The Happy Homemaking Blog

My husband and I share a marriage that to many may seem unorthodox these days. We each have our own roles within our marriage that we happily and willingly fulfill. My husband is the sole provider in our relationship and I stay home. My husband works a full time job, and while he is at work I clean, I cook, I organize our finances, and I bring our home back to order so that my husband can relax when he comes home. This is not a burden on myself or him, it is what we both want and it is a lifestyle that we both work hard together to maintain.

Throughout our entire marriage of nearly two years, I have been asked this question in so many different forms: “What do you do all day?” “How do you keep busy?” “What do you do when your husband is at work?” “Don’t you want a job?” “Don’t you get bored?”

In the beginning, this question really upset me. Partly because anytime I went anywhere I could expect to be asked multiple times, but also because I felt a lot of negative judgment in people’s tones and looks and I felt as though people didn’t respect how I spent my time. I felt as though people thought I was just getting married so that I wouldn’t have to work anymore, or because I was too unintelligent to get a degree and do something “important” with my life. 

Nowadays, I don’t mind answering this question, as my perspective has changed and God has done a lot of work healing the hurt that was in my heart. I understand that my husband’s and my lifestyle is foreign to people, and so most of the time they’re asking out of genuine curiosity. There are still some people who ask me questions with judgment in their tones, but I try not to mind. 

I understand that our way of life is not for everyone, but I also know of many people that have expressed an underlying longing to have what we have. We hope to be an example to those people that, if the type of marriage and lifestyle we lead is something you want, you can make it happen. It will not always be easy to live on a single income, you will have to work hard and make sacrifices, and you will have to face lots of judgmental opinions and questions. 

But it is attainable if it’s something you want. 

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Anyways, I suppose I should actually answer the original question.

What do I do all day?

My general schedule for the week goes as follows: 

Monday~ Post Day & Budgeting Day

Tuesday~ Writing Day

Wednesday~ Meal Planning/Grocery Planning

Thursday~ Deep Clean Day

My husband currently only works Monday-Thursday, as he is in a slow season at his job. But his busy season will be starting very soon, and then Friday will most likely serve as another writing day for me. 

I don’t do any cleaning when my husband is home, as I spend that time focusing on and being with him. Thus there is usually a decent amount to clean up after the weekends and weekday evenings. I am also often cooking things during the day that will be needed throughout the week, like preparing breakfasts ahead of time so that I can just pop them in the oven in the morning, or baking my husband cookies because he loves them so much, or making ranch dressing that will go with several of our meals, or just whatever is needed that week. I love cooking and I cook a lot. 

I am also the person in our relationship that takes care of our finances, so on Mondays I add up all of our receipts, sort them all into proper categories, and keep track of everything to make sure that all goes as it should. Since I take care of our finances, this helps me to plan out our grocery list every week in order to properly take our needs for that week into account. If an abnormal expense comes up or if one of our categories went over-budget one week, then I will plan a cheaper week of meals to make up for it. 

As I said, I do a general tidy up every day, which includes things like dishes, wiping down tables and counters, sweeping, and putting things in their proper place. But on Thursdays I do all of the weekly deeper cleaning tasks, which includes dusting, mopping, vacuuming rugs and furniture, cleaning appliances like the oven, microwave, and refrigerator, and sanitizing the bathroom. 

Once my work is all said and done, I do have some hobbies that I enjoy in my free time. I read, I play videogames once in a while, and I enjoy coloring while listening to podcasts. Cooking and writing for my blog is also fun for me, but they are things I have to get done, so I don’t quite consider them hobbies. 

I get all of my tasks and duties done before my husband gets home so that he can walk through the door and be greeted by a calm, clean home. 

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And there you have it, this is what I do all day! I am so blessed to get to live the simple life that I always wanted. I hope you feel encouraged that, if this is the sort of life you want, you can make it happen too.