Over the centuries, social trends have changed significantly from generation to generation. However, the art of homemaking has continued to stand the test of time, and its core principles have remained largely intact. The reason for this is simple, and it’s because having a dedicated focus on providing a quality home life for your family will never go out of style. In fact, over the last decade, many people have decided to trade in the daily corporate grind for the full-time responsibility of taking care of the children, meal planning, and managing family finances. But why would someone want to become a homemaker? Is homemaking the right career choice for you?
Homemaking as a career choice has been largely maligned and frequently misunderstood by society. But with the rising cost of things such as childcare expenses, for millions of families, the idea of a spouse choosing homemaking as a full-time job has become an increasingly attractive option. In this article we will examine what homemakers do, as well as help you get started if you decide this is the right career path for you.
What is Homemaking?
Homemaking is a term used to describe a person who professionally manages all day-to-day living aspects of their household or for other families as an employee. This can include activities such as maintaining the grounds of the home, making small repairs, cleaning, cooking, taking care of children, and managing household finances. While the job homemaking may sound easy, making a home is often a combination of art, skill, and love.
Is Homemaking a Career?
While there aren’t any educational or professional certification barriers to get started in homemaking, typically, those who choose this line of work as a career have some formal or informal training. This experience can come from their parents, friends, or unique household skills they have learned in the past. Also, most professional homemakers continue to hone their skills by taking classes in-person or online on various topics, as well as engage in their own household projects.
Benefits of Homemaking
Due to the dramatic rise in childcare expenses, many two-parent households are finding it more cost-effective to have one of the adults, usually the mom, stay home and become a professional homemaker instead of being employed elsewhere. And they aren’t the only ones, as the Pew Research Center found that the public perception of the benefits of having one parent at home in a homemaking-type role is overwhelmingly favorable among many people.
While most homemakers do not receive a formal salary for their work, the benefit from the household’s substantial cost savings can easily financially justify it as a smart and economical career choice. In many cases, the cost savings associated with making a home as a profession are greater than what the person would typically be earning it they worked their traditional 9-5 job.
What is the Difference Between Homemaker and Housewife?
In Western culture, the term of homemaker has also become synonymous with other titles such as housewife or stay-at-home husbands. However, the difference is that it’s typically more appropriate to use the term homemaker when referring to a person who performs household operational duties from a professional standpoint.
Do Most Homemakers Have Kids?
While many people decide to become permanent homemakers to spend more time raising their children, not all homemakers have kids. In fact, many people will still perform many of the same duties, such as managing household expenses, cleaning, and cooking but, in this case, only supporting their spouse.
5 Things to Consider Before Becoming a Homemaker
Transitioning to homemaking as a profession is not always an easy decision, as there will undoubtedly be a list of things to consider before going down this route. While there can be many benefits, it is certainly not for everyone. Here are some factors to take into account before plunging into the homemaking career path.
1) Know Yourself
Like any other career choice, it’s essential to take a personal inventory of yourself before going down this route. Even though external elements such as finances or childcare may be the catalyst driving you towards this decision, you want to make sure that homemaking is something you genuinely want, or you might become miserable over time.
If you naturally have a more nurturing and maternal disposition, then homemaking may be a dream career path. However, if you love the hustle and bustle of corporate life, then being at home all day will likely drive you nuts.
2) Can The Household Survive on a Single Income
Perhaps one of the most important considerations is to determine if the household can be supported on a single income. Everything is getting more expensive, so you want to make sure that the person working outside the home has the salary, benefits, and near-term job stability to instill confidence that the financial transition will be a relatively smooth one.
3) Can You Take The Role Seriously
Any professional homemaker can tell you that maintaining a home and family on a full-time basis is no small task. The reason is that they take their roles in making a home seriously and put in the equal or more effort than if working a traditional job. However, some people believe that homemaking is a permanent vacation from real work and is eager to kick their legs up and retire early.
If you and your spouse decide that this is the best path for the family, it’s essential to take the role seriously. This is to show your partner respect and also so that they respect all the hard work you do to keep the mothership afloat.
4) Are You Willing To Advance Your Skills
Just because the bulk of your work is within the home, that doesn’t mean that the pursuit of education or skills training should go by the wayside. It’s important to determine if you are willing to learn new homemaking skills such as becoming a better cook, cleaner, gardener, or financial planner. Professionals always take their work seriously and seek out new ways to grow their skillsets whether through homemaking books or other courses.
5) Are You a Team Player
Transitioning into this role is ideal if you truly identify yourself as a team player because it will require the adults in the household to reevaluate how they contribute. While no contribution is more important than the other, they are different in nature and scope. So putting egos aside and working together as a family unit will be paramount to it becoming a successful move.
Most Common Homemaking Tasks
If you are considering becoming a professional homemaker, there are many daily activities that the role typically entails. It’s important to point out, that the list of duties should be a joint agreement between the husband and wife. While many of these tasks may be things that customarily get completed daily by someone in the house anyway, there must be an agreement that these duties will now be primarily assumed by one person moving forward. This ensures that each person feels respected and that their contributions inside and outside the house are taken seriously.
Here are some of the most common tasks that will be on a homemaking routine:
1) Child Care
One of the biggest catalysts behind the transition to the homemaking lifestyle is to address some components related to childcare. This not only includes the need to eliminate rising daycare expenses but also to address other things such as homeschooling, breastfeeding, or child health concerns.
2) Shopping and Meal Preparation
A key component of household chores is customarily to do all the shopping for the home, meal planning, and meal preparation for the family.
3) Homeschooling
If a school-age child is in the home, it is normal for homemakers to provide formal schooling, lesson planning, and coordinating extra-curricular activities. Popular homemaking books often have entire chapters dedicated to homeschooling and include educational lesson plans.
4) Cleaning and Sanitation
Making a home wouldn’t be complete without cleaning laundry in the washing machine and addressing all daily sanitary issues that arise around the residence.
5) Budget Management
Managing a household’s finances is critical to its success. This includes evaluating monthly spending patterns of family members and looking at future things such as vacation planning, saving for college tuition, or retirement planning.
6) Courier
Becoming a courier is also one of the core homemaking tasks, as the person is often responsible for getting people from one place to another or being available to put out those midday fires at sudden notice.
7) Stabilizing Force
One overlooked duty of homemaking is to become a stabilizing force in the household. Beyond the front door is a world that can be tough and unforgiving at times. A good homemaker makes sure that everything that can be controlled within the home is stable and pleasant.
Great Side Hustle Ideas For Homemakers
With the rise of remote freelance opportunities, even if you decide to become a homemaker, it doesn’t mean you can’t still have other side hustles that allow you to bring in supplementary income. Since your primary role is taking care of the household, try to find things that require a minimal time investment or provide flexibility to work on in your free time. Here is a list of the best side hustles for homemakers:
1) Blogging
Blogging is a great way to make passive income and provide you with an outlet to write articles and provide readers with interesting insights about a niche of your choice. You can potentially earn a great income by running ads on the blog for companies like Google or becoming an affiliate for various products.
2) Stock Investing
While investing in the stock market may not be a revolutionary way to make money, the extreme volatility of markets over the last few years has provided the opportunity to rapidly grow a portfolio in ways that have never been seen before. On the other hand, there is equally an opportunity to lose a lot as well. If you find that your homemaking duties only require a small portion of your day to complete, you could also consider becoming an active day trader.
3) Write an eBook
Believe it or not, the topic of homemaking matters to a lot of people around the world. You likely have a lot of expertise or perspectives that can be extremely valuable to others and your story could be inspiration to someone that you have never met. Even though eBooks may seem a little last decade, they are still incredibly popular and can also be a good side income stream.
4) Selling Your Photos
We cannot tell you how often we have purchased stock photos of very random things because they perfectly fit one of our blog articles. There is a big industry for taking pictures and posting them on stock photo sites. When someone purchases your image, you get a percentage of the sale.
5) Start a YouTube Channel
Getting in front of a camera isn’t for everyone, but there has never been a better opportunity in the history of entertainment than now to start your own vlogging brand. Homemaking is a popular niche on sites like YouTube because it includes content on things like meal preparation, gardening, and managing a household.
6) Running Social Media Ad Campaigns for Clients
If you enjoy more technical aspects of things, learning how to run social media ad campaigns for clients could be a very lucrative side hustle that could be done in your extra time.
Should I Become a Homemaker?
The decision to become a homemaker can be easy for some people and more complex for others. You should become a homemaker if you know yourself, can take the role seriously, are willing to grow your skillsets, and can be a team player. However, Proverbs 31 in the Bible provides a much more thorough and beautiful description of the role.
Ultimately, your specific circumstances will determine whether this career path is the right one for your family. Either way, before going one way or the other, and remember to always pray and put everything in God’s hands.
Homemaking Made Easy [INFOGRAPHIC]
For your convenience, we put together a simple infographic showing you possible ways to organize your day with the tasks that homemakers typically complete.
