Homemaking Motivation // Getting Ready For the Next Shift
Today I’m sharing a super effective homemaking tip! It might sound a bit quirky, but I love this one so much.
If you feel like you’re struggling with motivation in your homemaking throughout the day, give this strategy a try! Once you implement it, I think you’ll find your home running more smoothly! I hope this is encouraging and useful for you.
**Note: click HERE or scroll down to the bottom of this post if you’d prefer to watch this tip in video format!**

Today we’re talking about getting ready for the “next shift.” I type this phrase with quotation marks because I think it’s rather funny, and I’ll explain more, but hopefully it resonates with you as a homemaker!
If you’ve ever worked at a job where you had to work a certain number of hours and then close up the shop, for example, before you left for the night…this is what I’m referring to when I say “getting ready for the next shift!”
You probably had a lot of tasks that had to be completed – maybe even a physical list of things that had to be done, and be done in a certain order, to ensure that the store was ready for the employees who came in for the opening shift the next morning.
This kind of list was hugely important. I know this because when I worked at an ice cream shop as a teenager, I remember one evening shift I worked where someone (thankfully, not me) didn’t check the freezer display and it had been turned off! And all of the ice cream and ice cream cakes melted in that display, which was a big deal. So, when people are not checking and triple-checking their list before they close up for the next shift, it can cause big problems, frustration, hassle, or just plain mess for the next shift.
And then if you’ve ever worked the morning shift somewhere – if you were the first one there in the morning – you hoped that the people who closed up the night before had done a good job so that everything was fresh, things were laid out, and you were ready to open up the shop.
If you had worked the night shift, then you had finished working, and probably went home and went to bed. If you had worked the morning shift, then you probably had your afternoon a little more open when you finished working.
This tip relates to motherhood because we often have a list of tasks – if not a physical list, then a mental list or habit – of things we want to do before we go to bed, to make sure the house is all tidied up at the end of the day. I often refer to that as “tucking the house in” or “putting the house to bed” for the night.
We often have those tasks we like to do because then we know we’re all set up for success the next morning. And then, for instance, after breakfast the next morning, there are habits we have that make us feel like we’re all ready to move on to the afternoon portion of the day.
The hilarious – or quirky – aspect of this tip is the fact that you, as the mom, are both the evening shift AND the morning shift! 🙂 I think it’s so funny but it works for me as a mental picture and hopefully it helps you to think about it, too.
Basically, as the mom, we work ALL the shifts. But I still like to think about myself as getting ready for the next shift, because it blesses Future Hannah! If Past Hannah put the kitchen to bed in a sparkly clean way (dishes are done, counters and table are wiped down, floors swept, I checked under the high chair…), then Morning Hannah can come downstairs the next morning and be very pleased with Past Hannah from the night shift! 🙂
Note: this isn’t about berating yourself for making mistakes or not cleaning up perfectly and things like that…you just want to make your day go as smoothly as possible! So you want to bless your future self by making sure you follow all the little routines to end each shift well!
How I Divide My Day Into Shifts
For me, the morning shift begins when I wake up. It includes breakfast time, homeschooling time, all the way through lunch. It also includes all the tidying up after lunch (dishwasher going and all) – I want to have everything neat and clean after we eat so we can move smoothly towards our afternoon shift!
Our afternoon shift starts with Quiet Time (a 2-hour quiet time for the two oldest children, and a 2-hour nap for our youngest). The afternoon shift kind of bleeds into the evening shift. But I love knowing that I’ve gotten everything nice and tidy, so I can have a restful and productive quiet time instead of running around and cleaning. That helps a ton! Then we make sure to tidy up as a family after suppertime and before the kids go to bed. Before I go to bed, I make sure I’ve done everything on my mental “putting the house to bed” list so that Future Hannah, who works the next morning’s opening shift, can be very thankful to Past Hannah. 🙂
I know it’s funny, but I love thinking about the next shift and always leaving the place ready for the next shift, just as you would if you were working at an actual store!
Action Step
A great action step to put this strategy into practice: sit down and quickly brainstorm a short list of items that your “morning shift self” would really appreciate seeing when you come downstairs in the morning!
Maybe it really matters to you not to have dirty dishes in the sink when you wake up in the morning. Perhaps having a few toys out in the living room in the mornings doesn’t bother you much, but you really want the couch or reading chair all ready and set up for you to do your morning Bible study time. Or maybe supplies for your coffee routine need to be set out in the morning (even programming coffee to start brewing at a certain time if you have that kind of coffee maker!). Maybe you shower in the mornings and you like to have that streamlined, like your clothing and towel set out. Some homeschool moms like to set out all the curriculum and lesson supplies needed for school the next morning. Or maybe you like to wake up all together as a family and you just want things streamlined for a fun family breakfast time together! As you can see, there are many ways to brainstorm a short list of things that would bless your “morning shift self,” and your “evening shift self” as well!
For me, I like to have the laundry completely done at the end of the day. I’m in a routine where I do at least a load of laundry every day. I make sure that’s flipped over to the dryer before I go to bed myself. I also like to make sure the dishwasher is going so that we have no dirty dishes to deal with first thing in the morning.
Have you heard of this approach before? I love it so much. It affects so much of my everyday routines and rhythms! I’d love to hear how it works for you!
If you’re interested in hearing more tips and strategies, then be sure to watch my free webinar linked below – it’s all about productivity secrets for moms of young children.
You can also join the waitlist for The Present Mama Playbook, my online homemaking and motherhood course!