5 Things A Homemaker Does

Because of my lack of experience, I’ve only recently come to know what a homemaker is. I guess you could say I’m “self-taught” (for what that’s worth). I’ve definitely heard the term “Susie Homemaker” plenty in my life, but mostly in snide remarks like, “Oh, look at Karen’s 4-tiered unicorn cake she made from scratch for her 2-year-old. She’s just a regular Susie Homemaker isn’t she?” (I’m from the South where this type of comment comes across innocently but is meant to cut).

What got me interested in becoming a homemaker was learning that I was pregnant. Something about knowing I was having a baby gave me the immediate sense that I needed to start striving to be the best version of myself that I can be. That I need to rise to the occasion and really show up for my family. This meant a lot to me, even if I had no idea where the hell to start.

I’d love to say I had a mentor or even did the logical thing and turned to the internet for guidance, but in reality, I was too intimidated. These homemaking women who kept these amazing blogs were organized AF, and knew so much about SO much. So I turned to good old-fashioned books – retro, Edwardian or modern, it honestly didn’t matter. After reading in my spare time and testing what I was learning out on my growing family (bless their hearts), I developed a smorgasbord of things I learned a homemaker was.

I don’t know how things go down in your home, but while my fiance enjoys his downtime by outfitting his kayak or rearranging his wrenches, I’m managing everyday household tasks. I’m organizing the bills, makings calls to the doctors, keeping laundry up-to-date, planning meals, cleaning, etc. Even in my downtime, I’m constantly thinking about what to tackle next. 

Honestly, the following list could go on and on, but instead of doing that, I’ll just say that a homemaker’s job is never-ending. Imagine being a homemaker and still working your side gigs! But traditionally, homemakers are known for the following:

The house manager

• Pet care
• Vacation planning
• Finding ways to cut down on bills and save money
• Budgeting
• Making appointments
• Scheduling home maintenance and home repairs
• Running errands
• Creating and keeping up with a calendar

The encourager and the supporter

It doesn’t matter if it’s a cupcake sale, a lunch date with a friend or a school play, we show up for it with all of our support.

• Taking care of the sick people in our homes
• Remembering and preparing for events
• Decorating every season
• Decorating in-between seasons
• Kissing booboos
• Hugging
• Sharing our personal space even though we don’t want to because our babies need to know we’ll be there, no matter what.
• Homework help

The cook

• Grocery shopping
• Meal planning
• Meal prepping
• Packing lunches
• Feeding the neighborhood kids

The house cleaner

• Doing the laundry (and keeping up with folding the cloth diapers!)
• Putting toilet paper back on empty toilet paper holders because you’re the only qualified person to do that in the house.
• Doing the dishes
• Picking up toys
• Moving shoes out from the middle of the floor
• Rotating old things out of the house to make room for growing families

Taking care of her family

• Waking the kids up
• Putting the kids to bed
• Morning/nighttime routines
• Giving the kids baths

And to add to it, here is a list of things she is more than likely also doing:

• Entertaining guests (including the uninvited ones)
• Pinteresting for more ideas (because we just don’t have enough ideas in our heads as it is)
• Remembering and planning everyone’s birthday parties
• Trying out projects found on Pinterest
• Falling asleep on the couch
• Having babies
• Parent/teacher conferences
• Playdates