Are you new to your homemaking role? Does it seem intimidating and overwhelming? Is there so much to do you don’t know where to start? By building a routine around a few simple, daily homemaking tasks you can build a routine to anchor each day.
To help you in your new homemaking role there are a few things you can do to reduce the overwhelm.
1. Make a List of Your Daily Homemaking Tasks
Sit down with a pen and paper and make a list of everything that needs to be done in a day. This list is only for the things that keep the household running. Baking cookies for an after school snack isn’t essential. Keeping flowers and houseplants alive isn’t essential. Organizing the basement isn’t going to clothe your family.
You can use this article to give you a few starting points: Homemaking Skills for the Modern Housewife
Leave three or four spaces between each task on this list. If you are the planner type, check out this cute one!
2. Work the List
As you go through the day, check the daily homemaking tasks off your list. If you feel yourself wandering around and wanting to check Instagram, go to the list. Without a plan you will feel scattered and just do what’s easiest (kill time on your phone) or what’s right in front of you (organize the photo album).
What happens to me is I let the crazy basement, the photo album or the filthy garage take over my time to do essential household tasks. Next thing I know, supper is in half an hour and I don’t even know what I’m making. Or I get carried away in the garage and forget that my husband needs his barn clothes washed.
If you have kids, get them involved with daily homemaking tasks. They will have to learn sometime. Might as well teach them now so they can ease your load and learn how to serve.
Read More: Homemaking Skills Your Son Should Know Before Leaving Home
3. Fill in the Spaces
After you’ve mastered the basic daily homemaking tasks list for several weeks and you’ve got a groove, then you can add more things in between the lines.
Maybe you find you have some down time after lunch and you enjoy baking. A couple days a week you can schedule in baking cookies for after school snacks. Or during kids’ nap time you think you can work 30 minutes on organizing the basement.
When I was first married, I struggled so much with time in the spaces. I would look at the clock and see I had to leave for chores in an hour. What could I do in an hour?
Mind blank.
Do you think I could recall any of those extra things I wanted to get done? Nope. So I would end up sitting on the couch reading or playing a game on my phone.
Not that sitting and relaxing is a bad thing, but I was doing it in excess. And it sucked my motivation. Because for me, completing one task motivates me so much more than sitting and reading for an hour.
Once I filled in the spaces on my daily homemaking tasks list I felt like I had a game plan. Extra half hour before chores? Oh yeah, I wanted to take out all the screens and store them in the basement for the winter. Oh yeah, I saw that box hiding in the corner of my closet and realized it had never been unpacked from our move.
Having the spaces in my list filled in kept me more productive and helped me avoid mindless wandering.
Read More: 5 Reasons You are Failing as a Homemaker
4. Don’t Forget Yourself
I know I just got done talking about how I would lay around reading or playing phone games. Isn’t that self care?
Nope. It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t what I really wanted to do for self care. I was just killing time.
One of the things you can fill in your extra time with is self-care. If you love reading, schedule in half an hour to read while your kids are napping. Do you enjoy baking? Find a fun recipe you want to make and have it ready for dessert that night.
I love soaking in a bath. But it is very difficult to attend to a needy child who wakes up unexpectedly! So I compromise by soaking my feet in a pan of hot water with epsom salt
So don’t just kill time. Be intentional with your self-care. Then your self-care will be rejuvenating and a blessing instead of “Wow, what just happened to the last hour.”
You are essential in your home. Never underestimate what you do and never forget to take care of yourself.
Read More: Why Homemaking is Important
5. Plan for Crazy Days
Crazy days and weeks will come. But if you see them on the schedule, prepare for them.
Double what you are making for supper and throw half in the freezer for a day you know you won’t be able to make supper. Or have a couple frozen pizzas on hand for a quick meal.
Make a double batch of pancakes or french toast so your kids can throw them in the toaster and have breakfast if you will be gone when they wake up.
Do extra loads of laundry if you won’t be home for a couple days. It’s okay to let a load sit in the machine overnight.
Use paper products for a meal if you won’t have time to take care of the dishes.
Read More: Cooking for the Freezer: How to Make and Bake Ahead
When you have a plan, you will feel more organized and sure about how you are going to carry out your day. Obviously there will be times when the list goes out the window because something unexpected comes up.
But when the unexpected and the crazy passes, you will still have the list to go back to. Keeping your daily homemaking tasks in front of you will help you be more productive running your household.
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