How to Set and Achieve Homemaking Goals

Today I am going to share how to set and achieve homemaking goals so that you can cultivate a beautiful and functional home for you and your family to enjoy.

My homemaking journey has been and up and down through the years. I’ve struggled to create the home I truly love for different reasons and I’ve had to work hard to grow in this area that does not come naturally to me. And, because we’ve moved so much and lived in various homes with different layouts, I have had to get creative with how to make different pieces fit. I like to think of my homemaking goals as the path, or roadmap, to bringing about my vision for family life.

How to Set Homemaking Goals

Now that we own our own home and intend to stay a while, I’ve been becoming a lot more intentional as we renovate certain spaces about how I want each area to look and feel and function. And since we are in the last quarter of 2022, I’ve been brainstorming about what I want to accomplish with homemaking in 2023.

Now that my little one is almost 5, I feel like the household rhythms are beginning to shift and for the first time in my married life, I won’t have a baby in the home. I’ve been de-cluttering toys and clothing and all sorts of things that are no longer needed and preparing for a new season in our household.

When setting homemaking goals, it’s important to consider your home’s appearance, yes, but also it’s function and overall atmosphere. Looking at specific categories helps to create a whole vision for your home, so that is what I am doing to determine what my top goals will be for 2023.

The easiest way to do this, is to do this is to grab a notebook, pen and walk around your house.

Stop in each room and look around. Look at everything. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, the furniture, in drawers, under furniture, the doors, the stuff. Ask yourself:

• What bothers you?
• How do you feel? How do you want to feel in this space?
• What’s broken and needs to be fixed or replaced?
• What no longer serves a purpose or a function in that room?
• What do you need in order to make this space more functional and enjoyable for your family?
• What traditions or special occasions will be celebrated in this space?
• What does the atmosphere speak to you and what do you want it to speak to you when you enter this room?

Write all of the answers down in your notebook and brainstorm ways to improve the space.

For example, when I walked into my daughters’ play area and really looked around, it felt chaotic, and disorganized and uninspiring. That wasn’t the experience I wanted for them. I wanted the space to be inviting, to inspire creativity and to maintain order. I saw that there was way too much stuff and it needed to be de-cluttered.

The storage solutions I had in place weren’t working and that I needed to search for better options. It also needed better lighting, a new coat of paint and some better seating options because they are growing and the current chairs are too small for them. So now, a top goal of mine is to get that space de-cluttered so that I can give it a facelift.

These are the categories I am considering when setting my homemaking goals for 2023:

• Atmosphere- How do you want your home to feel to yourself and others? Use descriptive words and much as possible and then, choose your top 5. Let these words guide you as you choose decor, organization solutions and more. Some of mine are Calm, Functional, Loving, Creative, Godly.
• Traditions- What types of traditions do you want to cultivate in your home with your loved ones? How will you prepare, decorate, schedule and implement each one? How will your family members participate and how do you want your family to feel about these traditions? Which ones bring your family members joy and build great memories? How will you record these memories?
• Routines– What types of routines will benefit your family and home the most? We have morning, afternoon and evening routines in our household. We also have a cleaning routine for each day and a homeschooling routine that we follow.
• De-cluttering– A home that consistently brings stuff in without de-cluttering becomes unmanageable. Less stuff = less cleaning and less managing. De-cluttering several areas is a top goal for me this coming year because we have a lot that has moved with us through the years that no longer serves a purpose for our current home and lifestyle.
• Organizing– After de-cluttering, it’s important to think about how you will organize your remaining stuff. Our home is very old and doesn’t have a lot of storage solutions that are functional for us. So, as we de-clutter and renovate some of our spaces, I am always looking for storage solutions that we can install in each room of the house. For example, we have been installing bookshelves in the living room and cabinets under the television for more storage.
• Outside Appearance– One thing I didn’t think much of about home ownership is how much you have to maintain the outside appearance of your home. With our rental homes, all we had to do was mow the lawn. We weren’t allowed to do much landscaping, if any, and couldn’t make any changes to the exteriors of our homes. Now that we own our home, I’m setting some goals to improve curb appeal, do some landscaping and change some things to the exterior parts of the house.
• Meals– Managing the meals in our home has always been a big part of my job as the home keeper. I am making it a goal to reduce our food bill this coming year without sacrificing nutritional value or taste. We also maintain a garden and so I consider that a part of my meal planning efforts. I have lots of gardening goals in mind to grow a lot of our food for next year.
• Scheduling– Scheduling is a very important part of homemaking. My scheduling goals this year are to make sure that important appointments like Dr and dentist visits happen during slower times in our seasons, that regular rest times are allotted for and that the monthly, quarterly and annual tasks don’t get forgotten. Field trips and extracurricular activities for the kids need to be managed also. And of course, vacation time and church events, and things like that get prepared for well in advance.
• Repairs and Decor– We have an ongoing list right now for each space in our home to address repairs and decor. This month, we are focusing on the living room and my husband and I each take certain things to accomplish it all in a timely manner. He is handling the insulation, drywall, repairs and electrical. I am working on choosing paint, storage solutions and decor. We will both probably do some painting. Our goal is to have it done by Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the living room throughout the holidays. The only thing we probably won’t finish is getting brand new furniture because we decided to wait until next year for purchasing those pieces.

How to Achieve Your Homemaking Goals

Once you have properly assessed your home and figured out what your goals need to be, it’s time to come up with a plan to achieve them.

Goal setting has become a passion of mine in recent years. Years ago, I would set big goals and rarely achieve them. Why? Because I didn’t know how to reverse engineer them and figure out the steps to get to my desired result. I was also pretty unrealistic. I’ve since learned that you need to make sure that your goals are realistic and measurable.

For example, I really want to renovate our kitchen. But right now, that is not possible due to finances. Kitchen remodels are SO EXPENSIVE. So, I’ve decided that my goal is to improve what I can and tidy up its appearance the best I can.

Things I can’t do right now:

• get all new appliances
• get a new sliding door
• get new flooring
• get new cupboards
• get new countertops
• completely change the layout

Things I can do:

• get new lighting
• get a new dishwasher and, possibly, a stove
• paint the walls and cupboards to freshen them up
• re-line all the cupboards with new liners
• de-clutter and organize all items
• make some cute curtains
• buy some new decor to hang on the walls
• reseal the floor
• Install more storage in the pantry area

As you can see, what I WANT is to gut my kitchen and build a whole new one. I can’t do that at this time, so I stood in my kitchen for a while and asked myself, “What CAN I do instead?” Instead of re-doing the kitchen completely (it is still a big someday goal), my goal became, I want to freshen up the kitchen by next Spring to get it ready for visitors and gardening and canning season. In order to reach my total remodel goal, I will need to figure out how I will generate income for and save for that.

My point is, your goals need to have a clear roadmap to achieve them. If they don’t, then you need to either figure that out or change your goal.

Each step of your action plan should be made with the end-goal in mind

In my above example, you see that I have some steps already to reach my goal by Spring of freshening of my kitchen’s appearance and functionality. Now I am going to get much more specific with each on of those steps:

Get new lighting

In order to get new lighting, I will need to talk to my husband because he knows lighting best as an electrician. I will search online for styles that I like and ask him what is doable for our space. So the steps to get new lighting are:

1. Look online and pin some ideas to the kitchen board to share with husband.
2. Show husband your ideas and ask him if it will work in that space.
3. Ask husband about the dark corner by the counters and if there would be a stylish solution for lighting over there.
4. Decide on fixtures and solutions, the cost.
5. Plan a trip to home depot with husband, and get the supplies and lighting fixtures.
6. Husband installs new lighting.

Get a new dishwasher and, possibly, a stove

In order to get a new dishwasher AND stove by Spring, I need to plan financially for that. So this is what that process will look like:

1. Measure the spaces in the kitchen for the appliances.
2. Look online with husband at stoves and dishwashers to price each one and determine measurements.
3. Make a final decision and then determine how much money from each pay period you need to set aside in order to buy them in late February or early March.
4. Set the money aside every paycheck.
5. Go to the store, buy the appliances and install.

And so on it goes until the Kitchen Goal is met! When you get specific about the steps you have to take in order to reach your homemaking goals, they become doable, easy to take action on. This is how you stick to your goals and achieve them.

Remember, if a step doesn’t take you towards the goal in mind, then it shouldn’t be included. I now take this approach with just about anything I want to accomplish and so far, it’s been working really well!

This type of goal setting works for tangible and non-tangible aspirations

The above examples are homemaking goals that are tangible. But what about things like atmosphere- how do you create goals for that?

For example, how do I create a calm, creative atmosphere where godly values are esteemed? I will tell you that, in my case, it all began with prayer. Yes, I prayed for it! I walked through my home and asked God to help me create calmness in my home instead of anxiety, peace instead of anger and love instead of hate. I know it sounds so simple, but God answered my prayers.

When you begin to pray for something, the Holy Spirit starts to make you more aware of when things are not as they should be. He helps you to change the atmosphere around you.

We were having a rough day once and everyone in the house was moody. I realized that one of the reasons we all felt this way was because there was clutter piling up in a few spots in the house and we were trying to get a lot done that day so anxiety was running high.

So, I put on some worship music, lit a couple of candles and asked the kids to help me tackle these spots. We tidied up in about 30 minutes and then I said we all needed a break. So I baked a batch of cookies and made some tea and set out coloring sheets for the younger children. The household instantly calmed down and everyone’s spirits were lifted. The older kids helped me serve the tea and cookies and we sat around chatting and just hanging out for a little bit.

When it was time to resume our work, the whole mood of our home was different and everyone went about their day in a much better mindset.

We also accomplished more than before! I consider that answered prayer.

Of course, that approach is not always practical or needed, but the point is to be open to however the Holy Spirit leads you. This taught me that music, candles, meditative activity, the smells of baking, kindness and love all lends themselves to a calm and pleasing atmosphere within the home.

It’s my goal now to make chore time more pleasurable for the family by putting on music, lighting a candle and giving the littles something creative to do while the rest of us get things done. Once or twice a week, I bake a little something to enjoy after as a reward/thank-you for all of us.

2023 Homemaking Goals Free Printable

I’ve got a free printable for you today! It includes the categories I mentioned above plus an extra blank one to make your own (use it to brainstorm goals) and a second page for you to take each goal you set and list 10 steps or less that you will take to achieve it. (print one out for each goal).

Just fill out the form below to get it! And if you need more help with managing your home, check out my Master Household Notebook on GumRoad for an instant download.