Creating Rhythms that Bring Peace to Your Home

Inside: simple rhythms that will move your home from chaos to peace.

Perhaps it was because I was raised in a very structured and highly efficient household or maybe it’s just my personality, but I love routines and rhythms. I always have.

The start of a new school year with a fresh planner: my favorite.

Solid morning habits: keep me going strong.

A multi-step bedtime routine: can’t live without it.

Growing up in a large family doing housework, cooking meals, and caring for children has been a daily responsibility for me since I was very young.

Even still, when I first got married and established my own home, I began to learn that these things alone (keeping a clean house, cooking meals, staying organized) didn’t make my home the place of refuge and peace that I craved.

I almost had too much time on my hands with the result that sometimes the more important tasks – like scrubbing the toilets – fell by the wayside.

I needed to find the balance between creating an atmosphere of peace, not hurry and overwhelm, while still getting all my housework done and putting a meal on the table. As you can imagine, the need for this only changed and increased when we added a baby to the family.

Rhythms are the secret

As I have navigated various seasons of motherhood and homemaking, I have learned that the real secret to this ever present questions is daily rhythms. The things we do every day shape the atmosphere of our homes and ultimately, the way we live our lives.

Now, don’t misunderstand, rhythms can absolutely become so stringent that they compromise our peace, at which point I would argue that they are no longer serving their purpose.

However, when you have a rhythm for doing things like laundry, cleaning the toilets, and making a meal plan, you will find so much more margin and peace in your days because you are no longer worried about those things.

Daily Rhythms to Promote Peace

So let’s talk about some daily rhythms that will help you be in control of your day and help create an atmosphere of peace in your home, but keep in mind that what works for me in my home, may not be the same as what works for you in yours. The magic is in trial and error, finding what does work, and then sticking to it.

Pray Daily

The first thing that I like to do every day is to take some quiet moments to think about my priorities for the day and pray that God would give me direction and wisdom in knowing how to best use my time. There are so many things pressing on our hearts and minds as women and moms and taking time to reorient our focus is so helpful.

I recently listened to this podcast in which Ruth Ann talked about how she navigates the many pressure on her as a mom, homesteader, and business owner. She said that she always orients her tasks in this order: emotional needs, nutritional needs, housework.

This perspective was so helpful to me. When I learn to first meet the emotional needs of my husband and children, then feed them, God has a way of making the rest of the things happen. He fills in my lack and makes up the rest.

Dress for Your Job

Getting dressed for my day is a non-negotiable and makes all the difference. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but getting out of my sweats and putting on something that simple that makes me feel cute and put together, a pair of earrings, and some mascara, makes a huge difference in how I feel about myself and I’m more productive.

This is one of my favorite, effortless outfits that is versatile for all the seasons and my $5 cleanish mascara cannot be beat!

Daily Non-Negotiables

There are a few tasks that I do every single day and just those simple things help me quickly check something off the list which automatically makes me feel more productive.

Make your bed. This is the first thing I do every morning when I get dressed and my room automatically feels tidy, even when its really chaos. It takes about three minutes, but trust me, the feeling of having it done and knocked out, plus having a semblance of order in my bedroom is worth it.
Clean the kitchen up after every meal or before bed, at a minimum. Fill the dishwasher, wipe the counter, sweep the floor: there is nothing like having this one area of the house clean and starting the next meal – or morning – with a clean kitchen feels like a luxury.
15-minute resets. Get your kids involved with this one! I like to take 10-15 minutes before transition points in our day (after lunch before rest time, before dinner, etc) and do a blitz clean of the main areas of the house. It takes just a couple of minutes, but boy does it feel refreshing to get things put back in order.

Meal planning

I’ll probably be talking about this forever because it makes such a difference, but meal planning takes just a few minutes and eliminates so much stress from last minute meal preparation. Especially if you are new to cooking from scratch, make a plan. Your dinner time self will thank you and your grocery budget will too.

Admittedly, I am a bit of a hybrid when it comes to meal planning. I would love to be the one that has a week or more of meals planned out, but I don’t always like to be tied to a plan. However, I do generally think a day or two ahead about meals and at least pull meat out of the freezer to thaw. This alone is a huge time saver.

So if full-on meal planning isn’t your thing, try just planning the next day or two. If you do like a solid meal plan or want to start one, check out my 8 week summer meal plan here for some easy and family friendly recipes.

Cleaning routines

This is another huge area where many people struggle. For many years I found great success in dividing my home into areas and cleaning one room or area a day, plus washing and folding one load of laundry a day. This method took me 30 minutes or less and it was so simple to just do a little each day.

Another rhythm for cleaning that many people enjoy, and I have now switched to, is knocking out all of the cleaning on one day. Personally, I still like to do one load of laundry a day, but the I take a couple of hours (if that!) on Friday or Saturday morning to knock out the rest of the cleaning.

The secret is not how you do it, but that you stick to it. If you need some encouragement in the practical aspects of how to make this work, grab this free printable bundle with cleaning checklists.

If you’re looking for non-toxic laundry wash or cleaning supplies, Truly Free is my absolute favorite. I love that it not only works, but is non-toxic and I can confidently allow my daughter to help without worrying.

Allow White Space

This is hard to do, I totally get it, but I have found that creating white space on our calendar allows us more flexibility in our schedules, it slows our days, and changes the atmosphere of our home. No one benefits from hurry and I have found that when I am less stressed, my home is more peaceful and I have more space and freedom to enjoy the people in my home.

Practically, this looks like limiting commitments outside of our home and being intentional with how we schedule errands and appointments.

Create Beauty

Recently I was reading a book about living a slow and intentional life and was stuck by the quote that it is the little things in life that matter. Never underestimate your work in your home. Every meal prepared and bed made; every hug and encouraging word; ever late night snuggle and story read – these are the things that will be remembered, the things that truly matter.

Just a few ideas for practically adding beauty:

Light candles during a family meal
Put a bowl of fresh fruit or jar of flowers on the table
Use pretty dishes – just because (thrift store are a great place to find pretty, inexpensive dishes for this)
Serve a snack supper or taco feast on a charcuterie board

These are just a few simple rhythms that I have found to make a profound impact on the way my household runs each day.

Finding a balance between the tangible and intangible aspects of homemaking is an ever present ebb and flow. The laundry has to be done, but the emotional needs of my child are important too.

I want toys and books put away and things in their proper places, but we also live here and I want my family to feel secure in the knowledge that they are more important than any housework or the order of our home.

We are not meant to be running around stressed, anxious, and in a constant state of chaos, settling for – “this is just the way it is” and I am more and more convinced that chaos in our homes is not about a lack of time – it’s about our lack of rhythm.

When your home operates on rhythms, you stop feeling like you’re drowning and you find freedom to really slow down and enjoy your family and savor the simple pleasures of life.