Housekeeping, Homemaking, and Motivation

Hello, dear friends and readers!

This past Tuesday (October 8th), I recorded a live video on the blog Facebook page. I discussed housekeeping, homemaking, and motivation, mostly from a personal experience perspective.

As I write this post to you on a rainy, fall afternoon, I look forward to reiterating my main points for reference and adding a few more details that I may have forgotten during the video.

If you have followed my blog, you are probably more familiar with my personal story. But if you are new to Mama Smith Writes, welcome!

My name is Cassidy, and I am a wife and a mother. My sweet husband and I have been married for three years. We have a toddler-aged son, and we are expecting a daughter in late December.

You might be asking yourself, "What does this gal know about housekeeping and homemaking? She is barely married and has one kid! What can I learn from her?" Well, allow me to reassure you that your questions are valid! I am not a veteran mom with five children and a part-time side hustle. I do, however, have some value to add in this conversation. For the majority of the past eight months -- and perhaps a little longer -- I have been pursuing my own journey with housekeeping and homemaking. Along the way, I've learned a lot, especially as a beginner in home management.

Before diving into my own experience with these topics, I wanted to nail down a couple rudimentary definitions for you.

First, let us establish a working definition for the term "housekeeping." For my family and for my own personal reference, I think of housekeeping as,

"accomplishing tasks around one's home in order to meet mutually agreed upon standards of cleanliness, health, and functionality; often enhanced by conscious habits, schedules, and routines."

Likewise, forming a reasonable explanation for the term "homemaking" proves beneficial. I like to think of homemaking as,

"transforming a house into a home... providing comfort, warmth, and a welcoming atmosphere for the specific inhabitants of the home; general effects can be achieved through food, decorating, pleasant aromas, soft textures, and other aesthetic details."

As the capstone of any discussion regarding housekeeping and homemaking, I find it extremely helpful to establish an overarching motivation. Discovering why I am doing something helps me to continue working hard at it until my skills have improved!

In my process of motivation refinement, if you will, I started out with mediocre motivations. For example, at the very beginning, my housekeeping efforts proceeded from a desire to make my husband less annoyed with the state of our home. Then, for a brief period, I was only motivated to keep my home clean because I lived in mortal terror of someone else's negative opinions and judgment.

Today, I can happily report to you that my motivation has settled into a much more biblical and healthy place. I have noticed a movement from duty to delight in my home management. At this precise moment, I would say that I am motivated to pursue housekeeping and homemaking in order to love God and to love my neighbor. In this circumstance, my neighbor is my immediate family: my husband and my children. Loving God in this arena requires me to consider how good stewardship looks when it comes to my home. Loving my neighbor means that I ask honest questions about my family's happiness, health, safety, and comfort as we inhabit our home together.

Now that I've discussed some basic vocabulary with you, we can explore my personal experience with these topics.

As I'm sure many young women could attest, my journey began after my husband and I were married, and honestly, after our first child was born. Embarking upon housekeeping and homemaking felt a lot like total immersion in a foreign language, except I hadn't been diligent enough at my study of vocabulary and verb tenses. Although I possessed the basic building blocks of rudimentary housework, I had no clue how to manage my time in order to get all the tasks accomplished in my home on a regular basis. I could clean a bathroom, vacuum a floor, wash the dishes, and do the laundry, but I couldn't juggle feeding a newborn, feeding myself and my spouse, and getting in a shower while managing all the household chores. The struggle was VERY real!

The first tool that helped me was a simple list I made one day on a whiteboard. I wrote down five tasks I needed to accomplish that day (e.g. shower, dishes, laundry, dust, make dinner, tidy up). In the midst of newborn baby times, sleep deprivation, and the reality of postpartum scatterbrain, this list clarified and simplified my goals for each day. I would change it whenever I needed to, and if I didn't accomplish everything for whatever reason, I wouldn't stress too much. The leftover tasks simply made it onto tomorrow's list.

After the encouraging success of my list, I moved on to establishing habits and schedules. My sweet husband helped by suggesting days of the week to associate with specific tasks. Monday could become "laundry day," for example, and Tuesday could be "grocery day." This daily tasking approach also helped me to make corresponding habits and a sort of chore "muscle memory." Consistently doing a task creates an ease with which you can make decisions around your home. I found that I wasn't wasting time trying to decide which thing to do because I already had a plan.

My first major breakthrough occurred when I found a method for cleaning linoleum floors.

I know it sounds crazy, but I REALLY did not like my linoleum floors. They always seemed to look dingy and gross, no matter if I had swept or vacuumed or run a Swiffer mop over them. So, after a brief Google search, I finally found a method for making my floors shine! I don't follow the directions exactly, but if you'd like to look at the original article that inspired me, you can find it here.

Basically, I put a little dish soap, a cup of vinegar, and some hot water in a mop bucket. Then, I used a Libman microfiber mop (purchased at WinCo for a better price, but the link will take you to Amazon, for visual reference) to spread this solution on the floor. After allowing it to dry, I was astonished at how much I enjoyed my floors! I've noticed since then that the vinegar scent lingers for a little while, but my floors have never been so shiny and clean!

Once I had the small "win" with the floors, I started examining my son's nap times and the flexible periods in my day with more intentionality. I would start out each nap time on a wing and a prayer, hoping he would stay asleep. But I planned for the greatest amount of productivity possible.

For example, if my son went down for a nap at noon, I would immediately do the tasks that I could "set and forget," like throwing in a load of laundry or starting the dishwasher. These tasks only take a few minutes, ideally. Then, I would follow up with the high-interruption-risk tasks (e.g. sweeping and mopping the kitchen, cleaning the bathrooms). After finishing these first few tasks, if I had any time left, I would hand wash some dishes in the sink, fold a load of laundry, or tidy up a room. Usually, after accomplishing as much as I possibly could, my son would wake up, and we continued with our regularly scheduled programming.

As I conclude my personal experience, I want to emphasize that I am still VERY much in progress with all these things! I have frustrating days when my plans are foiled again and again, and I stumble into bed a bit on the discouraged side. But the key is always persevering! It will get better as you learn and refine your skills!

Thank you for sticking with me through this longer, prosy post! Below, I have listed a few quick resources and tips for ease of reference.

I appreciate your readership, and I hope to see you again soon, whether on the Facebook page, as a viewer on my next live video, or maybe as you peruse other articles on the blog.

Have a great day!

Soli Deo Gloria.

- Mama Smith

Resources

Dana K. White
- podcast entitled A Slob Comes Clean*
- books = How to Manage Your Home without Losing Your Mind and Decluttering at the Speed of Life

*The link will take you to Dana's website where you can find her blog, podcast, and books.

Rachel Jankovic
- podcast entitled What Have You
- books = Loving the Little Years and Fit to Burst


Quick Tips
1) Make a plan, however simple.
2) Don't be afraid or disappointed if you need to change the plan (many times...).
3) Keep your priorities clear.
4) Chalk up mistakes to learning opportunities.
5) Time yourself doing tasks!

ULTIMATE TIP:
     Learn the rules so you know how and when it is appropriate -- and sometimes even wise -- to break them. Every home and every family is different, with differing needs, desires, and general priorities.

Image courtesy of Pexels.com