15 Tips For Improved Homemaking

Whether you are a newlywed, recently had your first or fifth baby, or are a seasoned homemaker, this post is for you. We can all strive for a household that is clean, efficient, and a desired place for our family to be as they live, eat, play, and rest. Read on for 15 practical tips for improved homemaking!

I think all, if not most of us, would appreciate a cleaner and more efficient household. As a homemaker that is one of my primary jobs, and I take it seriously!

I am always looking for ways to improve my homemaking and to make the job of running this household more efficient for myself.

These tips will not apply to everyone, because just like most things in life, everyone’s situation is different.

These are the tips and practices I use daily or weekly to keep my household running smoothly, and let’s be honest, to keep me from going crazy.

15 tips to improve your homemaking:

I am no expert nor do I nail this list perfectly all the time.

Oftentimes I don’t accomplish everything I set out to do in a day. Some days I am just plain lazy or overstimulated – and that’s ok!

Going on 11 years of marriage, I have been a homemaker for over 10 years now and a stay-at-home-mom for nearly 6 years.

With this routine I am able to have a basis for what needs to happen, bare minimum, to keep our household running without feeling like it’s falling apart.

1. Shoes By The Door

This one is pretty self explanatory but we do not wear shoes in our house.

We have a small basket and bench by our entry way where our in season shoes “live” when we are home.

Plainly, shoes are pretty gross. Especially when covered in mud and who knows whatever else my kids have walked through that day.

To keep your home cleaner, eliminate wearing shoes indoors, which prevents tracking in all that stuff from outside.

2. Dishes done after every meal – or at least every night

I have been doing this for 10 plus years now. It is a life-saver! Who doesn’t want to wake up to a clean kitchen every morning?

It’s fairly simple, wash the dishes after each meal.

If you can’t accomplish that due to life with small children, errands, field trips, then at least get them done before bed!

My sister and I lovingly refer to this as “closing our kitchen.”

Once all the dishes are done, give the counters a clean and the kitchen is now closed.

Make this part of your routine and it will soon become a habit, and then will become second nature!

To be honest I used to hate doing the dishes. But now they are another part of my day to keep my house functioning as efficiently as possible!

3. Run dishwasher every night/unload every morning

This ties into #2!

This will help to keep a rotation of clean dishes and to eliminate that annoying moment when you go to load the dishwasher but it’s actually clean from yesterday. Good times.

As part of your nightly dish clean-up, round up all the dirty dishes, load them in the dishwasher and run it.

If your dishwasher has a delay start, utilize that feature and set it to start a few hours later. There always seems to be those straggler cups or bowls as you continue to clean.

Next up would be to prioritize unloading the clean dishes every morning.

This is part of my daily morning routine. After I have my coffee and read my bible, I step into the kitchen to begin work, starting with unloading the dishwasher.

This sets the tone for the day, that one task is out of the way, and all your dishes are clean and ready to be used!

If you have a child of appropriate age, this is a great chore for them to help with! (my 3 year old loves to help me with this – at the same time my 1 year old is dumping all the silverware on the floor).

4. Prep next-day coffee when doing morning dishes

This applies to the coffee drinkers out there!

I have a classic drip-brew coffee maker which means I use a filter, grounds, and fill the reservoir with water for every use.

This probably seems like a no-brainer, but when you want coffee hot and freshly brewed when you come downstairs in the morning, then you have to prep it the day before!

I used to dread prepping the coffee when doing nightly dishes because it was just one more task I had to complete before I could crawl into bed.

I have since switched up my routine and now when I am doing the dishes from breakfast, I clean out the coffee from that day and prep tomorrows!

Set the program for that bad boy to start brewing at 6:00 AM and boom – hot fresh coffee as soon as I wake up!

If you have a fancy coffee maker, then maybe this tip would be to have your water reservoir filled and your coffee pods or grounds easily accessible and stocked.

5. Dinner prep while cooking breakfast

This may seem a little foreign but it is very helpful!

The thought process for me is, if I am already in the kitchen cooking, I might as well have multiple meals cooking at once.

Maybe this just means that while I am cooking eggs I also have the oven on to roast some veggies and a pot going on the stove to brown some ground beef.

This would give you a head start on dinner and make that *super pleasant* 4-6PM timeframe easier to manage.

6. Utilize batch cooking

Nothing revolutionary here, but batch cooking is your friend!

To me this simply means making a little extra of what I am currently cooking, or efficiently making additional items out of what’s already being used.

For example, if I am making hard boiled eggs I always make plenty extra for a few days at a time.

If I am cooking a whole chicken, or bone-in chicken, I will take the bones and remains from that to start some bone broth on the stove.

When I make pulled pork in my pressure cooker, I use the juices remaining in the pot to cook dry beans in.

When making my one-minute mayo, I make a double batch and then go right into making my homemade ranch.

These are just some examples but they go a long way in improving the functionality and ease of your kitchen!

Another kitchen tip is to always have meat defrosted and on-hand. For me this means pulling a few meat options from the freezer about 2 times a week. That way we always have a meat base for a meal ready to go!

Also when it comes to batch cooking, utilize your freezer! In the past I would hardly ever freeze extras or leftovers but it comes in so handy on those last-minute meal type of nights.

Soup is a great option to freeze and easy to defrost and have dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less.

7. Cold lunches – fridge to table meal

As much as I enjoy cooking meals for my family and being in the kitchen, I also don’t have the time to be in the kitchen all day. Hence this list!

Fridge-to-table lunches are my jam and bring simplicity to the middle of the day when I’m attempting to get the littles down for a nap and get on to my next project.

Cold lunches are simply how they sound, cold foods straight from the fridge or pantry. Meaning no cooking involved!

Some of my favorites would be:

• Salami, cheese, and crackers
• Lunch meat with veggies and chips
• Fruit, yogurt, and olives

You get the picture. Simple and easy to plate and serve in less than 5 minutes!

If you have leftovers from the night before, heat those up and serve for an easy and efficient lunchtime.

8. One water bottle/cup per family member

This one may sound silly but remember we are talking efficiency here!

If the amount of cups on your counter or your night stand have ever driven you crazy then you understand where I’m going with this.

Limit all family members to their designated water bottle whether at home or on the go!

This keeps everyone’s water accessible and easy to identify.

Not to mention it eliminates cups all over the place.

9. Laundry day

Consolidate your laundry to one day a week. My laundry day is Friday!

I know I know, this might be the most controversial thing on the internet. And probably contrary to all the other homemaking posts you read. But don’t knock it until you try it!

I was a skeptic myself until my sister showed me the light, thanks Nat!

It may seem impossible, or overwhelming, but it really has streamlined my weekly duties and I am loving it.

Instead of constantly having a load of laundry going, forgetting about it, then remembering to put in the dryer, and repeat until you die.

This method designates one day for all the laundry in the household! That may sound insane to you – it did to me at one point too!

*I will say there is a caveat to this of course, if you have really young children or babies 0-6 months then this method may not be for you in this season. Thanks to blowouts and spit-up, more frequent laundry is often needed – I get that*

Here is my typical laundry day timeline to give you an example:

It actually starts on Thursday evening. All the dirty laundry gets brought down to the laundry room (ours is in the basement).

My 5 year old has a “laundry job”, so he brings down his and his sisters hamper while I bring down my husbands and mine.

Once the laundry is down stairs I begin sorting; lights, darks, and towels or miscellaneous.

I put one load in the washer and use my “delay end” feature on my washer to end by 7AM.

*I get not everyone has a delay feature but you can still load the washer and be ready to start it as soon as you wake up*

When I wake up Friday morning, after I have my coffee but before I unload my dishwasher 😉 I head downstairs to swap that first load into the dryer and put the second load into the washer.

So before 8AM there is one load already in the dryer and the other washing!

Once those loads are ready to be switched I place a new load in the washer and take the clean load upstairs to my bed where I fold all the clean clothes.

All our bedrooms are upstairs so it makes sense for me to fold them all on my bed and then take to the individual rooms.

Since I sort by color and not person, everyone’s clothes are mixed together.

Depending on whatever else is going on that day I will sometimes start folding that clean load of laundry then, or I just wait until the other load of clothes is ready and do it all at once.

Is it a big pile of laundry? Yes, yes it is – it’s 5 people’s clothes for a week after all!

But once folded and put away we are going into the weekend and week ahead with clean clothes.

The best part, I now won’t be doing laundry for a whole week!

It normally only ends up being 3-4 full loads, one of those being towels.

Give this method a try for a few weeks and see how you like it!

The key is getting it all folded and put away same day. Otherwise it’s just another thing piled up and on your to-do list, you can do it!

Read on for more tips to improve your homemaking.

10. Quick pick-up every evening

The whole family can help with this one!

After dinner set a 5 minute timer where everyone helps picking up the floor, resetting the couch, putting items back where they go.

This is not a deep clean, more like a surface pick-up of your main living area to reset the house!

I have a small basket on my hutch to toss random items into that either need to go down to the basement or upstairs, it’s an easy catch-all for those quick clean moments!

11. Vacuum every night

This ties into tip #10 but once the floor is all picked up you have a prime opportunity to vacuum!

Again we’re not talking detailed but just pull out the vacuum and get those crumbs from dinner or the random pieces of paper, strings, stickers (thanks toddlers).

You will be so relieved to wake up to a clutter free and vacuumed living area!

12. Up-Down rule

This one technically only applies to those living in a multi-story home.

Have you ever walked upstairs only to remember you were going to bring up that pair of shoes. Or maybe you just got back downstairs and were supposed to bring down those extra diapers.

Well that was me (and sometimes still is). I made a rule for myself that any time I go up or down the stairs I have to take something with.

There is always something to take up or down so I am never empty handed, especially with a baby in my arms!

This tip helps in the overall efficiency of your home and keeps areas tidy that can easily get cluttered if not constantly picked-up or organized.

You could also try a stair basket to help with this concept. With the ages of my kids this doesn’t make sense as they would either break it or pour out all the things making a bigger mess. So I just stick with my method for now!

If you don’t mind taking the stairs a million times a day, then just skip this tip! 😉

13. Play room pick-up weekly

This one is specific to each home and family, per usual!

We have a designated play room/play area. In this house it’s in the basement while in our previous house it was in the front living room.

My goal used to be adding the play-room to that evening pick-up routine. However, over time I have felt that be a fruitless task to accomplish daily.

Mainly because the kids use it so frequently that by the time I finished picking it up I would turn around to all the toys on the floor again. You too?

Instead, I have changed my routine to do a thorough play room pick-up about once a week, or when it just gets completely out of control!

With the kids help we play a clean-up song and work together to get the play room back in order.

And yes, it’ll be be destroyed by the end of the day.

This is where relinquishing control comes in. It doesn’t always have to be clean. They are little and they make messes.

If anything, being more relaxed in this area has given me more peace.

Knowing this area is mostly going to be messy, allows me to lower my expectations and just roll with it!

14. Minimize your stuff

Again not revolutionary, nor the first time you’ve read that on a list like this.

But it does make a difference!

Less stuff = less time cleaning it.

I have been on a minimizing journey over the past few years and have found much joy in having less.

There are plenty of articles and studies on this topic, but having less really does bring more clarity and peace to our home!

I really enjoyed this post on owning less by Hello Brownlow.

15. Mindset

This. This one. It’s probably the biggest takeaway from this whole list!

Mindset is everything when it comes to homemaking. I know this from the 10 years of reframing my thinking on this topic.

It boils down to treating this role like a job, and doing so in honor of God.

It can be so easy for resentment to build up and bitterness to take root in our hearts doing this nearly thankless 24/7 job day after day.

But I encourage you to treat it as a gift.

Instead of I HAVE to do the dishes and HAVE to clean the toilets, retrain your brain to say GET to.

I GET to serve my family in this way.

I am daily reminding myself that I am blessed with a husband and children to take care of and serve. It is an honorable role pleasing to the Lord.

What did you think of these 15 tips to improve you homemaking?

Hopefully they sparked some curiosity or brought some encouragement to you today.

If your current routines work for you and your family then keep doing it!

If feel like your house is always falling apart, try implementing some of these tips for a few weeks or months and see if any changes are felt.

Creating habits takes time and repetition so don’t give up after one week. Stay consistent and you will see progress over time.

What once felt foreign in your routine will eventually feel second nature.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with perfection. The goal is progress and it can take years to achieve efficiency in your homemaking, but with these 15 tips you are surely on your way!

If you need a practical way to stay organized throughout your week, try using a simple planner like this one that I created. It is to the point without all the fluff and you can customize how you see fit.

Do you have any homemaking tips that have helped you create a cleaner and more efficient home? I would love to hear about them in the comments!

Creating a clean and peaceful environment for our family is surely something to Rejoice About!

Have you been looking for an all-natural cleaner that’s easy to make? Try out my favorite cleaner here!

Happy Homemaking!