Developing a new habit, especially at the beginning of a new year, month, or season, is something that I know many of us love to do.
A habit is something I do regularly that eventually forms my custom, practice, or way of life.
We, or at least I, love to adopt a habit that I know will lead me towards being more fruitful as a Christian homemaker, homeschooling as well as a work-from-home mom.
It could be a habit I am slowly forming as I go through my day.
It could also be one I learned from a fellow homemaker that I can see is giving her the kind of results I’m desiring to see in my own life.
Thankfully, a habit is not limited to a particular season or point in time. One can learn to adopt and incorporate new habits that will enhance effectiveness as a mom.
I want to share with you my five homemaking habits that have made my life more productive as I see myself accomplishing a lot more each season.
- Keeping a Schedule and Routine
Before you sign off, and think, I am not one given to keeping to schedules and routines. Hear me out.
I’ll give you a little illustration.
We were starting our school term a few days ago.
I was pleasantly surprised to find my daughters’ room and bathroom sparkling clean.
I hadn’t reminded them to work on their room and bathroom. They had done it before breakfast because I’d once made a schedule for them of what they were to do every morning before breakfast and school.
Several months later, this routine became part of their school morning routine.
They know they’ll wake up, have their devotion, do their morning chores, go for milk at our brother’s, and finally set the table and settle down for breakfast.
During holidays, they would have a little freedom to decide when to clean their space but not during school days.
That’s my point when it comes to scheduling. Scheduling simply helps you to capture the big picture of what you want to accomplish.
You then break it down into smaller daily goals that become part of your routine.
Now how your routine will look like is entirely up to you. You however are aware that you’ve set in place little goals that help you chip away at the bigger goals.
Part of my routine, for example, is to have my personal devotion with the Lord. This will involve several activities within a given timeframe each day that have become part of my daily routine. (More of this is in our last point)
Having a schedule and routine will help you ensure you are doing what needs to be done to propel your life forward rather than random activities that may not lead up to the big picture of what you want to accomplish.
You may then want to acquire certain tools that can help you in this, depending on your personal preference.
This could be a planner, a diary, a to-do list, and such.
Whatever you do, I’m hopeful that acquiring the habit and custom of keeping to a schedule and or routine will help you accomplish a lot more as a mom.
- Meal Planning and Prepping
Meal planning and prepping has been a game changer for me ever since I learned of it and began practicing.
When I decide in advance what my household will eat, doing as much preparation as possible for the meals ahead of time has helped me save on time and resources.
It hadn’t occurred to me that I spend so much time and mental energy just thinking about what my family will eat.
This was made worse when we moved to the countryside and the nearest shop is at least a kilometer away.
I had to learn to meal prep, if only for the reality that it would be quite costly going to purchase what I need in the spur of the moment.
I also realized that when I meal prepped, hosting wasn’t as distressing.
I learned that one of the things that would make hosting stressful for me as a homemaker was when I didn’t have in mind what to serve my guests, or I thought that what I needed to prepare was going to take me too long.
I have since made meal prepping part of my monthly, and sometimes weekly habit to give me peace of mind about what my family and guests will eat.
Thankfully, there’s so much on the internet about meal prepping. You could adopt the meal-prepping style that would suit you best.
For instance, you may want to meal prep termly, monthly, weekly, or even daily, or in the evenings, depending on how much time you have on your hands, to free up your time to accomplish more.
There was a season I would write every morning because my breakfasts were prepared ahead of time and I could afford an hour every morning.
I was able to complete the book several months later. This was part of the benefit of meal prepping.
- Early-to-bed and Early-to-rise Principle
As I talk about this, I know there is a lot that has been said about this principle, including that there are those that are referred to as morning larks because they are morning people. Some are called night owls because they prefer to work at night.
Let me say two things now that I am a Christian.
One, because I read the Bible, I have found a lot of inferences about the morning when it comes to when to wake up. I have talked about this in this blog post here.
I have since adopted a lifestyle of waking up early, according to my convictions, so that I can have a head start on several things I consider vital in my life and that need concentration as well as little if any, interruption.
Secondly, when I talk of the early morning, I don’t mean a particular time for everyone.
What I mean is that you want to establish a reasonable time by which you can set your day up for success.
I have found that how I begin my morning more often than not determines how the rest of my day will go, whether productively or fruitlessly.
That’s why I have found for example that beginning my day with a quiet time with the Lord often sets my heart up in a way that I will act more graciously towards others.
As you know, relating with others aright is often an indicator of whether your day is fruitful or not, from the scriptural point of view.
I hence try to manage my evening in such a way that I am in bed early.
The greatest of this management is ensuring that I have prepared supper early so that we are in bed by latest 10 pm.
This then helps us rest enough to begin the day early.
I must however hesitate to add that certain seasons of our lives can mean that we adopt what I would call a “temporary” routine that we will work with until that season is over.
When I had our first baby for instance, and she would keep us awake some of the nights, I realized my sleeping pattern was greatly interrupted.
I had to organize my activities around the baby’s schedule which would keep changing until she settled down to sleep most of the hours of the night.
God, the giver of all wisdom, will graciously give you wisdom when you ask him, to show you how to operate in the varying seasons of your life, to accomplish a lot more for his glory.
- Kitchen Organization before Bedtime
One of my “time-wasting” activities has been trying to sort my kitchen in the morning as I work on breakfast.
This has been a timewaster, that is, until I learned from a fellow homemaker to set my kitchen in order before I go to sleep.
This wasn’t an easy one as you would imagine but it does make a world of difference when I get to do this.
I tend to be a naturally thorough person. Clearing the kitchen and sorting the dishes can take me up to two hours if not more.
Since I learned that I could clear the kitchen the night before, I have been working towards making this habit a reality in my life.
I also realized that as opposed to the morning, when other household members are engaged in other chores, engaging them at night to help you is more practical.
Most nights, they are engaged in their own personal activities that can wait as they help in clearing the kitchen.
This has made it easier for me to manage my mornings as a homemaker when I can use that time to mostly work on my ministry/ business engagements that need to be done during the morning hours.
- Personal Devotion Routine
I highly value my personal devotion with the Lord.
It is the most important habit that determines whether everything else I do will be fruitful.
Above all, it helps me keep ensuring that what I do is for the glory of God and it counts for eternity.
The Scriptures remind us in the words of this question that Jesus asked: What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?
My personal devotion helps me keep going back to why I’m doing all that I’m doing. It is about God and his people.
This is why my personal devotion must be part of my daily habits.
Personal devotion or quiet time with the Lord is about deliberately setting aside time to commune with God.
In my personal devotion, I have 5 routines that are part of my quiet time with God.
I have talked about these in detail in this blog post here. Let me though, briefly outline them so that you know what these routines are.
They are prayer and Bible reading, journaling, Scripture Memory, reading, (Christian literature), and exercise.
Exercise is part of my devotion to the Lord because it is scriptural.
It is also part of my devotion because I have made it a habit to double up my exercise with personal prayer when I get to pray about various requests and issues on my heart as I walk up and down a quiet hillside.
These routines mean the world to me. They have helped me grow the spiritual muscle I need to be effective as a homemaker.
These routines form my most valued habit that I hope would be part of your daily habits.
These will help you to keep growing in your faith and ministry to others as well as stimulate you to wholesome thinking as a homemaker.
It’s my sincere hope and prayer that these habits will be transformational for you as they’ve been for me.
Great insite. Very helpful article!
Thank you so much Stacy!