How long does it take for you to get ready in the morning? Have you found any time-saving secrets?

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2000

Answers

one half hour start to finish, it is because of my natural beauty and grace of course of course. Actually most of that time is spent running from the bathroom to the mirror in the bedroom while walking, leaping and jumping over three cats that MUST be under my feet at all times. I'm only kidding about the beauty and grace- I have none of either of them.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2000

My morning routine is almost non-existant. I take less time to get ready than most of the guys I know. And my former roommate, who I won't mention or she'll get pissed cause I'm still complaining about how long it takes her to get ready.

Sometimes I'll take my shower at night. That means it will take me six minutes or less to get ready the next morning. If I require an AM shower, add another six minutes. Towel off, dress, brush hair, put it in ponytail. Shoes, keys, gone. If it's an important day, add two more minutes for makeup. No breakfast, ever, since the only thing I like better than eating is sleeping.

I set my alarm to go off 90 minutes before I even consider getting up. I am a heavy sleeper, and it takes me a while to re-orient myself with the waking world. The aforementioned (unmentioned) roommate used to come wake me up after my alarm had been ringing for 30 minutes or more. I guess the earplugs didn't help, either. My snooze button and I are special friends.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2000

Morning routine:

6:00-- Alarm goes off.

6:45-- Get up.

6:46-- Trip over cat.

6:47-6:50-- None of your business.

6:51-7:00-- Shower. Wake up. In that order.

7:01-7:05-- Dry off, continue waking up.

7:05-7:10-- Get dressed. Listen to radio. Play with cat.

7:10-7:30-- Poke contact lenses in. Brush teeth. Take pill. Moisturize. Brush hair. Brush hair again, because it's being evil. Try and style hair. Give up, and put it in a clip. Apply makeup. Continue waking up.

7:30-7:45-- Water plants. Feed fish. Feed cat. Get lunch ready. Put on coat and shoes. Create a diversion and try to leave house.

7:45-- Cat appears out of nowhere, ready for an abmush. Meows and runs in circles in front of the door. Try to push cat out of the way in an attempt to leave. Attempt unsuccessful. Cat escapes into the hallway despite all efforts to the contrary. Catch cat, toss her back inside (gently). Tell her that I'll be back soon. Close door before she can get away again. Lock door (this is important). Leave. Walk to bus stop. Try not to feel guilty for leaving cat alone all day. Contemplate getting a kitten.

7:50-- Catch bus. Begin a new day at work.

So, of that hour, only part of that is actual getting ready time. Wendy's overreacting (she does that a lot). It was a lot worse when I had to blow-dry my hair. I gave up on that a long time ago, because it's a waste of time. I leave the house with wet hair. It's short enough that I don't have to worry about it.

Oh, and Wendy's alarm? It once went off for 45 minutes.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2000

I get up and work out in the morning, because then I don't have to feel guilty if I don't feel like working out at night. Working out in the morning has made it a lot easier to get up, too.

I set my alarm for 6, but sometimes I wake up before that. Exercise from 6-6:45. Then I take a shower or bath, get dressed, dry hair, eat something, brush teeth, put on makeup. None of that stuff takes very long. What takes time is petting the cats, putting away last night's load of dishes, watering plants, and generally psyching myself up to leave the house. I get to work by 8:15 or 8:30.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2000

In the movie Married to the Mob there's a scene where Matthew Modine, playing the detective, gets up. The alarm rings, he stretches and yawns, then pushes his arms into the sleeves of his coat and shirt, hanging over his head already buttoned, wriggles this assembly over his head, pulls on his pants which are lying ready at the foot of the bed, and somehow one of these actions triggers the dispensing of catfood into the cat dish, and he's out the door. It's a whole connected Rube Goldberg contraption, you've gotta see it.

I need me one of those. I always sleep till the last minute. I can do the six-minute thing described above if I had my shower the night before and my clothes laid out, otherwise it's at least 45 minutes because I need a cup of tea before I can distinguish one garment from another. I would brush my teeth on the bus if I could.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2000

Here's my morning edge: suburban race car driving. It's not safe but by god my boyfriend got me to the train in record time today.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2000

hrm..well, I don't get up in the morning anymore except on saturdays [I'm unemployed]. mostly get up at around noon. when I used to go to school it would take me around 10 minutes to get ready since I took night showers. I'd just get up at 6am, make my bed, go to the bathroom where I laid out my clothes for the day, get dressed, brush my teeth, put on my makeup, do my hair...walk out to the living room, put on my shoes and run outside to catch the bus. how exciting.

I'm sorta glad I'm unemployed sometimes. no morning rituals.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2000

Depends on what I'm doing that day..

At the beginning of a semester (college student, I am, yes), I will get up about a half hour before class and shower quickly, brush hair and pin up, throw some clothes on, black liquid eyeliner (no smudges!) and wash my face. Not necessarily in that order. Oh, and a morning cigarette. Of course.

Toward the end I was rolling out of bed three minutes before class started, slipping off pj pants and slipping on rank corderoys, sandals and out the door running to class.

Now that it's summer, it usually takes me about twenty minutes. I just recently figured out this cool way to pin up my hair (almost shoulder length) so that nothing touches my neck, and it looks adorable. It involves about 35 bobby pins and ten minutes of my time.

And I do find that if I at least think about my clothes the night before, even when I'm lying in bed, it helps in the morning.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I usually wake up around 5.55, five minutes before the alarm goes off. In those cases I don't have any trouble getting up and starting the day. Sometimes the alarm beats me to it, though, and on those occasions I hate getting up. So I set up this little routine: instead of placing the alarm right next to the bed, so I could just put it to rest without even having to lift my head off the pillow, I placed it on a shelf on the other side of the room. That way I have to get out of bed in order to shut that noise off. After that I just stumble to the bathroom and do the rest of my waking while having a hot shower. Then it's time for breakfast and preparing my lunchbox. Breakfast is consumed while watching the BBC news, which always makes me deliriously happy to have cable - btw, I think I have a thing for Carol Kirkwood, the weather lady, who has the sweetest smile and the cutest Scottish accent ;-) - and after a smoke, putting on the final items of clothing and brushing my teeth and my hair, I'm out the door at 7.15, just in time to catch the bus at the corner of the street. It's the perfect routine and I never ever deviate from it.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I wake up before the alarm goes off, at 3:50 a.m., thinking about the book I'm writing.

I piss, take a shower, and comb my hair.

I don't shave (I have a beard). I don't use underarm deodorant. I brush my teeth. I don't use cologne.

I put on blue jeans and a T-shirt. No underwear. I wear low-quarter shoes, and Navy blue cotton rib socks.

I drive to work, stopping at an all-night filling station for two 24 oz cups of coffee and a pint of milk.

When I get to work, I boot up my computer, check my email, read the journals I read, read book reviews at online magazines, and type up what I wrote in my head, on the way to work. I listen to the classical music station in my headset.

At 6:30 I eat breakfast, in the cafeteria. I write until 8:00, then work on the books I'm being paid to write, at work.

On the weekends, I get up at the same time, I do not shower, I wear sandals instead of shoes. I make a pot of coffee.

I write until Brenda gets up and fixes breakfast. I listen to the radio speakers, instead of in a headset.

Sometimes I fix breakfast. Sometimes we go out for breakfast.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

6:00 AM- Wake up. Not sure what to do. Since I'm only 14, and I don't work, I still frunt, groan, moan, and get up anyway.

6:30 AM- I am fully up after laying groggily in my bed for a few minutes A few? And I swear I went back to sleep.

6:32 AM- Feel scary fuzzball brush against my leg...wait, oh, hi Pearl. (my cat)

6:34 AM- Try not to let Smudge (AKA Loud) in my house because he makes such loud noise when other people are trying to sleep.

6:35 AM- I feed the cats. They eat heartily and I close the door while they are distracted.

6:36 AM- I finally am on the Internet. I check my e-mail, MBTV, the Hissyfit poll, Squishy, and several other sites.

7:00 AM- I randomly surf the web and go chat. My dad gets up.

7:15 AM- My mom gets up and walks around groggily. She's the funniest person to wake up in our hous. She's in a trance and refuses to talk for 20 minutes.

8:30 AM (16 minutes from now)- I lose interest in web surfing and get offline to take a shower, but it never fails that I am interrupted by something.

9:00 AM- (on Mondays only) I go work at the library. It's hell, but it's fun sometimes. Fun hell. How odd.

9:00 AM- (Tuesday-Saturday) I usually read and draw and write and work on recaps for my RW website. Click hereto visit.

10:00 AM- Watch some TV trash, and talk on the phone.

(I'm really boring. I'm not in school, what do you expect, a FUN day?)

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

It takes me about an hour. I only wash my hair every other day. On hair-washing days, my alarm goes off at 6:20 (snooze til 6:30), and on non-hair-washing days, it goes off at 6:30 (snooze til 6:40). I hop in the shower every morning though. After my shower, I wrap my head turban-style (if I washed it), I put lotion on my expanding belly (pregnant), elbows, and legs. Then I get dressed, and book it outta there so hubby can get in there by 7. I go into the kitchen, tripping on the cat, and get a glass of orange juice to drink while I'm getting ready. While Dan showers, I finish up in our room. I blow-dry my hair with a round brush, and a little Aveda goop in it. That takes about 5-10 minutes, then I put on my makeup, which takes another 5-10 minutes. Then I feed the cat who's been meowing incessantly since I got out of the bathroom (as if I've *ever* forgotten to feed her), make coffee, then linger over breakfast while skimming the papers and givin' a lil love to the cat. Dan breaks out of the bathroom around 7:30, 7:35 if he shaves. I run in there to brush my teeth, go back into our room to pick a lipcolor, apply it, and put on fragrance, earrings, & watch. I fill up my liter jug of water, grab my mid-morning snack, and we're out by 7:45.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Ideally, it would take me an hour to get ready in the morning. I would wake up around 7, head downstairs to get coffee and an English muffin, and eat them leisurely while reading the morning newspaper. I would then go upstairs, shower, and brush my teeth. Then I would get ready, again totally leisurely, because my clothes would be laid out exactly where I needed them to be. I would grab my keys, sunglasses, wallet and cellphone, and head out the door at 7:45, just in time to catch the bus at 8.

In the real world: Wake up at 7, fall back asleep. Wake up at 7:30, realize I've overslept, sprint from the bed to the shower where I wash my hair as fast as humanly possible, dry off, and run around the bedroom trying desperately to find clothes that are semi-suitable for work and simultaneously running into walls and doors because my contacts aren't in yet. At 7:45, dressed but with no shoes on, I realize that I'll need to put my contacts in before going to work, so I spend a couple minutes doing that. In the meantime, Keith has usually been awake for like an hour and a half and therefore is chopping vegetables for lunch in the kitchen or reading email or doing one of those things that prepared people do in the morning.

At 8:00 I either get on the bus or miss it by mere minutes, in which case we drive to work. Either way, total preparation time: 30 minutes. If I could take my shower before I went to bed like I used to, I could cut that down to 15 minutes, but with short hair, if I don't wash it in the morning, it sticks out all funny. Yes, I have a terribly hard life. I then spend about five more minutes searching for my shoes, wallet, and keys, disconnect the cell phone from its charger, transfer my coffee into a travel mug so I can take it in the car/on the bus, and run out to the car.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Wow, that was weird. The last sentence there was supposed to come at the end of the 2nd paragraph, not the 3rd. How bizarre.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Am I the only one that is finding these morning rituals very enlightening? Here's mine.

6:30am: Alarm goes off...reach over big man next to me to shut it off before he wakes up. I wish I had the luxury of the snooze button. *hmpf* 6:31am - 6:45am: Shower, put on clothes, curl bangs, and put on minimal amount of makeup. 6:46am: Kiss said man in bed and grab purse, planner and backpack and I'm out the door. 6:47am: Out the garage and on the road to begin my 45 minute gridlocked drive to class. 7:30am - 9:00am: Class 9:00am: Work

I try not to wake up until I get on the road. That means an extra 15 minutes of sleep!

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I set my alarm for weird times (7:13 or 7:27) just to make getting up in the morning interesting. (I do the Washing Hair Every Other Day thing too). But otherwise I don't pay attention to time... 1) Get up and use the bathroom. 2) Weigh myself and brush teeth. 3) Shower, dry off, and put in contacts. 4) Is it khaki day or not? Find pants and shirt. Iron if necessary. 5) Deodorant, clothes, socks. Put on face lotion. 6) Try to make hair look presentable. Fail utterly UNLESS it hasn't been washed. 7) Find purse, bag lunch, and put on shoes. 8) Out the door...

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I'm a dork when I'm trying to get ready. I can't disrupt my order or I don't feel ready enough.

6:00 Alarm goes off. Snooze. Snooze. Snooze. Wonder why snooze goes off every NINE minutes.

6:27 Get up, stumble into bathroom with jammies all twisted.

6:30 Get in shower.

6:50 Get out of shower, put on TV. Okay, then, I watch New York One while I put in my contacts, put cream on elbows and legs, put curling serum in hair, think about how much I don't want to go to work.

7:20 Wake up Joey (boyfriend). He stumbles into bathroom, boxers all twisted.

7:25 Listen to Howard Stern on both clock radio and living room stereo, going back and forth to put on make-up in two different mirrors. Living room sun mirror is for close up eye-makeup applying.

7:35 Blow dry hair on low, fluffing and scrunching.

7:40 Get dressed. Laugh/smirk/roll eyes at Stern program.

7:50-8:00 Um, depending on whether I stand in front of my closet hating my clothes and deciding what to wear, I leave the house with bag, sunglasses, cell phone, and MetroCard in tow, and I look forward to a lovely hour of standing/pushing/waiting in the illustrious New York City subway system, taking either the B or M train to the N or R, or the B to the F. Then I get to work "at" nine. :)

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

ok, apparently you guys are superhuman and can function (at least well enough to take showers, brush teeth, etc) without the aid of the ever-popular morning drug i like to call coffee. my morning routine consists of:

6 AM - wake up (not really awake)

6-6:35 - drink coffee, lots of it

6:35-6:45 - get dressed, wash face, brush teeth, ignore hair

6:45-7:00 - drive to work. attempt not to hit cars.

now, often i think, wow, i could sleep an entire 35 minutes longer if i bypass the coffee drinking time. well, i've tried that and it just makes me 35 minutes later for work. oh well.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I am extremely low-maintenace so it doesn't take me too long to get ready in the mornings. I have it down to almost a science - I get get ready in a half hour, sometimes 20 minutes. I take quick showers because we have extremely high water pressure, don't blow-dry my hair, and put my makeup on when I get to work. Also, I hate mornings, so I keep hitting that snooze button as much as possible. When I was at school, occasionaly I would wake up five minutes before class started and run there in my pjs, but most of the time I just threw on what I was wearing the day before, throw on a bit of makeup, print out that paper I was working on last night, and tie my hair back somehow. Then after class, I would shower. It's sad, but being at school made me care a bit less about how I looked in class. At least no one cared - not like high school, where my looks were constantly being scrutinzed!

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

6:30 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze 7:15 Alarm going off every 9 minutes finally gets annoying. Turn alarm off, and turn on The Morning News. 7:25 Get up and throw my clothes in the dryer. I pick out my outfit the night before... it really saves me time. But, I like to run the clothes through the dryer with a wet sock or a wet washcloth and a dryer sheet... it freshens them and gets out wrinkles. 7:30 pee, wash face, brush teeth, brush hair. In that order. 7:40 Rescue clothes from dryer, get dressed. Find shoes. 7:45 Think about making a smoothie or having a bowl of cereal but realize there is no time. Curse as I grab a cereal bar and head out the door to McDonalds for my daily Super Size Diet Soda, Easy Ice. 7:55 Realize have to be at work in 5 minutes, and get entirely too frustrated with slow McDonald's workers. Hate them all. 8:02 Arrive at work, exhausted already.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

Old Morning Routine (before live-in boyfriend):

Alarm goes off at 5:00am. I'm out of bed by 5:15 if I stayed up too late. I'm done with my shower by 5:30. I wrap myself up naked (and still wet) in my big blue blanket, climb back in bed, and get online. 5:30am-6:30am, I read e-mail or journals, and chat. 6:30-6:45am, I'm getting dressed, putting my shoes and socks on, brushing my teeth, and blowdrying my hair. I don't do anything with my hair, so the most complicated part of this is making sure all the underneath is dry. 6:45-7:00am, I am in the kitchen, foraging for some breakfast. I rarely find any. At 7:00am I am frantically pulling out of the driveway and high-tailin' it down to the bagel shop or Starbucks for some breakfast. I am always at work by 7:20 (work opens at 8:00). Sometimes I am there early, but I never get there later than 7:20am.

New Morning Routine (now with live-in boyfriend):

Alarm goes off at 5:45. I hit the snooze for an hour but don't hear it. Wake up at 6:45 and tell myself I have to get out of bed. Go back to sleep til 6:50am. Tell myself I REALLY have to get out of bed. Lie there until 7:05am, then think, "Oh shit I'm gonna be late!". I jump out of bed, try to make my shower and dressing as quick as possible. I brush my teeth. I blowdry my hair, although I no longer have time to make sure the underneath is completely dry. I look longingly at my WebTV terminal and wish I had time to check my e-mail. I put my shoes on, gather my belongings (sunglasses are a must), and head for the kitchen. I feed the cat and try to find myself something that looks better than what she's got. I rarely find it. I grab a package of crackers instead and head out the door. Sometimes I kiss my boyfriend before I leave, but sometimes I decide to let him sleep. I get in the car, make sure the radio is on The Bob & Tom Show. I drive to the Texaco by work, get my 32oz. Diet Coke. Arrive at work by 7:50am _if_ I'm lucky.

*sigh* I'm tired just THINKING about all this.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

I guess it depends upon what i'm doing that day. If I'm going to work...

6:30AM: Alarm goes off and is promptly smothered under pillow number 1

7:00AM: Alarm 2 goes off and is promptly smothered by pillow 2.

7:30AM: Wipe drool from face...haul clock close enough to my face to be able to see it. Fall asleep again with alarm clock held like a stuffed animal.

8:15AM: Roll onto alarm clock. Notice that I have 15 minutes to catch the bus. Scream. Jump out of bed and onto the cat. Shower and wash hair, wash face, dry off body parts that are still dripping water. Brush teeth. Run around naked looking for clean clothing. Find clean but mismatched clothing. Settle for clean shirt, and almost clean but not quite so pants. Skip breakfast. Grab bag and stuff it full of anything that could possibly get me through the day. 8:29: Sprint to bus stop while drying hair with a hand towel. 8:30: Hop on bus. Realize my socks don't match. Shrug. No one really looks at your socks anyway. 8:50: Arrive at work 10 minutes early. Bum food off of co-workers. There's nothing better than lukewarm water and lifesavers to start the day off.

However...if I'm going to class...the schedule is a bit different.

Sleep until 15 minutes before class starts. Miss the bus. Roll out of bed. Brush teeth. Put hat on. Put sports bra on under pajamas. Usually shorts and a stupid t-shirt. Grab backpack. Stuff 5 dollars in a notebook. Grab something that writes. Check clock: 10 minutes left. Run the mile to campus. Get a seat. Check clock: 2 minutes. Run up 6 flights of stairs to a snack machine. Spend 3 dollars on Diet Coke, doritos that make up for the lack of calories in the soda, and some form of chocolate. 30 seconds left...bolt down the stairs. Pass the professor on a landing, forcing him to get out of my way. RUN into the lecture hall and plop down into my seat. Sweaty and half asleep. Prof enters room, glares at me. I smile back, and take a gulp of diet coke. another day, another crisis averted.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2000

9:33am - Alarm goes off the first time.

9:33-10:00am - A blur.

10:01am-10:15am - Muster self out of bed. Drink full glass of water. Plug in curling iron and Christmas lights. Toddle into the bathroom. Normal bodily functions. Put in contacts. Eat Flintstones vitamin & calcium tablet. Brush teeth. Hop in shower, includes face washing.

10:16am - Select the morning's energizing Get-Dressed soundtrack. Current selections include an 80's compilation, Eve6, New Radicals, Eminem, Hole, Fluke, the Best of Sting, the Matrix Soundtrack, or Juno Reactor.

10:17am-10:20am - Sunscreen, anti-perspirant, Jergen's Ultra Healing, lipbalm, lip-synching, pick out clothes.

10:21-10:22am - Despair that my favourites are in the wash. Indecisiveness.

10:23am-10:30am - Try to take charge of the situation by doing my makeup first.

10:31am - There's an 80% chance that whatever I'm now hurriedly putting on involves methodical lacing of boots. Damn. Do it anyway.

10:34am - Curl bangs, pull the rest back in a bun. Earrings, wristwatch.

10:35am - Run to freezer, remove lunch, stuff in workbag. Kiss sleeping boyfriend in next room. Check the curling iron to see that it's off.

10:38am - Fly out the door. Lock door. Unlock door and re-check curling iron.

10:39am-10:48 - Run down one hill and up another to get to bus stop. Gamble on picking wildflowers if bus nowhere in sight.

10:50am - On bus, time for Peanut Butter Powerbar & audiobook. Conspiracy to drink coffee begins, T minus 25 minutes & counting.

* * * * ...I really should lay out my clothes ahead of time. Btw, Maybelline's quick-stick--that stuff hawked by Sarah Michelle Gellar-- is good in a pinch, (even while preferring Revlon colorstay.)

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2000

Well it depends what I'm doing. If I'm getting up for college I give myself an hour to get up, washed, dressed, get my college work and get to the bus stop in town. If I'm having a lazy day I'll do everything much slower...take longer in the shower....watch Tv while I'm putting on my make-up. It's useful that I have a sink in my room. Once I'm showered it's brush teeth and wash face, dry hair, tie hair up, get dressed, apply make-up. Easy! Every day is a different look so sometimes it needs some t

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002