People want to knowhow millennials are embracing homemaking. Since most of us need to work and still can’t afford to hire a home staff, what’s the trick? Luckily, we’ve been quietly figuring out how to minimize housework to make time to enjoy life. That work/life balance is too precious to us. Call it lazy, but we have better things to do. And it’s not all DIY crafts and kicking ass at holiday decorating.
Even with a full-time office job, working moms are homemakers too. You won’t see that skill listed on their résumé, but it comes with the territory. After all of the other daily duties, we are making the house a home with dinner, dishes, clean clothes, gifts, fresh towels, stocked toilet paper, love, discipline…. the list could go on forever.
Now let’s be real, housework is just the first half of the battle. The ultimate goal of homemaking is to create a happy environment for your family. And I might sound entitled when I say I want to enjoy it too! I definitely did not start a family to just work and cook and clean. But homemaking is more than crafting and baking cookies.
We need to find balance, a work/life balance if you will. Because after all, we’ve always thought of “homemaking” as a job. We work too hard to miss out on time with our babies (and those babies want more time with us, too!).
We know what homemaking looked like 60 years ago, but what does it look like today? Homemaking is going to happen whether we do it well or not, so we deserve to have modern and efficient procedures in place. Luckily traditional homemaking has been discreetly modernized, so I’ve laid out a millennial mom’s list of simpler variations of regular tasks in everyday homemaking.
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Since we need to make money
Modern Homemakers are working, but not necessarily in the traditional sense.
Millennials are becoming the majority of the workforce, and this has been awesome for creating remote, partially remote, and flexible work opportunities. I am in short supply of time more than anything, so employers are beginning to accommodate that need.
Things like flexible schedules, telecommuting, and occasional telecommuting are in high demand thanks to the demands on moms to work and run a household. Companies like FlexJobs were created out of the necessity for moms to contribute to the finances while caring for a family.
This isn’t the basis of modern homemaking, but it’s a good start!
You can start your job hunt today and subscribe to my email list for discounts on the membership as they come my way!
Limit Laundry
Ahhh the neverending pit of laundry. As a busy working mom, it’s so tough to keep up with the demands of dirty clothes. My favorite hacks for limiting laundry are:
1. Capsule Wardrobes
Heard of it? It’s amazing. Basically, you don’t need ALL of your clothes. Do I sound crazy? I might be, but it’s still true! Instead of letting yourself and your family go through every item you own before washing it, store out-of-season articles and stick to the basics.
It makes outfit picking easier, and laundry loads smaller.
2. Quit Separating the laundry
Separating the baby’s laundry is NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY. In fact, it’s mostly not necessary. I stumbled upon a blog that let me know that ancient idea of baby clothes needing their own special detergent is really just a marketing scheme.
You only need to separate them if the detergent is irritating the baby and causing a rash. So until that happens, save water – do one load.
3. White towels
Separating some things is nice. I like to make sure my towels are crazy clean, so for that reason I go all white everything: towel edition. Bleach ’em. Hot water ’em. And call it a day.
Streamlining Dinners
It’s obvious now that you need to eat (like every day). A few times! Ugh! With only about 3 hours between getting home from work and falling asleep, I was always wondering how to keep everybody fed without running out of time to cook and clean it up. Behold:
1. Meal Planning
Sounds super obvious, and sometimes overwhelming. But meal planning doesn’t need to take up your entire weekend. Planning for a couple BIG DISHES is much less intimidating than planning a different meal for each night. My go family meals are lasagna, roasted chicken + vegetables, and any other baked pasta dish! (Carbs, anyone?)
2. Plan for Leftovers
In the same light as meal planning, cooking for only one night is the quickest road to kitchen burnout. It takes the same amount of effort to cook a larger portion, and it saves energy for the next night (and maybe even the one after that)! Cooking like this allows me to get away with spending only 2 or 3 weeknights slaving over the stove
3. Freezer Meals
Super trendy and stress-less freezer meals are my favorite solution for those nights when you reallllllly don’t want to cook. My trick? Make a double dose of your favorite big dish with leftover-potential!
4. Go easy on yourself
I’m talking junk food. Eating a box of mac and cheese is not the end of the world. Frozen pizzas, too. Even if you really don’t want it, it is nice to have a “secret stash” for those days when you really don’t have it in you.
Don’t let Dishes Pile Up
Dishes… the laundry of food! Equally awful, or worse if you don’t have a dishwasher (like me!). This is definitely the least modern thing about my lifestyle, but it has forced me to find an easier way to handle them.
1. Only stock up with what is needed
We have over a dozen place settings in my house, but there are only 4 plates, 4 bowls, and about 12 coffee mugs (lol) in my cabinet. Why? Because limiting the use of every dish in the house ensures I’m never drowning in a sea of dirty dishes! It’s one of my lazy minimalist approaches and it works like a charm.
2. Paper Products
I am not a dishes-every-day person, but I don’t like them spending the night in the sink. Now, I agree with the masses that want to Save the Earth, but a working family with young kids are the last people that should be demonized. We deserve a free pass! There will come a time when our babies are big kids and away all day, but until then… paper, please.
Hire a Cleaning Crew
Cleaning is essential, but finding the time is hard AF. After a long week (or year) at work, nobody wants to take a toothbrush to the dark corners of a bathroom. Not when there are ten thousand better things to do.
So when I say “hire a cleaning crew”, I mean it. Getting help in this area of homemaking is almost typical. Modern families with two working parents are probably paying someone to give their home a deep clean. I don’t as of now, but I’m pinching my pennies together to make it happen! This is a great opportunity for younger relatives or neighbors, not just the pros!
On the other hand, here are some things that are not unreasonable expectations: Sweeping? Sure. Vacuuming? At least once a day with the most friendly vacuum ever. Mopping? If it needs to be done. But deep cleaning the nooks and crannies of a family home? I’ll leave that to the pros. Or at least someone with more enthusiasm and willingness.
For the record, professional cleaning services run anywhere from $40-$120 every two weeks. Definitely worth taking a harder look at my Target allowance and reallocating funds! Imagine the
Make “tidying” less tiring
Waking up to yesterday’s mess is not pleasant. It would be nice to have the time and energy to get the house decent enough to not groan with disgust every day. We need an easy way to tidy up the clutter with little time and little energy, right? So here’s the secret.
STORAGE
“Everything has a home” in my house. There are very few items on display (unless they are secured to the wall, out of reach of any babies!). So when there are a dozen toys on the floor and I get a call that my mother-in-law will be over in 5 minutes, I can quickly throw EVERYTHING into its home.
Things are assigned a place to live (seriously lol) as soon as they come home with me. It’s either in a drawer, in a toy box, in a basket, a closet, etc. But it does not belong on the floor or chair.
People are embracing the minimalist movement, but it can be tough to cut back with little ones around. Besides, I like having stuff on my walls and chairs to sit in! But giving it a place to be when not in use is a trend that I can stand behind.
There you have it
A millennial homemaker is busy. She knows there isn’t time to waste and wants to put an emphasis on efficiency. Your everyday domestic engineer has more on her plate than just cooking and cleaning.
Every aspect of managing a household can now be simplified because we know there aren’t enough hours in the day. The next time you’re wondering how the hell you’re expected to do everything you need to do, ask yourself “what would a lazy millennial do?”
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