Homemaking is quite an interesting topic of discussion among millennials. We talk about it via Instagram and watch other women’s homemaking skills in the “clean-with-me” youtube videos. But do you wonder if these young millennials with their big homes and shiny furniture do all the cleaning they show in the videos regularly? And if they do, how do they do it? They do talk about it in the video but we rarely take note of the tips because we are too busy appreciating the beauty of their neatly organized homes.
This article will give you the TOP 10 practical tips for homemaking without breaking your back. Bonus- a FREE printable is included. Download it, share it, use it, and come back here to share your ninja tips on easy homemaking.
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10 practical homemaking tips for busy millennials.
- Pick up after yourself. It is a cliche, but it saves you a ton of time later on. Set a timer for 5 minutes and put things where they belong.
Much of the mess in your home is likely self-inflicted
- Make your bed before you check your phone first thing in the morning. It seems like such a simple thing but making your bed can set the standard for the day. Don’t forget to straighten the covers and fluff the pillows.
To save yourself some time, rethink if you need multiple decor pillows. The decor is good but if you take a long time to make your bed in the morning, it’s better to get rid of them for good or just move them to the living room or another part of your home.
- Clean as you go, especially in the kitchen. This is like tip no.1 but here you are doing a bigger task for which you will need quite a lot of things around you.
If you clean up as you complete the mini-tasks, it will be a breeze to get the final cleaning done.
It may take some time to build this habit but stick with it for 2 weeks to see the real benefit.
- Coral the clutter in one place and tackle it in one go! Assign a box or a bag where you can continue placing items you use throughout the day or during your work hours. Then, put those items where they belong, before moving on to the next task.
Set a timer of 5-10 minutes for doing this. If you have a large family or live with others, give each person a dedicated storage box or a bag. Divide the clutter amongst you and let everyone put their stuff away before they go to bed.
- Ask for help! I know it is hard for some of you to ask for help because you do not want to burden others. But if you ask your family to help you in keeping your home clean, they will be happy to help. If they do not, assign chores anyway because they share your home with you. Make them responsible for simple tasks and assign a dedicated room or area of the home to clean every day. For their own rooms, they can spend 15-20 minutes each day straightening their room.
Over a period, you will all notice that your home stays clean and clutter-free. You will only need to do seasonal clean-ups or once a month deep-clean depending on how frequently you use the room.
- Make daily cleaning a part of your routine. Start with only 3 cleaning tasks a day. Choose those tasks that will make your home look clean. These are non-negotiables, e.g. throw the garbage out, wash the dishes, or clean the counters. Do them every day for at least 2 weeks to form a habit.
If doing this during the day is hard, set 20 to 30 minutes each night for these tasks and make it part of your bedtime routine.
Don’t underestimate the power of minor tasks. Everyday mundane tasks can give you much-needed time to relax over the weekend!
7. Keep cleaning products handy. There is a reason cleaning caddies are so popular. They make your job easy. If you have a smaller home like me, one cleaning caddy can last you a lifetime (I wish!) or a year at least. I got mine at Dollar Tree 8 years ago. It’s still going strong!
If you have a rather large home, get a tote bag or bin for each room. Place the cleaners for that room in the tote. Then tuck the tote away.
If you keep the cleaning caddy stocked and ready to use, there is really no excuse to get simple cleaning done in a jiffy. Again, assign a timer and get cleaning. If you do not like a timer or have one, choose your favorite music playlist for cleaning.
- Assign a day to deep-clean one area or one room. While regular straightening is done every day, deep cleaning can be done either once a week or once in two weeks. If you already have family doing their daily chores, they can deep-clean one room.
Big tip here- Do not micromanage or nag your family to do the cleaning as per your standard. You can help them if required, but keep them motivated to continue taking part in home activities. Remember how you started with homemaking. So, give them grace if there are spills or goof-ups.
- De-clutter your stuff. The less stuff you keep in the house, the less you have to clean. Look around your home and see where you can simplify your life.
Join us in our Annual de-cluttering challenge. It is very simple and doable by everyone!
JoinBig tip here- We will keep each other accountable. I de-clutter one thing a day for 365 days and post on the blog. Every month, I will send you a cute printable to make money from your clutter as a bonus. Who does not want to make some extra money from their stuff? I do. I hope you do too. So, what are you waiting for- Join below.
- Keep cleaning printables handy. Post them in visible places for easy reminders. Cleaning checklists are easy to follow by everyone.
To make it extra easy, print multiple copies and have them in every room of your home. I caution you from using this checklist on the phone or iPad, because you may get distracted by notifications from social media or your friends. The last thing you need is another 10 minutes of Instagram chitchat video!
What are good homemaking skills?
If you ask good homemakers, they will give you a laundry list of the good skills and habits of a good homemaker. Do not go there. The reason you came here is you do not want to feel that you are a bad homemaker. We all have been struggling one way or the other in this pandemic and before that as well.
Just have the following 5 skills in your kitty and you will be good to go.
5 Homemaking skills you must know.
- Managing your household resources well. This is a big topic in itself but it essentially includes taking care of things you already own and use regularly. E.g if you live in a rented home, you know you are responsible for daily upkeep. But when it comes to major repairs, your landlord is responsible. If you are living with other roommates, you know that you only have to take care of your room and the common areas that you share with others. For new homeowners, this single task can be quite exhaustive for the first few years of home ownership. But it will get easier with time.
- Shopping for essential food and home items, within your household budget. Since I write about frugal living, I have written many articles on how to keep a simple budget and how to reduce your monthly food spending. These are the most important life skills everyone should possess. So, it’s not only limited to homemakers.
Related articles. Click here- How to make a simple budget under 10 minutes?
Click here- How to reduce your monthly grocery bill with seasonal sales cycles?
- Cooking nutritious easy meals from whole food ingredients. In the article above, I mentioned how much we Americans usually spend on eating out. These figures have since been increased since January 2021. The pandemic has caused the havoc on global food supply chain and our local leaders have done everything in their power to cut the pipelines on their first day at the office. That has caused many hardworking Americans a great pain of job loss and others who are working in cushy desk jobs are paying higher for growing food prices. But we are working towards Build Back Better! The question is who is getting better?
Anyhow, so get the basic cooking skills as fast as you can. Youtube and Instagram are there to help you. Start small with 20 minutes meals. Gain confidence in your ability to cook and slowly increase your recipes.
I remember when I first started cooking, I could barely cook eggs and some noodles. With a little practice and good dollop of patience, you will get better at it. Trust me!
Related Article- Click here for a simple soup recipe that you can make under 30 minutes. No struggle is required.
- Communicating your needs and wants in a healthy way to your family members. Even though you think it’s not really related to homemaking, believe me, it is. When you and your spouse or life partner are on the same page about your goals, plans, and struggles, it is much easier to have a long-lasting, trusting, and encouraging relationship.
Most homemakers in the early 70s and even now continue enjoying this ancient role for so long due to their encouraging and supportive communication style. Homemakers build families, raise kids, educate them, support ailing parents, extend a helping hand to their local communities, and essentially build the nation strong.
There I said it- This is building back better! ( No..it does not have the same meaning that some politicians intend to do.
When a family is built better, the town gets better. The crimes go down, the economy gets better because children learn essential life skills from their parents who live in one household without daily fights.
We teach our families to gain critical thinking skills so that they do not fall for false narratives by celebrities and their stranger narratives received by corrupt politicians. And these same kids grow up to be responsible citizens who in turn are capable of taking charge of this nation- provided there are term limits for existing eurocrats!
But I digress. You see we have more reasons to have open and honest communication in this world. Else, 80+ years old career politicians will set the rules to break our families and our kids will stop calling us mom and dad.
- Taking care of yourself before taking care of your home. Why this skill you ask? Well, you can not really maintain your home if you suffer from low motivation, depression or chronic fatigue.
Agree that in the early 60s, 70s, and even now there are many women with larger families and more home responsibilities. But they do all that they can with simple self-care routines. A mom with 6 kids must take care of her daily needs first before she can muster up the energy to stand in the kitchen for hours to make bulk meals for her large family.
My favorite Youtuber Jamerrill Stewart from “A Large Family Table” always talks about the importance of self-care. It is indeed a skill. Just see one of her videos and you will know why this is an important homemaking skill.
Check Jamerill’s Home-cleaning Routine videos by clicking here.
How can I enjoy homemaking?
Now I am not sure how many people enjoy homemaking in its full sense. I, for one love a clean organized home. The only condition is it stays that way for years. And no one meets that condition, now even me. We busy millennials have more reasons for not enjoying homemaking. It is not that we do not enjoy homemaking, it’s more like we have frequent struggles that inhibit us from allocating enough time for this natural art of life.
Frequent struggles of millennials are.
- We love our free lifestyle. Rules and routines make us quit everything and seek social media. Who is with me? Come on, you know you want to raise your hand. It’s OK I will not see you anyway.
- Most of us depend on takeout foods and convenience to avoid housecleaning.
Half of millennials hiring cleaners as they are ‘too busy’ to clean one-bed flats- The Telegraph.
- Consumerism and easy access to credit make us buy more and hoard more. Even though there is a minimalist movement going on, many of us find that we have mild-to-serious hoarding tendencies. E.g some beauty you-tubers have more makeup and beauty accessories than they or the next 3 generations will ever need. Hopefully, they remember to throw out the old unused, and expired makeup. A creative community of artists and crafts aspirants hoard more art supplies for an entire class of 30 students. You get the point right?
For some of us, owning less stuff gives us more anxiety than de-cluttering what we will never use.
- Some of us live with a husband or a wife or partner who is a mild-to-severe hoarder. That drives us INSANE. We don’t know where to start anymore.
Too many things can stop us from making any constructive decisions.
It can cause extreme levels of anxiety and depression that make us stop doing anything. If you have a life partner who does not notice this or does not care enough, it can lead to more fights and more stress. That is why I included communication in the essential homemaking skills.
- My personal struggle is with the kitchen. I love cooking whole foods from scratch. Sometimes I take hours to cut the veggies proportionately and store the fresh food meticulously in the pantry. Unfortunately, on days when I’m working on projects or have deadlines, I just have no time to clean as I go in the kitchen. Towards the end of the day, if I start in the kitchen, nothing else gets done. And by nothing I mean, I even forget to eat the food.
- Some of us love cleaning but feel like we are always cleaning and yet nothing is done. Sometimes, this constant cleaning turns into obsessive-compulsive disorder which can give a very clean and organized home but some other essential parts of your life can get the beating. If you are a clean and neat freak, I am sorry if I have caused any offense.
- Many of us have low energy and hormonal imbalance because of the unhealthy GMO food we get in the stores and grocery markets. Artificial additives and sugar make us sick to handle any additional responsibilities. We barely get the daily job done and eat meals out of packages. This is all a catch-22 situation.
But nothing can stop this perpetual cycle of unhealthy lifestyles if we do not take actionable steps to change our choices. Setting up a simple daily cleaning routine is all you need. It is a big change if you rely only on a weekend cleaning.
One of the significant things about daily routine is that it gives you a frame or a structure to allocate your time to the tasks that matter the most to you. It is like the 80-20 principle.
What can you do in a given day that will give you maximum results? Well, read on.
What does every homemaker need for a clean home?
You just need a simple system to manage your home. Pick 3 simple, actionable tasks you can do every day. They can be anything that you always do. But pick 3 and stick with them for at least 2 weeks. These 3 cleaning tasks are non-negotiable. You must complete them daily.
Tip- if you have a family member, delegate at least one of these tasks. That way you get free to focus your time on things that matter the most to you. For me, its a self-care routine in the evening.
Check out this simple printable for a daily cleaning routine.
- If you are suffering from low energy or thyroid imbalance, you find that your energy is super valuable.
Use automation tools like Roomba vacuum cleaner (Ebay has Roomba cleaner starting from $160. Find the best deal by clicking here) or if that is beyond your budget like me, use a little vacuum cleaner. You can use it daily. The big ones cause me pain. I also use easy grip and ergonomic tools in the kitchen to protect my hands from carpel tunnel pain. - Do the dishes as quickly as possible. If you use the dishwasher, load it first thing in the morning while your tea or coffee is brewing. Keep loading it throughout the day. Hand-wash what’s needed throughout the day.
TIP- Try to keep the dishes and other kitchen items to a minimum. That way you can clean them as you go. If you have 50 plates and 20 coffee mugs, even the dishwasher will get tired and stop working for you. If you are hoarding too many kitchen gadgets and utensils or if you have a really big home with a lot of clutter or inherited a lot of clutter that you can not store in a smaller house, try out the annual de-cluttering challenge. We get rid of 1 thing a day in this challenge. You can set your own goals and make money from the clutter.
De-clutter Your Life Challenge .
- Keep the counters clean. It is a hard rule for me so I’m doing a new challenge. I will display one delicate piece of artwork or family memory on the counter. Nothing else. If there is anything else on that counter, I will have to pay a fine to my hubby. For now, the fine is $1 per occurrence. If I do not change this habit, the fine increases to $5 occurrence.
- Change the dishcloth and towels every day– Display a pretty one or a handmade one. I have some handmade dishcloths from ETSY. They are super cute.
- Delegate making the bed to hubby and older children. I have trouble with aching hands in the morning, so it is easier for me to ask for help. If you find it hard to ask for help, try asking nicely. Most of the time, they will help you.
- Do one load of laundry a day if you have more family members. We are a smaller family. So, we just put the clothes that need to be washed directly inside the washer. When it’s full, either I or my hubby run the washer. We have a nifty little rule. Whoever runs the washer, doesn’t have to fold the laundry.
- De-clutter your wardrobe and storage area so that you will have enough space to put away the washed laundry quickly.
Take a look at your storage drawers and clothing rack. De-clutter frequently. if you see that you are running out of storage space. Do not go out in the market and buy more storage bins. Remember bins can become storage coffins over time!
- Get specific tools that your family loves for cleaning or chores. If have the right cleaning tools, it will be easier to get the jobs done. If they are difficult to use, you will just keep putting off the cleaning. E.g. my hubby loves cleaning the gigantic windows in our condo with a long brush.
For me, I need an easy-grip broom because my hands hurt from sweeping. If you have a bigger task like cleaning the yard, do it over a period of days. E.g. 30 minutes every day. - If you have been out of town or have more guests over a long time, your laundry can build up really fast. For a huge load of laundry, just take it to a nearby laundromat.
Get through the mountain of dirty clothes and then start fresh with one load-a-day routine.
- Delegate Monthly homemaking tasks to a family member. Tasks like changing the batteries, and lights bulbs, recycling them safely, cleaning the water heater, cleaning the windows, etc take time. When you divide the big monthly tasks, you can conquer the clutter easily. Think of quick wins that will make you happy to see your home clean and tidy. In the FREE printables below, I have included a special section on quick wins.
How to get the motivation to clean the house?
Cleaning is a never-ending task. No matter how must time you spend deep-cleaning the house, it will get unclean due to daily use. That is just natural. So how do you get the motivation to keep up with daily cleaning?
My motivation is that I get the time to complete my sewing projects and get to read old Victorian novels. It can be different for you. Below are a few ideas to motivate you. Pick up anything that suits you and get started. Below, I have also included answers to the most common problems that you can face which demotivate you.
Problem- My house is just one big mess. I do not know where to start and how to get all this done?
Use the beautiful cleaning planner. Something about checking off the tasks on a beautiful paper makes my heart happy. Do you like planners too? Get my handy spring cleaning checklist printables here!
Prioritize what’s important that day and do that first. If you do not get your 3 non-negotiable cleaning tasks for a certain day, do not beat yourself up.
We all have good days and bad days. But they do not last long.
If you miss a weekly or a daily cleaning task, let it go, and start the next day. Do not catch up.
Problem- I am too tired to do anything after a full-time job and cooking for a family.
You actually do a lot of things every day. So it is OK to cut yourself some slack. Stick with non-negotiable cleaning tasks only. Chose those tasks that make or break your workday. E.g. if you work the night shift, tweak your timings.
There is no point exhausting yourself throughout the day since you need your daytime rest. So do one or two cleaning tasks when you have full energy. And delegate the rest.
If you can’t do all 3 tasks, just start with one. Once it is done, give yourself a pat on the back and move on to the next one. If you have no time left, it’s OK as well. You have come a long way from doing just once a week’s cleaning routine.
Use the focus timer or just a countdown timer on your phone. Once the timer is over, stop. So, in that specific time chunk, move quickly. Then take a break. In just a few focused sessions, you will get those 3 cleaning tasks done.
Problem- I have a big family and I am the only one cleaning up after everyone.
Oh boy. I hear you. There is no better way to say this but I will say. Include your family in daily home cleaning. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO OWN THEIR HOME AND SURROUNDING.
Find out what stops them from cleaning up after themselves. Is it too much screen time? or is it the lack of responsibility?
Set family rules that will include people from all age groups. Divide the chores in between them and set easy rewards that will not break your wallet and also get your home in order.
Another tip is to divide your tasks into 4 chunks. E.g. 5 min, 15 min, 30 min, and 1-hour tasks. For larger cleaning tasks, divide them into smaller chunks as well.
E.g. on the grocery shopping day, I am too tired to clean the refrigerator. We usually take a long stroll before heading to the grocery store. Then we go to the nearby farmer’s market for fresh veggies.
After that, I am too tired to do any laborious work for the rest of the day. So I only clean the veggies and store them in the fridge. That day, hubby cooks an easy meal for us. If it does not turn out well, I still go ahead and eat it without criticizing him.
He is so helpful to make my day better already, there is no reason to complain. After the meal, help helps to load the dishwasher and I get back to my sewing project or a planner to work on our weekly budget.
I clean the fridge and take stock of my food in the pantry days before the shopping day. We usually shop for groceries on alternate Saturdays. So in between two weeks, I use up available food in our home. At about 10 days after the first grocery trip, I clean the fridge and the pantry. One day I will clean the freezer. The next day I clean the veggie compartment. Then I will take a break from cleaning the fridge and move onto the dry goods in the pantry and wipe the pantry shelves. By the time Saturday morning comes, I have a cleaner fridge, 2 weeks meal plan and clipped digital coupons. Then we have a calm day to enjoy shopping at the farmers’ market.
For families with kids and a large number of toys, have some friendly rules and chore charts. Limit the amount of stuff each family member can own like toys or books or clothing. You can not enforce the rules these days but set gentle reminders that they clean whatever they use.
Check out simple kids printables and chore charts here.
Problem- I am suffering from a health condition that inhibits my physical ability to keep up with the homemaking.
If you are going through your own health issues, take more help. Set up a cleaning system that will work for you and your family until you get back to your healthy self. Use your energy wisely. Outsource cleaning tasks once a month or a week, when you are tired or need some time for yourself.
When you are really busy with a season of life like a new baby, house buying, shifting or moving to a new place, homeschooling, or a sick family member, give yourself a break from cleaning. Hire help or delegate often.
The key takeaway is it takes time to form a new habit so,
Tak time to build one good habit at a time!
What are the qualities of a good homemaker?
- A good homemaker puts herself and her home first.
2. She chooses easy processes that make her job as a homemaker doable.
3. She also enjoys her day catching up on her hobbies. These hobbies often make all the homemaking worthwhile. Self-care is not selfish for a good homemaker.
4. She is good at making delicious meals at home. My aunt is a lovely homemaker but she just can’t cook delicious meals at all. So she sticks with the basic recipes that her family loves and cooks them often. Regular weekly potlucks with her friends are a must for her.
She says she has been saved by her friends’ recipes for the last 30 years. And her family does not complain because she is a great mum, wife, aunt, and the best friend of her friends.
5. Speaking of friends, a good homemaker often has a close circle of friends she relies on regularly to chit-chat (not gossip) and have friendly conversations. Many times she lifts up her friends in their tougher days and they do the same for her. There is the amazing power of maintaining great life-long friendships. They save us from heartaches, fears, doubts, making stupid mistakes, and most important give us a sense of belonging outside our close family. They become our extended family. So keep those wonderful friendships and catch up with your friends often.
6. She has her home ready for guests at all times. It may not be Pinterest worthy but it is inviting, tidy, and clutter-free. She has often figured out how to simplify meal times to cut down on dishes, laundry, home decor, and books.
7. She asks for help when she needs it. She does not feel guilty about taking suggestions for improvement in her homemaking and she let others pitch in often. This way she trains her family on basic homemaking skills.
8. She also sets up family-friendly rules that make her homemaking tasks easy. I have a good friend who has a rule- “ Do not enter mum’s home office between 10 AM – 1 PM” if there is no emergency. She has set up all kinds of systems and processes for her family to follow this rule. She works on her home business during those hours. So, cooking, cleaning, laundry, dusting everything else is done at different times, and her family pitch in with most of those tasks.
9. She is good at managing her resources- including money and home resources. She often checks her family finances and gives suggestions to improve them.
10. She plans her family engagements and social engagements in advance. When she knows she can not commit to any engagement, she knows how to nicely say no without burning the bridges. This is the part where I must say, every good homemaker is an excellent communicator. She communicates her feelings, needs, struggles, and opinions and most importantly she does it in a way that builds relationships. She can be critical when needed but her intentions are always to help and get help. So, she is not a superhuman, just an efficient one.
How do I become a better homemaker?
Well, I’m looking for that answer myself. Because I know I need help and most of us do too. It is an evolving process really. We can be great at homemaking in one season of life with lots of motivation and totally dread it in the next season of life. That is quite natural. And it is ok too.
That is why I emphasize having a close-knit circle of other homemaker friends who can share their tips, tricks, and homemaking hacks with us.
Don’t forget to download your FREE printable below.
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