Are you ready to save time and effort while simultaneously taking your homemaking to the next level? These seven hacks are just the ticket to help you stay on track when it feels like you can’t quite keep up.

Want to watch the content instead? Just click the image below to hop over to YouTube and watch my video all about these homemaking hacks.

Use a Meal Planning Service

I’m going to be sharing a lot more about my recent trial runs of a bunch of different meal planning services, but if sitting down and deciding what you’re going to feed your family for a week is stressing you out, there are tons of companies out there who will do the work for you! They’ll even deliver the groceries to your doorstep in some cases. Homemaking can’t get much simpler than that. If you’ve never used a meal planning service, I’d recommend starting with Eat at Home Cooks – it has delicious, family-friendly options, and is a great place to start!

Keep a Running Shopping List

One of my least favorite feelings in the world is realizing halfway through baking cookies that I have no vanilla. What are you supposed to do with some whipped butter, sugar, and eggs when you realize you don’t have any delicious vanilla to flavor the dough? To keep yourself from forgetting which items you’ve run out of, I’d recommend keeping a running shopping list, either on paper or on your phone, so that you already know what you need to stock up on the next time you make a trip to the grocery store. This really can give you some peace of mind when you no longer have the lurching feeling that you’re forgetting something.

Get Cleaning Products Delivered

You can’t think about simplifying your homemaking without thinking about your cleaning habits. I use Grove Collaborative to get everything from personal hygiene products to laundry detergent delivered directly to my door. Grove asks you some questions about yourself and your household to calculate how often you’ll need a refill of each product and it ships it straight to your home on a regular (and of course customizable) schedule so you never run out of the products you need. I love not having to worry about keeping track of how much product I have left – I know that it will simply get delivered to me when I need it. You can give it a try and get $20 worth of products for free by clicking here.

In-Tank Bleach Cleaners (for the record, this is my fave homemaking hack!)

Let’s face it, cleaning the toilet is probably not at the top of your task list. It’s easy to forget until the toilet is already grimy and gross. Using an in-tank bleach cleaner like this one keeps your toilet cleaning itself behind the scenes every time you flush. It may seem strange, but you’ve essentially created a self- cleaning toilet. That’s one more task off your to-do list!

Create a Sink Volcano

Remember the vinegar and baking soda volcanos every other kid made for the Science Fair? They were pretty messy and hard to contain, but you can harness all that mess and bubbly eruption to quickly and easily clean out your garbage disposal. Dump some baking soda down your drain and pour vinegar down after it. It’ll work its own magic and clean away the residue clogging up your drain.

Pro Tip: Throw some cut up lemon down your garbage disposal and flip it on for a few seconds if you want a fresh, lemony scent after cleaning out your disposal.

Just 5 More Minutes

The biggest trap I fall into when it comes to homemaking and housekeeping is 1) spending too much time looking dejectedly at all the work I have to do and 2) believing that starting a task I can’t finish is pointless. It’s been a life changer now that I’ve learned that giving that stack of dirty dishes a diligent 5 minutes can make a big difference. Once you get started, it’s much easier to keep going. Even if you have to stop mid-chore, you’re still closer than you would’ve been to completing the task and that prevents little tasks from piling into insurmountable jobs.

Use the Basket System

You’ve probably heard people talk about having a basket for every family member’s items in a central location. If you find their toys, laptop, keys, or homework strewn about, you can just place it in their basket for them to take care of instead of having to trace everything back to its spot. A twist on this method is having a basket, or just a designated location, for different rooms in your house. Let’s face it, the kids aren’t the only ones who don’t put things away as soon as they are finished with them. Gather the items that need to go upstairs at the foot of the stairs, then take them in one trip when you’re going up anyway.

I hope these seven homemaking hacks keep you feeling like the superwoman you are and keep those thoughts of stress and overwhelm far away – where they belong.