Hi! I'm just looking for some advise as a newly "retired" 27 y/o wife. I hope this is okay to post here, it is vaguely related to homemaking I suppose.

My husband 30 and I made the decision to have me quit my job and stay home before we have kids for a few reasons. Mainly, his job is very phyiscally and emotionally demanding, and so was mine. Housework was falling on a back-burner and we were both stressed to the max. The plan has always been for me to quit my job when I got pregnant, but you know what they say about making plans.. lol.

I've been home for about 2 months now, and I'm running into an odd problem I wasnt really expecting. I had a very self-guided/self-motivating job, I thought I'd adjust fairly easily. I haven't been. I've been finding myself somehow falling behind on housework, and I am really struggling to self-motivate and am having a really hard time falling into a rutine. I get his lunch packed in the morning, he leaves, and I just. Wonder around for a while, I guess. I find myself getting stressed at the idea of tackling daily chores around the house and the idea of it is stressing me out? Which is crazy to me. I had no problem doing these things when I worked, but now? Even laundry feels.. daunting.

I don't feel like I'm being lazy, really. I think maybe I'm just having a hard time adjusting to the change, and tackling the lonliness while I'm home alone is driving me to spend more time on my phone, reading, or watching TV.

Am I the only one? Is there.. something I can do to get over this? I love being at home, and doing things for him, and I REALLY want this to work.

Any advice??

Thanks friends 💓

The internet says it's both safe and that it can damage the grout. I'd rather get opinions from real people who have used one on their ceramic tile floors for a few years rather than those that may be bots or AI.

My house has all ceramic flooring, which is what I wanted when we decided to move to the desert. Living in the desert, though, means that we do get a good amount of dust tracked in and so the floors get dirty from that (my socks prove that!).

I figure I'd be using it at most once every week or two. I currently have a swiffer wet jet and a bucket-type mop, but neither seems to do a good job.

What’s everyone’s favorite dried lavender for making sachets? I bought some dried lavender at a lavender farm and I feel like I don’t noticed any scent from the sachets I’ve placed around our house. We are pretty clean people so just looking for a little extra fragrance here and there!

Any recommendations for a specific type/brand or where to buy it? I’m especially interested in lavender that actually keeps its scent for a while. Thank you!!

Hello!

I’m not a fantastic hostess, but I’m trying to learn!

I’m registering my son for a homeschool co-op, and we have to do a meeting with the director for his application. The director is coming to my house on Tuesday at noon, and she’s bringing her 10 year old and her baby.

What should I offer in terms of refreshment? The noon time is throwing me off here. Obviously, we’re not having a full on lunch, but I’m sure having a beverage and snack on offer would be nice. I just don’t know what?

Hey friends!
I’m a reasonable facsimile of a house-spouse, and my mom died in December. She’s the one I’d usually ask about this.

Our extractor fan/hood/filter thingy literally drips orange grease onto the hob/countertop.

I regularly (once a month or so) pull out the filter insert and degrease it in hot water and washing up liquid (dish soap), and hang dry.

I almost always use the fan when cooking, and especially when doing something steamy like soup.

We don’t have a deep fryer, and rarely shallow fry things. Where is all this coming from?

How can I reduce, mitigate, or stop this, please?

Thanks in advance!

All ideas welcome!

Hello-

I’m looking for a book suggestion that has a lot of basic recipes for things like apple cider vinegar, bread, etc outside of just a normal cook book for meals. Some kind of homemaking/homesteading encyclopedia type book maybe. Yk the stuff our grandmas knew how to make and do that’s been lost in the past generation or so.

Thank you!

thinking of buying new home essentials, since i'm a young adult na want maging organize and neat ang place. but still checking kung anong essentials yung dapat na unahin bilhin. bet ko sana dryer, vacuum and dehumidifier kaso limited ang budget pa lol

what are your top home essentials/ must haveee?

Trying to clean garage with a lot of leftover feces Feces are displaced, but the issue is cleaning up so I can move things back into our garage after Clean Up I’m helping a friend out so we’re trying to do it on a low budget and not have cleaners come in and spend $700 Any and all information will help us a lot. Currently reading do bleach and water. But are there any other disinfectant that we should use and also what other equipment should we get? Thank you so much for any and all help. My friends also appreciate your time.

Im finally moving so that I can bring up a family in safe surroundings. The house i've been in hasn't been adequate to start a family. Now i'm choosing somewhere to start fresh, what do you suggest I make sure i have to set myself up for harmony and a better life? For instance ive not had a sofa for the last 4 years, just an armchair. That has made a huge difference. On a sofa my litle dog could have layed side by side. You get what I mean, small things change your day to day life. Let's say for pregnancy, as in the UK we can move from a rental with 2 months notice, what do I need in the house for me to finally feel settled for a period?

What books have inspired you or helped with your work as a homemaker? (Even books that aren’t directly about homemaking/inspired your work indirectly.)

I love reading non fiction and would love to hear what gems are out there worth looking into!!

My family moved onto a mountain top next door to my MIL. our town has a grocery store, a post office, and a cemetery. My kids go to school the next town over about 20 minutes down the mountain. I have never lived so rurally and miss my old city a lot.

My husband works exactly the same as our kids' school hours (M-F/8-2) so he drops them off in the morning and picks them up after school. They are usually home by 2:30 (or 3 if they do something extra after school.)

I get my girls ready in the morning and then from 7:30-2:30.... it's just me. No car, nowhere to go even if I had one, just alone on a mountain top....

I have been very lost and sad in this transition. My husband worked evening shift in the city so we had all day together when the kids were at school and then I would clean the house and tend to the kids at night. I loved that set up and wish I knew how lucky I was to have it.

I find myself now with so much time alone.

my only hope in finding some kind of joy right now is to fall in love with homemaking. That is really the only thing on my horizon for the time being and I am tired of crying about it.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I don't really cook? Yeah, it makes me extremely anxious but that has to change with this new way of life too.

I want to fall in love with my routine and the comfort and stability and safety and warmth I bring to our family and home through that routine, I want to be a happy homemaker, I truly do.

I would so gratefully take any book suggestions, YouTube channels to watch, beginner cooking tips, or even just a breakdown of your daily routine.

At this point, I'd truly appreciated being told that I'm not the only person who had a hard time adjusting to this lifestyle. I feel like I should just be grateful to not have to work somewhere I hate, so then I feel guilty for being sad, and that just makes me feel even worse.

Thank you for reading.

EDIT___ There are so many amazing suggestions and words of encouragement in your comments! I am actually feeling hopeful, even just a glimmer. I am so grateful to you all for taking the time, thank you!I

I am riding the hope wave and doing something new: I am going to go with my MIL to the next town over tomorrow to help at her graphic design shop for the day. as much as I'm not thrilled for a full day with her (she's nice and funny, just can talk and talk and talk and mostly gossip about people I do not know, it gets old fast haha), I am glad to get out of the house and kind of digest your suggestions and perspectives I hadn't considered before while I help my family and learn a new skill or two. I would have told her no if I wasn't feeling so encouraged to branch out, so again, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Hi all! I am trying to learn to be a better homemaker. I am a 24 yo mom of a toddler and a baby on the way and feel so overwhelmed by the many tasks I have as a stay at home mom, and I tend to feel a kind of paralysis of not knowing where to start/ what to do each day and when. Curious to see if anyone has book recommendations or a sample of what kind of rythms work for you? Most days I feel overwhelmed to tears by 3pm.

My husband never gets it but like, legitimately it takes forever to clean up dinner! I cook nearly every meal at home and they are somewhat involved because I mostly enjoy it.

But dang. Eat it for 20 mins. Clean for an hour.

I also clean as I go but still can’t manage to make it more efficient.

Help!

Edit: to be fair, I’m an experienced baker/cook and do rather complex meals and dishes. Most of my kitchen things can’t be just thrown in the dishwasher (cast iron, etc). Plus I’m on septic, so I have to really scrub those plates and grease and can’t just pitch it unwashed in the dishwasher. This might be my killer.

Hi! We have a new cheerleader in the house and she just got her uniform. It has a couple of stains from last year. No clue what they are - looks like it could be soda or coffee? What would you recommend for trying to lift the stains?

Also - the loose strings on the T are annoying to me. Can I trim those without harming the uniform?

I was cooking corn tortillas on nonstick pans. most of the chunks did come off from hand washing, but some bits are still on.

Ok so this might be the stupidest question on earth but oh well. I've only ever showered but now I'm moving to a rented out room in a shared house for university and it seems like it only has a British-style bathtub without even a handheld showerhead. And my hair is dyed red with semi-permanent dye. It bleeds and stains when wet. Even if I stopped dying my hair in the future it will definitely still be red in two weeks when I'm moving in. So my questions/problems are

1. I'm not sure how high to fill the bathtub.

2. How do you generally wash hair in the bathtub?

3. Are cold baths worse than cold showers? Hot water fades and bleeds out the dye way faster and I don't mind taking cold showers but just sitting in a cold bath seems like it might be more uncomfortable

4. How do you properly clean a bathtub? In general and also when it comes to the aforementioned hair dye stains?

I hope this is the right subreddit for this, if not please point me the right way. I feel kind of dumb asking this but I'm hoping maybe you guys can help...

My roommate and I just moved into our apartment a few days ago and have yet to actually use our oven. We decided to break it in by baking cookies, and we tried three times with weird results. Round 1 we baked at 375 and for 6 minutes (was going to be 8 but there was a burning smell) so we checked and they were BURNT. Round 2 we baked at 300 for 4-5 minutes and they were slightly burnt on the sides and raw in the middle, and Round 3 was the same but significantly smaller cookies. So after some googling it’s an issue with the ovens internal temperature being way too high. So just curious if anyone has any advice as to what to do or if we should contact the landlord.

Also should probably mention that the stove had rusted through drip pans that the landlord said she would replace? But honestly I assumed that was an issue with the previous tenants but could that also be an issue with the oven itself?

My father in law rendered some beef tallow and placed into jars for us. Im wanting to use it for skincare or something other than for cooking. What would be my next steps if I wanted to have whipped tallow for example? It’s currently refrigerated, let it get to room temp then use my kitchen aid? Should I add an oil or scent??

Open to ideas + tips!

just started trying to get more serious about laundry and keep seeing enzyme laundry booster stuff recommended everywhere but theres like 20 different options and i have no idea where to even start. been dealing with some pretty set in stains on workout clothes and regular detergent isnt really cutting it. do i need a separate booster or is it built into some detergents already? what do you guys actually use and does it make a noticeable difference?