There are two things I’ve endeavored to do more consistently (but not perfectly) in recent years. Both choices have enabled me be more efficient and positive about my homemaking.

First of all, I’ve tried to choose to “Do it now” rather than put off some small task. For example, Caroline discovered today a little bit of mending she needed done. Rather than put it off for another day, I put on a short video I wanted to listen to and simply did the mending while I listened. So many times I let mending needs languish for ridiculous amounts of time. When I finally sit down and do the task, it takes less than ten minutes. In the meantime, I’ve looked at it more times than I can count which has caused me both the stress/anxiety of not doing it in addition to the wasted time spent looking at it and not doing anything. So I am endeavoring to do things now rather than wait for a more “opportune time” when I “feel like” doing something.

The other thing I’ve worked to do is not put things down to deal with later. An example of this is taking something from my office/homeschool room on the second floor down to the main floor and setting it on the dining room table to take to the basement the next time I need to go down there. I now tell myself to keep walking and simply deal with it. It usually takes less then a minute and then it is just done. So I have been focusing on the need to tell myself to do the task and not leave it for another hour or day. These are usually little quick things that won’t take much time, but if I don’t “feel in the mood” to deal with it then it’s easy to simply make the choice to leave it.

Neither practice is earth-shattering or original, but they are better habits I’ve been endeavoring to develop. Both are definitely improvements in my homemaking.