul started to eat solids but as you’ve likely seen from my IG feed, he is not interested in solids AT ALL… but the longest I will pump is 1 year which is about 5 months away. So at most, I only have 5 more months of this schedule and things will really improve once I cut out pumping. And they will really improve when he can stay awake longer when we get home from work!
Yes, I imagine the evening routines for parents is so busy and chaotic! That’s why I think I really want to make this evening routine happen for me as many nights as possible because I really need to take advantage of this season of my life!
Our nights are chaotic until 7:30-8 until the kids go to bed! I usually start making dinner around 4:30-5, we’re eating by 5:30, and since the girls take FOREVER I’m usually not done cleaning up in the kitchen until 6:30ish. Then it’s bath time for the kids followed by their stories and bedtime. Then I get to veg and watch whatever I have PVR’d until around 9:15-9:30, then I read for a half-hour or so in bed until it’s lights out.
Ah, that sounds so nice! I’m glad you have a good 1.5-2 hours for yourself after the girls go to bed. I can only imagine how chaotic an evening can be with kids!
Suggestion: try washing your face and brushing your teeth before your bath. When I started doing both before my nightly TV or computer time, I was a changed person. Because then I could go to bed as soon as I decided instead of having the dreaded “work” of washing my face.
Oh gosh, this is such a good tip and I’m definitely going to put it into practice! Plus, it’s a good way to signal to my body that it’s time to wind down and not keep munching on snacks late into the evening.
Girl, your 9:30pm sleep time is my absolute dream.
I love that you wrote this up because I think it’s so fun to read about other people’s habits. And thanks for linking to me! 🙂
If only I could make it happen on a more regular basis! Sigh. Shiny internet things always suck me in.
This sounds like a really solid evening routine and I love it . I’d personally not have the patience for a bubble bath every night, but I know that you love them.
I have between 3 – 3.5 hours every night. I get home at 6:30 and then J and I cook dinner, watch some news and then I get ready for the next day. I usually try to get a few pages of reading in before I turn off the light.
I should probably write a similar post sometime 🙂
Do it! It was fun to write this out and visualize what the perfect evening would look like for me. I’m really going to work harder to implement this routine into my daily life because there’s no reason why I can’t do it right now!
Your ideal evening routine sounds fab! That is very similar to mine. Lowkey and with some prep for the next day and relaxation time (I totally read books in the tub too – my friend got me a spa thing that goes over the tub so I have a spot to put them, ha!).
Ha! I didn’t realize cold brew was something different. I know so little about coffee!
I need one of those spa trays! I take enough baths that it would get plenty of use. 🙂
For the last 10 months my evenings have really been dictated by Olivia’s bedtime, which is ever changing! She was regularly going to bed at 6-6:30 but that has recently been bumped to 7-7:30 as she gets a bit older. I have not been great about having a structured evening or morning routine, but with my return to work looming I really really want to get something cemented! I think your ideal evening routine sounds awesome. I really would like to dedicate more time to work on my blog. I mostly do picture filled posts these days which take up so. much. time. I really want to start just writing more, but have been struggling a bit with that.
I would imagine it’s hard to figure out a normal morning and evening routine when everything is dictated by your baby’s needs! But it’s good that you have some time to start thinking about these routines before it’s time to go back to work. Hopefully, you can figure out something that works!