Overhelmed

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with chores on the homestead. Goats need milked, eggs collected, dogs let out, and ducks bedding changed AGAIN. On top of that everyone needs to be fed, including the children. By the time your day is done you’ve logged 9 million steps and are exhausted. But sleep is for the weak because you have to stay on alert for predators, the baby, and the sick goat in your living room. Chore management on the homestead is a really thing and it’s hard to get a handle on.

Dealing With Overwhelming Chores

Yes, I am overwhelmed and yes, I am tired. But I have found some pretty ingenious hacks to allow me to get some sleep without sacrificing my animals care. Below are my 5 hacks to keeping up with the homestead, while working full time, homeschooling, and running a several businesses.

Get the kids involved

I have found that there are two sides on this, and few people fall in the middle. Either kids do chores or they don’t. My boys do chores, and they do a lot of them. Every month they switch out, except for animals. We also help each other out. If I see the ducks need water, I fill it up. If Jaxson sees that the cats are out of food, he feeds them. Their current chore list looks like this:

Chase- Goats, feeding dogs/cats, wiping up the counters, vacuuming, and cars

Jaxson- Chickens/ducks, dishes, bathrooms, (yes, this seems off. But in our house, dishes get run 3x a day)

Me- Goats, gardening, other seasonal work

Jared- Building

But I see no reason why kids can’t do chores. Especially when they want toys, electronics, etc.

Start small and grow

When we started the homestead, we started with our dogs, cats, dragons, and snake. Then we added chickens. Once we were comfortable with that, we added goats, and so on. Before we add anything new, or more of them, we ask if everyone is on board. Since the kids handle most of the day to day animal care, we want to make sure that they are good with getting more.

This means don’t start a 8,000 sq ft garden right out of the gate! Start a small garden and then grow it. This could mean starting a seeds inside before you build or buy a greenhouse.

I am currently working on this right now with our soil and pasture building project. Our soil is so compacted from lack of care that I am working to regenerate the soil and set up a strong pasture so we no longer have to feed our goats off farm inputs.

Get into a routine

While this is tough at first, once you get into a routine of taking care of your chores, it’s easier to see where you have more time. Our routine goes something like this, I wake up, let my dogs out and shower. The boys get up, let their dogs out and start on their animals. If they are hustling they can get their morning chores done in about 10 minutes.

Because we unschool, our homeschool doesn’t take hours and hours. We talk about what they are interested in and they do research on that. We also take time for the basics like math, reading, social studies, and science. They do Spanish on Friday.

During garden season (Mid February to Mid November), I can usually be found outside until the weather drives me inside. I have a list of “rainy day chores” that I work on whenever the weather drives me inside. Like record podcasts or videos, write blog posts, planning days, etc.

Delegate

One of the first things I was taught in Paramedic school is delegation, and it’s not something I do well at work. But at home, I’ve got it covered. After talking with Jared about our goals and what we want to accomplish, I come up with the To Do lists and plans and delegate it out. This helps everyone figure out where they need to be, what they need to be doing and how to finance it. It’s not a hard fast rules/ to do lists, but it helps everyone know what they need to do.

It also extends to chores. Since keeping up the house is everyone’s chore, we split the chores as evenly as we can. I hate doing the dishes, so the other 3 handle it. They hate doing laundry so that usually falls to me. I handle the grocery shopping and bill paying. Jared handles building. Chase handles the goats, and Jaxson handles to poultry. Then we help each other out as needed to make sure that everything actually gets done.

Cleaning

I could write an entire blog post about cleaning up the house and the homestead. I would be lying if I said my house was spick and span. It’s not. I’ve got 4 huge dogs, and kids living inside my house. Not to mention the occasional goat, chicken, duck, etc. My house is never clean. But I clean up as I go and everyone else helps a lot.

Don’t get hung up in the details. My kitchen is a prime example. That little ledge behind the sink that collects all manner of nasty things is constantly dirty. I have tried everything in my power to keep that area clean but it’s not happening and you know what? That’s fine. My counters and stove are clean and the sink is mostly empty. Pick your battles and move on.

Grace

At the end of the day, you are simply human. Give yourself grace when you can’t get your kitchen scrubbed or the laundry done. The animals have food and water and the kids aren’t dead or hurt? You’ve done just fine.

Overwhelmed With Chores?

One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned on the homestead is that there is always tomorrow. We have been conditioned to believe that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. And yes, that’s absolutely true. But if you run yourself, spouse or kids into the ground trying to get everything done TODAY, you will burnout everyone out.

I have a saying that I have adopted since hitting homestead burnout…. If I die tomorrow, it’s not my problem. This may sound very off handed or too laid back way of looking at life, but it’s the honest reality. If I drop dead tomorrow, it’s not going to matter if I took a nap instead of starting seeds. It doesn’t matter if I put tomatoes in the freezer instead of running them through the canner.

I’m not saying that you have to have that mindset. But what I AM saying is that you have to give yourself and your family grace and kindness when it comes to this stuff. To give an example, I was supposed to be done with this blog post about 3 hours ago. But instead, I took a nap because I was exhausted from working a 36 hour shift on the ambulance…. And that’s fine.

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