How to Reduce Morning Stress

By preparing ahead the night before, you can reduce morning stress.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Prepare your lunch the night before. You can use leftovers from dinner or make whatever you want to take the next day. Put it in the refrigerator. If you have children, they can help prepare lunches.

2. Choose what you are going to wear. Lay out clothes or set them apart from other clothing in your closet so you will know right where they are. If anything needs ironing, now is the time to do it. By doing this the night before, you won't have to wake up and try to figure out what to wear. This is especially important if you have young kids. By knowing what they will wear ahead of time, you will hopefully avoid tantrums or fights about clothing in the morning.

3. Decide what you are going to have for breakfast. Set out dishes the night before. If you are going to have cold cereal, you can set it out too. Don't leave out any kind of food that will spoil. If you plan to make something like pancakes, mix all the dry ingredients together the night before and then add the buttermilk, eggs and oil in the morning. Doing simple things like this will save you time.

4. Get all work, homework, gym clothes, etc. together ahead of time so they can be picked up easily as you walk out the door. This will help to avoid forgettting important papers in a last minute scramble to get them ready.

[sanderdoe]

on 4/20/2009 Great article with excellent suggestions. Morning stress is sometimes the worst. 5*