I am passionate about home management. And one pillar I support is having a plan! Flexibility is key to being a homemaker, so whether or not you stick to the plan is a mute point. The key is making sure you are covering your bases and serving your family well! Here is a sample weekly homemaking routine to get it all done.
A homemaking schedule may sound like a daunting thing. Homemaking is usually portrayed as this idyllic undertaking where nothing is rushed, wrong, or fails.
I would argue that the women who have this peaceful flow to their homes have simply taken the time to master a routine that gives them this peace!
A weekly homemaking routine may help you achieve that clean kitchen, tackle that to-do list, and even give you time for yourself every day. When you pencil in those weekly tasks, like trips to the grocery store, you can tackle even more tasks. Tasks that take you outside the home!
If you’re overwhelmed at the idea of itemizing your time, let’s take a deep breathe together. Let’s break down where you’re spending your time now and how you can become even more efficient with your time.
Here is a glimpse into my weekly homemaking routine. Feel free to adapt it in any way to fit your schedule!
By sharing what I do in my home, I hope I can inspire you to make a positive change in your home.
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Table of Contents
If you want to jump around this blog post, here are the sections you can jump to.
- Sunday – Day of Rest
- Monday – Start the Week Off Strong!
- Tuesday
- Wednesday – Simple, but Successful, Homemaking Tip
- Thursday – The Art of Multitasking
- Friday – Buttoning Things Up
- Saturday – Does This Really Work?
Why a Weekly Homemaking Routine Can Work for You
The Most Important Thing in Homemaking
Other Beneficial Homemaking Routines
A Sample Weekly Homemaking Routine – By Day of the Week
In my current season of life, I organize my tasks by day of the week. I assign certain chores to certain days, but I’m covering several areas of my home in one day.
What exactly does that mean?
Instead of devoting an entire day to meal prep or laundry, I’m breaking those tasks up throughout my week.
My grocery shopping takes place on one day of the week (let’s be real – I’m not hauling two toddlers through the store every day of the week to cook something fresh every day!). But I’m constantly cooking snacks and meals in my kitchen. Whereas when I was a newlywed with no children, I would grocery shop one day and meal prep an entire week’s worth of lunches and snacks in one day.
So as we walk through this homemaking routine, remember that even though I’m doing a load of laundry every day, I’m still cleaning all of the laundry in my home every week. I’m just not devoting an entire day to do it.
The con to having a homemaking routine like this is that it can start to feel repetitive. And in this day and age of comparison, it doesn’t feel quite glamorous to have to do the same exact things every single day.
We will address that concern, and why in some seasons it’s actually a saving grace, later on in this blog post.
Your New Weekly Routine
Sunday
Sundays in our home are a day of rest. This is the only day of the week we don’t expect anyone in the home to be working. Since God rested, it’s important we rest, too!
On Sundays, I usually throw something in the crock pot while I’m preparing breakfast. Bam – dinner is ready!
If I’m not making a crock pot meal, I’m reheating something I prepared earlier in the week.
If you want to get a jump start on the week but keep that relaxation piece, schedule your grocery pick-up on Sundays. Just swing through after Sunday morning worship and head home to unload the groceries.
As you’re prepping the sides for your crock pot dinner that evening, take 5 minutes to prep a snack or two for your week. In our home, we love to make veggie trays with cheese slices and cookies.
Monday
Happy Monday! Let’s greet the week with motivation and excitement.
When you wake up in the morning, throw in a load of laundry and start your washer. As your breakfast cooks, unload your dishwasher so it’s ready to receive dirty dishes throughout the day.
Mondays in our home means bedrooms get a refresh. So I strip the sheets from the beds, mop and vacuum the floors, and wipe down the bedside tables.
My kids are social butterflies. To keep up with their social schedules, I started “mail Mondays” in our home. “Mail Mondays” are also the days I pay bills, send letters of encouragement, or make returns for packages.
When the morning hum of getting breakfast cleaned up or returning home from the post office dies down, I take a moment to create a to-do list for the week. My daily schedule may never change, but my weekly tasks are always different!
This is also a great time to plan coffee with friends, family activities, or daily tasks you simply don’t want to forget.
If you feel like you’ll miss a step in your week by doing this on Mondays, take the time to do this on Sundays! Reviewing your week’s activities before the week begins is never a bad idea.
After lunch, I may throw together a few loaves of bread to get a good start on lunches for the week. If you make your own condiments, this would be a great time to do that, too.
Even if we eat a late lunch – this gets us to 1 pm or 2 pm. We have a good 2 to 3 hours before I need to start preparing dinner! If you institute a quiet time in your home, think of all of the things you could get done in 2 or 3 hours.
These hours are also a great way to squeeze in an extra homemaking task. Is there a small project you have been putting off? Is there a gift that needs to be made? You just found the time to complete these tasks!
Tuesday
I am a huge fan of alliteration. To satisfy this, I wash my towels on Tuesdays (see? Isn’t it so fun?!)
After I start my load of laundry – first thing – and serve breakfast, I switch the towels to the dryer before tackling the bathroom.
Remember – we want to hit every room of the house this week! We started off strong with bedrooms and sheets. So since we’re focusing on towels, let’s keep things with like things and clean the bathrooms.
The rest of the day is spent doing other necessary tasks, like homeschooling my children, preparing lunch, and enjoying some down time.
After nap time and quiet time, my children and I will reset our home, put away the laundry, and enjoy the snacks that I prepped on Sunday.
And because they’re growing kiddos, we know those snacks aren’t going to last long! While I’m waiting for dinner to finish cooking, I’ll also prepare another snack so my Wednesday flows smoothly. If I don’t need another snack, I’ll prepare a side dish, condiment, or treat. This ensures I’m always utilizing my time wisely and staying ahead on the never-ending task of meal preparation.
Since we eat the majority of our meals at home, I’m also constantly sweeping our kitchen, washing dishes, and wiping down countertops. A deep clean of my kitchen will come later in the week.
When the kitchen is clean and my children are in bed, I will take another look at my meal plan and thaw any meat I need for the rest of the week.
Wednesday
In our family, we attend worship on Wednesday nights. Since I know today is going to be a long day, I know I’m going to want a tidy home to return to.
Thus, our focus is the living room today.
Since this is my biggest cleaning day of the week, I almost always make some sort of crock pot meal. If I’m not in the mood for a crock pot meal, I like to lean on soup and sandwiches.
That’s just a small tip that I hope helps you, too! If you have an area of homemaking you know is going to demand your attention for some period of time, you can simplify another area of your homemaking so you don’t get overwhelmed.
After I start the washing machine with a load of either shirts, pants, or blankets, I remove everything from the floors of common living areas. After I sweep and mop, I return lost toys, socks, or other stray items to their proper homes in the house.
Luckily, I can get all this done in under an hour thanks to the steam mop I use! I’ll link it here, as well as my Homemaking Resources page. It’s been such a game-changer in keeping my home clean and sanitized!
By keeping a weekly cleaning routine like this, I know nothing in my home will ever pile up! At least once a week, almost all the surfaces in my home get touched. That means any out-of-place items will get picked up and returned to their proper place.
By Wednesday evening, I’m already thinking of meal ideas for next week. So I start a small grocery list in my planner.
When we return from Wednesday night worship, the major footprint of my home is clean and I’m ready to carry that motivation through to the end of the week!
Are you looking for more homemaking inspiration?
Be sure to follow me on Pinterest! I share more ways to revive and utilize classic skills that make your home and table beautiful without busting your budget.
In all things, I like to focus on frugal without sacrificing quality.
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Photo by svitlana via Unsplash.
Thursday
I like to keep our errands to one day of the week. And without fail, that day is always Thursday in our home.
This morning, I spent a few extra minutes cleaning the kitchen. Even though I sweep and wipe down countertops multiple times a day every day, there’s still room for gunk to build up and items to linger on the kitchen table a little too long.
I like to try to bake something for breakfast at least once a week. Today, it’s oatmeal. While the oatmeal bakes, I quickly put any dirty dishes in the sink and retrieved my cleaners to clean up the kitchen.
With a disinfectant in hand, I’m careful to move everything off the countertops and get those pesky crumbs. After I toss the dirty towel in the wash and start the washing machine for kitchen towels, I get to work on clearing off the kitchen table.
School assignments, crafts, and Bible bags usually litter the table. I make quick work of going through the contents.
I save what precious projects my children have worked on, throw away old receipts, return random objects to their homes, and grab another rag to wipe down the table.
Before the oven timer lets me know the oatmeal is done, the countertops are clear, the dishwasher is ready to receive the day’s dirty dishes, and we are ready to get the day started!
While my children put their shoes on and get ready to run our errands, I will take a moment to quickly mop the kitchen floor. I love making my own solutions with this spray mop. It also stores away immediately so I can grab my keys, throw on my shoes, and tackle my errands. All with a clean kitchen!
For bigger messes, or dried dirt from muddy, Spring days, I use the steam mop I talked about earlier in this blog post.
Since Thursdays are my errand days, you know I’m relying on that bread I made earlier in the week for a quick lunch – sandwiches.
We’re always running low on snacks on Thursdays, so I add a few more things to my grocery list.
We end the day with a home-cooked meal and I take a few extra moments to hand wash any dishes that may have piled up.
If I don’t forget, I take a moment to clean the kitchen sink. I like to sprinkle some baking soda around the sink and add a splash of white vinegar. While the two are reacting and forming a paste, I’ll quickly scrub down the sink and rinse with warm water.
While we look forward to Friday nights every week, we still have a home to manage.
Fridays are spent cleaning up random messes that have accumulated throughout the week. If we have any last-minute errands, we will tend to those, too.
During the spring and summer months, this is when we complete our weekly yard work. Since I have young children, we focus on weeding garden beds, picking up toys that may be scattered all over the yard, and other simple tasks like picking up sticks or “helping” dad mow.
Fridays are a catch-all day for our family. I take one final look at my to-do list and move any lingering, but timely, tasks to Monday morning. I prepare a simple meal, usually pizza, and prioritize comfy clothes for the first time all week.
Unfortunately, the laundry and the dishes can’t wait until Monday! I still start my day by emptying the dishwasher and starting my washing machine. Whatever wasn’t washed during the week gets washed today.
And don’t think I’ve forgotten about that grocery list I’ve been nurturing this week! With a few taps and swipes on my phone, I schedule it for pick up on Sunday after worship.
Congratulations, homemaker! If you’re reading this, you have cleaned every area of your home. Your family had home-cooked snacks and meals all week long because you diligently worked in the kitchen when you had time. And you did it all in clean clothes because you didn’t miss a day of laundry!
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Photo by elena-putina via Unsplash.
Saturday
It can be hard to handle everything a home throws at you on a daily basis. And if that’s ever the case, I take Saturdays to slow down and truly examine the systems in my home that need my attention.
Do I need to rethink what I’m doing? I’ll look into home management systems I may need to try.
Am I feeling discouraged about my work in the home? I’ll remind myself that a homemaker is not a housekeeper. And that my work is more than just an old-fashioned homemaking routine.
I’m making a huge difference!
Tackling Monthly Tasks
Daily routines are great for making sure you have a clean house. It’s also the best use of our time. But there are homemaking tasks that don’t need to be done every day.
These are things like cleaning out larger appliances like your washing machine and dishwasher. Or dusting baseboards and washing the windows.
Just like a weekly homemaking routine, you can add one of these tasks to your to-do list every week. After a month, you have done all of them!
You can also have a designated day you tackle all of your monthly homemaking tasks. If that’s a better routine for you, comment on this blog post and let me know! I would love to know how you make it work.
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Photo by elena-putina and svitlana via Unsplash.
Seasonal Tasks in Homemaking
How do you fit in additional responsibilities as a homemaker? A little at a time!
When you take charge of your homemaking and section your responsibilities on a weekly basis, you can quickly see how much time you have to devote to seasonal homemaking tasks.
So grab your daily planner and jot down a few seasonal tasks! If you’re looking for ideas, head over to the Homemaker and Happy Shop and grab my ebook “Homemaking Activities for Every Season” for just $5!
In it, there are 350 homemaking activities! From crafts to cleaning, you’ll be inspired to create a beautiful home all year long!
If you’re looking for more free resources from Homemaker and Happy, be sure to check out these blog posts! For even more freebies, subscribe to my email newsletter below and get four seasonal bucket lists.
- Prepare Your Home for Fall – Free Checklist for Homemakers
- Simple Ideas (and tips) for Seasonal Spring Homemaking
- Cozy Winter Homemaking Ideas
Why A Weekly Homemaking Routine Can Work for You
I have spoken a bit about my transition to motherhood. It was overwhelming, tiring, and not anything like I expected.
Every evening, after putting my firstborn to sleep for the night, I would fall asleep on the couch in the middle of folding laundry. I would wake to either nurse her, or drag myself to the shower, utterly exhausted at trying to get everything done.
When we welcomed our second baby, I knew I needed to make a change.
If you’re in that same season of overwhelm, trying to tackle all of your laundry in one day may seem overwhelming. That’s where a weekly homemaking routine is going to help you instead of hinder you.
Every day, you are tackling a little bit of everything. And as you go through the home, room by room, you know everything is going to get the attention it needs. Every surface will be wiped down, every floor will be swept, and every piece of laundry will be cleaned.
Slow and steady, you can get everything done.
Remember these Most Important Things as a Full-Time Homemaker…
A tidy house and cleaning schedule is a physical way to measure your success.
But your true success lies in the comfort of your family. Can you put down the cleaning rag to read a book and snuggle? Do you let household tasks dominate your attention?
This has been the hardest thing to balance in motherhood for me. Exterior chaos can drive internal chaos. I tell myself, “If I can just get this load of laundry put away, I know I’ll be able to rest!”
But at what cost?
A clean home is something I love. But I want my family to know that I love them more.
Other Beneficial Homemaking Routines
My entire day flows from one activity to the next because I took the time to create systems that would benefit me and my family. And naturally, the best way to start any day is with a solid morning routine.
I mentioned mine so many times in this blog post! Every morning, I start the washing machine and empty the dishwasher.
But what else do I do to really ground me in the day? You can read more about that in How to Create a Homemaking Morning Routine.
For even more homemaking inspiration, follow me on Pinterest!
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