How to be a Homemaker?

I always enjoy reading my blog stats, more specifically the search engine terms folks use to find their way here to Two Frog Home.  Usually it’s fairly basic: applesauce recipes, use it up – wear it out – make it do has been popular lately, pantry photos, etc.  Sometimes its rather comical and interesting how that combination of words got folks here.  And sometimes those search engine terms inspire me and get me thinking.

Recently, “how to be a homemaker” was typed into a search engine that brought the seeker here.  I found it an interesting question and one I’ve pondered over the last two weeks or so. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no one answer to that question and its not one that I think I can accurately answer for myself let alone any other homemaker on the planet.  I can answer questions about cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening, etc. but those aren’t questions of homemaking but rather of housekeeping.  I think homemakers have been done a great disservice through advertising, writings, and television that blur the lines between homemaking and housekeeping.  I think we should never confuse the two, you can hire someone to do your housekeeping - you can’t hire someone to do your homemaking.

There’s a huge different between a house and a home.  A house is what you buy, you turn it into a home.  A house is a business deal, a purchase - a home is a matter of the heart and soul.  Because the home is a matter of the heart, more specifically your heart – no one else can tell you  how to make it.  A home is a conglomeration of everyone who lives within the walls of the house and there’s no way for that conglomeration to be repeated making each home and the task of homemaking uniquely different.  I find that rather comforting – only Jeff and I know how to make our home.  All the reading, all the homemaking “gurus” be damned, I’ll use them for ideas but remember that Jeff and I will write our own “gospel” of homemaking, and be content in the knowledge that it is from our hands and hearts and that no other home is exactly like ours.

It seems to me that a home and homemaking can’t be seen, it can only be felt or sensed.  Housekeeping on the other hand can be seen and it may even be a visible sign of our homemaking efforts, but it still isn’t homemaking.  Housekeeping deals with all the objects and stuff the house contains, whereas homemaking deals with the hearts and souls of the folks in the house.  I suppose if really pressed to answer the “how to be a homemaker” question, my answer would be to simply make it feel like home, whatever that means to you, just make it feel right.