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In retirement I still enjoy the art of homemaking. I love nothing more than to spend time in my kitchen preparing a healthy and nutritious meal, baking something, meal prepping and yes, even washing the dishes. I enjoy cleaning my home, washing the laundry and vacuuming the floors. I find joy in the mundane of everyday living.
I run my home much the same way one would run a small business tracking income and expenses, making appointments, making To-Do lists and planning for the future. I project for upcoming expenses, projects and I set budgets. I set goals and I accomplish them too. I am careful about wastefulness and am a good steward with regard to my resources.
Every day I make my bed because it sets me up well for the day ahead. I get dressed and I am ready to have a good day, which is always my expectation. I always plan to have a good day and so far that is how they seem to turn out. I do believe that our attitudes set the tone. Kindness, respect, consideration of others goes a long way even if it is not returned at the moment we will reap the benefits eventually. I believe in Karma.
Shopping for necessities is also something I like to do, especially food. I love nothing more than to craft a menu plan, create a shopping list, hunt for sales and bargains, plan my route, gather up my shopping bags, head to the stores and use my cute little shopping cart. Even lugging all the bags into the house and putting things away gives me a lot of satisfaction.
I am a household of one, occasionally two, and I still enjoy homemaking very much because it has value. It has value because I am important enough to enjoy living in a clean home, wearing clean clothes and eating delicious high quality food. I am important enough to be well cared for and loved, even if I am the one doing it. I hope to be happily making my home for a good long time to come.
I enjoy keeping house as well, and always have. From as long as I can remember I enjoyed keeping things neat and clean…a bit of a struggle then , because my parents were not particularly good at that. (That is not to say they weren’t excellent parents, though!)
ReplyDeleteI have always told myself, even in my apartment dwelling days that I am fortunate to have such a nice home to tend to. The adult kids here are fairly good at it too…some better than others.i know it sounds mean, but i am not, nor ever have been of the mind that they could keep their rooms the way they please. I always told them they have a room in OUR house, and while they may decorate it within loose guidelines, they either pass a basic standard of tidiness including making their beds daily or I, would go in and clean their rooms for them. Far from making them lazy, it actually worked to have them keep tidy rooms as they didn’t want me in their rooms. They would always put dirty laundry in the hamper, clean clothes in their closets or dressers, and make their beds daily. I would go in once:week to wash sheets, dust and vacuum. They do those things themselves now, but I have had one ask me on occasion on his way out to class if I I was planning on vacuuming if I would run the vacuum over his floors well.
As much as I love my kids, I do envy you your empty nest. Believe me when my nest empties I am emptying the nest of all leftover items! Two moves in three years and just three years after the last move we still have more than twice of what we need! How does this happen?
-Meg B.
It is crazy to me how easily we can acquire far too much stuff. I love my kids, but I also love my house as my very own space now. You will too one day. In the meantime enjoy those kiddos. It flies by so fast. You may find you miss some of their messiness, just a little bit.
DeleteThis sounds like me, many years ago. I am finding it a challenge to find enough to do here now with my nest totally and completely empty. I do have a running list of things that need to be addressed, but some days I admit I spend time on my couch reading or napping...its a work in progress. I never leave the kitchen a mess and I still go through the motions of cleaning, organizing, prepping, you name it. Its just different for me now and something to get adjusted to. One of these days, I will find my groove again.
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