When I first got married and had a home to care for, I felt so overwhelmed with the home management!
There was so much to keep up with: laundry, meals, grocery shopping, dishes, cleaning. Plus, I didn’t really enjoy doing those household tasks.
The only aspects of home management that I enjoyed doing were organizing and decorating. But the rest was not fun, nor did I know how to do them well.
I always felt behind.
Over the past almost 16 years of being a wife, I’ve learned some important tips that have totally transformed how I manage my home.
I’m currently a part-time work from home mom, but even if I work outside the home one day, I’ll still use these tips to care for my home and family.
Plus, it’s not just me that is in charge of the household management. My husband and kids are part of it too! I’ll share more about that towards the bottom of this post.
What is home management?
Let’s quickly define home management so that you and I are on the same page. Managing the home is the process and systems that you use to effectively care for your house and the people living in it.
It’s the habits used for running a household.
These habits includes things such as cleaning, finances, meals, organizing, errands, yard work, and laundry. Let’s break these down into categories.
1. Daily House Cleaning
These things should be done every single day. That way they don’t pile up into huge messes by the end of the week.
Later I’ll share how you can incorporate these tasks into a system that works for your family.
- wash the dishes
- clean up after each meal (table and floor)
- Keep up with laundry
- Put things back where they go
- Deal with mail and paperwork
- General tidy up
2. Weekly House Cleaning
These household chores only need to be done once a week. You can assign them to different days of the week, or have one day to accomplish them all.
- change bed sheets
- clean bathrooms
- dust
- mop
- wipe down appliances
- clean out fridge
3. Monthly House Cleaning
I’ll be honest, I’m not the best at remembering to do these cleaning tasks every month. Sometimes I forget until I see they are really dirty!
These tasks aren’t as important as making sure your family has clean clothes to wear and meals to eat.
- dust blinds
- dust light fixtures
- clean under furniture
- wipe down outside cabinets
- clean windows
- dust baseboards and vents
4. Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
An important aspect of home management is knowing what to feed your family. I find it easy to meal plan once a week by using a master dinner list of about 20-30 meals that our family enjoys eating.
I pick 5-7 meals from the list depending on what we have going on that week. Sometimes we have leftover night and we usually go out to eat one evening on the weekends.
Be sure to plan for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks too. We tend to eat the same things for breakfast all week. Lunches are usually leftovers or sandwiches. So the main meals I plan are dinner.
After you have planned the meals for the week, look through your pantry and freezer. Write down any ingredients that you don’t already have at home.
Then create a grocery shopping list. I like to use grocery pick up for Walmart and go in store to pick up a few sales at local grocery stores and Aldi.
5. Meal Prep
After you have the groceries at home, you’ll need to make sure the food is prepared. For dinner I like to pull the frozen meat out 1-2 days ahead and place in the fridge.
It’s always disappointing to get ready to prepare dinner and you have frozen meat! So prepare for that a couple of days ahead.
Then be sure to look ahead at the steps you need to make dinner. I like to marinate meat or prepare dough earlier in the day.
6. Finances
An important aspect of home management is your finances. I haven’t always been very good at keeping up with our finances.
However, I’ve found that what works for me is to use paper and pencil to record all of our expenses and incomes. I update our budget each week with what money was spent and received.
I encourage you to pick a day each week to work on your finances. Keep a running tab on your different expense categories so you know how much is being spent each week compared to what is coming in.
I also have a couple of times each month that I pay our bills, so that we don’t have to pay late fees. Here are a few things to keep track of:
- expenses
- income
- bills
- financial goals
7. Organization and Decluttering
One of my favorite parts of home management is organizing! I love making a space more functional.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money on fancy organizing bins to have an organized house either. The first step to organizing any space is decluttering.
Go through each item and decide if it should be donated, thrown away, or kept. You’ll be amazed at how much stuff you have filling your cabinets and closets that don’t actually get used.
Then you can bring in the organizing bins or create your own with boxes you already have around the house.
Here’s how I organize for free!
8. Errands and Appointments
Another part of home management actually happens outside the home.
In order to care for the needs of your family members and keep your home functioning smoothly, you’ll need to organize how you run your errands.
Check out this post with my best tips for running errands more efficiently.
9. To-do Lists
I would be lost at home without my to-do lists! I love to keep my lists in my paper planner. However you can use a simple notebook to keep your lists in as well.
It is important to have one spot for your to-do lists. Otherwise the lists are easily lost.
Make your lists by doing a brain dump of all the things you want to get done. Then pick the 3 most important tasks, not the easiest.
Accomplish the most important things first, cross them out, and pick the next most important tasks from your list.
That way you always get the important things done, and the unimportant can wait for another day if needed.
10. Yard Work
If you own your home, you’ll need to figure out a system for yard work. Do you need to mow the grass once a week? Weed the flower bed or garden once a week?
Yard work is seasonal and there may be things you only do once or twice a year such as seeding the grass or adding mulch to flower beds.
Yard work can be simple or more complicated if you prefer a garden and lots of plants. I personally fall right in the middle. We don’t have a large garden, but I do maintain some plants and flowers.
Getting out in the sunshine is a favorite daily habit!
How to manage your home well
The key to managing your home well is to have systems in place for getting the essential tasks done.
There are 3 essential systems all home managers should use:
- a morning routine
- an evening routine
- a planner
A morning routine allows you to accomplish a few homemaking tasks early in the day. It also sets you up for a productive day.
An evening routine closes down the home for the night and sets the morning up for the next day.
A good planner is the key to remembering everything that needs to get done in your home and life. I personally love my Bloom planner, but I know some people use a simple spiral notebook to keep everything together too!
Getting your family involved is important.
Moms are often the ones who take care of the home. As a mom myself, I know that is where I’m most gifted. God created male and female equally, but differently.
These Bible verses support the fact that women play an important part in caring for the home: 1 Timothy 5:14, Proverbs 31:27, Proverbs 7:11, and Titus 2:45.
It’s just a fact that I’m much better at caring for my home than my husband. However, he is still a big part of our home management.
It will look different for each couple. But here are some general things that will help you get your spouse involved:
- Thank your spouse for the things they are already doing. It may not be much, but take note of ways he/she is already contributing.
- Respectfully (not nagging) communicate a specific way your spouse could help out. He/she can’t read your mind. You have to clearly state what you need help with.
- Let your spouse do it his/her way. Don’t try to control how he/she does things. This will only discourage him/her from helping more.
Get your kids involved too!
I always suggest that you start with kid’s belongings. Teach them from an early age to put their shoes away, dirty laundry in the hamper, dirt dishes in the sink, and toys away.
Then as they get older and are able add more household chores like sweeping, dishes, and cleaning the bathroom. Here’s a list of age appropriate chores for kids.
Why is home management important?
The simple answer is people are important. Your home is the place you and your family spends the most time.
It should be a clean, comfortable space that allows your family to grow in all aspects of their lives. Managing your home well is a way that you show love to your family.
Not only that, but as you manage your home you’re an example to your children. You are teaching them important skills they will use in their own homes, in the workplace, and as they interact with others.
Home management resources
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Stay on top of all your cleaning tasks with this daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cleaning schedule.