I’ve been thinking a lot about my earlier post where I shared how to “wake the house” in the morning. The antecedent of that process is putting the house to bed in the evenings.

At first it seems simple, just undo everything from the morning list:

• close the curtains
• put the puppy in his crate for the night
• change into pajamas

But there are some other habits which I think fit well into this evening house shutdown.

The first, most practical, step is to clean up any disasters or messes that have occurred during the day. Recently I had a new mattress delivered and let the cats play in the box it came in for awhile. But then it needed to go out, not just to the porch or backyard but alllll the way to the dumpster.

Perhaps your kids brought home a backpack full of paper from school and now it’s all over the table. Try to get it under control by the end of the day. This works for big, obvious messes because (to me) the more they stick around, the more likely they are to become normalized and part of the house landscape.

The second, and more tedious step, is to clean up the regular messes. This can be turned into a game if you think of the dirty clothes going “home” to the hamper, the clean dishes getting tucked away safely into the cabinets and turning off all the lights and lamps for the night.

Obviously, we can’t all spend hours every night getting our homes looking perfect, that’s not the goal. The goal is to reset the space as much as possible to make the morning easier.

Then, as I put the house to bed, I try to do one thing, specifically, to make morning a little easier. Here are some options:

• Set the coffee maker or simply put a favorite mug out, ready for tea
• Wash and dry the egg pan I’ll use for breakfast
• Set up clothes for tomorrow so I can get dressed faster
• Pack my bag/purse if I’m leaving first thing in the morning
• Refill the dog and cat water dishes and prep their food
• Take out the trash and reline the trash can
• Charge all of my devices (cell phone, iPad, ear buds)
• Clear off my desk and set it up for a productive work week

To be clear, I don’t do all of these things every day or even every week, but when I have a bit of energy at the end of the day, it’s an easy list to follow.

If you don’t have a lot of energy or you’re looking for some easy things to do before bed, I would suggest picking up and putting away 50 items. Time yourself and see how long it takes, you might be surprised!

The final steps to putting the house to bed are simple, lock the doors, close curtains and windows and turn off lights. Again, this can be done with such gratitude. I’m grateful for these curtains (even if the cat tried to climb them) which give me privacy. Thank you living room for being a comfortable place to relax. Good-night kitchen (and the ugly floor tiles) thank you for helping me feed my family today.

Gratitude doesn’t mean things are perfect, it’s acknowledging the blessings instead of focusing on the negatives. Doing this every night can really shift your perspective