She told me that she remembers it well.
My friend – more like my mom’s friend – said she can still picture me as a young girl walking around with my duster in one hand . . . and my nose buried in a book in my other. Dusting the bookshelves without ever glancing up from my own reading.
My idea of “doing my chores.”
This explains a lot of things really.
Like how I spent most of my childhood with my head in the clouds.
Like how I never did pay much attention to housework (just as my mom always suspected).
And why I was clueless about homemaking when I first got married.
Not the end of the world, I suppose.
Except that once the honeymoon was over, I woke up and looked around our small, 2-bedroom apartment and suddenly realized
I
knew
nothing
about keeping house.
Or at least next to nothing.
Let’s put it this way: the learning curve was fairly high.
You’re probably much farther along that I was when I began running our home. But in case you’re in a place where you’re looking for a few helpful homemaking hints, or maybe could use a refresher course? I’m offering my 5 best tips today.
My 5 Best Tips to Help You Out in Homemaking
1. Practice.
Practice might not make perfect, but it should improve things over time. If you’re not efficient at cleaning the bathroom? Practice. If you’re struggling with laundry? Practice.
Like any other skill – yes, I used the word skill – do it every day (or often) until you get really good at it.
2. Work on one area.
Or at least one area at a time. The biggest complaint I hear is about being overwhelmed. But you don’t have to be up on everything all the time! I’m sure not.
I’m telling ya, it’s a juggling act. Just when I get the bathrooms shipshape, I realize the laundry room is overflowing. Then the fridge gets green and scary. And so on and so forth.
One step at a time. One area at a time. Rinse and repeat.
3. Give yourself grace.
In challenging seasons. Pregnancy, new baby, illness, job loss, or maybe moving to a new house? These are BIG and you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself when walking through it.
During such times, slip into survival mode and try to concentrate on the bare basics – the other stuff will get done when we’re in a different season. You’ve got enough on your hands without heaping further guilt on yourself.
4. Remember Who you are serving.
If I think of all this work as only for my sake (or my pride), or even for my family’s sake, then it can be downright discouraging. But when I remember that I am doing this as service to God—and Him only? Changes things quite a bit.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men (or family, friends, or neighbors). ~ Col. 3:23
Then ask the Lord to put a song in your heart and strength in your hands and go to it!
5. Study the craft.
So I admitted how inept I was at keeping house when I began. Wondering how I eventually learned the skill of homemaking?
I studied.
Yeah, I’m serious.
You wouldn’t believe all the books and articles I read on the subject! I was determined to master this stuff. And after a time, I even began to get excited about what I was learning. At the end of the day, I’d share with my husband all kinds of thrilling bits of information:
- Baking soda gets the smell out of stinky spots.
- Clean the dirtiest areas of the bathroom first and then work your way up the mirrors last.
- Run a lemon through the garbage disposal to freshen the sink.
He was on the edge of his seat, I’m sure. 🙂
The main thing was that I was learning things that made my homemaking easier and more efficient. I no longer felt quite so helpless and overwhelmed.
Which brings me to the next thing I want to share with you . . . .
My Homemaking Mentor
Biblical Training
The idea of homemaking can feel very overwhelming. Everything from cooking meals to keeping up on laundry, cleaning the house, training our children, and even intentionally loving our husbands can seem out of reach when we don’t know where to being or have the tools to help us.
Even seasoned homemakers can use help as seasons of life change, and you find yourself in unchartered territory. You go from chasing toddlers and changing diapers to chauffeuring teenagers and talking late into the night with them.
How can we keep up with it all and run the race of homemaker and wife and mother well?
*Important Note: Below I’m sharing more about this online Mentoring Academy for Homemakers – something I wish I would have had access to when I was a younger wife and mother. But if you’re not in a place right now to do something like this – whether financially or just plain headspace – then that’s okay too. I only want to share things that will bless you—not as “one more thing” to add to your already full plate.
My Homemaking Mentor Academy
“My Homemaking Mentor has completely turned around my home. From learning simple cleaning routines to help me manage to keep a home as a busy small business owner/work from home mom, to helping me dig deep into the Lord’s Word and learning how to live intentionally and help my family to do the same this resource has been something that I have been able to reach out to time and time again.
As women, Christians and homemakers, it is sometimes so hard to manage all the “hats” that we wear, but Jami and her team has done an incredible job at being informative and reminding me that I am not alone in this!” – Ashley
How would you like to have people come alongside you who have been there, to offer you their best tips, ideas, strategies, and secrets to bringing joy, peace, and organization into your home? It can be done!
Join us as at My Homemaking Mentor Academy where we share real life experience with you — not something learned from a book, but something we’ve actually put into practice in our own homes.
There are 12 amazing mentors sharing practical training on homemaking through 15 video-based courses (over 50 videos).
Some of the courses included:
- 100 Ways to Love Your Husband by Yours Truly 🙂
- Cleaning Routines and Schedules by Marci Ferrel from Thankful Homemaker
- Intentional and Purposeful Life Planning by Leigh Ann Dutton from Intentional By Grace
- Encouragement for Weary Moms by Jennifer Ross
- Meal Planning Bootcamp by Jami Balmet
- and many more!
So if you’re a homemaker in need of some hands-on help, then help is here! I invite you to My Homemaking Mentor Academy.
The Academy is only open for enrollment until April 3rd!
For more details and enrollment—>Go HERE
Happy homemaking!
*Just for fun: Share one or more of your favorite homemaking tips! Like how to clean burnt milk off the stove – stuff like that! (I’m all ears)
In His grace,
(This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure.)
Lisa
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I love your tips. I used to do house cleaning for a living but find it really hard to clean my own house. I would have to disagree with one thing, though. That is about bathroom cleaning. I found it much more efficient to leave the dirtiest til last. Here’s how I clean a bathroom using one rag: start with the mirrors. next the sink, the tub/shower, then clean the toilet bowl, the outside of the toilet, and finally, the floors. That way you can use one rag and not have to worry about contaminating your sink with toilet germs AND you won’t be walking on a wet, clean floor while you are cleaning the other parts of the bathroom. Just my two cents. 🙂
Train your kids to do chores too. Really train them. But I think my biggest time saver is my wet and set method of soaking so I don’t have to spend time rinsing them. I don’t fill the sink. I just wet them and set them in the sink so everything comes off easy without wasting water or rinsing so much!
Great advice! and I am so keeping the baking soda thing in mind. I posted something similar to this on my blog this morning actually ( http://thegoodwifesblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/keeping-up-with-life.html ). It is hard to keep it all together. And it is amazing that even if you know what you are doing how difficult it can be to implement it in your own home. You’re definitely not alone in this! Love your blog, I started following it years ago now and long before I was married. It really help me prepare for marriage and the importance of communicating with my husband.
Fantastic advice!! Even though I knew how to clean when I got married, applying what I knew and setting up a system for my own home took some time!! I did a LOT of studying on how to be a better homemaker; you are not alone on that one!!
Baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and salt….my top 4 cleaning products for my home! They are safe, inexpensive, and they work! Add essential oil if scent is important to you, and you have all you need! To clean the burnt milk, make a paste of vinegar and baking soda right on the stove top, let it sit for a few minutes, then it should come off with a damp cloth and a little elbow grease. If you want to use a store-bought product, Bar Keepers Friend works really well, also.
I would love to hear how the salt and peroxide are used. My friend just cleaned my nasty sink with baking soda and vinegar and I was blown away! I appreciate the idea of cleaning mirrors first and ending with the toilet to use the same cloth, but I always quit when I finish the sink, so I might have to practice (daily?) cleaning the tub, floors and toilet until I get good at it, because currently I despise those tasks. This post was very timely for me. I never considered cleaning to be something to practice and study.
I apologize that it has taken this long to reply. There are several uses for both products. Here are a couple of links that might help (I have no affiliation with them; I just found them helpful).
For salt: http://www.rd.com/home/cleaning-organizing/over-60-ways-to-use-salt/
For hydrogen peroxide: http://www.naturallivingideas.com/hydrogen-peroxide-uses/
Thanks! I’ll check out those links!
I’m with you on all those same, basic cleaning products! I forgot about Bar Keeps Friend, but I’ve used that too. Thanks for the helpful suggestions!
Great tips. The only thing I do differently, is in the bath, where I start with the cleanest and work toward the dirtiest area. First, the mirror, then I do the sink and counter, moving to the shower and tub, and finally, the toilet and floor. Whole production takes about 5 minutes, tops!
I’m with you, that way I can use the same cloth throughout (finishing with the toilet!) before it goes through the wash!
I use oven cleaner to clean the baked on grease and grime on my stove top, and my very favourite thing is bicarb soda to shine my sink!
Oh, and a new favourite it using a car interior cleaner (I use Cobra Cote vanilla) to give my bonded leather recliners a beautiful shine and smell – it makes a huge difference to my lounge room, and is just spray on and wipe off!
I am going to try that, cobra cote on our recliners. Thanks!
I”ve not heard of Cobra Cote – I’ll need to try that. Thanks for sharing!
I think that was the most encouraging thing for me – to realize that it really doesn’t take that long to clean a bathroom (especially if you can keep up on it on a nearly daily basis).