How To Be A Homemaker When You Hate Housework

Becoming a homemaker won’t happen overnight. You have to be kind to yourself and allow yourself to create good habits. Take one day at a time. If you hate housework, if family life is chaotic like it is in my house, or if you work outside the home full time, you’re not going to know how to be a good homemaker overnight. You won’t have the time to learn those skills all in one day. You will have to learn to spend a little bit of time each day understanding how to manage your day correctly, making minor tweaks to your day, to make your life a little bit easier.
Don’t worry about being a good homemaker. Don’t think you’ve got to be a better homemaker than you already are. You are going to learn to manage your day to fit in with your family and life.
So let’s started on this homemaking 101 journey

1. Keep two simple lists

   Working from a list is not everybody’s idea of fun. I know how hard it can be to keep on top of your list.
   It can be pretty soul-destroying when you don’t manage to complete the jobs that you’ve added to your list. It can really be a motivation crusher; however, the system that I use is designed to ensure that you are only starting the jobs you are capable of doing within your time constraints and physical abilities.
   If you really hate lists, that’s fine I’m not suggesting that you control your whole life with a list, but just jotting down a few little things that are running around your brain to get them out of your thought helps to get out of the quagmire and prevents the dreaded procrastination.
   
   A weekly planner is your friend. It’s not a list of jobs that you have to do and cross out. It is just a record of things like
   ✔️Where you and your kids need to be
   ✔️What’s for dinner
   ✔️ Birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
   ✔️ What you need to pick up at the store
   ✔️ Bills to be paid
   ✔️ kid’s school reminders such as non-uniform day, swimming, school photos, and book day.
   
   So I’m sure you can manage that without too much stress. A weekly planner helps to keep you organized and make sure you don’t forget important things.
   Your weekly planner should be kept somewhere where you can see it and check it regularly throughout the day.
   I like to cross off everywhere I’ve been, everything I’ve done, and everything I’ve organized to leave only t the things that need to be done.
   I keep my weekly planner in the kitchen next to my food prep area so that when I’m cooking tea, getting the kids breakfasts, or making my lunch, I can keep checking to make sure that I’ve not forgotten anything.
   I usually have my weekly planner planned out at least two weeks in advance, so I know exactly what I’m doing and where I’m going, whether any birthdays are coming up and the things I need to plan for these weekdays.
   
   To-do list
   My second list is a to-do list which is written down on a long thin shopping list pad. this is not a usual to-do list that gives you pressure to get all the jobs done that day and makes you feel like a failure if you don’t accomplish them all.
   This is a list of jobs that I’d like to get done next when I’ve got 15 minutes of spare time. for instance,
   ✔️ Spot cleaning the walls,
   ✔️ Washing the windows
   ✔️ 15 minutes tidying the garden
   ✔️ Cleaning under my son’s bird
   ✔️ Declutter a drawer
   ✔️ Clean out a kitchen cupboard.
   I try to get at least one of these jobs done each day, but I never stress if I don’t have time to do it.
   
   As I’m walking around the house and notice anything that I think needs to be done I will add it to the bottom of the list. if the job is time-consuming like gardening, I will break it down into 15 minutes at a time. A job doesn’t go on this list if it will take longer than 15 minutes to complete.
   This allows me to catch jobs that I keep thinking about as I see them but don’t have time to do.
   
   The thing I love about this list is that when I’m tempted to procrastinate and leave one chore to start another, I know that it’s on my list and that I’ll eventually get round to it later on in the week when I’ve done all the other jobs.
   
   There is a method to this list, and it’s the only way that works.
   Don’t be tempted to pick the easy jobs off the list and procrastinate on the most demanding tasks, as this is unproductive, and you will only find that you’re left with a great long list of jobs you don’t want to do and are never going to get done.
   
   When you work on a list like this, often you’ll find that jobs like wiping down the banisters or spot cleaning the walls will only take you two or three minutes a day, however, if you’ve cherry-picked all the nice easy jobs and left all the awful jobs, you might well find that those jobs will take you a lot longer.
   
   I try to work from the top of the list to the bottom, and that way, all the jobs get done equally, even the ones I don’t like doing. I find this is the only way to get work done that I don’t like, and prevent procrastination.
   
   You’re never going to find the motivation to tackle a list of jobs that you don’t want to do, so work through my system, write your list as you go around the house, and only start on the jobs in the order that they are written on the list.
   
   If you haven’t got time to tackle the jobs at the top of the list then don’t start, wait until you have time to tackle the job at the top of the list.
   
   You’ll be surprised how much you get done by using this method. It’s the method my mum uses, it’s worked for her for over 50 years, and her house is immaculate even though she suffers from a bad back and has problems with mobility.
   
   

2. Get up early

   OK, OK, I know everybody hates getting up early, and I’m not trying to tell all the mums who’ve been up all night with their babies to have less sleep, this doesn’t apply to you as you’ve been up all night anyway!
   But for the rest of us, try to get up at least half an hour earlier than the rest of the family to give yourself a head start.
   I use this time to
   ✔️Get breakfast ready
   ✔️Empty the dishwasher
   ✔️Feed the cats
   ✔️Start a load of laundry.
   
   They say the best time to be productive is to get up at 5 am, but I’m not that cruel! Aim for half an hour before the rest of the family gets up. Even half an hour can make a massive difference in the amount of work you can get done before everybody else gets up and starts making those demands on your time.
   
   

3. Spend an hour every day on housework.

   I know what you’re thinking. You’ve got to cook tea, get the kids to sports, stop at the supermarket, fill the car with petrol and numerous other things besides working full time. There isn’t time to do an hour every day on housework. Well, I’m telling you, you can do this. your hour of housework doesn’t have to be done in the morning, and it doesn’t have to be done all in one hour. You can split it up into half an hour time slots or even 15-minute slots to fit in with your day.
   Turn off the TV, put down your phone, and only pick them up when your hour of housework is done. If you’re a stay-at-home mum or work from home and your kids are in school, try to get an hour’s worth of tidying up and housework done before you start work.
   Set a timer and:
   ✔️ Make the beds
   ✔️ Tidy every room
   ✔️ Wipe down the bathrooms
   ✔️ Put a load of washing on.
   ✔️ Prepare anything that you need for making dinner.
   
   You’ll be amazed at the number of jobs you can tick off your list in one hour every morning!

4. Make sure you clear up immediately after every meal.

   Fill up the dishwasher and empty it when the cycle has finished and clean down the surfaces before you sit down to watch TV or relax. This way you can keep on top of the dishes and you’ve always got a clean kitchen.
   
   

5. Prepare your laundry before you go to bed.

   Before you go to bed, get one load of washing ready to put in the washing machine. This takes a couple of seconds but gives you a headstart on your day and helps you to conquer the laundry pile.
   I like to put my laundry in the washing machine and set it on a timer to start an hour before I get up in the morning, so it’s freshly cleaned and ready to put in the dryer or hang on the line on a nice day.
   If you want to be really organized, have another basket of washing ready to put in when the first one has finished.
   To find out more tips on how to stay on top of the laundry pile, read this post

6. Spot clean everything.

   Instead of spending ages cleaning everything like walls, light switches, doors, and kitchen cupboards, try spot cleaning as you see dirt.
   For this, you will need to carry a cloth dipped in hot soapy water and a magic eraser. If you see a spot when you’re walking about, clean it.
   Clean it with a cloth of soapy water first. If the mark doesn’t rub off straight away, you can try a magic eraser.
   Before you use a magic eraser test it in an inconspicuous area before you clean because they are very abrasive and may take off the paint or scratch glossy surfaces.
   To find out how the professionals clean a house quickly, read this post to get some tips on cleaning your home in a super speedy time without using so much energy.

7. Spot clean floors

   The same method can be applied when cleaning floors. Rather than mopping each day, take a soapy cloth and clean up any spots of dried food, footprints, or water spots. This should allow you to save time mopping daily.
   To find out how to clean floors quickly and efficiently, read this post.

8. Sweep daily.

   I know this sounds like quite a lot to do each day, but if you sweep in high traffic areas every day, it saves time having to do a great big clean later in the week. It means you’re keeping on top of the dirt, so you’re not tracking it into the rest of the house.
   When high traffic areas are clean, it means less dirt is tracked upstairs, so you won’t need to vacuum upstairs as often.
   You can whizz around very quickly with your broom or set your vacuum on the hardwood setting and run over your high traffic areas in a couple of minutes. That’s all it takes.
   If you’ve got pets, the hair can get everywhere, so it is imperative to keep on top of it and a quick sweep around each day should help you to do that. In this post, find out which broom I find is the best to control pet hair.

9. Make your bed.

   Making all the beds in the house encourages your family to keep the rest of the room clean and tidy and gives the impression that the house is clean. Read how to make the perfect bed in this post
   
   

10. Open windows.

    Airing the house allows you to keep it smelling fresh every day, even if you haven’t had time to clean. So if visitors arrive, the house smells fresh and clean, and no smells from last night’s dinner will linger.
    A clean home doesn’t smell of cleaning products. A clean house smells of nothing, it smells of fresh air and is not stuffy.
    To find out how I keep my house, smelling clean and fresh by airing out the house every day, read this post. I’ll show you how airing out your house for just three minutes every morning can make such a massive difference to the air quality in your home.