The Most Important 15 Minutes of My Day

You are probably expecting me to talk about prayer and Bible reading. Truly that is the most valuable minutes of the day. Without those activities, all other endeavors of my day fall flat.

But I'm thinking specifically of homemaking and organizing my time.

The most important minutes of my day are the 15 minutes at the end of my day. Wise use of those 15 minutes will avoid stress for the next day.

I utilize those 15 minutes in various ways.  Often I look over tomorrow's menu (or make a menu) and get needed items from the freezer to defrost. Maybe I'll sort laundry and start a load. If I have errands the next day, I can prepare my shopping list, pack my diaper bag, and gather items that need returned. Sometimes I even take items to the van, if I fear the morning rush will cause my mind to be left behind.

Spending a few minutes in the quiet of the evening preparing for the next day, results in fewer 5:00 dinner panics over a frozen chunk of meat. It means having the option of utilizing my slow cooker. It means fewer items forgotten or misplaced. It means getting an early start at hanging out laundry.

I'm not a morning person. Though I love how rising early can help me accomplish so much more in my day, often my brain takes a while to turn on. If laundry is prepped, meals begun, errands planned - I can jump into autopilot and "do the next thing" without analyzing what it is that I should be doing.

But as one who could be described as a night person, I also need to carefully keep a time limit. Every mom knows that the work is never ending and we could easily find work every night until midnight. But tired moms don't function well, and I am learning to value a decent bedtime. The work will still be there tomorrow

If we are home, we are rather strict on a 9:00 bedtime for our children. As anyone with many young active children understands, it isn't easy to carve out couple time when the children are awake. My goal is to spend a few minutes preparing for the next day, but then put away the cookbooks, turn off the computer, shut the door to the laundry, and focus on my husband.

Taking the time to deliberately consider what I can do each evening to bless the next day has been a valuable use of time in our home. I'd love to learn from you. What ways do you maximize your minutes to bless your family?