The Daily At-Home Routine | Quarantine Edition

A routine is defined as a sequence of actions that are followed regularly and as a to-do list orientated person, I thrive when I have a routine to follow. Over the last few months, I have had to develop a ‘new’ daily at-home routine as the self-quarantine stretches on. I have found having a routine, allows me to make room for the things that are truly important. Having a solid routine is also good for your mental health, helping you nurture habits that can help to relieve stress or anxiety.

Over the last few weeks, I have been working from home, something I have done for years but still presents certain challenges. The challenges of working from home are that it becomes boring and uninteresting pretty quickly and without a routine, it gets challenging fast. Due to the lockdown, I have found that my daily routine has been thrown into disarray and I decided to formulate a new daily at-home routine that fits into the current situation. As an early riser naturally, I have had to adopt certain practices that have allowed me to power through the quarantine without going mad.

The Daily At-Home Routine

It is often said that successful people have routines, that doesn’t surprise me at all, to be successful, you have to be determined and perform certain tasks regularly. At the moment, we are all feeling the effects of the quarantine and most of us, it’s starting to take its toll on our mental health. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to share my new and updated daily at-home routine that I am currently following to stay sane.

As an early riser, I have found staying at home all day, stuck in doors working to be quite challenging since lockdown. I am not someone who enjoys going for a run but I will happily sit in the garden with a good book. We are all different but I think how we manage the day is keep to having a successful day overall. Since I starting following the updated daily at-home routine, I feel much more in control of my surroundings.

Early Riser: 5.30 – 7.30

As an early riser, I am often up between 5.30 and 7.30 am and during this time you can find me in my home debating whether to brush my teeth first or do the bed first. I always find doing the bed before I leave my room to face the day feels like an accomplishment – the first of the day and it sets the day.

• Wake up
• Make the bed
• Brush your teeth
• Shower and get ready

Breakfast Time: 7.30 – 8.00

Because I am an early riser, it means I often have my breakfast pretty early too especially now that I am working from home full time. During my ‘normal routine’ I often eat breakfast at the office between 9 and 10 am so this has been an adjustment for me.

• Make breakfast
• Eat breakfast
• Relax and digest

Start the Day: 8.00 – 12.00

Like most people, my work day starts pretty early because I often want to catch up on e-mails or plan my work-day if I hadn’t done so the night before. Because we are in lockdown, between catching up on e-mails, there are other ‘home’ activities that I often want to do at the same time too.

• Work from home?
• Run errands?
• Do a load of laundry?
• Clean the house (weekends only)?
• Drink water – on my to-do list because I often forget to stay hydrated when I am home.
• Have a morning snack

Mid-day crunch: 12.00 – 15.00

Lunch time is often my favourite time of the day as I am often excited to prepare my lunch and being stuck at home I have been experimenting a lot. What I don’t often look forward to eating at my desk when I am stuck in meetings but nonetheless preparing my favourite foods is always fun.

• Make lunch
• Have lunch
• Rest or take a nap – if I can’t nap I often take a walk around my home or sit in my garden.

Snack Time: 15.00 – 18.00

This is another time of the day that I very much look forward to, as a snacker I am always thinking about what snacks I can have throughout the day. I try and stick to have snacks around this time but before dinner. I am one of those people who is addicted to sugar so often I am trying to find snacks that have either natural sugars or are sugar-free.

• Enjoy a snack
• Finish work
• Start prepping dinner
• Do some crafts or watch a movie

Dinner Time: 18.00 – 20.00

When it comes to dinner, I try and have dinner before 7 so I don’t eat too late and mess up my routine. Though I prefer to exercise in the morning, exercising at night often helps with my insomnia and I enjoy a good night sleep.

• Exercise?
• Make dinner
• Eat dinner
• Clean the kitchen
• Prep bedtime routine – this changes with every season but similar in the ‘remove makeup, shower, no phones after 9 pm‘.

Sleep Time: 20.00

This time may be too early for some but having a fixed time when you go to bed is very good for maintaining a routine. I go to bed early and get up early, but I am also someone who can sleep at mid-night and still wake up at 5.30 am, this is my natural-born clock wakeup time.

• Plan for tomorrow – it is always good practice to plan the day ahead.
• Sleep

As a to-do list orientated person, I find myself functioning better when I have ticked off items from my list but also I feel proud when I am able to follow a plan or routine through. The new and updated daily at-home routine is something I am glad I am sticking to as being stuck indoors all day can have an effect on your overall wellbeing.

Do you have an at-home daily routine that you follow? Has anything changed due to the lockdown?