Not Just Being Busy: My Homekeeping Notebook

I'm always incredibly and genuinely shocked when my kids start school, go up a grade, have a birthday or say something increasingly intelligent for their maturity level. As if I thought they would be babies forever. "She's in 2nd grade!" "He looks so big!" "Did she just say that?" *gasp!* Like I didn't see it coming since the day they were born. But I am. I'm shocked. 5 kids in school this year. Whew.

I mean, are they cute or what?

And yes, Kate is home with me. I actually signed her up for Mothers Day Out but it was full and I was secretly happy.

*sigh* Summer is ending, school has started, and the busyness just changes to a different rhythm. And while I'm not usually as passionate about it as Jen Hatmaker, I'm welcoming this yearly change of season.

I've said this before, but my friends and I refer to back-to-school time as New Years. It really is. More than the actual New Years, its a fresh start. New school year, new teachers, new classmates (sometimes), new desk, new clothes... And for moms, a fresh start at our routine. New resolutions. 

And seriously. After all those weeks of summer, I feel like bionic woman with all but 1 kid in school.

So, it's a goal every year but I'm perfecting it: I want to make the most of my time and be ahead of the game. The Lord has blessed us with a huge house and a half a dozen beautiful and energetic tornado children. ;) Which means I've got a big job.

I'm going to keep this place clean and organized, finish projects, stay on top of the laundry and uniforms, pre-make meals for busy evenings, shop for deals on groceries, be on time every where I go and be the very best home-keeper that I can be. Because that's what I'm called to do.

People at church are always asking me, "How do you do it?" And they're probably just referring to how I got these 6 squirmy children into the building alone without a stroller. But IF they were referring to how I juggle the Spencer Clan, this is it.

This is my homekeeping notebook. It's my brain. And Kate's finger pushing it. Which wasn't really meant to be symbolic, but it sort of is actually.

I've had one of these for years, but I'm always tweaking it. My last one stunk so I'm very excited about this new one. I also tried to do a version of this on my iPad with Evernote. It was a fail.

If you are a mom with more than 2 kids, your house is clean, your husband is fed, your kids folders are signed, you get them to school on time and you juggle the madness in your head, I applaud you. I was not, however, born with a brain that has that much bandwidth.

Oh and this year, we have this.

Schedule and checklists posted on the fridge. I've tried this before too, but again, I'm perfecting it.

But listen. Just because the fonts all match and the washi tape is cute, doesn't make this whole binder/schedule system work. All the Pinterest boards and excel files on the planet don't make all this come together. A mom does.

It takes work. A lot of it actually. I don't care if you have 10 kids in 4 different schools, you homeschool, or have no school age kids but a baby and a toddler or 3: Being a wife, mom, and home keeper is hard work. If I'm not sweating at some point in my day, something's probably falling apart somewhere. It's just the truth. Moms. Are. Busy.

But. Why do I need a homekeeping notebook, charts and schedules? Why not just wing it? I'll tell you.

To stay on top of my game

To be a good steward of my time and energy (of which there is little)

To better serve my husband

To better serve my children

Because I think homekeeping is a lost art

Because God's word says that a wise woman builds her house (Prov. 14:1)

Because I want the heart of my husband to safely trust me (Prov. 31:11)

Because the more efficiently and effectively I take care of my family and home, the more ministry I'm able to be involved in (Because I also believe I'm called to my family first)

Because the years pass quickly

Because all of our busy rushing ends in nothing (Ps. 39:6)

And because I want to live on purpose and be a woman of excellence, not settle for just being busy.

Do you have a homekeeping notebook? How do you find it helps you?

**update: for those who were curious what's IN the notebook, see this post: What's in it!**