My oldest son is getting married this summer and my second son just moved out. The family inside my home, the ones I feed and instruct are contracting, not expanding. At least, that’s the way it looks and feels when I plan dinners and school schedules. Once, before our youngest was born, my husband reminded…
As we decluttering our living spaces, finding the motivation to start and maintain progress can often feel daunting. However, by understanding the concept of traction and applying it to decluttering, we can unlock the potential to create organized spaces. In February, during our annual Declutter Challenge, we discussed what decluttering traction looks and feels like…
Homemaking is a truly honorable endeavor, but one that’s easy to lose the vision for as we get lost in the details and distractions of a busy life. Homes are the building block of society, so tending them is much more than the physical upkeep. Our work as mothers is spiritual even in the midst…
Instagram is not good for our homeschools. It’s not good for our homemaking, either, or our mental and emotional health as women. Instagram works as a comparison machine. An image from someone else’s life pops in front of our eyes and our minds are instant evaluators, analyzers. That’s what our mind does. When presented with…
When I was a young mom and homemaker, I read blogs and books on keeping house better. I didn’t love housework, but I did want to do a good job. I wanted to be a good housewife, a good homemaker. I would try to do the cleaning routines promoted by bloggers. I copied lists and…
When I was young, to suggest that there was such a thing as women’s work was considered backward, oppressive, and dumb. Now the noise-makers of the culture have moved on to trying to say that you can’t even say what a woman is with certainty, much less women’s work. So can we abandon their skepticism…
Many moms struggle with perfectionism, often without even realizing that’s the problem keeping them stuck and sad. Bethany Barendregt tells us in this interview how to notice and get out of a perfectionist sinkhole. Bethany Barendregt is wife to Alex and mama to their five kids ages 6-14. She works from home as founder/creative director…
Many people struggle to get started, to stay on task, and to get things done without taking all day. But that struggle is amplified when you have ADHD. Moms with ADHD have an extra difficult time. There’s always an unending litany of things to do as moms, and we can’t even keep track of them…
How many times have you sat at the table with your calendar and a notebook, listing out what needs to be done, looking at the lay of your week, and determining what should happen when? You create a plan to get all the housework done on a consistent basis so nothing ever gets out of…
Have you ever come upon the end of your week and wished you had just one more day. One more day would have been enough, we tell ourselves, to finish out our to do list for the week. Sounds similar to coming to the twenty-fifth of the month and wishing for just another hundred dollars…