Mastering the Reset of Homemaking Routines
Summer is such a wonderful time because there are so many things you can do. Sunshine energy comes and the age-old excuse pops into our heads: well it’s summer and I want to do these activities with the kids while they are home. Of course, I encourage you to enjoy summer as a mom, but when your homemaking routines are falling by the wayside, you need to grab control asap.
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Emergency Home Management Chaos
With three kids over the years and no idea how to organize a house, it took me many years of stumbling about. Finally after having people come to help and tons of YouTube videos, I finally felt some amount of confidence in managing my home. Yay!
Soon then after we moved. Boo!
All of my homemaking routines went down the drain – again. Not only that but I felt a real sense of chaos.
The kids were everywhere and so were boxes, plus my energy was zapped. The last thing on my mind was keeping the toilet clean or sweeping the floor. Even after I got rid of most of the boxes, I felt like I was just getting through the day and I wasn’t doing much with my home.
Has that ever been you? Perhaps it’s not from any big move or life change. Maybe it’s just busyness or, as I mentioned, summertime comes with its own set of rules as a mother.
Back in Control: Emergency Home Management Reset
There are five powerful steps you can to get your house under control and end that messy mind.
Download this Homemaking, Free From Crisis-Mode Checklist in the Treasure Box
This is the watermark version, yours won't have smileys 🙂
#1 Feed everyone
I mean go get Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s or get a frozen pizza. If they are hungry you won’t focus or have the energy for anything. The kids will drive you nuts!
Don’t forget to feed yourself! Once you’ve eaten, write down five quick meals that you and/or the kids can make on their own. Run to the store (while you have fuel) and get the ingredients.
Quick ideas:
Peanut butter and jelly
Ham and cheese
Chicken nuggets and tater tots
Macaroni and cheese
Ground beef
Canned soup with crackers
#2 Find time-sensitive items and DC as many as possible
DC means Discontinue. Go ahead and return library items, pay bills that are soon due (or overdue because you got so busy!).
This also means canceling every unnecessary appointment. Say no to your friends, your volunteer position, your dentist, your kids’ play dates (unless it is a dropoff which would free up your hands).
Getting peace in your home is more important than that one-hour meetup.
#3 Fold the Clothes
Let’s get clean clothes available for everyone again. Just like with the time-sensitive appointment, some things you’re going to have to say no to.
No, I can’t continue unpacking when there are no clean towels.
No, I can’t scroll Instagram while there is a load of unfolded clothes sitting there. Put on a movie and fold.
No, I can’t let my kids do whatever when I need them to help me get a few loads done. I need to direct them in helping. (If they know how to fold or put clothes in the washing machine, have them do it so you all can gain control over the home.)
And don’t go throw a load in and get preoccupied then move it to the dryer at 8 p.m. That might work if your house wasn’t in crisis mode. You’ll forget.
Instead:
Start the load, put on a timer.
When it goes off, have the kids change over the load to the dryer a new load to wash.
Put on the timer again. Now the dryer is done, go get it.
Have the kids help you fold and put it away.
Repeat.
#3 Fix the Kitchen – so you can get in there!
Cleaning up your kitchen can be done while waiting on your laundry loads to dry. The kitchen is already such a huge part of home management, you probably already know what to do here. Get in there and focus on dishes first. I read a marvelous book, that discusses this. Talk about house cleaning motivation! But the chapters on doing the dishes was so plain it was convicting.
Don’t get bogged down with details though. The important part is keeping your kitchen clean as the sole focus besides the laundry.
#5 Flex your Meal Planning Muscles
Yep, you knew it was coming. The last step in getting a chaotic house under control is having a game plan for food.
By now it’s been a few days since your quick run for simple meals, and I’m sure they are dangerously low.
Never wait until you are out.
So with the kitchen mostly clean, you should have some idea of what’s left to eat.
Jot down what to make for the following week and don’t forget snacks and lunches. Then take your plan and transform it into a grocery list and go to the store.
Non-Emergency Homemaker Chaos
I know most of you aren’t in a dire, life-challenging situation. Life is challenging enough on its own.
In fact, the majority of the time that you will need to redo your homemaking routines will be when you just living life as normal and somehow got off track. This is so common, we need to stop being ashamed of it.
Honestly, I used to feel bad about this, always redoing my house cleaning schedule and resetting my life.
However, as a frugal homemaker and mom, I’ve come to realize that this is all a part of the game. I can’t expect my children to be constantly changing, growing, and developing but things stay the same in my own life and schedule.
I mean when I think about it, it’s laughable how unreasonable I am with myself.
So, yes, even when nothing out of the ordinary is happening, no emergency or crisis, you will have to reset your homemaking routines. But don’t worry, there are many realistic cleaning schedules that you can use to create a marvelous weekly or daily homemaker schedule.
The Homemaking Routines Reset
For me, a homemaker’s morning is the most important time of the day. Probably because I’m a morning person, but also it’s better to get a hold of the day before it gets too far ahead of you. It’s also the time of day that I have the most energy.
It’s best for me to plan my weekly homemaking routines, primarily for the mornings. And as I look at my reset needs I realize that much of it is cleaning and cooking, but I’ll talk more about the kitchen in another post soon.
So if I take my cleaning and projects and divide them up throughout the week it may look something like this:
Another way to divide it up would be by using the wildly famous fly lady cleaning schedule, which I have used!
But my life has changed so much and with it my ability to keep tight enough reins on doing the fly lady system. However, if you can do it, I highly recommend starting with the daily flight plan!
How to Create Your Reset Plan
Creating your own homemaking reset plan is super easy.
You already have some house cleaning motivation if you are reading this. Now take some time to walk around your home with a pen and paper.
Decide which tasks or areas need the most attention. Think about and write down what tasks would be most impactful. After walking around, take your tablet (and I mean paper) and sit down to brainstorm timetables.
If you think on a daily, weekly, and monthly interval, which of these important tasks would pair up well to be done on which interval?
If you are totally stomped of where to start even in your own home, I would recommend these resources to get some ideas:
How Smart Moms Organize Routines
Creating Your Own Homemaking Routines
One Last Word on Homemaking Routines
Don’t be too hard on yourself and don’t overanalyze homemaking. You are making a home for yourself and your family. Create a place that is inviting, comfortable, clean, and full of you and your family’s favorites.
You don’t have to be old-fashioned, stylish, trendy, or vintage. Equally, you don’t have to be a SAHM, a homesteader, or a coordinated seamstress.
You just have to come up with your weekly to-dos that will create a home you love.
Even if you aren’t in a home crisis but you do want to set up your homemaking routines (maybe for the first time) I would suggest picking up my Homemaking, Free from Crisis Mode Checklist – Absolutely Free when you join the the community!
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