Get Through Hard Economic Times with Homemaking Skills

Are you worried about the economy? Maybe you've lost your job recently or had to take a cut in pay. If this is the case, even though you may feel scared and hopeless, now could be the perfect time to re-think your position in life and learn some new skills.

I'm not talking about learning computer skills or leadership skills with the aim of becoming a great employee, I'm referring to homemaking skills with the aim of living with less money and being in charge of your own time. The skills that a homemaker can learn and perfect can be a greater asset to her family than any income, and can help get her family safely through bad economic times. Instead of giving her all to a company as an employee, a woman will find that investing time in her home can really pay off.

It is important not to be the kind of homemaker who is a drain on her family's resources. Spending time shopping, or keeping up with the neighbors, or even just being out too much, can lead to serious shortages instead of advantages when it comes to being a full time homemaker. Instead, learning to work around shortages, stretch every dollar, and add high spirits to the home will make a homemaker far worth the lost income from an outside job.

By taking on all the work of raising a family, the homemaker can stop paying other people to care for her children, clean her home, take care of her yard and landscaping and cook her meals. She can also enrich herself far more than possible in the days when her time belonged solely to someone else in exchange for a paycheck, by pursuing personal interests and learning many new things.

A good homemaker provides inexpensive, yet healthily prepared meals for her family. By learning how to make meal plans, shop smartly according to sales, and cook and bake her family's favorite treats, a homemaker will save her household more money than she'd bring in, if working outside the home meant eating fast food or convenience food every night of the week. A homemaker must not just serve cheap meals, but also must be creative about making them fun, to make sure of keeping the morale of her family high, even if the income is low. Learning to pack fun lunches, and make special snacks is one of the most important skills of a homemaker.

Homemaking involves planning for the future as well. The time a homemaker invests in learning to grow and preserve food, and then stocking her pantry of local, home-grown, meals and foods will be repaid a thousand times over if her family's finances reach the point where buying food is difficult. Having a year's worth of food already in the home, properly preserved and stored, will free up a lot of cash for other expenses, like taxes or mortgage, while still allowing the family to eat and live well.

Proper cleaning and home maintenance, though not exactly glamorous, will also save a family large amounts of money on housekeeping services or costly repairs to large appliances. When properly monitored and maintained, most large appliances can kept from breaking down too badly and costing too much money. A homemaker will also find that using her time to keep her home clean and beautiful will make herself and her family happier and less stressed, even if money is tight.

The list of skills a homemaker can learn and apply to her own life and that of her family is endless. Home sewing can save a lot of money in the clothing budget, either by sewing from scratch or by remaking those things that a family already owns or can get cheaply secondhand. Learning skills like knitting or other crafts can entertain a homemaker and other family members and provide warm clothing. Gardening, baking, and canning all serve to feed her family healthy foods that cost less than usual. Music, history, literature, mechanics, winemaking, animal husbandry, woodworking... all of these and more can be learned and will benefit a family by enriching their lives and saving, or even earning, them money.

Proper care of a home and family takes thought and skill, but a good homemaker is an asset that can hardly be matched by an income. Thrift, determination, creativity, frugal-mindedness are all values that will help anyone through difficult financial times with their spirits high. A homemaker has both the time and energy to really practice and develop these values, share them with her family, and lead the community in gaining them.