How to be an Efficient Homemaker

Today, I’m sharing a few tips for how to be an efficient homemaker. These tips are simple and easy to implement, so let’s get started!

A Story

A few years ago, I found myself chatting with a friend about how many emails and private messages I was getting regarding my clean and peaceful home. I didn’t think much about it, but then it started to be a fairly constant discussion behind the scenes of my Instagram account. Women wanted to know how to be an efficient homemaker.

As I discussed it with my friend, she mentioned how homemaking doesn’t come naturally to everyone and that, maybe, I should create some content teach women how to be an efficient homemaker in their own homes. That is when I burned the midnight oil creating my Clean & Simple eCourse.

As we embark upon another spring cleaning season, I thought I would do a simple series here on the blog to help curious homemakers see how I became an efficient homemaker.

1. Efficient Homemaking Rhythms

I love schedules and I like order, but that doesn’t always work for every lady and her home. I am a work-at-home, homeschooling mom, so my cleaning rhythm will be different than someone who is gone working out of the home every day. Regardless, it’s important to recognize how rhythms prepare us for what our day holds. Rhythms naturally get our minds and bodies ready for the work ahead because we are creatures of habit.

The best thing a lady can do to keep her home under wraps is to create some sort of rhythm. Here are some ideas of daily items that can be included in your rhythm:

Sample Rhythm

• Throw a load of laundry in first thing in the morning; empty dishwasher
• Quickly Wipe down bathroom counter after getting ready; make sure towels are hung neatly
• Eat breakfast and pop dishes into dishwasher immediately
• Move laundry to the dryer
• Begin daily job- work-from-home, homeschool, go to outside job, etc.
• For me, I begin supper prep at 3
• Fold load of laundry
• Supper at 5:30
• Clean up supper and kitchen- wipe table down, sweep floors, put all dishes in dishwasher and get it running

Those are a few daily tasks for my home. They are benchmarks, so to speak, in my day. A cleaning rhythm helps me to be an efficient homemaker. Everyone’s benchmarks will be different, but this gives you an idea of how my day in run.

2. Efficient Homemaker Habits

Every homemaker has habits. Some are helpful and some are not. Every day, I have certain goals for my home prior to going to bed. I want my kitchen to be tidy (no dishes in the sink and no crumbs on the counters/floor), the living room blankets and pillows to be in place, toys tucked away, and a clean towel hanging in our main bathroom.

My habits have changed over the years depending upon whether we have a baby or depending on the actual season we are in. During the toddler/baby years, I didn’t have an empty sink every night, but I did make sure every dirty dish was in the sink. Some nights, I was plain ol’ worn out and couldn’t muster washing another dish. We all have those seasons in life, but having a few good habits can lead to more good habits later on.

Highly Efficient Habits

1. Daily Maintenance– this habit is so helpful in keeping a drop-by ready home. You don’t need to deep clean, but keeping the main bathroom tidy and the kitchen counter wiped down can save so much time and effort later on.
2. Rising Early– Again… grace, my friends. If you’re up with a baby until the wee hours of the morning, this will shift, but if you are a well-rested wife/mama, this is doable. Rising early gives me so much time to prepare the home in the morning without distraction. Maybe it’s pulling meat out for supper to thaw or preparing for our school day… it helps so much. If you aren’t an early bird, these things can also be done at night prior to going to bed.
3. Make your bed– I didn’t used to have this habit, but the past five years have proven to me that having a made bed instantly makes the entire room feel pulled together. If making your bed feels like too much of a chore, you have too much stuff on your bed. Keep your bedding simple so that making it doesn’t feel like climbing a mountain.
4. Pick up as you go– This is a game changer for us. If we don’t tidy as the day goes along, we end up with a complete mess and I feel in despair (drama much?). lol This is a highly effective habit and it makes the day-end routine much easier.
5. Meal Prep on Hand– Not everyone loves to meal prep. I am someone who thrives in the kitchen, but that’s not everyone’s story. The efficient habit here is to have basic ingredients on hand, at all times, so you can throw something together for supper without much thought. For us, it’s taco ingredients. We all like tacos and I can mix them up so that we don’t get bored, but it doesn’t take much prep or forethought to get them on the table.

3. Efficient Expectations

One of the main points I shared in my Clean & Simple eCourse was about expectations and how they can set us up for failure or success. It is important to take a look at your current life (lots of littles in the home?) and set realistic and attainable expectations. I have trained my kids to help me with so many things to keep our home running smoothly, but when they were little those things all fell on my shoulders. “Doing it all” simply wasn’t possible, so I picked a few areas that I wanted to be clean all of the time and I focused on those areas. If the other areas got a bit muddled, I let it go and worried about it later.

For me, those target areas were: the kitchen, living room, and the main bathroom.

So, if you have a busy house with little ones, pick a few target areas that you want to be tidy and don’t stress the rest.

Now that my kids are older, I am well rested, and they are capable of carrying the load alongside of me, the home is kept tidy daily. We all pitch in and help to create a lovely and efficient home.

4. Efficient Attitudes for Homemakers

One of the biggest barriers for efficient homemaking is our attitude. This is simple, but try to consider it joy that you get to serve your family. It is much easier when things are running smoothly, but I promise that having a good attitude can turn things around!

It’s important to remember that homemaking is a job. Homemaking doesn’t mean sitting on the sofa eating bon-bons. It is about service and pouring one’s self out for the sake of others. Keeping an attitude of service helps to get through the bumps along the way.

5. Efficient Rest for Homemakers

One of the most important parts of an efficient homemaker’s life is rest. Having adequate rest impacts all of the other areas of homemaking. If you are bone tired, then your attitude, efficiency, habits, and rhythm will all be impacted.

We can’t all get a full 8 hours of rest, but try to get as much as you can. This might mean pushing up bedtimes for the entire home or not watching as much tv in the evening. Whatever it might be, do your best to get the rest you need so you can be an efficient homemaker.

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Resources for you

FREE Monthly Cleaning Printables

Clean & Simple eCourse

Homemaking Cleaning Supplies

Preparing your home to be tidy