I love blogs — the community, the near-constant stream of inspiration and challenge. I love connecting with other people on topics that are of interest to me.
But one of the dangers of reading blogs is that I can often walk away feeling discouraged. It’s so easy for bloggers to leave the impression that they have everything together, even if that’s not their intention. You read a “how to organize” post and feel like a schmuck because your closet is in disarray. You read a “how to manage your laundry” post and feel like a complete failure because you’ve been pulling clothes out of the dryer for the past week. You read a “feed your family whole foods for $.32 a day” post while planning your trip to Applebees because you just can’t pull it together enough to make dinner.
My friends and I call it the “blog perfect” syndrome. So many posts give a “blog perfect” view of life where everything has a place to live, all children are obedient and do chores and husbands and wives hold hands while arguing.
The reality is that the post you are reading represents a small sliver of that woman’s (or man’s) life. We are all good at a handful of things, struggle with another handful and maintain the rest.
I’ve been wanting to tackle the topic of homemaking for awhile now, which is weird because I’m really not great at it, nor do I particularly enjoy it. I’m so glad Emily, our frugal homemaking expert, is working with me on this series. We are going to spend the next few weeks sharing how each of us handles different aspects of making and keeping our homes. The fun part is that Emily and I are very different (we will discuss this later this week).
We hope you walk away with the idea that homemaking is such a personal endeavor. We all cook, clothe, clean and care for our families but do it in such different ways. We hope to inspire you with new ideas, encourage you as you relate with our weaknesses and motivate you to take your job as homemaker seriously, whether you work exclusively in your home or not.
Here are some of the topics we will be covering over the next month:
- Our philosophies, personality and principles when it comes to homemaking
- How we handle clothing and general organization
- How we deal with toys and related kid clutter
- How we manage laundry
- How we fit homemaking into our daily lives — the rhythm of our days
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This sounds refreshing.
I sooo look forward to this series! I think the hardest job is a stay at home mom. It takes alot of hard work and dedication, when we cant do it all we get discouraged sometimes! Its nice to know there are others out there in the same boat.
I am very excited for this series, but I must slightly disagree with you on the idea of being discouraged. I can see how someone may read a blog and have the initial feeling of discouragement wondering how someone can run a house so perfectly, but even if I have that initial discouragement, I take that and use it to make myself and my household better. My blog is all about trying to lift up others to strive to be better and improve life where ever it needs improvement. No, I am not perfect. No, I do not believe my readers should be. But doesn’t it make us better people to strive to be like those we admire in areas they excel in as opposed to becoming discouraged by them? If we read blogs all day that talk about how often the blogger fails, won’t we be setting our own bars a little lower?
I’m so excited to read this series! What you said in the above paragraphs fits me to a T. Thank you for doing this!
So funny that you say that about the “perfect” blogs. A friend of mine joked about starting an ANTI-BLOG blog about how to FAIL at everything! Since that is how we feel after reading blogs… 🙂 Looking forward to it!
YOU ARE SO RIGHT! I also love reading blogs and now that I think of it, I don’t know why because I often come away feeling discouraged! In fact, this has been a main reason I have really scaled back, reading only you and Jen from thriftynwmom.com on a daily basis. I am thrilled to see this new series and look forward to reading all about how it’s okay that the laundry on the floor behind me doesn’t make me a failure as a person!!
I find this to be Facebook’s downside too…little one liner status updates that make peoples lives look so perfect…
LOVE this idea!! Finally someone that I can relate to! Between working part time, never missing a game or practice, PTO Secretary, School Board meetings, tutors, and various school activities life is pure chaos! In the past two weeks we have had TWO days with no commitments or events to attend. Trying to find time to coupon is nearly impossible and my house looks like a bomb hit it! Dishes piled up, clutter, laundry at various stages permanently on one couch…it makes you feel like a failure. But the little time we have at home gets spent just hanging out and having fun with each other instead of cleaning. And I have to tell myself that 20 years from now my kids will remember how much fun we had and not the laundry piled on the couch. Hopefully. 😉
So looking forward to it!!!!
I LOVE YOU!!! Kindred spirit!!!
I am excited as well. I read a post you did a few weeks ago about your typical shopping day. The one thing that stood out to me most was when you admitted that you try to hide the fact that you are a couponer. I always get anxiety when I am headed to Albertsons with 3 transactions I want to do. When you said you actually went to a seperate Safeway to do your transaction it actually made me feel better. All this time I was thinking that to be a successful couponer you have to put your foot forward and insist on doing multiple transactions – who cares if people behind you are in a hurry. You helped me realize by your confession that I can still save money and not feel like I am holding up the line for everyone else. I just go to my car and unload and then go back in. At least I am getting more walking in this way. Thanks for the confession and I am looking forward to this series 🙂
I love that this blog will be a real portrail of moms life. I use to get discouraged that I couldn’t keep my house show rooom clean but now I don’t worry about it. If my friends are my true friends they will stil be my friends if my house is messy. I am 100% real and don’t put on heirs for anyone. Stop by that spotless house when they are not expecting you and see what it realy looks like. None of us are perfect. We have to make sacrifices in some places to be awesome in others. I may never miss a practice our a game, volunteer at my kids school, do in home daycare, and clean houses for a living. But my home is lived in (we don’t use the weird dirty because it is clean just cluttered) and my children are happy. When they move out I can then have a clean home or not 🙂
THANK YOU! That is my pet peeve with many blogs too. I hate feeling like I’m the only one that doesn’t have it “together.” It’s kind of like picking up one of those women’s fitness magazines…at first it’s inspiring and I have all sorts of good ideas/tips/role models… but after awhile it just makes me feel like I don’t measure up and am undisciplined. Not to mention, I’ll never look like one of the fitness models.
Looking forward to reading about some real people I can relate to… I’d especially like to hear from mom’s who are working part-time. Sometimes having a foot in each world, so to speak, seems harder than one or the other.
Thank you so much for doing this series! I have been feel so discouraged and inadequate from reading homemaking blogs the past couple of weeks. I started seaching blogs for household organizing and caretaking tips and left feeling like my home was the most disorgnized and dirtiest place in the world! I can’t wait to read this series. Thank you for being so honest!
Very exited!
I am excited about this series, too!! I’ve been feeling VERY discouraged (like a schmuck!) reading other people’s blogs lately, too. UGH. I want advice for/from REAL moms!! 🙂
Such a fabulous idea! I try to share with my readers as much as possible my failures and well as successes (like SERIOUSLY blowing my grocery budget last month). I never really thought about how people might get the impression that we have it all “together”. Little do they know that my life is managed by to-do lists that are written to remind me where my to-do lists are. 🙂
Great series, can’t wait to read!
This sounds great and you are RIGHT ON when you say reading blogs can create this idea we have it all together. I hope to convey that this is NOT the case to my readers, but I know it happens nonetheless. As of this moment: I have laundry in various stages on my floor, I bought some items not on sale today, I was late paying a bill, I forgot my son’s snack day last month, I got my hair done this week after MONTHS of not doing it, I’ve worked out twice in the last month, and the list goes on and on. We’re all human, and I think juggling a busy blog and a household, some of us may be more scattered/less together than our readers!
I think your series idea sounds like a refreshing one and I’ll be reading for sure. 😉
I’m excited about this series! I totally agree with what you said. I love reading all these blogs with some amazing ideas, but sometimes I wonder (perhaps with a little envy) how they manage to have time to do sew, craft, coupon, etc. while still maintaining the house and keeping up with their families. I feel like I can barely keep my house picked up, toddler entertained, and meals made, while still having motivation to craft, sew, coupon during naptimes and in the evening. I was just talking with my husband about this the other week and had to create a shift in my thinking and realize that I’m doing the best I can and I can’t compare myself to others. I’m doing what is important to me and my family at this point in time : )
Thank you! Thank you for being truly open and real!
You obviously haven’t stumbled upon my blog I Am Not Superwoman. Tons of posts of my inadequacies of a wife, mother, homemaker,etc…I really try and keep it real on my blog. The good, the bad and the ugly. I look forward to reading the new series.
where can I find your blog?