You don’t need a perfect house. And if your house is anything like mine, it’s far from perfect! I often take great encouragement from the fact that throughout history, people were primarily interested in staying out of the elements. As long as your home keeps you safe, warm, and clean, it’s better than what most of our ancestors had!

When we first bought our house, I saw it as a “starter home.” I thought we’d buy a bigger one a few years later. But as time went on and 2020 hit the globe, I became increasingly thankful for our little house and the security it gave us.

As a family with small children, we were happy to weather the Covid Era in a cozy home where meals could be made, things could be cared for, and life could simply unfold day-by-day.

I didn’t take to the steady work of homemaking right at first. Instead, I kept looking for ways to “get out of it” by becoming more minimalist, more efficient, and more structured. I didn’t think keeping a home should be this tedious. But, it is. I’ve learned over the last decade that the beauty of taking care of our home is not in how polished it looks, but in the way it supports our real life.

I’m thankful for this home that shelters us from the chaos of the world, keeps us warm, and never fails to do its job no matter how much it gets ignored during busy seasons.

Here, I’ll share some little habits I’ve come up with that keep my home simple and prevent the overwhelm from getting too much of a toe-hold.

*Everyday Routines: The simple tasks that keep our home calm, not cluttered

*Cleaning Rhythms: Easy cleaning habits that don’t take over our day

*Kitchen Systems: Stress-reducing systems for managing the kitchen with less

Our home is not very big, and it’s not filled with a whole lot of stuff. It’s also not very minimalist, if I’m honest. But the key to the balance we’ve struck is that we try to focus on what we use, so we don’t end up holding onto things that will go unused for extended periods of time.

You don’t need more money or more time to be a good homemaker. You just need a bit of consistency and vision. Even more than that, you need a willingness to roll up your sleeves and do the work in front of you.

Start here:

• My 5-Step Daily Cleaning Rhythm to Fight Overwhelm
• How I Keep My Home Clean Without a Lot of Chemicals
• A Practical and Minimalist Kitchen Setup
• Weekly Reset: How I Keep from Falling Behind on Household Chores

A comfortable home that’s filled with love doesn’t need anything fancy inside it; all it needs is humans who care about each other and care about the home itself.

-Bea