How I take a Stay At Home Mom Style Day Off

Do you ever feel like you’re the hub of a wheel?

You’re stuck in the center, spinning fast and pulled in a million directions, but somehow expected to hold everything together in a perfect circle.

My weeks get like that, too.

There are so many things that need to be purchased, fixed, put away, and cleaned up.

So many errands to run and places to be, tears to be dried and needs to be managed.

Some days we run, run, run, and go, go, go and when we get home at the end of it all the house is still in chaos and all the things I haven’t done there hit me like a brick wall.

Sometimes I feel so tired it hollows me out.

Do you know what I mean? Like I don’t know how to pull any more energy from the dried up well inside me.

One of my favorite things to combat that feeling is taking a “domestic day.”

A Stay-at-Home-Mom Day Off (at Home)

I totally made up the term “domestic day,” but I do really call it that to myself!

Look, here it is listed on my ideal-week-planning worksheet:

And now I’ve outed myself as being a little type A. So go ahead and giggle my week-planning worksheet.

It’s okay, I’ll wait.

Ready? Okay. Let’s talk about what this actually means in practice.

A domestic day is simple.

It’s a reset day: a day I take off from everything but tending to myself, my kids, and our home.

I don’t schedule anything but the absolute necessities (just school pick-up and drop off for us), and I plan intentionally to go slow.

I don’t plan tasks for myself, just leave my options open to do a few slow, lovely, recharging things.

Reset & Recharge

On domestic days I might bake a loaf of bread. Since I’m going slow, I often let a kiddo help me.

I “putter”–tidying without rushing or stressing, gathering the things that have slowly accumulated so I can start fresh with clear surfaces.

I take time to read books with little bodies snuggled against mine on the sofa.

I play upbeat, low-key music. (We’re loving Classical Goes Pop on Pandora lately–it’s classical style covers of pop songs. Smooth Criminal violin-style. We Found Love as a cello duet. That kind of thing.)

I might fold a load of laundry while I listen to a podcast. (I like Young House Love Has a Podcast, 3 in 30: Takeaways for Moms and the Light the Fight podcast.)

I let the kids chill out and watch a few more PBS kids shows than usual.

I catch up on whatever has gotten lost in the shuffle of the week–tidying the kitchen, cooking a freezer meal in the crock pot, rescuing the throw pillows from the floor (do your throw pillows get physically thrown as often as mine do?).

I might read a blog or book I love.

I might use the kids’ quiet/nap time to take an art or hand-lettering or small business class on Skillshare. (Free 2-month subscription here if you want to try it out!)

I let my tiny investigators show me the bugs they find in the cracks in the cement on our way to the car.

Basically?

I breathe.

The Flow of Work & Rest

There is something really soothing to me about resetting my house.

Putting my space in order puts my mind in order, too. It puts me at ease–especially when I can go at my own pace while I do it.

And making time to do things I love, and to slow my momentum enough to focus on the people I love, is re-energizing and healing.

On my domestic days, the transitions between work and rest are a flow rather than a tight schedule. And even though I love a good schedule, that flow is such a relief.

Any Time is the Right Time

When I first started having a domestic day, I just did it once in a while.

But after seeing what a massive difference it makes for me, I make a point to do it at least once a week.

Monday or Friday are my favorites for this, because they have that nice energy of being connected to the weekend, but you can do it any time that works with your schedule.

Do what works for you.

Even just a half-day would make a difference.

What would you do with your own domestic day?

What things fill you up and bring peace into your home? I’d love to hear your ideas!

xo,
Jamie