I love learning about other people’s daily routines! It’s been a few years since I’ve shared mine, so here’s a glance at an average day for me as a working mom of three boys.
Here’s a breakdown of my typical daily routine
Now that we’ve been back in school for a few weeks, I’ve been sharing little bits of our days and wanted to share a full daily routine with you.
I don’t know what it is about daily routines that I love so much, but I love knowing what other people are doing during their days. If you enjoy reading about that too, here’s what my average day looks like on may days.
Here is what my average daily routine looks like.
6:15AM: Alarm goes off, get up and get dressed in workout clothes.
6:25AM: Downstairs to the home gym and run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. While on the treadmill I’ll edit my morning instagram reel, or do some scripture study in the We Believe app.
6:55AM: Quick goodbye to my oldest son and my husband. My husband takes B to his early morning church class before school, and then my husband heads to work.
7:00AM: Make sure my middle son is up and getting ready for school, and make him some breakfast while he packs his lunch.
7:15AM: Drive my son to middle school.
7:30AM: Home and back to the downstairs gym to do weight training. I use Madeline Moves app right now and she has amazing weight training programs. I do a 45 minute weight training workout.
8:15AM: Back upstairs to make my youngest breakfast. The boys usually just have some bacon and/or a protein shake, so it’s quick and easy. All my boys get up with an alarm and get themselves dressed, teeth brushed, and beds made on their own. Once he’s done with that, he packs his lunch for school and I post my morning instagram post.
8:30AM: My youngest eats breakfast, I gel his hair, get his backpack packed up if needed, and we head out the door.
8:45AM: Walk to the elementary school. The weather has been so nice, so I’ve been walking with him everyday and it’s such a great way to spend a few extra minutes with my youngest and get some fresh air.
9:00AM: Home from all the school drop offs, drink a protein shake with my creatine, a quick check of my emails and answering a few messages on Instagram.
9:30AM: Shower, hair, and makeup done. I wash my hair once a week usually, so hair sometimes goes fast with just a little dry shampoo and touching up curls, or a quick hair in a tight bun, but other days it’s a full wash/dry/straighten situation. So the time frame here changes from day to day.
10:15AM: Get dressed and simultaneously film Get Dressed With Merrick.
10:30AM: Edit and post Get Dressed with Merrick on Instagram. I do this most days to share outfit ideas for women who have lots of items in their closet but “nothing to wear,” or inspire you to get dressed at all. You can find it on my Instagram stories!
11:00AM: WORK WORK WORK
12:30PM: Lunchtime. I’ll often make a SMOOTHIE from Being Functional Nutrition. They’re a full lunch smoothie with protein, fiber, and polyphenols, so they keep me full for a long time. It’s a full meal! I love that I can prep some of the ingredients and freeze them, so they’re easy to make during a busy day. If I have a little more time, I’ll make a big salad, or sometimes I’ll do cottage cheese mixed with avocado and tomatoes and eat a Jalaepno Chomps meat stick, or sometimes I’ll do boiled eggs, or scrambled eggs with cottage cheese and tomatoes, or sometimes I’ll eat leftovers. It all just depends on the day! Sometimes I work while I eat, but I’m also trying to slow down a little and take a few minutes to eat and listen to an audiobook or do something non work related for a few minutes. I also almost always have a little piece of Hu Chocolate after my lunch. The Salty Dark Chocolate is my favorite.
12:45PM: Back to work. Usually filming, writing blog posts, editing videos, etc.
3:00PM: First kid comes home on the bus. I take a few minutes to chat with him and he has a snack.
3:20PM: Second kid comes home (he walks home from school), and we catch up on his day. Then both boys go downstairs together and do a workout, or go outside to practice basketball, or start on homework. I’ll usually go back in the office and keep working for a bit.
3:45PM: Leave to walk to pickup my youngest from school, or drive over if it’s too hot.
4:00PM: Drive or walk home from school pickup, after school snack for my youngest, and I’ll usually have a snack here too while we catch up on his day.
4:15PM: All my kids start on their after school assignments: unload the dishwasher, practice the piano, homework finished. While they do this, I wrap up my work for the day.
5:00PM: I start making dinner, and the boys have free time, or finish up the rest of their afternoon things.
5:45PM: Boys are called downstairs to set the table and get ready for dinner.
6:00PM: Philip walks in the door and we have family dinner. I share my weekly menus RIGHT HERE if you need ideas! Also if you need some help with family dinner, we sometimes go through a manner from our MODERN MANNERS book, which I cannot recommend enough. We also have a pack of cards called TABLE TALK from Manners & Co. that has such good questions to ask and answer around the dinner table and get your kids talking!
6:30PM: Dinner is done. Everyone cleans up their own dishes, and we all help clear the table and load up the dishwasher. Philip finishes cleaning the kitchen (he’s a clean freak, so he always does extra after the rest of us are done), and the heads downstairs to the basement gym to do his workout.
6:45PM: Most nights of the week we have an evening activity, like soccer practice, golf lessons, piano lessons, or church youth activities, so after dinner we head out to that. We sometimes have to push dinner earlier or later depending on the time of the activity, so this time of the day is constantly shifting. Some nights, depending on the night, the boys get a little video game time together while Philip does his workout and I edit a video or prep my night time Instagram reel or scroll mindlessly.
8:30PM: Depending on the night, and the activities of the evening, we are usually home around 8:30 and everyone showers and gets ready for bed. I like taking a shower before bed so my sheets stay cleaner and I sleep better when I’m clean, so I take a second shower for the day, and do my night time skin routine.
8:45PM: Family scripture time. We follow the COME FOLLOW ME curriculum from our church. We usually use THIS APP, which has a section for families. It gives us a scripture, a quote, and a question, and we rotate who leads the discussion.
9:00PM: Family prayer, and then I stay in the room and read aloud to the boys. We’ve been reading THIS BOOK, and I usually get through one chapter.
9:30PM: Tuck the boys in bed and head down to spend a little time with Philip and post my nighttime Instagram post.
10:15PM: Lights out and go to sleep!
Whew, those are long, full days. I’m so crazy about having a routine and a schedule so we get everything done, and it makes our lives run much more smoothly.
When do I do grocery shopping? I make a menu on Sunday, order my groceries on Walmart, and usually have them delivered on Monday
How about laundry? My husband handles all of the actual washing and drying of the laundry. He sorts, and keeps the loads moving on Friday and Saturday. Everything is done by Saturday night. Then on Sunday, he’ll usually put away our laundry after church while I’m prepping dinner or cleaning up after church. The boys are in charge of their own laundry and they’ll wash and dry throughout the weekend and then put it away on Sunday after we get home from church.
This was fun to put together! And if you have any questions, leave a comment here or over on Instagram!
Thanks so much for this! I love reading about peopLe’s schedules. our morning routine is awesome, but our after school time needs some help- lots of fighting among my three boys. I’m goIng to try your game time idea!
It does help!! Although my boys are getting more competitive as they get older, so I may switch out games for a coloring page or some kind of activity instead just to avoid unnecessary unhappiness right after school 😉
Thank you for sharing your routine. I also have a long list of chores that I am inexplicably trying to fill out forever. Only now I’m more looking for the right products on the site https://wisemamma.com/, or constantly wash the baby and the whole apartment
Can you tell us more about the intermittent fasting?
There are lots of ways to do it and there is tons of info on the internet. But basically I just eat between 11am and 7pm everyday. I have lunch (usually a big green salad with chicken and veggies) and then a snack in the afternoon (skinny pop is my go-to), and then dinner. I still have desserts on the weekend later than 7pm, but most other days I don’t eat past 7pm.
I love Reading about roUtines too. My boys start school next week and we have a loose schedule… but i’d like yo get it to be more solid. I know it would benefit our family! —Especially if we as parents went to bed earlier!
Amen! I used to be such a night owl — now I HAVE to be in bed by 10:30 or I cannot get up so early! I’m not 22 anymore 😉
I find tHis fascinating to hear as well! Our mOrnings sound similar but our afternoons are bonkers With big kid activities – piano, soccer, vioLin, choir, rock climbing.. it never ends. Do you have an idea how you will adapt as your kids get older? alSO i feel lIke eVery day i spEnd at least one hour on erranDs/other non-Home tasks – getting oil changed, grocery shopping, paying bills, oRThodontist appointments, scheduling repairs, pTa or church calling Work – who does these at your house and when? Your day souNds so nice but i find a lot of things i would think would be in there left off.
I do a lot of those errands, bills, appointments, during my work time. That’s a big chunk of my day, and I don’t like for my mom time to filled with those kinds of things (although sometimes it still happens). Church callings — I currently teach a youth sunday school class, so I’m essentially prepping every morning during my scripture study, and then sit down and thoroughly plan my lesson usually on Saturday or Sunday morning. I also just got called as a self reliance class facilitator so I’ll be doing that once a week in the evenings. We’ll just fit it in and I’ll miss bedtime routine that night. I like to schedule doctor/dentist appointments for the kids during school hours so I can pull them out and then take them back without taking up our afternoons. Grocery shopping – I do it all online from Walmart do my menu planning on Sunday, order my groceries, and then send my babysitter to pick them up on Monday when she’s here or pick them up after dropping the boys off at school.
Also remember this is just weekdays — weekends we have sports and Costco runs, and other things that I don’t fit in during the week. I’m not sure how we’ll adjust as the boys get older and we have more things on the week nights, but family dinner and family time is always top priority for us, so we’ll figure it out! Hope that helps 🙂
Hi, Curious about the laundry…how does your husband keep them from getting wrinkled While they wait to be folded?
THIS is amazing! Thank you for sharing! I’m always cuRious about how others structure their time. How do you stay motivated? How do you keep yourself on track and not get distracted on your phone or wanting to stay uP TO watch netflix? Do you schedule time to veg and just relax?
Love the scheDule share, thanks! Question about getting back into piano, im in the Same boat and would love to get back into it. Are you just playing old/new pieces or are you following a CURRICULUM or anything?
Sorry dont know why there are crazy caps up there lol
Will you share a picture about yoUr kids “shoes in the basket” – doea everyone do this on a regular basis?
Also- freezIng muffins- you Make fresh muffins and thEn freeze in One large zip lock or individual?
– love this idea as well as the burritos
ThaNks for sharing !
Thanks for sharing i love seeing other peoples routines.
CUrious if you have a cleaner or not as you dont mention Any cleaning tasks above. Apart from dishwasher and laundry.
Ive been thinking about getting help with My cleaning to free up time for working
I love “day in the life” posts like this one. It’s always interesting to hear how oTher people spend their time!
Thanks for sharing Merrick, I loVed reading through yoUr routine! How have You become, and helped Your family become so strUctured? I think its excellent and so good for kids to be on that sort of Schedule! it is hard for me to have the energy for it all, and mY kids someTimes refuse to stick to my schedule 🙂 do yoU give your kids CONSEQUENCES if they Don’t Do their ACTIVITIES, oR take toO long getting ready(for example)?
Good! Thanks for sharing! Many differences around here, different meal times in Spain. We incorporate the basketball and ballet schedules of the twin teenagers. And I find it difficult to incorporate my exercise schedule. But every day I try to do at least 30 minutes of exercise. HugS from spain!
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These are my favorite posts of yours! I come for your style advice and stay for your parenting advice. Thank you so much! Having our third child this year made it NECESSARY to have a routine. Otherwise, we go crazy! Thanks so much for the tips. Love love love them.
Hello! When did you start to implement with your kids? Do you ever have days where they refuse? What do you do ? What did you do to motivate your kids when you implemented this?
Thanks!
I just want to send kudos from one boy mom to another for being valiant and fearlessly sharing your values and real life.there are fewer and fewer of those kinds if people online- that i find anyway. You are raising outstanding young men, i can already tell.