“Home is made even in the most humble of tasks if you allow yourself to do them with love, joy and gratitude” – The Homemakers Club
Homemaking… that is at the heart of Ashlyn Marie at Home. I hope for this to be a place that encourages women to be confident in our role as a homemaker. We as women are called to care for the home and the people in it… and we should have fun along the way!
Modern homemaking skills includes much more than cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the little ones. In this post I’ll share 10 simple skills for the modern homemaker to help make your house a home.
What is a homemaker?
The Oxford Dictionary defines a homemaker as “a person who manages a home and takes care of the house and family as their main job.”
While this is definitely a true statement about being a homemaker, I believe homemaking has a lot more to do with the heart of a home. Anyone can cook and clean a house (we can even pay someone to come into our home and do this!) but being a homemaker means making a house into a haven for your family. A place that is welcoming to friends, loving and nurturing for your children, and a place relaxing and orderly for the whole family.
Being a homemaker doesn’t mean you need to live on a farm or give up what you are passionate about. It means that you joyfully give yourself first to the home and use your skills to help better it. Maybe you’re a nurse- trust me, those skills will come in handy with sick children. If you’re entrepreneurial- there are so many business that you can start from home. And if you’re super organized- this will be a huge benefit to your home! The Lord has given each of us talents and strengths, and we can use these strengths to better our homes.
If you grew up in a house where homemaking wasn’t a priority or if you are coming from the corporate world and don’t even know where to start as a homemaker, don’t worry! In this post I’ll go through a variety of tasks that a homemaker performs… and a few tips.
Why is homemaking important?
The principal reason that homemaking is so important is because God tells us it is throughout the Bible. Titus 2 names one of the responsibilities of women is to “work from home”.
“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the world of God may not be reviled.” Titus 2:3-5
Proverbs 31 also tells us so much about being a homemaker. Verse 27 says “She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.”
On a practical level, homemaking is important because we need an orderly home. As a husband’s primary job is to provide monetarily for the family, the job of a homemaker is equally as important because all of the home tasks cannot get overlooked. Food must be bought, the home must be cleaned and children must be cared for. We all want our home to be a safe and relaxing place and a homemaker plays a huge role in achieving that.
10 Homemaking Skills for the Modern Homemaker
1. Purchasing and preparing food
Everyone in your family has to eat, and honestly, this can be an overwhelming task. I know not everyone enjoys to cook. Personally, I love baking more than cooking meals, but if I only baked, that obviously wouldn’t be too great for my family’s health. Here are a few tips on getting your family fed:
- Plan your meals and stick to your grocery list. This saves so much money and time!
- Don’t feel like you have to make new recipes every week. This gets very stressful and expensive because you end up with random ingredients you never use again. Find a few meals everyone likes, make those each week and maybe add in one new recipe if you want!
- Use grocery store pick up. I’ve used Walmart, Target and Instacart for pickup and it is well worth it! Not only will you save time and money (because you’ll stick to your list) but if you have kids it’s so helpful to be able to stay in the car the whole time!
- Get a few good cookbooks! You can find almost every recipe on Pinterest these days, but it’s really helpful to have a few go-to cookbooks on hand. A few of my favorites are Cook Once, Eat All Week, Clean Paleo Family Cookbook, and Plant You.
2. Cleaning the home
A clean home makes everyone happy! While this task may lie primarily with the wife or mom- it’s important to delegate some of this responsibility. If you have children, it’s important for them to learn cleaning skills and how to pick up after themselves. A homemaker is not a maid and we need to teach our children how to take care of the home as well. Obviously, which tasks you delegate to other family members will depend a lot on their age, but start young! Kids really love helping and feeling needed. Yes, with small children it will take longer to get a simple task done and this is something I struggle with. It’s okay to slow down. The dishwasher doesn’t have to be loaded just the right way and it’s okay if the towels aren’t folded perfectly. Your kids are learning important skills and feeling proud of the job they did!
3. Organizing the home
Having an organized home is so important in having a clutter-free mind. I don’t know about you, but when my home is cluttered I feel that I can’t focus on anything until there is some order established. Maintaining an organized home can be very difficult with young children, but finding ways to quickly get the house organized is so helpful. My sister introduced me to The Minimal Mom and she was incredibly helpful in providing practical tips to get organized. It is much easier to have an organized home when you just don’t have as much stuff and The Minimal Mom tells you exactly how to do it. If you feel very overwhelmed by clutter and organization, I highly recommend watching her videos.
4. Taking care of children
If you are a mom, taking care of your children is of the utmost importance for a homemaker. The home should be a safe haven for our children- a place to disciple our children, inspire creativity, have fun, be silly and especially feel loved. As a homemaker it is so easy to get caught up in the daily tasks that we forget who were are doing this for- our family. As mentioned before, include your kids in the homemaking tasks if you can!
5. Budgeting
Every family handles their finances differently. I believe what is most important is that the husband and wife handle them together and form some sort of budget. As homemakers, we are usually the ones responsible for buying food and clothes for the family. It’s important that we know how to spend our money wisely. I highly recommend using Mint to make sure your family is staying on track.
6. Time management
Use a calendar and check it often! Whether you prefer a paper or digital calendar, it up to you. However, it is very important to be sure that your family is aware of upcoming events and things that need to be done. I’ve found that having my calendar on my phone makes it very easy to check my family’s schedule or to add something to it. Check your calendar every morning, move things around that you didn’t have time to do the day before, and be sure you’re not forgetting any obligations for the week!
7. Simple Sewing
You don’t need to be a seamstress to be a good homemaker, but knowing a few simple sewing skills is very helpful! Learning how to sew on a button and hem pants will save your family time and money. Youtube has so many great tutorials on how to do simple mending. This simple sewing kit is all you need for these basic skills.
8. Gardening
If you have a backyard for a large garden or only an apartment balcony, part of being a modern homemaker is learning to garden within whatever space you have. By “garden” I don’t mean that you need to grow your own vegetables (although that’s awesome if you can!). Just having a couple of pots with flowers on your porch makes your home feel cheerful and inviting. I recommend going to your local plant shop and chatting with someone there about about flowers. Be realistic about how much time you’re willing to spend on your garden and find plants that are easy to maintain.
9. Hospitality
Being a homemaker also means being willing to open your home up to others. You don’t need to host large gatherings at your house every weekend. Just having one friend over for coffee can be a great encouragement for everyone. Hospitality seems to be a dying art in our culture. Maybe because we see each others’ daily lives on social media so much. Or because we feel like our home is never tidy enough to have someone over. Your house doesn’t have to be Pinterest-worthy to have guests over. In fact, I think it makes others feel more relaxed when they go to a house that isn’t perfect. And a helpful tip… it’s much easier to get the house straight when friends come over on short notice when you have already decluttered your home!
10. Creating a comforting and peaceful atmosphere
Perhaps the most overlooked job of a homemaker is that of creating the atmosphere you want your family to live in. This is where being a joyful homemaker comes in. Listen… I confess I am not joyful everyday. I know this is a struggle for wives or moms who are trying to balance so many responsibilities. This job it not easy!! But this task of homemaking is the profession that God has entrusted us with, and by His grace we are to strive to do it joyfully.
If you’ve worked outside the home, you know that leaders set the tone for the whole team. The same goes for the home. Yes, this ultimately rests with the husband, but this goes for us too! If we are always complaining or have a poor attitude, we are sure to rub that off on the rest of our family. I love this quote by Sally Clarkson, “Home is the kingdom in which we have the daily choice and power to make our tiny domain one of light.” Creating a haven for our family is a choice and effort we must make daily, but the reward is immeasurable. And only by His grace we are able to accomplish this!
“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” Proverbs 24:3-4
This post was all about homemaking skills for the modern homemaker.
