I Love Being Home

Some time ago I came across a blog of a lady who wrote about herself that she loves being home because there are always so many nice things to do. Strange enough, she is probably in the minority as a lot of women nowadays seem to be unable to find an occupation at home. Well, may be watching television and posting Facebook updates, but outside of it, not so much. They'd rather be anywhere but not in their own house. The Holy Scriptures, however, teach the Christian women to be the keepers at home, so I decided that it would be a good idea to share some suggestions on what actually can be done at home.

First of all, the actual housekeeping. There will be some women who'll tell you that there is nothing to do around the house. Coincidentally, they also always have very messy houses, because they actually don't really clean. The housekeeping standards have become very lax in our days. There was a time not so long ago, when you were supposed to vaccuum every day and to wash all the windows every two weeks. Though vacuuming every day may seem extreme, three times a week for an average house with kids and pets is a practically a must.

Housekeeping , of course, is not only about cleaning the house, doing laundry and washing the floors. It's also about planning, organising, saving, dealing with clutter, budgeting etc. Then there is shopping for food and cooking. If you use fresh ingredients in your cooking and try to be a little more sophisticated than the average, it will take you a lot of time. Add baking to the mix, and there is work enough around the house.

Then there are creative hobbies, such as knitting, crocheting, sewing or quilting. Some women also spin and dye and weave, though most of us probably won't go so far. Making clothes for yourself and your children is not only fun, it also helps you save money as fabric can be bought rather cheap. Embroidery is a good way to spend your free time and you are creating something of value which you can pass over to your children and grandchildren. I, for instance have some great embroidered table runners from my Granny.

There will be some people who will tell you that it's practically sinful for a homemaker to relax and enjoy herself while being at home, if she has some free time she must be working at some money-making enterprise. Some women do enjoy it, and others have to help to make both ends meets, but generally, if your husband makes a decent living and money is not the issue, why not just enjoying life? If you spend half an hour sitting in the garden and reading a book, or watching a nice film, there is nothing wrong with it.

Other creative ways to spend your free time are taking music lessons, drawing, writing stories, gardening, flower arrangement and practising hospitality. Women are social creatures and modern life isolates us in our apartments. Instead of having a thousand friends on Facebook whom you never see, why not cultivate a couple of friendships in real life? You could invite your neighbours or mothers you meet at school to drink a cup of tea with you. The point is, to have a real relationship with people, you need to invest your time into it, and time is something modern women don't have.

The Bible teaches us that the love of money is the root of all evil. Nowadays people tend to be obsessed with the financial well-being to the point of excluding anything else. If you perform a job at the minimum wage level which you don't need to do because your husband is the director of a bank, you will be called a heroine, but if you stay home and take a couple of hours to drink tea with your friends, people will look funny at you and call you names behind your back. I think that people are more important than material possessions. Originally, women were the first real community organisers and social workers because they invested in relationships with others. Let your husband make the living and make life worth living. You won't regret it.