Molly loves being a homemaker.
It’s what she’s always wanted to be: a wife, a mother, and a homemaker. Society may tell her that she’s wasting her time or her talent, but she doesn’t see it that way. To her, the home is the heart of the family, and there’s nothing she cares more about than her family.
She adores her children, of course, and the opportunity to spend so much time with them in the early years. Molly knows that those are also their most formative years, and she takes the responsibility of raising them very seriously.
Every day, Molly does her absolute best to make her home a place of peace, serenity, joy, and connection.
She keeps the house clean and organized — not because she particularly loves housework, but because she wants her husband to be comfortable when he comes home from work every day. A clean house is a badge of her honor, evidence of her love.
The same goes for cooking, though Molly does enjoy the satisfaction that comes from knowing that her children are being fed healthy meals. It’s an investment in their future, and it’s also great fun to teach her toddler how to add cherry tomatoes to a salad.
Molly strives to make her home a place of peace and safety, a haven in the midst of life’s storms.
She believes that she succeeds most days. However, making that a reality day in and day out is much harder than it sounds!
What no one told her when she played house as a child was just how much work it takes to run a household. Phew! Now she understands the struggles of America’s pioneer women, who worked from before dawn to after dusk.
Her schedule isn’t quite as bad as that…but sometimes, it seems too close for comfort. After all, the tasks of daily living never let up. They are as consistent as the sunrise and as demanding as a teething baby.
There’s laundry to be done, errands to run, children to clothe, and mantels to dust. Food alone takes an extraordinary amount of time, what with meal planning, grocery shopping, preparing each meal, and doing dishes afterward.
The kids need snacks and sources of entertainment, education, and attention. Molly’s policy is that learning begins before school does, and the more she can engage her children’s minds throughout the day, the better prepared they will be for life.
She also believes in serving her family with a cheerful attitude, keeping in mind how blessed she is. Oftentimes, all it takes is hearing her baby’s laughter to bring a smile to her face and a lightness to her heart.
But some days, she feels like she’s drowning under the weight of it all. It’s hard work being responsible for her family’s care and home environment!
She wouldn’t trade it for the world, but sometimes she wishes she had a little help.
Luckily for Molly and for all the other homemakers out there, there are a number of tools and resources out there to make managing a home more organized, efficient, and enjoyable.
Anything that keeps the household running smoothly and puts smiles on everyone’s faces is a win in the homemaker’s book. And it just so happens that the majority of tools that can bring that serenity to a household fall under the same banner: the art of note-taking.
An Overlooked Art: The Challenges of Managing a Home
Homemakers don’t receive much appreciation in Western society. As feminism has become more prevalent, the task of taking care of the home has been increasingly deemed menial and lowly.
As a result, homemakers are often overlooked, if not ridiculed. However, many people don’t realize just what goes into being a homemaker and why it’s a valid option for the women (and men) who choose to prioritize it.
The dictionary defines a homemaker as “a person who manages the household of their own family, especially as a principal occupation.”
What goes into managing a household?
There are plenty of activities — homemaking is nothing if not multi-faceted! A homemaker has to be a jack of all trades for everything household-related.
Managing a home includes the daily tasks and upkeep, such as laundry, preparing meals, keeping the house clean and fresh, and caring for any children she may have.
It can also include the more traditional “domestic arts,” such as hospitality, baking, or gardening. Being able to beautify a space while also keeping the household running smoothly is a powerful combination when it comes to creating a beautiful home.
Of course, it must be noted that anyone can be a homemaker; you don’t need to be a stay-at-home mom to create a lovely home environment. Though the dictionary definition prefers homemaking to be its own occupation, you can also practice elements of homemaking while juggling a full-time job.
Either way, you’ll quickly realize that managing a home and all of its obligations is not an easy task, by any stretch of the imagination.
The Solution: Taking Notes
Luckily, for all of my lovely homemakers out there, there’s a solution. It’s called effective note-taking, and it is a skill that will become your favorite personal assistant in every area of your life.
For you note-taking afficionados, I’m not talking about the Cornell note-taking method, outline method, sentence method, charting method, mind maps, or any other type of note-taking system per se. While there may be a place for them in the homemaker’s life, chances are they’ll be using more expedient forms of good note-taking to aid in their daily tasks.
In other words, homemakers will greatly benefit from using the types of note-taking systems that are designed for generating information rather than recording large quantities of it. For example, to-do lists, planners, sticky notes, and various kinds of apps.
Home-Grown Organization: Weekly and Daily Goals
One of the best things a homemaker can do is keep weekly and daily checklists, calendars, and goals.
Weekly checklists should include things like cleaning the kitchen, washing the sheets, sorting the mail, taking out the trash, and vacuuming the floors. Each day can have one or two of these tasks assigned to it, so that by the end of the week, everything is sparkling clean with minimal fuss.
Checklists help the homemaker by keeping tasks on paper instead of in their heads. They can simply look at the list, know what to do, and then check it off when completed.
Even if they end up missing a task or two, they don’t have to stress because they know it’ll be back in rotation next week. Once a good routine is established, the same weekly checklist can be used for every week of the year.
Daily checklists are similar, but with smaller, more persistent tasks. Making the beds, for example, or wiping down the counters.
Calendars are priceless for tracking longer-range trajectories and more scattered tasks. Scheduling dentist appointments, family reunions, church socials, and the like.
Much of homemaking is made up of consistent tasks that need to be done on a regular basis. Having checklists for all these things will help homemakers cut through the clutter and stay on top of the waves.
Errands: Conquering That To-Do List
One of the best habits a homemaker can have is making a daily to-do list. As part of their morning routine, they should set aside as little as five minutes to write out all the tasks that need to be accomplished that day.
Errands, appointments, food prep, cleaning — whatever it is, list out each point so that you can plan your day.
Group items together to make them more efficient. For example, put all of your town errands in one place so that you won’t have to make multiple trips. You don’t want to come home from the library only to realize you should have swung by Walmart to pick up toothpaste.
Another way you can organize your to-do list is by categories that encompass different areas of your life. Exercise, food prep, meals for the day, housework, errands, outdoor chores, finances, etc.
You can also include things that aren’t chores but are things you want to accomplish, such as relationship notes — call a friend, check in on a neighbor, etc. — or personal pursuits.
When you group your to-do list into categories, it helps you prioritize it. Maybe your house really needs cleaning, but looking at your list, you can see that it’s the relationship category that really needs to come first today.
Meal Planning for the Home Cook
Planning the home menu is an ongoing task. It’s also quite complex, with multiple steps involved. Typically, it includes these four:
- Plan the menu
- Create a shopping list
- Go shopping
- Prepare and cook the meals
And each of those tasks can be broken down into smaller tasks. Sounds exhausting, right? It’s enough to make any new homemaker break out in sweat.
It doesn’t have to be as overwhelming as it sounds, though. A bit of good note-taking, and you’ll be on top of it all in no time.
Creating a Menu
The best meal planners plan their menu for the entire week. This removes any guesswork and last-minute stress, helps you stick to a budget, and keeps your meals healthy.
Stay organized from the get-go by keeping all of your recipes in one place. Whether it’s a binder, box, or digital notes, it’s easiest when they’re all in the same place.
Whenever you come across a new recipe that you want to try, just add it to the collection.
When it comes to planning your menu, repetition is key. Don’t feel guilty for not serving original dishes every week; even restaurants keep going back to the same set of tried-and-true crowd favorites.
Pick one or two favorite options for each mealtime (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks) and add some variety to each day.
Consider how much time you have to prepare food this week, then find recipes that fit your schedule.
When you buy a perishable ingredient such as vegetables, plan multiple recipes that use those vegetables so that you don’t have food waste.
Grocery Shopping for Professionals
Once you have your menu, you can create your shopping list. If you’re focusing on budget shopping, you can refer to coupons and the week’s deals as you’re building your menu, choosing ingredients first and then meals to fit them.
Even if you’re not going to use an ingredient immediately, it’s a good idea to stock up on deals and either store or freeze them as needed.
If you’ve ever been responsible for meals and grocery shopping for any length of time, you know how crucial it is to have a list.
Without a list, you have no idea what you’ll be coming home with. It may be sufficient, but probably not. You’ll forget important ingredients, pick up things you don’t need, and waste a lot of time in the store thinking about what to buy.
Instead, create a list of everything you need, and only buy what’s on the list. Group items by section so that you can navigate the store more efficiently.
That way, when you bring all the items home and start cooking, you’ll have exactly what you need.
Staying On Top of Finances
Because homemakers make most of the daily purchases in the household, they end up managing the finances more often than not. Part of their job is to keep the home’s finances transparent and clear.
Keeping track of how much money is earned versus spent isn’t very hard to do, yet it reaps loads of benefits. A simple spreadsheet, budgeting app, or worksheet can track income and expenditures.
An easy way to stay on top of your finances is to jot down every purchase or keep your receipts. At the end of the month, or even on a weekly basis, you can total everything up and see where it lands.
However, an even better approach is to plan out your purchases before you even spend money. Start by breaking down your budget and allocating money to various destinations as needed. That way, you know exactly how much money you have each week to spend on groceries, clothing, or household necessities.
When homemakers are on top of their finances, they know how much leeway they have in planning their grocery lists, activity funds, and other expenses. They will be less prone to impulse buying and will run their households more responsibly and efficiently.
Note-Taking Methods for Homeschool Moms
It just so happens that many homemakers also homeschool their children, especially in recent years as homeschooling has become increasingly popular.
So to honor that, let’s take a look at some of the ways that homemakers can use note-taking methods to better educate their children. Even if your kids go to traditional schools, you can still use some of these tricks to supplement their education.
In addition to their uses for organizing normal household management tasks, calendars and weekly checklists are also of infinite value when it comes to homeschooling.
Clearly, planning a curriculum for an entire year is a mammoth job that requires tons of good notes. You want to list goals for the year, benchmarks for specific learning goals in each month, field trips and seasonal lessons, and more.
A curriculum without a calendar is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the bread — is it even a sandwich?
As the school year progresses, you’ll want a system for taking notes on a daily basis.
There will be plenty of things that deserve a mention, such as sparks of inspiration, important aspects of your child’s learning development, new ideas for follow-up, ways to save time in future lessons, ways to improve the class or lesson, and more.
You could also keep a set of notes for each child, complete with their learning process, personalized feedback, ways to impart good habits, what subjects they might like to learn more about, their study time, etc.
The possibilities are truly endless. Keep a file system for your notes, or perhaps use an established note-taking method such as the Zettelkasten method, to stay on top of all of this recorded information.
Planning Personal Time
Oftentimes, the number of tasks on a homemaker’s plate is overwhelming. It can be tempting to just go, go, go. However, doing so only guarantees that you will eventually crash, and crash big.
Instead, it’s crucial — and actually much more effective — to prevent that by taking time for yourself to recharge and stay at the top of your game.
It will feel counterintuitive at first and possibly even guilt-inducing. After all, there are things that need to get done, and if you have kids, it’s hard to justify taking time away from them for yourself.
You don’t have to make personal time a priority. Instead, think of it as an investment. By allowing yourself to relax for a few moments and recharge some of your energy, you’ll be able to re-engage with your family and your work with a renewed sense of purpose and focus.
Taking time to rest will actually make you more productive in the long run.
However, even if you understand this, it can be hard to put it into practice. Note-taking can actually help in several ways in this regard.
First, you can add personal time to your daily or weekly checklist. Put it on your to-do list, add it to your calendar, and eventually it will become a habit.
Second, you can make this personal time doubly productive by taking up a journaling habit. Journaling is a less-acknowledged form of note-taking, perhaps because it is less about recording external information and more about processing internal information.
But either way, it counts as taking notes. You can write down what happened throughout the day or explore your thoughts and feelings. Journaling is a great way to work through your emotions when you’re feeling overwhelmed. When you’re stressed, there’s nothing like a mind dump to clear the fog.
To make your personal time more refreshing, you can take notes throughout the day on things you’d like to catch up on or think about during your alone time. For example, you can use an app like Pocket to bookmark articles that you’d like to read or videos you want to watch.
Note-taking is a habit that makes all areas of your life run more smoothly, and that includes your “free” time!
Apps and Hacks: The Little Things Add Up
Now that we’ve talked about some of the major ways that note-taking can help busy homemakers, let’s look at some of the most popular apps out there.
It’s worth nothing that the usefulness of these apps is dependent in large part on your personal preferences and individual needs, so take these more as options and less as suggestions!
Evernote
This is one of the most popular note-taking apps on the market. It can be used for everything from to-do lists to writing blog posts and is compatible with both your computer and your phone. You can also add photos and handwritten lists.
Todoist
When it comes to checklists and to-do lists, this app is more than sufficient. You can color-code your lists, prioritize items, and input due dates.
Flipp
With this app, you can check sales at local stores and make lists of items that interest you. This can help with both meal planning and getting good deals on household items.
Remember the Milk
Here’s another app that’s ideal for making lists. It comes with an email address that you can send tasks directly to, and can easily connect to Gmail and Evernote. You can also share lists with others, which can be helpful in household collaborations.
Week Plan
If you prefer digital notes for your weekly checklist, this app is a good option. You can use it to identify weekly goals, prioritize tasks, and organize your lists.
MyCentriq
Any homemaker knows the struggle of suddenly needing a manual for an appliance and not being able to find it. Instead of keeping them all in a drawer, you can centralize them in this app. It also offers how-to videos and places to order replacement parts.
Plan to Eat
Designed for all of your meal prepping needs, this app can help you create weekly menus and shopping lists. You can use it to collect recipes, which can then be dropped into a weekly calendar and automatically added to a grocery list.
S’moresUp
Homemakers may eventually start handing out assignments to kids and other family members, making this app a useful addition. With it, you can manage your family’s chores, allowances, and routines. Each family member can have their own calendar and chore list.
Cozi
Here’s another app for meal planning, schedule organization, and to-do lists — all in one. You can color-code family schedules and to-do lists, create a journal, and send updates to family members.
AnyList
Streamline your grocery lists with this app. It suggests common grocery items, then automatically groups your selections by category to make them easier to find in store. You can also store recipes and use them to create shopping lists.
YNAB: “You Need a Budget”
This app keeps track of your personal finances by allowing you to set goals and track your money. It also offers online workshops that teach budgeting and money management.
Sweepy
This app can keep track of household cleaning tasks so that you don’t have to, like changing the air conditioner’s filter and sweeping behind the fridge. It automatically creates a daily cleaning schedule based on the last time each chore was completed.
Conclusion
Caring for one’s home is a lovely responsibility to have, and also a weighty one. Household management is just that: management. It requires the same skills as a management position in any company. A homemaker has to be flexible and assertive, confident in how to approach each task, and disciplined enough to get it done.
And just like at any company, there’s always tons of work to do to keep a household running. From meal prep to finances to childcare, homemakers have to navigate so much information and tasks on a daily basis.
That’s where note-taking comes in. Effective notes are like the life raft in a sea of overwhelm, the lighthouse that shines the way in a storm.
It doesn’t have to be the Cornell method or a visual representation of each task, though it could be. More often than not, it will include a lot of bullet points, to-dos, miscellaneous material, and lists.
You don’t have to be a student to be a note-taker, and lecture notes are only one kind. You can take note throughout the day of anything that has key points or main ideas that are worth noting. For a homemaker, there’s plenty where that came from!
Approaching homemaking with a strategy makes all the difference. You’ll spend less time trying to remember what you’re supposed to be doing that day and more time doing it. You’ll save a significant amount of time, energy, and attention.
As a result, you’ll be able to apply those things more effectively to what really matters: your family.