About a few weeks ago, I created and began implementing a new daily routine. I had just completed my third annual whole-house declutter, which helped me to reset during a challenging season of job loss. Then, with our home freshly simplified, I re-evaluated my daily routines, drawing inspiration from the thoughtful rhythms of the Victorian era, as detailed in How to be a Victorian: A Dawn to Dusk Guide by Ruth Goodman. I used the basic structure of Victorian daily life and adapted it to fit modernity and my slow, simple lifestyle as a homemaker, homeschooling mother of three, and YouTube content creator. I’m still adjusting to it, making few, diminutive modifications along the way; but, I think I’m maintaining the gist of it overall and am really enjoying it so far.
Because my new morning routine is more comprehensive than my afternoon and evening routines, I’ve decided to share my new routines in two parts. Today, I will be sharing my morning routine; next week, I will share my afternoon and evening routines, if the good Lord wills.
Here’s the basic structure of a typical Victorian morning routine, which I have adopted as my own:
Getting Up | 4:00 AM
My day begins quietly at 4:00 AM, while it’s still dark outside. I wouldn’t call myself a “morning person” nor a “night owl,” but I learned many years ago that there’s value in rising before my family—especially my children—and going to bed early enough for adequate sleep. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Though there are different forms of health, wealth, and wisdom, I’ve found this to be true in my own life.
The first thing I do is walk downstairs to prepare my coffee. I add coffee to my French press and fill my water kettle the night before, so all I need to do is boil the water, which takes about four minutes.
While I wait, I turn on my computer and start planning my day in Notion. When I hear the kettle click off, I pour the boiled water into my French press, continue planning my day, and pour my first cup of coffee after it’s been steeping for about 10 minutes. I like my coffee strong.
Morning Ablutions | 4:30 AM
By 4:30 AM, I start my morning ablutions:
- Remove any leftover eye maquillage from the day before, which never seems to fully wash away during my evening showers (because I am usually too apathetically exhausted afterward to remove it entirely before collapsing into bed).
- Apply toner to my face and neck.
- Apply moisturizer to my face and neck.
- Apply deodorant to my armpits.
- Brush my teeth.
- Get dressed.
- Brush, and sometimes style, my hair. If I’m going to style my hair, it’s usually a simple “flip-tail.”
- Apply cosmetics.
- Clean my eye glasses, which never seem to stay clean for long.
- If I’m in the mood to wear perfume and/or jewelry, I put those on last.
Exercise Routine | c. 5:00 AM
By about 5:00 AM, I start my very simple exercise routine. Victorians valued physical exercise, often walking outside first thing in the morning after getting up and ready. I spend 10 minutes gently waking up my body, preparing for the day ahead. I set a timer and begin my exercise routine:
- 15 sets of 10 Kegels
- 5-minute full-body stretch, which consists of 14 stretches held for 20 seconds each.
- The last two to three minutes are dedicated to aerobics and/or calisthenics—usually the rowing machine. Because the fabric tends to get caught in the rowing machine if I’m wearing a longer dress, I skip the rowing machine and do jumping jacks or jump rope, or sometimes lift light weights, instead.
Breakfast Preparations (and a Light Kitchen Tidy) | c. 5:10 AM
Next, it’s time to prepare a simple breakfast for my children and me. Lately, I’ve been making scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, and/or toast or oatmeal; but, a lot of times it’s leftovers from dinner the night before.
I’m not usually hungry until later, so I’ll usually eat and take my multivitamins after I’ve whetted my appetite whilst completing my morning cleaning routine. My children don’t typically start waking up until around 6:00/7:00 AM, so I put breakfast in the refrigerator so it’s ready for us to heat and eat later.
While I’m cooking, I unload the dishwasher and clear the countertops, reloading the dishwasher with dirty dishes in the process.
After breakfast is ready and the kitchen is in order, I feed and water Bear, our 16-month old German Shepherd.
The Main Business of My Day Begins | c. 6:00 AM
Time with God
The main business of my day begins with the most important part—Scripture reading and praying. I usually read a Scripture-based devotional or listen to Scripture on the Bible Gateway app; but, lately (since September 9th), I’ve been reading God Loves You – He Always Has, He Always Will by Dr. David Jeremiah, which is full of Scripture… and I’ve really been needing the reminder [that God loves me] lately.
Afterward, I spend about an hour in prayer, using the Lord’s Prayer as my guide. I often start seated in my home office and end pacing around downstairs. That might seem odd, but I’m easily distracted and I can’t sit still for too long, but I find that moving around helps me to focus.
Release the Bear!
At first light, which is getting later now that we’re in the cozy autumn season, I let Bear outside—unless he’s whining to go out earlier, of course. I let him out several times throughout the day, often playing ball or exploring the backyard together. There’s always some new, wondrous sight to behold outside.
Morning Cleaning Routine
As in the Victorian era, tending to the home daily brings order and calm, and I am passionate about homemaking! My morning cleaning routine begins with an Upstairs Reset, working from the back of the second floor to the front (after starting the laundry):
- Fold/hang and put away yesterday’s laundry load from the dryer, and start a new load in the washer.
- Tidy the loft and hallway. I just focus on clearing the floors. My children homeschool in the loft, and it can get quite messy in there and spread into the hallway.
- Tidy my children’s bathroom, focusing on clearing the floor and vanity countertop.
- Tidy our master suite.
- Tidy our master bathroom. Like in my children’s bathroom, I focus on clearing the floor and vanity countertop, putting everything away nicely.
- Tidy our master closet. I just clear the floor in there, too, and take any empty hangers to the laundry room.
- Make our bed and tidy our room, clearing surfaces (e.g. nightstands) and floor.
After the upstairs is reset, starting where I’m at in the master bedroom, I go through the house, upstairs and downstairs, to:
- Open blinds, primarily in rooms with plants.
- Adjust the thermostats to a more economical temperature after freezing through the night for my husband. We have one thermostat upstairs and one downstairs.
- Turn off any unused lights.
- Clear the banister on my way downstairs. (As I’m tidying throughout the day, I just place things that need to go downstairs on the edge of the banister and things that need to go upstairs on the bottom few steps.)
After that, it’s time to zone clean until 9 AM, anywhere from 15 minutes to less than an hour, depending on how long everything else before takes me and what else I have planned for the day.
Popularized by Marla Cilley, who is also known as “the Flylady,” zone cleaning is a method of cleaning where you separate your house into five different zones. Traditionally, you declutter and deep-clean one zone for 15 minutes a day for one week. It’s a highly adaptable method, and I’ve easily tailored it to suit my lifestyle. In addition to decluttering and cleaning, my version of zone cleaning can also include organizing and even decorating.
I had actually paused zone cleaning for the past five months while decluttering my house. Earlier this year, I realized that the comprehensive way that I had been zone cleaning over the past several years had become an unhealthy obsession. So, I had to step back and figure out how to keep a tidy home without burning out. Now that the main decluttering of our house is done for the year, I’ve re-incorporated zone cleaning with a much healthier, palled mindset – I know how to keep it simple and when to stop now.
Dry Laundry & YouTube | 9:00 AM
When my 9 o’clock alarm goes off, I stop zone cleaning and head to the laundry room to throw the freshly washed load into the dryer. I also make sure the children have finished their simple morning ablutions and started school for the day.
Next, I focus on my YouTube channel and this blog until noon – which is tea time for me and luncheon for my children – with a quick break around 11 AM to call my husband during his lunch break.
My channel is my creative outlet and my way of sharing my slow and simple lifestyle with you all. I enjoy the balance between homemaking and content creation, and I find so much happiness in creating for, connecting with, and growing this community.
Conclusion
That concludes my new morning routine. These small, grounding rituals help me connect with a slower time and remind me to appreciate the beauty in intentionality and simplicity. Please stay tuned for part two of my new, Victorian-inspired daily routine next Friday, in which I’ll take you through the less busy rhythms of my afternoons and evenings!
Simply Amber Marie 