Things to Do at Home for a Housewife

Are you one of those beautiful young women who spend their full 24 hours in ensuring the house is in order, the clothes are dried on time, the food is cooked well, the kids are doing their homework, the husband is getting his socks just where it should be! And the ultimate one as the ever famous movie scene shows the husband gets his handkerchief just when he remembers it while moving out of the house? If yes, then I salute you for doing the most difficult job of the world, so effortlessly!

A decision to be a career woman or a home woman is totally personal and is dependent on a lot of factors. However, I so wish, my housewife mother could utilize her time more effectively by being at home. It was only years later that she started speaking about how she regrets that she could not do more with her time!

So, here’s my take, for the benefit of other housewives, on things to do at home. In some cases, also earn some money!

So, depending on what kind of individual you are, here are some tips:

The Hobby Types: Women who are this type would have a hobby they like pursuing.  Be it doing yoga every morning, gardening, dancing, singing, playing a sport, reading books or even listening to music; you would see these women planning out their day in a way that this hobby gets incorporated in their daily life

You are already doing something you like doing and have a good knowledge of it. Why don’t you take it to the next level?

A neighbor of ours started summer classes for kids of our area, teaching them freelance Bollywood dancing. She is not a professional dancer, she just enjoys doing it. It was a perfect thing for the neighborhood also. They could send the kids for a couple of hours in a house close-by, for them to constructively utilize their skills in the otherwise boring summer vacations. She does this only in summers and with small number of kids only, because she isn’t sure if she has it in her to take her dance lessons to the next level of a dance school. Who knows, one day she just might! Teaching kids around is the easiest and no financial investment thing you could do. You would know of many women giving tuition to students of primary classes that’s another brilliant way of utilizing your time. If not kids, you could form a community of like-minded ladies in your area and share your gardening tips or exchange books. Maybe start a library, wherein all you reading enthusiasts keep rotating books amongst each other. The point is you don’t have to wait for something big to come your way; you could start here and now- at your home. My boutique lady is a lovely example of this; she wasn’t enjoying being at home, started buying suit pieces from somewhere and selling in her area at a premium. This became successful, she added tailors in her team and here she is, running a very successful boutique in West Delhi! Many of the housewives I know always have the self-doubt. I am not really very good at this; I know it, but not so much. There are many out there who have never held a badminton racket and here you are thinking- I don’t know all shots well, what I will teach! Your knowledge of your hobby is yours- and for many, who have an interest to do it, but have never done it- your knowledge sharing is what they need!

The Kitchen Queens: Many of you spend a lot of your time in kitchens, dishing out perfect food for your family. Did you know there are many people around you who crave for a good, hygienic home cooked meal? Would you like to start a tiffin service for them? And again, its low investment. Don’t worry about the client base- all it takes is to start with one client and it just spreads. Your husband could tell his colleagues on the lunch table- “why do you eat office lunch, if you like my food, I can start getting it for you too”. A lady I know takes orders for a party-which means she will cook for your home party-you both decide the menu and its set! She is not the best of the cooks. But what she does is relieves the tension of the host about cooking the dinner for 10 people. What’s the point of inviting guests at home, when you are in kitchen all the time? She charges them nominally for the food she cooks for them: it’s more like a pocket-money for her than real income! Again, this doesn’t need you to spend time in publicizing about your venture. During a kitty party, or a walk down in the park, when you hear someone say, they have a party in their home, just say, I can help! And again, word spreads!

The TV Fans: So, you may not have hobby and you also don’t enjoy cooking too much. But what you do like is watching the TV serials. You know mostly all the characters and you even empathize with their struggles. Guess what, that’s what some of the lesser privileged ladies need! There are many who miss out on their favorite characters and the everyday episodes due to some reason or the other. And you can help them! Once you are done watching the serial, prepare a summary of what happened in that episode, maybe add your own feelings of happiness, anger, grief over the episode and post it on a Facebook Community Page of that serial or on a Whastapp group or on the website of that channel. It may not help you earn any money, but it could help you connect to like- minded viewers, with whom you could form a community. This community can keep you engaged even after the 30 mins serial has ended. And who knows if your reviews are interesting, you could make that a career. We have film critics in plenty, how many have heard of TV serial critics?

The Internet Socials: Since you are reading this, you surely like surfing the internet. So what you can do is use internet for much more than just playing candy crush or liking/comments of Facebook! Start something of your own there. It’s a big wide world there, and it surely has a space for you, as it had for me. So even if you don’t want to invest money in building and branding your internet presence, you can start by having a free blog page running, where you could be doing all of the above- sharing episode stories, sharing cooking recipes/techniques, sharing your favorite songs or creating a music quiz. It could also happen on your Facebook page, a page which is different from your personal page. It was one person who started “Fans of Kunal Kapoor Page”. WhatsApp again is something which can be used very constructively- make groups with other mothers of your child’s classmates. Discuss with them what they are doing to keep their kids engaged in studies/developing motor skills/developing a hobby etc. It’s basically a community of like- minded ladies, who could give you many ideas. I have one such group, and they even help me with homework and assignments!

See the idea is, you are anyways blessed with having the perfect skills of managing a house and ensuring the ones dependent on you get the best of you. Moving beyond the routine can help you with nice pocket-money or the satisfaction of helping someone, or just staying engaged despite the routine fighting with the maids! Yes, it’s easier said than done- but do, give it a try. You may just like doing it! The choice is in your hands- you can keep it at a bare minimum level, or become an entrepreneur from it!

If you liked reading this, then do share with other home-makers and your friends. Also, there could be many more things which I haven’t mentioned, would be happy to read your comments on that.