2025 Morning Routine of a Working Mom

Out of all the routines I’ve incorporated into my life, my morning routine is by far, the most important.

Before I had kids, I would wake up early to work out and have some time to myself before heading to work.

When I became a new mom, it was a struggle to have a consistent morning routine when my son didn’t sleep through the night, or would wake up for the day way earlier then I was ready for.

But I always tried to have some consistency, no matter how small, with my mornings.

For example, when my son was a newborn, he would wake me up for his morning feeding. After I was done feeding him, I would put him back in his bassinet then get up and go out to the kitchen. I’d make myself coffee, clean the bottles, and prepare for the next feeding. Completing these few tasks helped me feel productive and ready to tackle the day.

For the most part, that was the extent of my morning routine in that stage of life. Life was unpredictable with a newborn, but I tried to incorporate small routines as much as possible.

As time went on, my morning routine has become much more elaborate. Which makes sense because my kids are older (12 and 9). They sleep through the night, and often times I have to wake them up to get ready for the day, versus when they were young and they would wake me up.

In today’s post, I’m going to share with you my current morning routine. I’ve shared my morning routine in past years, but now I have two kids heading out the door for school at different times, and I’m working (both in and outside the house).

Benefits of a Morning Routine

Before I share my morning routine, let me walk you through the importance of a morning routine.

I was serious when I said this is the most important routine of my day. My morning routine is a huge part of my self-care plan, and it supports my mental health. When I start to fall out of my routine, I start feeling less motivated, lethargic and just plain “blah”.

Research has shown that having a morning routine has the following benefits:

• Starts your day with calm and peace affects your productivity and relationships for the rest of the day.
• You will feel a sense of purpose and empowerment. Instead of feeling overwhelmed with what to do the first moments of your day, you’ll start the day feeling in control and organized with your time.
• You can do something for yourself before the day is overrun with family commitments. I complete most of my healthy habits during my morning routine. Check out Mom Morning Routine that Incorporates Self-Care for all the habits I complete during my morning routine.
• It’s easier to handle the family chaos  that can ensue when you are prepared for your day. If you wake-up even 10 minutes before your kids, you’ll feel much more prepared to manage their early morning demands.
• You can sleep better knowing that you have a plan for the morning.

If you are struggling to create a morning routine, check out 8 Tips to Create a Morning Routine as a Mom and The Beginners Guide to Family Routines.

My Morning Routine

4:00 am – Alarm Goes Off

I’ve come to learn that I’m not someone who can immediately jump out of bed.  I usually end up hitting the snooze button, but my goal for 2025 is to wake up by 4:20 am 85% (311 days) out of the year. You can learn more about my goal setting process and goals for 2025 in this blog post. With this goal in mind, I’m more motivated for my feet to hit the floor by 4:20am.

I grab my workout clothes (which are laid out next to my bed), and head into the bathroom to put them on, then I head downstairs.

I grab my ½ gallon of water (that I fill up the night before), and drink about 16 oz. Then I grab my airpods and whatever else I need for my workout.

4:30 am – Workout

I head into the basement and get my workout in. My workouts are repetitive based on the day so I don’t have to put much thought into what I’ll do, which means I don’t have to make any decisions about my workout. I credit this with helping me stick to a consistent workout routine. Check out How to Create a Fitness Routine You’ll Love {and will stick to it}.

My workouts are around 20-30 minutes long.

5:00 am – Coffee + Shower

There’s nothing like the feeling of accomplishing my workout, then heading up stairs to make coffee. I feel proud of myself and excited for my coffee, it’s the little things!

I grab my mug of coffee and then head upstairs to take a shower. Once I take my shower, I go through my morning skincare routine and put on my “after shower clothes” which consists of old warm-up pants, a t-shirt, and a zip-up sweatshirt. I wear this same outfit everyday after I shower.

I also make my bed before heading downstairs.

5:30 am – Morning Journaling Routine

After I’m showered and dressed, I head downstairs and start my journaling routine. You can find out more about this routine in How to Start a Morning Journaling Routine as a Busy Mom.

I take about a half hour and go through the following items:

• Review my House Planner – to get an idea of what cleaning chores I need to do.
• Mark off Habit + Exercise Trackers – I go through and document my workout, and mark off habits I completed the previous day and in the morning.
• Read Daily Affirmations – I have 3 notes in my Notes App that I read through every morning. One is my “Ideal Parenting Vision”, the next one is “Daily Affirmations” that I created for myself, and the last one is “Money Manifestations”.
• Future Focus – I spend a few minutes journaling about my goals.
• Basic Journaling – I spend 10 minutes journaling about anything that I’m currently going through or working on.
• Read Non-Fiction – If I have some time, I read. Usually this is a non-fiction book.

 6:00 am – Wake Up Older Son

I wake up my middle schooler and make him breakfast.

At this point, I leave my phone in the kitchen for the remainder of the morning. I am much more focused when I don’t have it with me while I’m getting ready for the day.

You can check out my son’s morning routine here.

6:15 am – Cleaning Chore or Get Ready

If I wash my hair while showering, this is the time that I blow it dry, do my makeup and get dressed for the day.

If I don’t need to dry my hair, I take this time to do a little bit of cleaning. I look to my Home Planner to see what cleaning chore to tackle. If I have extra time, I’ll reconcile our budget, something I try to do on a daily basis. Read more about my budgeting routine here!

As part of my laundry routine, I start a load of laundry.

6:45 am – Wake-Up Younger Son

I wake my younger son and make him breakfast.

My older son is finishing up with his morning routine and getting ready for the bus. He’s pretty much on his own now that he’s 12.

After my younger son’s breakfast is made, I fill his water bottle and make his lunch for school.

 7:00 am – Cleaning Chore or Get Ready

If I spent the time getting ready earlier, I spend this time cleaning and preparing for the day.

If I didn’t have time earlier to finish getting ready, I’ll do so during this time.

7:45 am – Walk

My son gets ready for the bus and we both go outside and take a short walk around the block. I started this habit a few years ago. I wanted to take a walk outside in my day, and I thought it would be good for the kids since they spend a lot of time sitting in school.

One of my goals for this year is to take a 5-10 minute walk every day and take a picture to document the walk. Already having this short walk in my morning routine makes meeting the goal easier.

8:00 am – School Bus Arrives

My younger son gets on the bus and I head back home.

If I’m working outside the home, I head to work at this point.

If I’m working from home, I switch over the laundry, make myself a cup of coffee and head into my office to start work.

I consider this the end of my morning routine.

Personal Benefits of My Morning Routine

Now that I’ve been following a morning routine consistently for over 5 years, it’s easy for me to see how much better my life is when I stick to this routine.

Here are some benefits I found from following my morning routine consistently:

• I start the day off with small wins under my belt. Working out, showering, getting ready for the day, cleaning, starting laundry, going for a walk…these all feel like wins. Collecting all these little wins so early in the morning gives me confidence to tackle the day.
• I’ve gained more confidence and trust in myself. Every time I stick to my intentions of waking up early and going through my morning routine, I increase my self-trust. 
• I make the time to focus on the things that matter to me. I complete a lot of my self-care habits during my morning routine. Without taking the time to write or exercise first thing in the morning, it wouldn’t get done. Creating space for these two tasks eliminates the need for me to stress when I will do them.
• I eliminate decision fatigue in the morning. Knowing exactly what I’m going to do for the first few hours of the day eliminates the need to spend precious mental energy making choices about my time.
• I am ready to face the day by 8 am.  I’m showered and ready to handle what the day brings me.
• I feel like I’m in control of my day. Waking up before my kids helps me feel in control of my day and this trickles down into more patience and focus with my kids.

What Will Your Morning Routine Look Like?

I absolutely love my morning routine, and I know it plays a huge part in my health on all levels (emotional, physical, and mental).

Not only does it support my health, but I’m so much more productive and enjoy the day more because of the routine I put in place.

Now that you’ve seen my morning routine, and have some tips for how to create your own, what will your morning routine look like? If you have a morning routine you enjoy, share it in the comments below.

Looking for more Morning Routine inspiration? Check out these posts:

• The Best Products for Your Morning Routine
• The Morning Routine of 14 Moms
• The Morning Routine That Makes Me a Better Mom

**Before you leave, grab the Morning Routine Checklists to help you create and stick to a morning routine that you love, for FREE.  You’ll find it here.**