I am a stay at home mom. It’s something I always imagined myself doing, and something that I absolutely love being able to do. My days are full of tons of time with my sweet girls, and keeping our home running smoothly.
Everything I do in life, I take pretty seriously. Sometimes I’ve wished that I could be more chill, but if I’m taking the time to do something, I want it done effectively and efficiently. Over the years, I’ve learned to think of this as the valuable skill that it is! It’s truly helpful in the setting of homemaker.
As we have added more children to our family, and babies have turned into toddlers our routine has been constantly evolving. In those early years with a baby, you feel like you’ve nailed down a routine and then out of nowhere things change! Adding another tiny person into the mix only keeps you on your toes more!
There are a few habits and routines that I have kept since day 1 of becoming a stay at home mom. They really have kept my home running smoothly and when our home is running smoothly everyone is much happier!
What is a homemaker routine? Don’t you just stay at home all day?
I think we’ve all heard the people who take jabs at stay-at-home moms and think that our days are full of nothing more than lounging around at home while our spouses are out supporting our family. While most people I know are smart enough to know that is absolutely not the case, let me explain to you what a homemaker routine is!
Running a home is essentially like running a business. First, you have to ensure that finances are in order. That looks like budgeting for food, clothes, etc. and spending only when appropriate. Next, it just the actual housekeeping of being at home. When you are at home with your kids all day everyday there is a lot more to maintain. There are messes being made allllll day, and thus messes that are needing to be cleaned up. Cleaning, laundry, preparing 3 meals a day, etc. it’s all included!
Does being a homemaker really require a set routine?
How can I say this? Yes. Yes. Yes!
Any time I try to run my day without following our daily routine, let me just tell you that things fall apart. Babies are crying and I’m usually close to crying too! Our routine let’s us keep everyone fed and rested and entertained without any of those hangry slip-ups that happen otherwise!
I want to be flexible, is having a homemaking routine really for me?
Before kids, going with the flow is super easy. After you have a baby (or 2 or 3!) you have to follow nap schedules and eating schedules or you’re going to have some cranky kiddos on your hands!
Having a set routine let’s me be MORE flexible than I could be otherwise. I know exactly what we can say yes to and what we have to say no about. If there’s a great thing I want to do but it happens right at nap time, or it runs through when my family eats dinner, I know that it’s best for everyone that we don’t participate.
There will be YEARS ahead where I can be more relaxed with these times but the season of babies and toddlers and pregnancies is definitely not it!
My homemaking routine
There are a few things that don’t make it into this list that I do everyday, I’m just including the things that I absolutely always do and help my HOME to run smoothly.
Early Morning
Kiddos wake up and eat breakfast (we use the OK to Wake clock for my 3 year old and she knows to play quietly until 7:30), my 2 year old just happens to normally sleep until about 7:30.
Every morning we eat oatmeal. This is what works for us! I have eaten oatmeal in some variation everyday for the past 5 years. It’s my favorite thing to start the day off with, and the girls love it too!
We clean up from breakfast, unload the dishwasher and I throw a load of laundry into the washing machine. I also use this time to reset the girls rooms and make up my bed. The girls get dressed after breakfast too.
Mid-Morning
The girls have play time while I do my morning workout. I LOVE Caroline Girvan’s Epic workouts and have been doing them for over a year.
Homeschool time! We have done a preschool curriculum for the past 1.5 years and both of my girls love it. They are always asking to “start school” throughout the day. I love it too! It’s short and sweet usually with active learning for about 15 minutes and an activity that takes about 20-30 minutes.
Late Morning
Rain, sleet, snow or shine you can count on me and the girls taking a daily walk. We get bundled up or whatever we need and head out to the stroller for a couple of miles around our neighborhood. This is also snack time for my girls. They love pecans, cashews and pretzels most when we go, but sometimes go for something else!
Noon
Lunch time! When we get in from our walk, the girls put away their shoes and jackets while I prepare our lunch. They are usually perfectly hungry at this point. Not starving (i.e. totally hysterical) but also not full. We go for easy things for lunch like leftovers, grilled cheese, cheese and crackers and fruit. There’s quite a bit of variety in their lunches and they like it that way! Lately, I’ve been loving having spaghetti squash with pasta sauce on top!
Afternoon
After lunch is all cleaned up, we sit down to read our library books. I always get the books that are in our preschool unit for the week. We start with our daily bible story from the Jesus Storybook Bible and then move on to several of our library books.
After reading, both girls are calm and ready for their nap! We head off to nap time and they both take a 2-3 hour nap on most days. I put the load of laundry that I washed in the morning into the dryer.
Late Afternoon
After nap we take it pretty easy! I do dinner prep and the girls play outside or inside if it’s too cold or rainy. I also always fold and put away the laundry load that I put in the dryer at the beginning of nap time!
That’s it! Our daily routine with two toddlers!
It will change COMPLETELY when our new baby arrives in June, but for now I’m loving the slowness and simplicity that our days bring. They’re the best and something I really treasure.
What’s your daily routine? How has it changed over the years?
This is a great overview of how to manage your day and your home with toddlers. Nice ideas! Having a place to put everything away is so helpful when you need to do a quick tidy-up.