Time Management and the Homemaker: Today's Homemaking Thoughts
Plus, sharing one of my favorite laundry hacks...
This Month’s Book Club Selection
![Take Back Your Family: From the Tyrants of Burnout, Busyness, Individualism, and the Nuclear Ideal by [Jefferson Bethke]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd70af52f-64aa-4187-ba69-f5724f9ca06d_328x500.jpeg "Take Back Your Family: From the Tyrants of Burnout, Busyness, Individualism, and the Nuclear Ideal by [Jefferson Bethke]")
This month we are reading nonfiction (we switch up month-to-month) and the book we have chosen is…Take Back Your Family! I took so much from this book, and I’d love to encourage you all to enjoy it alongside me. I look forward to rereading it! Our next meeting will be on October 3rd at 8 PM EST.
What You Might Have Missed At Classically Abby…
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Quote of the Week:
“Well done is better than well said.” — Benjamin Franklin
Classic Style Inspo
Jennifer L. Scott is a great content creator and author if you aren’t already following her! I love her classic sense of style, and this outfit is so relaxed, cute, and put-together. The leather tennis shoes, the cropped wide-leg pants, and the striped top are all so summery but perfect to transition to cooler weather.
Things I’ve Been Loving: Dryer Balls
I love wool dryer balls! My family can’t use scented laundry detergent or fabric softener because we have sensitive skin, so I like to drop some essential oils onto these and throw them in the dryer. It spreads the scent, which is all natural and doesn’t irritate our skin, and it makes our clothing dry faster.
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I'm a wife, mama, opera singer, entrepreneur, YouTuber, and your guide to becoming the classic woman you've always wanted to be! Follow me on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter to see how! And together, let's be classic.
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Time Management and the Homemaker: Today's Homemaking Thoughts
Friends! It’s good to be sitting here writing at my computer again. This past week was really difficult, but we ended on a high note and I’m grateful to be back in the swing of things once more. If you weren’t following along on Instagram, last week I contracted the flu. That would have been hard enough, but then my son came down with something completely different - he had a cold and was waking up throughout the night spiking 104 degree fevers. What with us both being sick, I didn’t sleep for about four nights while trying to recover. I had three engagements I had to cancel plus Rosh Hashana to prepare for, which meant I ended up leaving ALL my cooking for Friday. Thank God for my mom, who came over to help with Little Man and helped me in the kitchen so we could get everything prepared for the holiday!
With God’s help, we are all doing better and we actually had a beautiful Jewish New Year. It’s amazing what a good night of sleep will do for you! Jacob’s parents were with us for the whole holiday, and I was able to attend synagogue and hear the shofar. It was a really meaningful and beautiful few days! Plus, the food I made alongside my mother turned out great. We ate brisket and mashed potatoes, tacos and salad, beef and lamb koobideh, and on the last day a simple lunch of bagels with egg salad and tuna salad. That last lunch was much needed after all that heavy food!
Today, I wanted to talk to you all about time management as a homemaker. I think there are two common misconceptions about a day in the life of a full-time homemaker:
You have nothing but time and can spend hours pursuing hobbies, reading, or shopping.
You have no time at all and you can’t possibly get anything done.
I think both of these views are wrong. The truth is, with some aggressive time management, a routine and schedule can make a world of difference. On a regular day when things are going to plan, you should be able to get much of your to-do list done - maybe not all, but most.
The problem is, most of us are not good at creating our own deadlines. We wonder why when we are in an office environment we are able to get things done but at home we are not. It’s simply a matter of not having someone standing over you to keep you accountable. You are the only one who knows how you spend your time, and even though your family will suffer when you don’t take care of things, they also don’t know if you are using your time wisely. They will assume that you are doing all you can and give you the benefit of the doubt.
But are you giving yourself too much benefit and too little doubt?
Look at how you spend your day and ask if you are being efficient and timely. If the answer is no, that’s okay! There’s always room for improvement. There are days where I let time slip through my fingers because I’m not staying on top of my tasks. But as a homemaker, it’s my responsibility to hold myself accountable and get myself back on track. So today, I want to share some time management tips that I think could come in handy for keeping your home in order and checking tasks of your to-do list. So let’s get into it.
Make a realistic to-do list at the beginning of each day, and list out your top three tasks. Every day, I pull out my planner and list out every single thing I need to get done that day. Sometimes, I include things that I’d like to get done later in the week. Sometimes, I include tasks that I’d like to get done generally but don’t want to forget. Then, I highlight three tasks that are my top priority. If those three tasks are done by the end of the day, I can look back on my day and feel good about it. For me, my top three includes one work item (e.g., write my Substack newsletter, record a video, edit a video), one cleaning item (e.g., vacuum, do the laundry, clean the bathroom), and one random task that comes up in a day (e.g., pay a doctor’s bill, cook dinner because there aren’t leftovers, respond to a specific email). You will know what your top three tasks are because if they don’t get done, something important will slip through the cracks. If nothing gets done but those three things - hooray! You prioritized. And that’s the first step to time management.
Make a schedule for your week. The next part of effective time management as a homemaker is to look at your week holistically. It’s very difficult to schedule one day at a time without taking into account the next few days. If you don’t get to laundry on Monday, but you have a number of important engagements on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday that will prevent you from getting laundry done, you will have to make laundry a “top three” task on Monday to make sure there are clean clothes for your family. I also find that being able to look at the week as a whole keeps everyone’s plans on track - I can remember that my son has a class on Tuesday morning and that my husband has a doctor’s appointment on Friday, for example. Approaching the week with confidence will allow you to make better informed decisions and reduce the chaos as the days progress.
Stick to some form of daily routine. Lastly, routines are so helpful. Now, when I say a routine, I’m not saying anything needs to be strictly timebound. But having a vague routine for your day allows you to organize your time to your benefit. For example, a day in my life often looks like breakfast with my son, a walk, heading to a class, naptime while I get some work done, tasks and chores around the house, exercising at the gym while my son plays in their nursery, dinner, bath time, bedtime, a quick nightly clean, and time spent with my husband. It’s a full day, but I am able to get everything done because I know what to expect as the hours move forward. You can get more specific with your routine as you look at each segment of time, too! For example, during the morning I am trying to add in some time to read the Torah portion every week. But having structure in your day allows you to feel confident you can get everything done.
How do you approach time management as a homemaker? I’d love to hear your thoughts down below!
I have a MUCH more vague "routine" than you do! I start every morning by checking on the laundry and putting a load on if one of the bags are full, and resetting the kitchen. I hate cleaning in the evening after my husband gets home from work, so I start with the kitchen every day so that I know that that's done and ready for the day.
After that it's very vague. I generally eat breakfast and look at my to-do list... but other than that I sort of just prioritize and organize my day based on what I think is most important or time sensitive to get done.
My "planner" is also... very vague haha. I wish I could design my own because I don't like scheduling things into timeslots or by day so much. I have 2 lists. My master to do list where I brain dump every single thing that needs to get done (not just in a day or a week, just in general), and then my 3-step list, "Today" "Tomorrow" and "To-Do". This is where I separate into what needs to (or should) get done today, what is higher priority and should get done tomorrow or very soon, and what is more nebulous. The things on each list bounce around as the days go by.
Lately I've been thinking of having a colour coding highlighter system instead of writing out 2 full lists the way I do, but I'm still trying to figure out how I would organize that!