Creating a Simplified Homemaking Rhythm
Creating a Simplified Homemaking Rhythm is something I teach about in my course and is something I think is so important. To have a homemaking rhythm that is not only simple, but an actual rhythm. Meaning, something you can draw on even in seasons of overwhelm.
It’s a rhythm that even when life is overwhelming you have the muscle memory and systems built into your routine that it doesn’t feel like a stretch to get it all done.
How to create your own Simplified Homemaking Rhythm
When you’re creating a simplified homemaking rhythm you want to keep in mind a couple things. First, the Lord is constantly taking you through different seasons in your life which call for different needs. There’s an ebb and flow of chaos then coasting.
Secondly, each literally season calls for different needs in your homemaking rhythm. For example, summer calls for quick, easy, fresh meals that don’t require much time or heat in the kitchen. Whereas Winter calls for hearty, comforting meals that warm your tummy and soul.
God creates seasons for a reason. Seasons in life and seasons of the year. There’s joy to be found in all of them. As homemakers, it’s our job to pivot when necessary.
So in this post I’m going to walk you through how to create your own simplified homemaking rhythm, In my course I offer modules on meal planning methods, how and when to cook dinner based on different seasons, cleaning systems, seasons of overwhelm and postpartum, and more.
Step 1
Write down all the tasks that need done in your home on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Make this a brain dump list. Keep in mind things that bring you and your family joy and enrich your lives, as well as necessary homemaking duties. For example, laundry needs to be done so that will of course be a basic need that gets added to the list. But maybe daily bible time as a family brings your whole family joy – write this down too.
Step 2
Prioritize this list by going through each item and deciding which ones are top priority.
Consult your husband on this. your husbands priorities should be your priorities too. If he really values a clean house, then so do you. If he values a warm meal on the table each night, then that becomes your top priority too. When you ask your husband you may actually be surprised to find out what he values! If your husband doesn’t give you much in the way of an answer, a great way to ask this question is to frame it like this… honey, when you come home from work, if you could have only one out of these three things, which would you choose. 1. A wife who looks put-together. 2. Dinner on the table or 3. A clean house.
Step 3
Determine your days anchors. These are fixed things that always happen at pretty much the same general time each day. These can be wake up times, meals, time your husband leaves for work, school pickup times, homeschooling times, etc. These will act sort of like deadlines for your day.
Step 4
Create a plan. If you’re a schedule person make it in the form of a schedule. If that isn’t how your brain works, then do what does work for you. Using your anchors as a guide, plug in the tasks for your day – starting with your top priorities then working your way down the list. Sometimes the priorities are your anchors, if that’s the case, determine when you’ll do the tasks required of those anchors. For the priorities that are not your anchors, find where it makes sense to plug those in, in your day/week.
Step 5
Create simplified versions of each priority for seasons of overwhelm. This is where you trim the fat. For example, maybe you’re in a season of postpartum. You still need to do cook meals and you don’t want to have to rework your entire homemaking rhythm, so what could this look like now? Perhaps you implement more of what I call easy button meals, which are meals that you can cook in 15 minutes or less, using ingredients that you already have in your pantry.
You’re still cooking, you’re still getting food on the table, but you’ve simplified the rhythm based on the season you’re in.
Or, maybe meal planning every week isn’t happening in this season so you purchase one of my remade 6- month meal plans so the work is already done for you.
You get the idea. Come up with a plan for each task AHEAD OF TIME so you aren’t floundering when you’re actually in a season of overwhelm.
bonus tip
Know when it’s time to pivot from one method to another. Sometimes this takes discernment. I know for myself, I’m often stubborn and don’t even recognize when I’m in a season where I need to pivot. And sometimes this is very obvious! Either way, be prayerful about this and the Lord will guide you.
If you’re looking for specific advice on homemaking tasks like exactly when do I cook dinner if I’m in this particular season, or how can I possibly meal plan when i can barely get dinner on the table? Then I’d love for you to join my course, the Transformed Homemakers Society where I walk you through these day-to-day homemaking rhythms.
