Before I share my tips to be productive at home while caring for your children here is a little background of my love for home… I worked full time before my husband, and I had our first-born son until after he turned 2 years old. At the time my husband received a promotion and a new work schedule as I stayed home to care for our son. Fast forward to today with a 6-year-old son, 3-year-old daughter, and a 7-month-old baby boy, I am grateful to be able to run a small business that allows me to care for our children and our home while my husband goes to work his full-time career and our 6-year-old son attends school. Staying at home and caring for a toddler and a baby is not always rainbows and sunshine lol, it does take a lot of patience and understanding to tend to them every second while working. I’m currently living through these challenges as they come, and every day is a new day with new experiences.
Homemaker: “the creation and management of a home, especially as a pleasant place in which to live.” Homemaking while being a mother is learned through experience. I’ve learned that working at home while serving my family is about creating an environment where Christ is the center of all that is said and done. Christ served others perfectly and although we as humans will never be perfect, we can only do our best to make the best of what we have. My goal will always be to make our home a place of peace and love, and this is possible only in Christ, because he is Love and with Him all things are possible. Below are 2 scriptures that I love referring to for work at home:
“Do everything without murmurings and disputings” (Philippians 2:14)
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)
These two scriptures remind me to do everything with zeal. One of the reasons why I named our first-born, Zealand; the word, zeal – not only is it mentioned in the Bible several times, but it also means to do things with good energy. No matter how challenging it may be some days to serve my family, I do it for no other reason than for the glory of The Most High, and that alone makes all the difference.
When Zealand came home from school one day he told me, “Mommy, I feel so relaxed when I come home.” First of all, who is this kid? He’s currently in the 1st grade and what does he know about relaxing?? Lol, but this makes me happy because I know that my personal goal of making our house our home is being met. I believe that our homes should be our safe place, our place of comfort, our refuge. We should always do our best to serve our family and be productive in doing so. I know that caring for your home and for your children altogether can be time consuming. I thought of some ways that have helped me and I want to share it with those who are interested in being productive at home with children, too:
- Make a to-do list: This is one I do at every start of the day after bringing my son to school. As soon as I get home, I make a list of everything that I need to get done that day. It could be anything from “do laundry, catch up on emails, clean rooms / kitchen, organize closets, consolidate things, small business assignments, or even list items on my Poshmark, etc. This list could be anything you need to get done that day, I also include deadlines, appointments, and goals I have going on during the week. Having a list helps me to not forget or miss anything and I know it will help you, too. Not to mention, the satisfying feeling when crossing out each one on the list throughout the day!
- Ditch the phone: This one can be tough, especially if you rely on your phone for work or just want to keep up with the latest on social media. I must add my love-hate relationship with social media. I enjoy the inspiration / information it provides, but I don’t like the time that it sometimes takes away from getting things done. If you feel the same, my best advice for you is to take a break! Often times social media can add to the pressures of perfection and can make you feel like you need to be living like everyone else, even when that’s not what you truly love or what’s best for you. For me, my phone is used only to answer incoming calls (no scammers) or to capture a few photos of my children’s special moments until I’m done with the daily duties, which is usually afternoon.
- Organization: I always joke that “I self-diagnose myself as OCD” lol, because I am obsessed with being organized. Honestly, it’s the only way that makes it easier for me to complete my daily duties. I don’t know where I would be without an organized space. I have learned that the best way to stay organized is to give everything a home. What I mean by this is to place everything you have, especially the most important things in its own special place. This helps tremendously because you can always go back to that spot when you are looking for it. No one wants to spend time trying to find things, especially when you have a list of things you need to complete. Another helpful tip to stay organized is to fix up a little in your living space every time you leave your home. I promise that when you return to a well-maintained home you will feel more at peace! Organization and cleanliness go together so if you’ve signed up for my email list you also received my Weekly Kitchen Cleaning Checklist. I like to add my Weekly Kitchen Cleaning Checklist to my Friday to-do list, it’s a great way to prepare our homes for the weekend. If you would like to have a copy of the list, you can sign up to join the email list found on the homepage.
- Get creative (for children): My 3-year-old daughter is at the age where she absolutely loves all kinds of art. She is into painting, coloring, drawing, building her pink and purple Legos, playing with water beads, playing grocery shopping, and making jewelry. All of those activities are great for learning, but it usually lasts only 7-10 minutes. I started to get creative with what we have available in our home. Some examples: make necklaces out of string and cereal, build towers with plastic cups or toilet paper rolls lol, paint collections of seashells or rocks, circle grocery items in the newspapers, grow a pretend garden, play a board game together. Sometimes and not all the time when I do activities with my children, I start them off and then I have them do it on their own if they want to (excluding the board game activity). When your children work independently it gives you time to finish your to-do list, too.
- Spend time outdoors: We all know that being outside comes with many benefits, most importantly for fresh air and the sun (Vitamin D). I love to go outdoors to simply take a walk, water our garden (yes, this is a part of homemaking), check the mail, have a scavenger hunt or a mini picnic for my children. Recently, my husband purchased a top-of-the-line Specialized brand bicycle for our daughter, and it matches his triathlon bike 🙂 so that’s what we’ve been up to outdoors lately. For me, being outdoors first thing in the morning (when the sun is out) gives me more energy for the day so I try to do get out in the morning after breakfast when I can because more energy = more productivity.
I hope this list helps you to make your home a safe haven, a place where you can get your priorities completed each day while serving your family and ultimately for His glory, because all things are possible with Him.
xo, Nicole
PS: The first Neu product to hit my online store is one you can use in your home. I can’t wait to let you know when exactly that takes place in my next email to you! Can you guess what it is?? If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at info@neubynicole.com or contact me here
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