I first heard Ashley on The Mom Hour and instantly knew I wanted to have her on BLP!
Ashley Brown is a mother, nurse educator, and (from her website) — “self-proclaimed routine queen!”. I love this so much, as I don’t think routines get enough attention and Ashley shines the light on them that I believe they deserve!
In the episode, we discuss how she got started with her own routines, a bit about the story of the business, and she shares some of her own routines around planning and staying organized.
Shown below are her Daily Routine notepads & Menu Planning pad (both can be found here). I ordered these before our interview (had to try out the goods!) and found them both to be lovely.
VERY pretty and calming colors, lots of room to write, and crisp bright-white paper that was not smudge-prone (yay). Annabel actually has enjoyed filling out the daily pad on occasion!
The daily pad in particular would be perfect for someone who wants to daily plan on occasion but not frequently enough to warrant a separate daily planner.
Currently, Ashley is also partnering with She Rises, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help young mothers navigate motherhood. She is looking for volunteers to purchase her Mother’s Day Self Care kit (she has set a goal of 50!) for donation to this organization. 10% of proceeds would be donated as well.
So if you’d like to support Ashley AND She Rises, you can use the following link to purchase a kit for donation: https://routineandthings.com/discount/sponsor
I just donated one! (Seemed like a great way to thank Ashley and get the morning started on a happy note.)
Episode Sponsor:
WarmnFuzzy yarn! Okay yes, the owner of this North Carolina-based shop is my sister. But if you’ve been looking for a small business retailer of hand-dyed yarns, look no further. She also has subscription boxes now!
10 Comments
maybe Ashley can help me… I *wish* so hard I could stick to a routine… I’ve tried so hard, and enjoy the stability they bring, but I’m just the opposite of a routine oriented person – it just doesn’t come naturally for me at all!!!! The addition of aromatherapy – as you were excited about – has *definitely* helped establish the kids bedtime routine tho!!! I truly and deeply believe that scents do help anchor transitions and set the scene or punctuate a specific “area” of time. My lavender candles from https://waxandoils.com/ are still a mainstay for bringing peace to our nightly wind down! even if the other steps get mixed up or skipped, at least scent is a pretty easy constant to use as a trigger 🙂 Anyway these candles are the best! and wax and oils has discounts for first time buyers etc!! which reminds me, i need to restock!
I love the simplicity of Ashley’s planning routine with the use of the 3 D’s of Dump, Decide, and Do. Easy to remember and not intimidating
I also liked the 3 Ds. I also liked the reminder to be thankful for what is requiring you to have a routine. Like having a house to clean, having children who require a lot of routines. I’m in that really demanding infant/toddler stage of life and sometimes I can get a little (or a lot) cranky about things we need to do but it’s good to remember I’m lucky to have 2 healthy kids that generate all the work/routines! I also like how she pairs things. I try to pair a podcast or tv show with things like laundry and meal prep – makes the time way more enjoyable!
This was a lovely interview. And I do love a planner pad, although it is surprisingly hard to find a good weekly. I want to be able to divide tasks into categories or quadrants rather than hourly. I used to have one from knockknock that was perfect, errands, contacts, projects etc.
Really enjoyed this episode, thank you! I could have listened to her for another hour!
Her idea of ‘dumping’ before planning is a great reminder for me. I just bought a new journal just for ‘dumping’ purposes. It feels amazing to get it all out of my head and on to paper. It also then provides me with a clear picture of items that can be planned into the month or saved for later.
You CAN listen for hours 🙂 check out her podcast!!
I was so excited to see this! I stumbled across an episode of her podcast last summer and loved it. I was streaming it online, not through the apple podcast app, and I lost track of it. So glad to find her again!!! I placed a couple of orders (one for me and one for donation kits), and I can’t wait to try out her stuff! And I feel like that’s saying a lot because I’m never interested in trying products just for the sake of trying products.
This was a really great interview!! Her content is really functional and I appreciate that. It seems like a lot of planning IG content is beautiful but a little unrelatable to my life!
YES I totally agree!! Planning is fun but in the end I love it b/c it makes the rest of life better. I think Ashley’s philosophies reflect that rather than planning for the sake of a craft or planning itself.
This was a great episode! Ashley was chock full of solid tips. I loved what she said about planning routines, and how it doesnt help if you just write out a long to do list. I liked her brain dump and then prioritize suggestion. I’m going to check out her products too. All in all a great episode, I may relisten and take notes 🙂