Being a Good Steward as a Stay at Home Mom
When I think of being a good steward as a stay at home home, I think of using all the different resources that God gives me in an efficient way. Being a good steward means thinking about what is the best use of the resources that God provides. I’m using the word resources because many times when we think of stewardship, we might think of how we manage our finances, and that is an important part of being a good steward as a stay at home mom, but there are other things that we need to manage well also.
A steward is like a manager and as stay at home moms, we are managers. We manage so many things in our homes. We manage our time. We manage the time of our children for them. We manage inventory, like clothes, groceries, dishes, gifts for birthdays. We also plan parties, doctors appointments, dentist appointments… I mean the list goes on and on and on. So, when we’re being good stewards, we’re not just managing money well, but we’re managing time well. We are being careful not to waste the things that we’ve been given from God. All good gifts come from above, and it’s important that we don’t squander what we’ve been given.
Use Time Wisely
One big area to start with is managing our time. As a stay at home mom, you’re your own boss in a way. You’re in charge of your own time and so you have to be careful not to just end up wasting time scrolling your phone or kind of aimlessly wandering around.
So, it’s important to have a plan for your days. I don’t think it has to be a strict schedule. Some people prefer more of a schedule and some people prefer more of just a general routine. But, it does help if you’ve taken some time to think about what the things are that you need to get done every single day, once a week, or once a month, or even once a year.
Then, just make sure that your time is being used efficiently, so that those things actually end up getting done. You definitely have to prioritize with this because definitely some things are more important than others. I mean, you can’t slack on having everyone food and clothing and paying the bills on time, but other things can wait and you have to prioritize.
Learn Skills: Cook, Clean, Make the Home Feel Homey, Sew, Garden, Etc.
Another good way to be a good steward is to steward your own ability to make something of value for your family. When we actually live up to our fullest potential by being continual learners and learning new skills like how to sew, how to cook well, how to clean more efficiently, or how to decorate the home and make it feel like a more welcoming place; we are actually being good stewards of the abilities and talents that God has given us. We all have more potential than we give ourselves credit for.
We are able to learn new things and to to make our homes beautiful. We can learn to cook really healthy high-quality meals. We can also learn to sew a homemade blanket, for example, or to make a dress. It may not be those exact things, maybe your talents are different. Maybe you’re good at gardening, or maybe you’re a really talented musician and you can play beautiful music for your family. In whichever ways that you can, bless your family and and provide using your skills and talents for your family.
That’s being a good steward of your skills and talents, and letting God use them to bless your family. Don’t waste them by not putting the effort into to refine those skills. Use them to the best of your ability, rather than never developing your talents because you just maybe watch TV instead. So, just use the time and the resources that you have to learn. Even if you don’t have someone around to teach you something, with YouTube and just the ability to look up something online, you really can teach yourself just about anything.
So, now is the time to learn a new skill and just keep adding more and more new skills. Start with one main skill that you want to work on and then when you get really good at that, add another one. Before long, you’ll have so many new ways that you are a blessing your family. You’ll be setting a good example for your kids of being a lifelong learner and making yourself a better person every day.
Parenting- Teach Children About Jesus Daily
Be a good steward of the souls that God has placed in your care. Love them, teach them, and guide them. It should be a part of your day, every day, to teach them more about Jesus and to help them grow in their relationship with the Lord.
You are your child’s first teacher, and it’s not just for homeschool, but also for teaching them about the Lord. Teach them that He made them, and He loves them, and He wants to have a relationship with them, and that they need a Savior, because none of us is perfect.
Pray with them, read the Bible to them and with them, and have fun learning about the things of the Word, the world from a Biblical world view, and seeing God’s hand in creation all around us. This is the most important part of parenting, leading your babies to Jesus.
Make Homeschool Count
Most importantly, teach what matters. Teach the Bible. Teach good character. Teach your kids to read, write, and do math well. When teaching, make sure your resources align when the Word of God. Teach them to think critically and analyze the motive of authors.
Don’t waste the gift of time with them. Have fun with it and don’t always learn in one way, change it up. Use a variety of experiences and real life learning as well as traditional pencil and paper.
Use Your Talents for His Glory
Pray for the Lord to guide you in how He wants you to use the talents and gifts that He has given you for His glory. Love your husband and children, love others, bear good fruit.
Look forward, not backward
Each day, do what you can do today. Don’t look back with regret or wonder what you could’ve done better. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t do enough yesterday or last month or last week or last year. Instead, move forward. Keep pressing on and do the best you can today.
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14 ESV
DIY/Learn to do things yourself
Learn to do things yourself. When you do things yourself, you can save so much money!
Here are some of the things that I’ve learned to do for myself that have saved us money: I install light fixtures. I change out faucets. My husband and I changed out the toilet together. I fixed a dryer that needed a new sensor. I patched drywall a paint just things like that.
There are all kind of things that you can do for yourself that will save you and your family money. This helps you stay out of debt and it helps you be able to pay for things that you actually want and not have to spend your money on stuff that’s not as fun.
Take getting a new toilet installed for example. We needed that recently, and we were able to do it for the price of the toilet rather than the price of the toilet plus the plumber. So, that was nice, and it was a lot easier than you think. Doing things for yourself is definitely a way to be a good steward with the money and resources that you have, because it can help you to save a lot of money.
Get Out of Debt
Take a look at all of your expenses, your income, and your spending needs for running your household and make a plan. Understand how much you need to be able to make and spend for each week, month, and year and compare that to what you actually in income over the past year. Get your bills as low as you can, and then see how much you can give yourself for groceries and for other spending each week.
Track your spending by the week with this simple envelope method or any method that works well for you. Live within your means, pay for this week with this week’s money, not by borrowing from your future self. Just live on less than you earn, and work to pay down any debt you may have. Then, save up and invest.
“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”
Proverbs 22:7 ESV
Be a good steward
Be a good steward of your talents, your children’s souls as you guide them to Jesus, your money, your homeschool time, and your time in general. You’ve got this. Don’t beat yourself up when you make mistakes, just get back up and keep going.
You can do what you need to do with the Lord strengthening you. Just pay attention and be intentional and don’t just let things happen to you, but take charge and take responsibility for making your outcome be the best you can with what you’ve been given.
