Overwhelmed Homemaker, You Are Not Alone
Ever feel like an overwhelmed homemaker? (Maybe the bigger question is … ever NOT?) I want to encourage you that you’re not alone …
On days when I feel overwhelmed as a homemaker, it’s easy to think I’m all alone with my struggles. I can start throwing a pity party for myself, thinking that my stress and countless things that are dropping all around me is unique just to my situation.
Ha!
The fact of the matter is there are many, many overwhelmed homemakers in this world. In fact, I would even dare to guess there are more overwhelmed homemakers than ones who are coasting along without any stress or busyness.
I regularly ask my e-mail subscribers what issues they’re dealing with and the most common response is dealing with an overwhelmed life.
When there’s not a simple 5-step solution …
It’s hard to be a homemaker.
And it’s hard to know what you should do to make your home run smoothly, but not be able to do it all – for whatever reason.
I wish I had the magical answer to take away all overwhelming feelings and busy schedules. I wish I had a simple 5 step solution to offer homemakers everywhere. I wish I had the perfect plan to balance every single thing in your life.
But I don’t.
Even if there would be a magical answer, it would need to be drastically different for each homemaker, home, and family.
What does work for me is to decide what’s most important – what absolutely needs to get done – and build it into a loose daily routine. After that, I fill in the rest of my daily plans and try to give myself a bunch of grace. Trying to cram absolutely everything in day after day is the easiest way to set myself up for failure – and set my family up for stress.
You’re not alone!
Since I frequently hear my readers’ concerns – and they comfort me, as I realize I’m not alone in my overwhelmed feelings – I thought I’d pass them along to you, too. I am pretty sure you’ll be able to relate!
My biggest concern would probably be managing a schedule. It’s something I tend to struggle with. I have so much to do during the day: homeschool, work from home, time with children and husband, cleaning, cooking, time for myself, and the list goes on.
How to do it all without killing myself and still enjoy the things I am doing and not feel burdened?
I can create schedules but have difficulty sticking to them. They look great on paper but when I am using it, it may work but then something goes wrong that day and throws everything else off.
We are behind schedule and although I allow for some flexibility, I am unable to catch up. It is overwhelming.– Gina
My biggest concern is managing my time with a 29-month-old girl in school and a 5-month old at home.
– Osahemaa
Although I am fairly organized, I am always happy to learn more on how to keep my house clean and tasks done efficiently and quickly, while still rushing through a very busy life. I have six children and a hard-working husband. I work part-time, too.
– Julie
It would be nice to get advice on how to balance the day better. Since I’ve never had to do it all all by myself, I fear that I may struggle with scheduling. How do you balance cleaning, cooking, children, and appointments without feeling so overwhelmed?
– Jennifer
I’m a stay at home mom of five and my husband works out of province (I’m Canadian). Being home alone with all our kids is pretty tough. Hockey multiple times a week, youth group, swimming lessons, homework … it all weighs heavy on me. I’m not so sure you can writing about this getting easier, but this is our home situation!
– Tasha
I wish I had a big hug for each of you facing these overwhelming days. Since I don’t, please rest assured that you’re not alone. If you can find any comfort in that, please do.
While you’re finding comfort in the commiseration, realize this is just a season of our lives. We won’t always have these same responsibilities. We won’t always have to juggle these particular challenges.
Work for your home and family as if working for the Lord, not for men. Then someday – after we juggle all of the responsibilities of an overwhelmed homemaker – we’ll know what didn’t work and what eventually did work best for us.
If you typically feel like an overwhelmed homemaker, how do you cope? What helps you the most?
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All images courtesy of Pixabay.
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I am currently digging myself out of a hole of overwhelm (mostly induced by pregnancy tiredness and running after a toddler) and I’ve come back to list making, goal setting, prioritizing and and a daily to-do page that includes the main responsibilities (homeschool, housework, meal plan, appointments/events). I again started bullet journaling and I find this helps me get all the different responsibilities and goals in one spot so I don’t over plan in one area.
I started master lists for house projects, school prep etc where I look what to do when I have an opening or an odd ten minutes in between… but most important my daily plan page! If you put your homeschool plan next to your housework to-do, appointments, etc you get a better picture of what is realistic to plan.
I have a 2 1/2 year old son and 5 month old son. I work 9 am – 5 pm and my husband works 3 pm – 11 pm (sometimes 3 am). When I get off work I pick kids up from daycare and get home to cook dinner, change diapers, feed the baby and dinner to my older son and then take dinner to my husband at work. It has been crazy to juggle it all. I finally resorted to getting rid of my daily list and am now doing 1 load of laundry a day, 2 minute clean ups in every room (except the kitchen), and a 10 minute clean up in the kitchen (less than 20 minutes a day). Then I have one task I do every day of the week (bathroom, dust, vacuum, sweep & mop, and kitchen and these tasks take 5-20 minutes/day) and then I zone clean which takes about an extra 20 minutes 2 days per week. This seems to be working for me so far. I don’t necessarily like to clean but I do LOVE the results and I LOVE the way my family functions when things are at least put together. It also allows me to focus and have quality time with my family when we are together.
I just found your blog by the way and can’t get enough!
I’m having to remind myself that this is just a season! My front landscaping is overgrown and just ugly right now, but with with a 12 month old I can’t just go out there and work when I feel like it. When she naps I have to squeeze in daily tasks and spending time with my big kids. Because of the age difference in my kids, I had a period of a couple years when I did have so much more freedom. Reminding myself today that because I have a toddler some things are just different than I would like them to be but it is just a season.
I would advise each lady here to read Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. It has tremendously helped my procrastination & bring some order to the chaos. Best wishes