5 Ways to Grow as a Homemaker
Meet Jane. Jane was a normal girl growing up. Starting in elementary school, she was asked what she want to be when she grow up. She decided early on that she wanted to be a teacher and felt that she might as well be working towards something! Then through junior high and high school, hours of school and homework are piled on to prepare for that eventual career.
Then four grueling years are spent studying sun up to sun down in college for that next step. Upon completion of college, after 16+ years of schooling…this is it…it’s time for Jane to start her career! She graduates college, gets a teaching job, and settles into life. Until one day she meets Mr. Right, they fall madly in love, wedding bells chime, and Jane suddenly finds herself as the manager of her home…without any training!
Jane is now the primary cook, finance manager, grocery shopper, cleaner, organizer, baker, and so much more. Jane suddenly has too many hats to wear and no training to handle it!
Jane spent years preparing for her career and only minutes thinking about managing her home. Jane’s story is a familiar one to many. Jane’s story is my story!
Homemaking IS a Career
What I didn’t understand {and so many don’t realize} is that being a homemaker is a career. My full time job is as a wife and a mother managing my home for God’s Glory! I wear 50 hats and have to be proficient {if not excellent} in many very different areas!
I came into marriage knowing very little about how to run a household. I knew how to make very basic meals and knew little to nothing about real nutrition and healthy living. I had a steep learning curve ahead of me and I am still daily learning what it means to be a Biblical homemaker.
The Excellent Wife of the Proverbs is a wonderful example to us:
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels…She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands…She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. ~ Proverbs 31:10-20
5 Ways to Grow as a (Busy) Homemaker
Homemaking is a career like any other. It takes time, attention, and forethought to do it well. You need to put the time in learning the tools of your trade!
1) Carve Out Time
Putting Dr. before your name doesn’t make you anymore a medical doctor than getting married makes you a real God honoring homemaker. Every woman is a homemaker in the sense that her home is her responsibility but not all woman take that responsibility seriously and actually make their home.
So decide today. This minute. That you will start dedicating some time to learning the art of homemaking. Are you single and without children? Then make large amounts of time in your week to be intentional about learning to be a homemaker. But even if you are that worn out busy mom of little ones, carve out a little time. Decide to try and cook one new meal a week for the family to improve your cooking skills and read one book a month on a skill you need to improve in.
Anyone can find a little time to work on their homemaking skills, but only if you want it bad enough. Make the time, this is your career!
2) Make a List
I started feeling overwhelmed at everything I needed to learn as a new wife so I decided to make a list! It has been so helpful to jot down things I need to learn how to do and goals that I have. It helps keep me motivated to keep working through my list and gives me encouragement to see how far I’ve come!
My list has skills to acquire and goals from every area of homemaking. Here are a few of my goals and skills I need to work on to give you an idea:
- Learn how to sew {so that I can repair old clothes & frugally decorate my house}
- Sew curtains for our house
- Learn how to make sourdough bread
- Learn how to make & convert to natural cleaners for my home
- Try one new recipe a week to help improve my cooking skills
- Learn to decorate cakes
- Practice Hospitality & have people into our home at least twice a month
Some of those skills & goals I have accomplished, some I’m working on, and some {like sewing} I haven’t even begun yet! I challenge you to start your list right now!
3) Actually Do The Things On Your List
Now, this is the difficult part…actually doing the things on your list! I know that life gets in the wife and sometimes it can seem impossible to find an extra 10 minutes, but this is important!
There will always be an excuse of why you don’t have the time…so make the time. Pick one small thing this week that you can do. Do you want to learn how to make beautiful wedding cakes to bless your family and the families in your church? Start small. Decide that you will bake a small cake this weekend for your family and try out a new recipe. START today and tomorrow you will be one day ahead!
4) Study
Becoming a homemaker not only takes a little elbow grease, it also takes studying!
I have always wanted to learn to decorate cakes. So while in college I signed up to take a 4 week introduction decorating cake class at my local JoAnn’s. People thought I was nuts because I was also in college full time and working nearly full time. It meant one night a week away from my new hubby but it was important to me as a homemaker. I did the hard work of getting my homework done early and went to cake decorating class. Now three years later that hard work as paid off and I’m a cake decorating pro {not really but I can make a mean Mario cake ;)}! I was intentional about learning a new skill that was important to me and knew there was no time like the present!
Take a class. Ask other homemaker’s around you how they accomplish certain tasks. Ask them to show you how to make homemade bread or how to sew!
Read.Read.Read. There is a wealth of information on the internet! Let Google and Pinterest be your best friend!
Becoming a homemaker that pleases the Lord is an everyday task! It will never happen overnight and there is always something new to learn! But have fun with it, don’t get overwhelmed, and get moving on investing in your career as a homemaker!
5) Give Yourself Grace!
You can’t do it all! Stop comparing yourself to others, everyone has a different homemaking journey to walk. Are you realizing that you have ZERO homemaking skills {like I did when I first got married?}, then don’t despair! Instead, rejoice that want to fix the situation and start TODAY on becoming a great homemaker.
Don’t beat yourself up about burning dinner or having ugly curtains because you don’t really know how to sew but you are trying {both are true of me}! The important thing so to be continually working on becoming a woman and homemaker that pleases God!
Use your time wisely, honor God, and work on being an intentional homemaker!
Read more about growing as a Homemaker:
- Setting the Atmosphere in Your Home…For God’s Glory!
- Taking Charge of Your Family’s Health…For God’s Glory!
- Managing Your Home…For God’s Glory!
- Managing Your Family’s Finances…For God’s Glory!
5 Keys to Planning a Successful Day
Free PDF Guide & Training Video!
If you want to take this concept further and jump into how you can plan for a successful day (and what that even means), then I want to invite you to sign up for my FREE video and PDF guide 5 Keys to Planning a Successful Day.
Sign up and you can start going through it right away! Join me to chat about how, with a few simple tips, we can start living with more intention. It might seem overwhelming to work on being more intentional and purposeful in your schedules and to-do list. But in reality, it takes just a few minutes to begin transforming your routines with 5 simple steps…
