3 Ways to Simplify Homemaking When You’re Overwhelmed

So you're overwhelmed, eh?  Join the club.

Life is so crazy and I'm trying hard to slow it down, but honestly there's not a whole lot I can eliminate.

Homeschooling just takes a LOT of time and there's nothing I can do about that. Trying to stay on top of housework besides is about all I can handle. Okay, it's kind of more than I can handle because I DON'T stay on top of it very well.

I'm constantly looking for ways to simplify life and I'm choosing not to feel guilty about any of them.

Here are 3 ways to simplify homemaking when you're overwhelmed:

1. 1. 1. Use paper plates
         Yes. I just said that.  It's not exactly the most “green” thing to do, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  (I actually came up with a different solution to mealtime dishes that I'm testing with my family.  So far, so good, so watch for an update!)Ok — here's that update I promised! We purchased a set of plastic dishes for the kids. Each child gets one color and those are their dishes. They are responsible for washing their own dishes after meal. We got rid of all the other dishes, which means if their dishes are not clean, they won't have anything with which to eat. This prevents dirty dishes from piling up around the kitchen.  It only takes a minute for each person to do their dishes, and having no other dishes in the house means there are none to get dirty! After many months of using this system I can say it's been a success — not perfect, as sometimes they will leave their dirty dishes until right when they realize it's time for another meal and they have nothing clean — but definitely better than the piles and piles of dirty dishes we used to have. We bought a set of Ikea dishes which come in four different colors. When we added a 5th child who needed dishes, we searched everywhere for an extra color and finally bought a set at Target.

1. Automate your shopping
   Yes, I said automate.
   That means a lot of my shopping gets done without my actually doing it!
   I've been using Grove Collaborative to keep myself stocked up on household supplies and it has taken so much off my mind.  No more do I have to remember what I need at the store or make emergency runs if I forget to pick things up.  When I'm out of laundry detergent, a new bottle appears on my porch almost like magic!  Automating as much of my shopping as possible has freed up so much brain space!(By the way, you can get a free gift set from Grove Collaborative when you sign up through this link.)

    
   A great place to automate shopping for healthy food is Thrive Market. There are so many healthy food options and supplies for special dietary needs. There is a membership fee each year, but I calculated that after just 3 orders, I had already saved well over what the membership fee was. If there is something you order frequently, you can set up a subscription and have it delivered to your house on the schedule you select. Set it and forget it.

    
   You'll still have to go to the grocery store for your fresh foods of course, which is why I love using Real Plans. You can set up the types of meals you like to eat (traditional, keto, gluten free, etc.) and then your healthy food menu is generated for you each week automatically (there's that magic word again!) Not only will your menu be automatically made for you, but your shopping list will too! You don't have to think about what to eat or do any work at all to make your shopping list. How de-overwhelming is that?! (But you can always customize the menu if there's something on it you don't like. Here's my complete review of Real Plans which gives an insider look inside the program.)

 

2. Simplify meal prep
   If you're happy with planning your own meals, one way to streamline your meal prep is to cook one-pot meals or use “dump recipes.” I cook one pot meals a lot because it means I only have one pan to wash!  An even better idea is to use slow cooker “dump recipes”.  You assemble your ingredients into freezer bags and fill your freezer with multiple meals of this type.  In the morning you pull out a freezer bag, dump it in the crockpot and dinner will be ready that evening!  My friend Sharla has written some amazing recipe books full of dump recipes.

    
   Freezer cooking is another fantastic way to eliminate overwhelm in the kitchen. You take one day a month and have a cooking marathon. Everything goes into the freezer, and for the rest of the month — no cooking! How awesome is that?! You'll just pull out your meal and heat it up each night. Once a Month Meals provides freezer cooking plans with all the instructions and shopping lists to help you pull off an organized freezer cooking day.

These three simple things will have a massive impact on freeing up some of your time, leaving you able to keep up with some of your other homemaking duties a little more easily — I know they have helped me not feel so overwhelmed as a homemaker!

Free Mrs. Meyer’s Cleaning Kit! (Limited Time)

It's the new year, which means we're all thinking about getting our houses all de-clutterified and spic and span clean.

I'm super excited that ePantry has created an amazing offer just for my readers!

So, here's the deal:
When you sign up for ePantry using my referral link, you’ll get a free Mrs. Meyer's Cleaning Kit.

(IMPORTANT UPDATE: THIS OFFER HAS SOLD OUT!  However, if you follow the links, you'll be directed to a new offer that includes almost everything the first offer did.  So I would jump on it before they're completely out of free products to give away!)

Oh, how I love Mrs. Meyer's products!  They smell sooo good that they actually make cleaning (almost) fun!

Want to get your Mrs. Meyer's Cleaning Kit and see why I love ePantry so much? Here’s how it works:

1. Sign up for ePantry through this link. You’ll receive the Mrs. Meyer's Cleaning Kit free when you sign up!

2. Answer a few quick questions about your family and how clean you keep your home (be honest!). This takes under 30 seconds and ePantry uses your responses to customize your first basket.

3. Once you’ve answered the questions, you can finalize the basket of products to suit your needs by adding or removing items.

4. To receive this offer, your order needs to be a minimum of $20. Choose the combination of products and scents you want to receive in your first box.

5. You made it! Click finish & pay and place your order.

(Have you already signed up for ePantry before?  They've been nice enough to extend an offer to existing customers as well! Existing customers click here to get 50% off the Mrs. Meyer's Cleaning Kit with your next order.)

Don’t forget this special offer is only available until January 17 or while supplies last.

If you suffer from decision-making paralysis like I do, you might want to copy this shopping basket.  It will get you close to the $20 that you need for your free cleaning kit, and it's a great deal besides!  If you priced this all out at a store it would cost around $70!

How to Teach Art at Home like a Pro: Even if You Can’t Draw a Straight Line

By Jim Pence, See the Light chalk artist 

“I want to include art in my homeschool curriculum, but how can I teach my children to draw if I don't know how myself?”

Art is one of those subjects that is difficult for most of us to teach. We know art is important in a well-rounded education, but where do you start?

Have you ever felt that way?

If you have, I've got good news for you.

I have moved all of my homeschooling posts to christianhomeschoolfamily.com. You can go here to read this post at the new site.”

Decluttering Your Homeschool

I've been working on decluttering each area of my house one by one (I'm working my way through this book, if you want some step-by-step hand-holding.)

Guess what?  Even though we're right in the middle of the school year, I'm finding that our homeschool curriculum needed a little cleaning out too.

I have moved all of my homeschooling posts to christianhomeschoolfamily.com. You can go here to read this post at the new site.

Is There Trash In Your Closet?

I started working my way through my friend Elsie's book today.

(This one: )

I'm always trying to declutter and get rid of stuff we don't need, but now that Christmas is over and the house has been filled with lots of new things that were given to us as gifts, it's time to do a major purge.

(You can join me in the Homemaking Challenges group on Facebook if you'd like!)

So the first section in the book is the bedroom, and the first thing in there is the closet.

I started in on it, but I only got through my skirts and dresses before I needed to shut things down for the day.

I started by taking everything out and putting it into piles of things I truly love, things that are “okay”, things I definitely want to get rid of, and things I need to mend.

Then I put back in all the things that I love.

Since I had plenty of things that I love I went ahead and got rid of all the things that were only “okay”.

I had a pile of things I had to deal with – things to take to the thrift store, things to give away to others I know could use them, things to mend, things that had stains but that I wanted to try and salvage.

But, take a look.  There is a trash bag there.  Some of my clothes went into the trash.

I don't consider myself a pack rat.  I try really hard to get rid of stuff right away.  But I still had things hanging in there that I didn't even realize were stained beyond repair because it had been so long since I wore them.

(And some things sat in there and yellowed.  What's with that?)

How long has it been since you cleaned out your closet?  I mean since you really gave it a good, ruthless overhaul?

-No saving things because you paid good money for them but you don't really care for them.
-No saving things because you hope to fit into them again someday.
-No saving things because they're sentimental or were one of your favorites but they don't fit anymore or they're stained and ruined.

Leave me a comment and tell me if there's any trash in your closet!

(And if you'd like a copy of the book I'm working through, you can grab one right here.)

Why My Kids Don’t Check the Mail

Let me tell you a little story, and I think you'll immediately understand why my kids don't check the mail.

“Would you like to get the mail for me?” I asked my young son.  Taking out the trash was one of his first “big boy” responsibilities, and now it was time to broaden his horizons even more.

He answered with an excited, “Yes!”

Although our once-busy road has now been made much safer due to the redirecting of traffic other than us and a couple neighbors, I still watched him from the window as he went down the driveway.  I wanted to make sure he got back to the house safely, but even more so I wanted to see that he didn't get distracted and set the mail down to start riding his bike or digging in the dirt. 🙂

When he walked back in the door and handed me the stack of mail, I was horrified to find that one of the pieces of mail was a catalog for women's underwear!   The front cover had a full-length picture of a woman in her bra and underwear.  I've tried to stop these catalogs from coming before, but to no avail.  It had been a while since I'd received one, though, so that was the last thing on my radar when I sent him out to check the mail.

I said to my son, “I'm very sorry, but you won't be able to check the mail anymore from here on out.  Do you know why?”

“Because there was a bad magazine in there,” he answered.

“What did you do when you saw it?” I asked, trying not to sound accusatory.  I wanted to reinforce the things we'd been teaching him without making him feel like he was in trouble for seeing the catalog.

“I flipped it over.”

“Okay.  You did the right thing.  But I still don't want you to check the mail anymore.  Even though you flipped it right over, you can never un-see what you accidentally saw.  I don't want to put you in the position for that to happen again.”

Although he was disappointed, he understood and agreed.

I was talking to a friend of mine, and she noted that a similar scenario had played out at her house too.

I've checked mail for friends and relatives who have been on vacation and seen that the same type of mail shows up in their mailboxes sometimes too.

Fast-forward a few months later to this afternoon, when I wanted to check the mail, but it was chilly and rainy.

“I could just send one of the kids out to get it,” I thought.  “Those things only show up every once in a great while, and surely there won't be something this time….No.  I need to stick with what we've decided.  What if there was something this time?”

When I opened up the mailbox, guess what was staring me in the face?  You guessed it.  Another picture of a nearly-nude woman.

I was ever-so-glad  I hadn't sent my son out there.

I'm not going to pretend that my children will never see inappropriate pictures.  They will.  They'll see magazine covers in the grocery checkout line.  They'll see scantily clad people out in public.  They'll see billboards.  They'll hear filthy words like my son and I heard coming from the rap music someone had cranked up in the Walmart parking lot the other day.

Sheltering isn't the only answer.  They need to be taught how to respond when they are assaulted by the wickedness of the world.

But I'm also not ashamed to say that I shelter my children as much as possible too.

The devil is a roaring lion who wants to devour them.

See also: Protecting Your Child from the Devil

He wants to pervert their minds through any means he can.  He wants to taint their innocence and leave images that can never be erased.  He wants to tempt them to entertain wrong thoughts.

And as long as the devil is around, which will be until we leave this earth, I'll be telling my kids they can't check the mail.  I'll be turning magazines backward in the checkout line and diverting their attention away from filthy billboards. I'll be restricting any unsupervised access to the internet.  I'll be leaving the store when the music on the loudspeaker has words that are perverted and ungodly.

My children are too precious for me to let them wander into the lion's trap.

More resources:

As I mentioned in the post, we must not be so naive as to assume our children will never be exposed to the wrong type of images.  Preparing them ahead of time to respond correctly when those unexpected incidents happen is an important part of the strategy for a parent who wants to protect their child.

Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today's Young Kids

I have not yet read this, and I don't believe that it's from a Christian author, but I have heard really good things about it.

From the description: Good Pictures Bad Pictures is a comfortable, read-aloud story about a mom and dad who teach their child what pornography is, why it's dangerous, and how to reject it. Using easy-to-understand science and simple analogies, this ground-breaking book engages young kids to porn-proof their own brains.

The Talk: 7 Lessons to Introduce Your Child to Biblical Sexuality gives parents an action plan for discussing sexuality with their children in a Biblical way.

Covenant Eyes provides Internet accountability and filtering for the whole family.  One great way to use it for kids is simply to create a whitelist.  For example, my children do some of their schoolwork online, but I don't want them to have access to the internet.  I can whitelist the websites they use for their schooling so they can access them without any further internet access. Check out all of Covenant Eyes' features here.