What does micro-business have to do with being home?

Note: New to Deviantly Domesticated?  Thanks for visiting!  We are right in the middle of a series on micro-business and why it could be a great fit for women.  Scroll below to read previous posts, or jump right in with today's discussion!

After reading several days worth of posts on micro-business, you might be asking yourself "what does this have to do with being domesticated?  Isn't this blog supposed to be about being a housewife or stay-at-home mom?"  It's a fair question indeed.  Allow me to respond...

Women who stay home are often expected by society to be concerned with two primary things: raising children and caring for the home.  The choice to be home-based is often perceived as a choice against work and earning money.  I would like to change this perception, because I think that most of use who choose to stay home would either like or need a little industry in our lives.  And micro-business, I think, could provide that industry.

The truth is that rather than disqualify us from the economy, being at home means that we have an opportunity to nurture viable economic work for our own benefit, and fitting with our own lifestyle.  Micro-business, which can be based out of the home, relational, flexible, and compatible with children, can give us a much needed outlet apart from our roles as mothers and wives,  and provide us with our own income and financial sense of accomplishment.

Being at home also means that we have the opportunity to support an alternative to the traditional economy--an opportunity even to lead in it.  On the surface we may not look like economic leaders, but an army of micro-businesses that support the community can have a great impact.  

I'm most likely preaching to the choir.  More and more I hear accounts of women who are living a home-based lifestyle and are finding innovative and creative ways to earn some income using their skills and interests.  These women are engaging the marketplace while still raising kids, investing in the community, and building their marriages.  The more we hear their testimonies, and the more we encourage each other to be leaders in a fruitful alternative economy, the more others will see our leadership and be encouraged to follow.

Seriously

I was reflecting today on the role of the stay-at-home mom and housewife (like I usually do), and find that an ever-increasing conviction about the value of that role is growing in my mind.  It is a vocation that needs to be taken seriously.  

Of course, it is not taken seriously, for so many reasons.  Women who stay home don't earn money (or at least they aren't perceived as wage-earners, even though many of them are), they are lazy, they live outside of the "real world," they are occupied only with children and chores, etc. etc. 

More concerning, though, than the culture not taking the stay-at-home vocation seriously is that many times we don't take it seriously ourselves.  Passion for motherhood is probably the exception to this.  Most of the mothers I know who choose to stay home with their children feel very strongly about the value of that choice.  But the choice to stay home extends far beyond children.

The truth is that women (and men) who choose to stay home have a unique potential to become leaders in our culture today, and we should take that potential seriously.  By staying home, we have the opportunity to support our communities in a unique and vital capacity, strengthening the neighborhood, social organizations, civic groups, the family, and more.  We are positioned to promote the alternative to Big Business and Big Government in our circles, providing some much needed balance in our communities.  We will most likely be the "first responders" when people need help, encouragement, and aid--often a better social safety net than the best-intentioned government programs can offer.  We can set an example in micro-commerce and education.  We can mobilize when called upon for important causes.  And that is only a portion of our contribution.

Staying home is a legitimate live-li-hood because it brings life into our cities and our culture.  This is not to say that other occupations don't bring life--many of them do.  It is only to say that we should take the "home vocation" seriously, and step into the leadership that is there for our taking.  Because if we don't take it seriously, certainly the culture won't, and we all won't know what we're missing.

Recipe Resource

Since writing about wellness yesterday, I thought I would give some kudos to a great recipe site that I discovered earlier this year, myrecipes.com.  

This site has not only helped me to organize weekly menus and shopping lists, but the recipes are tasty.  It is easy to search for healthy fare, and most of the ingredients are simple and easily located in the aisles of your average grocer.  And it's free!

Last week I blogged about my growing conviction about food waste.  Incidentally, after exploring some of the ideas on www.wastedfood.com, I was not surprised to see that menu planning is one of the easiest ways to prevent loss.  Fortunately, websites like myrecipes.com make menu planning easy.

All of this highlights an important theme that I keep pondering as I post: intentionality.  The lifestyle of a modern housewife is an intentional one.  And the fruits of this intention are (you guessed it) greater wellness, less waste, more creativity, more resourcefulness, more relationships, and apparently better food.  Cheers to that!

Wellness

As the daughter of a nurse, and a native Coloradoan, I grew up with the concept of wellness long before it became a popular philosophy.  Not that I always adhere to the lifestyle....but I have learned to value it.  So when I read an article last week about companies launching wellness programs for their employees as a way to keep health care costs down, I agreed that it is a good trend.

So what does wellness, and company health care, have to do with being a modern housewife?  Well, if there is anything I have learned about wellness, it is that it takes time.  Shopping and preparing healthy food, getting exercise, resting, enjoying nature, cultivating spirituality--all of these things take time.  And when practicing them all together, they can take a lot of time.  

This is when working full-time in the workforce can present obstacles to wellness.  The last thing I felt like doing after coming home from the office after a long day was exercise and cook a nutritious dinner.  I might have conjured up the motivation for one, but rarely both.  Being at home, though, provides more time for wellness, and it rubs off, too.  I cook healthier fare more often, which both myself and my husband benefit from.  We take more walks together (even the dogs have lost weight), and I spend a great deal more time outside.  

This is not to say that you can't be well when you are working.  If you work for one of the companies that has launched a wellness program, you might be in great shape.  All I am saying is that staying at home can offer the same benefits that a work wellness program can offer.  You can also take advantage of the same financial benefit that these companies are trying to capitalize on.  A household with healthy people saves a lot of money over one that has unhealthy people.  Have you purchased a bottle of cough syrup lately?  How about Prilosec or Ambien?  These drugs are expensive, and can really add up!  Having more time to cultivate wellness at home will decrease your need for them, thus saving you green.  

To conclude, being a housewife is not traditionally seen as a path toward wellness, but I argue that it really can be.  Since I left the corporate 9-5, I really do exercise more, eat better, garden, sleep well, pray more, and save money.    I'm doing...well.

To link to article on corporate wellness programs, click here.