Homemaking 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Effective Home Management
Do you long to thrive in homemaking and home management, but struggle to make it happen? Is life busy and your feeble attempts at homemaking have fallen short? Have you suddenly realized that your home is running anything but smooth? If so, here’s the practical, no-nonsense ways to make managing your home something that doesn’t leave you stressed and overwhelmed. (Insert happy dance here!)
As someone who used to s t r u g g l e to be an effective homemaker, I know what it’s like to battle clutter and to struggle to find my rhythm as a homemaker.
Yet the Lord has shown me the benefits of biblical homemaking and my homemaking skills have completely transformed over the past 5 years.
I’m spilling my secrets for how to manage your home effectively in just minutes per day. (Yes, it’s possible!)
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What are the benefits of managing your home effectively?
I used to dream of being a better homemaker. Yet for years I did nothing but dream until I realized that to have a well managed home, I actually needed to clean and organize. That simple concept was a huge eye opener for me!
And once I realized the blessings and benefits to improving my homemaking skills, I finally started to take action.
The top benefits of thriving in homemaking include:
More calm and less chaos
Imagine breathing deep and experiencing less stress and chaos, as you know exactly where to find things. Having a home for everything will save you time and avoid pacing around the house or asking your spouse (or children) where’s the last place they saw your missing item.
Imagine never tearing the house apart looking for homework, making socks, or clean underwear. (Ask me how I know!) There’s so much freedom in knowing where your belongings will be when you need them!
Being a better steward of your resources
God has blessed you with much and has provided for you with material possessions and belongings. When you take care of your home and things, you are honoring God and respecting His provisions.
Plus, intertwined in this benefit is also honoring God with your actions as you serve your family through joyful homemaking instead of frantic cleaning and grumbling over chores. Whether we want to admit it or not, clutter tends to create discord; and discord can create stress and overwhelm. Neither of these are a habit of a woman who loves God and wants to honor Him with her life.
Creating an atmosphere of peace and love
Finally, another benefit to managing your home is creating an atmosphere of peace and love. When the home is in order, it becomes a breeding ground where love and peace can naturally abide instead of chaos.
Now that we have these benefits in mind, let’s talk about how you can experience this in your own home through 5 practical homemaking tips even a beginner can do.
Practical home management tips you can implement today
Choose one area of your home to start de-cluttering in small, manageable chunks of time
I know that when it’s time to de-clutter, it’s tempting to clean all the things at once. Yet don’t fall into that trap!
The idea is to never try to do too much, but to start small. Start in the area that’s holding you back the most and has the most clutter.
Don’t focus on the big picture of the entire area or room clean, instead, start de-cluttering in small, manageable areas. Then, set a timer and work in 10-30 minutes chunks of time so as to not get overwhelmed. Be sure to not drag out everything you want to go through in that area. Strive to put back what you didn’t get to in just a few minutes. Otherwise you may be left with an even bigger mess. (I may know something about this!)
Another important tip is to always have a place where you’ll immediately put the clutter. This can be a bag to throw away or a pile to donate.
Consider using a checklist to keep on track with managing your home effectively. To help give you a boost, I have a decluttering challenge that will help you revive your heart and home in just 15 minutes per day. This challenge highlights four key areas: bible, prayer, cleaning, and decluttering. It helps you see glorifying God in every area, even if you’re sweeping and washing dishes.
Start cleaning in small increments each day
Small is the keyword to remember here, as well as throughout your entire home management journey. Implement speed cleaning to utilize short spurts of time to clean one area of one room at a given time. For example, while the children are picking up their toys, use 1-2 minutes to wipe off tables and fold blankets.
Another idea is to create a flexible cleaning schedule. The idea behind creating a loose schedule is to help with prioritizing time to actually clean, but not get bogged down or become a slave to the schedule. Whether you choose to clean for 1 minute or 30 minutes, and clean the kitchen or the bathroom – making an effort to clean is the primary motivation.
Let go of the need to be perfect or to have everything clean at once. Don’t be discouraged if you stumble and fall on your quest for a cleaner home. Simply start again and focus on making imperfect progress each day.
Establish solid (and quick) morning routines and evening routines
Establishing morning and evening routines helps put your life on auto-pilot and take the guesswork out of what to do each day. Routines also help you and the family know what’s expected each day. As discussed in more detail a little later, having the entire family on the same page will help cultivate a fully functioning home.
Speaking from personal experience, one “chore” that you may want to add to your evening routine is cleaning the kitchen so it is ready for morning use without any mess or clutter.
Pro tip: Use a digital planner to help you stay on top of your daily routines. Plus, you can easily change them up when life changes yet again.
Clean and de-clutter as you go
As you see a mess in your home, take a few minutes to clear it as you go. This prevents a pile up from happening, which eventually leads to having an overwhelming mess to clean up.
It also forms a great habit that your children will notice and start doing as well. They may not take to it as quickly as you’d like; however, a gentle reminder to put things away as they are used will eventually stick.
Get the family involved
Managing the home doesn’t have to be a one woman show, and can definitely be seen as a family affair. Get the family involved by giving everyone household items and tasks they are responsible for.
If you have children, no matter the age, create a home management command center that will house chore charts, reward and incentive charts, any important reminders, and so on. This can become the go-to place for all things cleaning and de-cluttering.
Managing your home effectively doesn’t have to be a dreaded task. Instead, it can be seen as a small ministry that glorifies God and blesses you (and your family) in the process. With the practical tips mentioned above, you’ll be well on your way to joyfully creating a calm and clean home.
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