How I Make Sure To Start and End My Day Perfect

I've recently been wanting to improve my quality of life, and how I'm making sure I'm taking care of myself. I've been wanting to have a morning and nightly routine for ever now. I tried (many) times to have a nightly routine at ECU last year. But, sometimes, (as you know) college includes many nights staying up late for different reasons, such as extra study needing to be done, your friends are doing something super fun, or if you're like me, you have lab classes that require hours of work to be done and sometimes that includes being late into the night. And I didn't even try to have a morning routine. I couldn't even barely remember to wash my face or muster up the courage (or energy) to put on real clothes for class.

So I thought since I have ample amount of time to establish a routine during the summer, I would start out now. I finally made myself a system of sorts to make sure I remember to do everything and I thought since it has started to work for me, I would share it with me, and maybe help some of y'all!

If you're like me, you're more inclined to keep to a schedule or to-do list if it's written down. I know I need to take my medicine before bed, but that doesn't help me when the cat is acting crazy and I get distracted and end up forgetting to take it. So I started out by writing down everything that I wanted to make sure I got done morning and night on a sheet in my journal. It looks like this:

That was the first step and I thought okay, I have it written down, but how am I going to cross things off? It would be insane to rewrite this list everyday, you'd have to waste so much paper. This has been my problem in the past, especially last year at school. But, I thought I would write a little key at the top and assign each day a color and just check things off. That way I can keep reusing the same page for a week or so, and when I run out of room I can rewrite it then!

 So what do I do?

Morning:
Wash Face// For some reason my face has started to break out more so I take it that I need to really start washing my face when I know I'm supposed to, no matter how tired I am in the mornings.

Brush Teeth// That's self explanatory.

Coffee// Not like I would forget or anything...

Vitamins// I was super good at remembering to take my vitamins at school, but since I've gotten back I've forgotten to take them every morning.

1 Happify Activity// Happify is an app that is great if you really want to start your day off great. It focuses on making you happy, and appreciating the things you have in life.

Skimm// I LOVE Skimm but sometimes I put it off (even though it takes about 3 minutes to read) and I end up with 5 in my inbox on Friday. I would really like to start reading it every morning to make sure I'm up to date on news!

Make Bed// I've always been really crazy about having my bed made. This started, really, when I went to school last year because the rooms are so small so if the bed is unmade, my side looked really messy.

I really should add breakfast to this list, honestly. I know breakfast is super important but I've gone 20 years of my life without eating breakfast so I've gotten into the habit of not eating it. I've started grabbing a muffin, or even making myself breakfast tacos (see Instagram) to eat while at work. I also always have a water bottle with me (super important) to make sure I'm hydrated in this 100 degree heat North Carolina decided to start having.

Night:
Wash Face

Brush Teeth

Glass of Water// I've always heard that drinking a glass of water before bed is supposed to be good for you. The past few nights I've tried it, and I've woken up with an extremely full Blatter, so be aware of that!

Read a Chapter// I used to be really good about reading before bed, but I've recently gotten out of the habit, and I would like to get back in!

Read Staying Strong Day// If you haven't heard, last Winter Demi Lovato released a book called "Staying Strong". It's divided up into days and each day you read one on the assigned day for some awesome advice and wisdom for staying strong and living a better life!

Medicine// Like I said, I seem to always forget to take my medicine.

News// Like I read Skimm in the morning to stay informed, I also like to read the news at night to stay informed. I usually read CNN, and Flipboard!

Well that's how I try to start and end my day on a good note! What do you do?